Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 325 Farewell
On the edge of the Black Lake, a large group of people in black robes gathered together. They stared at the ghost ship in the lake that was constantly emitting low, angry roars.

It’s been a week since that horrific night, but the memory of it is forever etched in everyone’s mind.

Because, that night, they lost a Quidditch superstar in the making.

Viktor Krum.

This big boy who is cold on the outside but warm on the inside left his friends and relatives forever.

Mike was also in the group that saw off Durmstrang and Krum.

He was not present when Krum was sent out, so he had no way of imagining the reaction of Krum's parents at that time.

But surely, when Krum's broken body appeared before them, they must have felt despair in their hearts.

This can be seen from Krum's father's hair which turned white overnight.

"I'm sorry about Krum, Sinak."

At the front of the crowd, Dumbledore spoke to an old man with a scar on his face.

The old man named Sinak rushed from Durmstrang School of Witchcraft and Wizardry overnight after the incident. He was responsible for bringing all the students, including Krum's body, back to school safely.

As for Karkaroff, the original team leader and principal, he disappeared immediately after the incident.

His disappearance also put him on the wanted list.

This is not surprising. The Ministry of Magic blamed all the events of the Triwizard Tournament on the Death Eaters. Karkaroff, as a former Death Eater, disappeared immediately after the incident, so he naturally became the number one suspect.

But only a few people, including Mike, knew that Karkaroff actually had nothing to do with this incident. The reason he disappeared was because he sensed Voldemort's resurrection through the Death Eater mark on his arm and hid out of fear.

However, Mike would naturally not tell this matter.

Even if he told it, Fudge wouldn't believe it, because Fudge was almost going crazy during this period.

In order to convince Dumbledore to deny the fact that Voldemort had been resurrected, he went to the headmaster's office almost every day, but always returned in vain.

He even went to Mike specifically, hoping that Mike, the client, would stand on his side, and promised to give Mike himself huge prestige and more preferential policies for the Los Santos Magic Group.

However, these were rejected by Mike without hesitation.

In Mike's opinion, all the benefits given by Fudge were just empty promises, because although Fudge still looked glorious now, with the return of Voldemort, he would not be far from stepping down.

Therefore, there is no need for Mike to pretend.

Fudge was extremely angry at Mac's rude refusal. Mac believed that if they were not talking in the crowded Ravenclaw lounge, Fudge would have cursed.

That day, Fudge left Hogwarts with a gloomy face and never came back.

And in the days that followed, he continued to use the power in his hands to attack Dumbledore and Michael.

Of course, this is all a story for later.

At this moment, on the shore of the Black Lake, the old man named Sinak did not make any response to Dumbledore's apology. He just nodded expressionlessly and then walked towards the ghost ship.

As he walked through the crowd coming to see him off at Hogwarts, he gave Harry a meaningful look, which made Harry very uncomfortable.

Due to Rita Skeeter's previous report on his complicated relationship with Hermione and Krum, many people believe that Krum's death in the maze was entirely due to Harry's manipulation in order to win back Hermione's love.

Although Dumbledore and many professors had already issued statements to refute the rumor, a group of students who were at odds with Harry, represented by Malfoy, were obviously more willing to believe the previous version of the story.

These people continued to spread the news to others, causing more and more people in the school to look at Harry strangely. Even some tabloids outside the school began to report on the matter.

Fortunately, Krum's parents are not unreasonable people.

They ignored the rumors from outside and silently accepted the result that their son died in an accident.

They even went to comfort Harry when the rumors intensified, which touched Harry very much.

As another protagonist in this rumor, Hermione was not so lucky.

She was not very popular to begin with, and after this incident, she was boycotted by all the students of Hogwarts. Now no one wants to approach her at all, and the three-meter area around her has become a vacuum zone. Everyone regards her as a beauty who brings disaster and a source of misfortune.

Hermione herself was naturally extremely distressed by this. Although she was used to being alone, the cold violence of being ignored by almost everyone still made her feel uncomfortable.

Ron was much happier in comparison.

Ever since Hermione became Krum's dance partner at Christmas, he has turned from Krum's number one fan into the most vicious anti-fan. Krum's death and Hermione's experience have inspired him, and now he kisses his Indian girlfriend in front of Hermione every day as if he is showing off.

Hermione hated Ron's behavior and tried every way to avoid him. Unfortunately, Ron was like a hound and always found Hermione and repeated the disgusting scene in front of her.

Shaking his head to get rid of the random thoughts in his mind, Mike sighed deeply as he watched the ghost ship gradually disappear on the lake.

In fact, he should take a considerable responsibility for Krum's death. If he had taken some protective measures at that time, or stayed where he was a little longer, Krum might not have died.

But he had no choice. The situation at the time did not allow him to do more for Krum.

"Don't be too sad, Krum's death was just an accident."

Penelope's gentle voice came from beside him. Mike turned his head and saw Penelope looking at him with a distressed expression.

Mike didn't reply, just nodded and smiled back.

Mike's smile was a little forced, which made Penelope even more worried because Mike had been looking sullen and serious for the past week.

The Weasley brothers next to them looked at each other, their eyes rolled around and then they came up with an idea.

They dragged the confused Harry to Mike's side and said with a grin:

"Hey! Mike! We're going to go see Hagrid later, how about you come with us?"

"That's right! Mike! Harry would love to go with you. Right Harry?"

"what?"

Harry opened his mouth wide when he heard this, his face full of confusion, but when he saw the Weasley brothers winking at him frantically, he immediately reacted and said:

"That's right, Mike! Come with us. It's spring now, and you'll get sick if you stay in the castle all the time!"

"I……"

Mike was about to refuse, as he still had a lot of preparation to do before Voldemort's resurrection.

But just as he opened his mouth, the Weasley brothers grabbed him on the left and right, dragged him towards the Forbidden Forest and said:
"Come on, come on, what you need now is to relax!"

Knowing that they meant well, although Mike could have easily broken free from the two men's drag with his current physical condition, he did not do so. Mike just smiled and said:

"Okay, I'll go, let me go."

The Weasley brothers smiled at each other and let Mike go.

So, the four of them rushed to Hagrid's hut. As for Penelope, she returned to the dormitory to rest because her relatives were visiting.

Hagrid has been very unlucky during this period. On the night of the Triwizard Tournament, Barty Jr. sneaked into Hagrid's hut and knocked him down while he was changing clothes.

Because of Hagrid's large size and giant bloodline, Barty Jr. killed him.

According to the description of the students who found Hagrid, Hagrid's blood was flowing everywhere, and the entire floor of the cabin was covered with semi-coagulated plasma. They almost thought that Hagrid was dead, because in their concept no one could survive after losing so much blood.

Fortunately, Barty Jr. still underestimated Hagrid's physique, and the people sent by Professor McGonagall found Hagrid as soon as possible and brought him back to the infirmary, otherwise the half-giant might have died on the spot.

Today is the day Hagrid is discharged from the hospital, so Harry and the others decided to pay him a good visit.

But when everyone arrived at Hagrid's hut, they saw a shocking scene.

Hagrid, still wrapped in a lot of bandages, was lying on the bed like a mummy. Beside the bed, Ms. Maxime, wearing a black silk dress, was holding a large bowl and feeding something into Hagrid's mouth with a spoon.

The Weasley brothers were stunned when they saw this scene. They stuffed their right hands into their mouths, as if trying to block their mouths so that they would not laugh out loud.

Ms. Maxim was also startled to see Mike and others suddenly arrive. With a slight sound, the wooden spoon slipped from her hand and a blush appeared on her cheek.

"I... I just came to see him." Maxim stood up hastily, wiping his hands on his gorgeous silk skirt. "Don't get me wrong!"

After saying this, he left the hut as if escaping.

"We won't get it wrong! Ms. Maxime!"

The Weasley brothers said in unison, but out of her sight, they were giving Hagrid a weird thumbs-up.

Because of the heavy bandages on his face, Mike couldn't see the expression on Hagrid's face, but judging from the strange laughter coming from his mouth from time to time, he should be in a pretty good mood at the moment.

"Honestly, don't tell anyone about it when you go back." After laughing for a while, Hagrid said in a muffled voice again, "Otherwise, Olim will be very upset."

"Oh! Don't you know us yet? Don't worry, Hagrid."

"That's right! But then again, have you already started calling Ms. Maxime "Olympe"? You're really something, Hagrid!"

Upon hearing this, Hagrid immediately stopped talking, and muttered something like "I'm worried because of you."

Of course, the quiet voice here was just what Hagrid thought was quiet. In fact, with Hagrid's loud voice, everyone in the hut could hear it clearly.

For a moment, everyone in the cabin burst into laughter.

After a while, Hermione also came, so the Weasley brothers told Hermione what had just happened, adding some exaggeration.

This shocked Hermione and also made Hagrid very upset. He had just warned the Weasley brothers to keep it a secret, but they told Hermione right after they agreed.

"Where's Ron?" After laughing for a while, Hagrid looked around at everyone in the hut and asked curiously, "Why didn't this kid come?"

"Oh! He must still be chewing on Padma's face!" Hermione said, making a retching gesture. "How disgusting!"

"Oh! This is really... too much."

Hagrid spoke with some disappointment, and it was unclear whether he was talking about Ron being too affectionate with his girlfriend in front of Hermione or that it was too much for him not to come to visit him.

And his remarks also embarrassed the Weasley brothers.

"I'm sorry, Hagrid, Hermione. We'll talk to him when we get back." George said, scratching his head awkwardly, and then Fred continued with a fierce look, "Yes, let's have a good talk!"

Hermione was nodding her head like a chick pecking at rice. She had been disgusted by Ron during this period. Harry, on the other hand, looked worried.

They chatted for a while before Mike found an excuse to leave Hagrid's hut.

After leaving the cabin, Mike did not go back to the castle directly. He had been too tense during this period and really needed to relax.

So Mike started taking a walk along the edge of the forbidden forest. With the arrival of spring, the forest was covered with a thick layer of green grass carpet, which was very comfortable to step on.

Mike had not walked far when he saw two silver-haired girls, one big and one small, playing and fighting with a unicorn that was shining with holy light at the edge of a small lake not far away.

This perfect scene that seemed like a dream made Mike stunned.

Mike felt like he could stand here and watch all day if he could.

Unfortunately, the unicorn's perception was very sharp. It soon discovered Mike who was peeping at the side, and warily pointed its horn at him.

This time, Fleur and her sister also noticed Mike, but their reactions were different from Mike's. Fleur's sister Gabrielle cheered and rushed towards Mike, and finally threw herself into Mike's arms.

"Big brother, are you here to see us off?"

Mike frowned at this, and asked in a somewhat strange way:

"Hmm? Are you guys leaving?"

"Yes, we are leaving tonight." Furong walked over here with a smile, "I wanted to go find you to say goodbye, but I didn't expect to meet you here."

Mike was stunned for a moment, and Gabrielle in his arms was also very smart. She broke free from Mike's arms in an instant, leaving Mike and Fleur alone in their own world, and she ran back to the Unicorn.

It's a pity that unicorns only get close to pure and beautiful women. Gabrielle just hugged Mike, a stinky man, and had some of Mike's "stink" on her body, which made the unicorn no longer willing to play with her and turned around and ran into the forbidden forest.

"I want to thank you, Mike. I had a great time at Hogwarts, even though I didn't achieve any results in the Triwizard Cup."

Hearing this, Mike lowered his head slightly. He didn't know how to respond.

Furong's performance in the Tri-Strike Cup was indeed not good this time. In the last game, she was forced to use a distress signal by a blast-tailed skrewt not long after entering the game.

When Furong saw Mike's expression, she chuckled and said:
"Don't feel sorry for me. Even though I behaved badly, at least I survived. That's enough. You know, I was terrified when Krum was sent out."

Mike nodded. Furong was right. For people, only by being alive can there be hope and future.

He was about to say something to comfort Furong, but before he could open his mouth a faint fragrance fell into his arms.

"I'm leaving now. Good luck."

The girl said this with a trembling voice.

Mike also smiled, patted the girl on the back, and blessed her:
"Well, good luck to you too!"

(End of this chapter)