From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 310: Gathering of the Order of the Phoenix
The black clouds kept rolling, and lightning suddenly lit up in the clouds, winding out a bright path forward, followed by a loud thunder...

The summer of 1994 was always particularly rainy. Even though the climate of the British Isles is always known for its continuous rain, rainfall like this summer is rare.

Amid the noise of wind, rain and thunder, a man in a leather coat and leaning on a cane stood in front of Grimmauld Place. He took out a rolled-up piece of parchment and carefully checked the address.

"Number 12, Grimmauld Place, right here." The man standing in the rain looked scary. He had a face that could easily stop a child from crying, but it was covered with criss-crossing scars. His nose had been violently repaired by a not-so-skilled doctor, his mouth was like a wound cut by a knife, and his two eyes were one big and one small. The small one was black and bright, but the big one was very strange. It not only flashed bright blue light, but also spun around like a top.

He is Alastor Moody, also known as Mad-Eye, a retired Auror with great achievements.

Mad-Eye pushed open the door of number 12 Grimmauld Place. The wind and rain were so loud that no one could hear him.

So when he pried open the door and walked into the room, everyone was startled.

"Alastor!" cried Sirius in horror. "You scared us to death!"

"Where's Dumbledore?" Mad-Eye asked, "I have an appointment with him for an interview here."

"So you are the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year?" Sirius asked with great interest, and at the same time felt relieved for his good friend James.

Sirius pulled out his wand and Mad-Eye's fake eye immediately fixed itself on his arm.

"Hey!" Sirius quickly raised both hands, "I didn't mean any harm! I just wanted to help you get the water off your body!"

Mrs. White had brought a lot of life to the house. The entrance to the hall was covered with a beautiful rug, the patterns of which were now soaked by the rain that had flowed down Mad-Eye's leather jacket.

"Don't bother!" Mad-Eye rejected Sirius's kindness and used magic to quickly dry himself. During the whole process, his blue artificial eye was always staring at Sirius's movements.

The conversation between the two attracted several heads in the restaurant. When Mr. White saw Mad-Eye's face, he immediately exclaimed: "You look much more frightening than you did ten years ago! Moody!"

"This is impossible!" Mad-Eye reacted greatly. When his eyes saw Mr. White, his hands moved much faster than his mouth.

A red light shot out from his wand, which had just dried his clothes and the ground, and headed straight for Mr. White's face.

It was a silent stunning spell.

Because Mad-Eye's movements were so covert, even with Mr. White's ace Quidditch player's reaction speed, he was unable to avoid the spell and fell back into the restaurant on his back.

"Using the Fidelius Charm to set a trap! Are all the dark wizards nowadays so creative?" Mad-Eye shouted angrily, swinging his cane and hitting Sirius' leg behind him.

"Ouch!" Sirius shouted, "He's crazy! Come and stop him!"

"James!" Mrs. White shook her husband, completely confused by this sudden change.

"Expelliarmus!" The first person to fight back was Harry. He jumped out of the restaurant, shielded his unconscious father and panicked mother behind him, and fought back with his holly wand.

Mad-Eye ducked, raised his wooden leg, and stepped hard on Sirius's instep.

Sirius, who suffered two consecutive heavy blows on the same leg, was unable to launch any decent counterattack and fell in pain next to the troll's leg umbrella tube at the door.

"Sirius!" Harry picked up an ornament from the small round table in the corridor and threw it at Mad-Eye, chanting loudly, "Retreat three feet!"

"Armor to protect yourself!" Moody dodged the flying hidden weapon and simply raised the wand in his hand to create a magic barrier for himself.

"Mist!" Harry's next attack came again. This was the spell he learned from Professor Victor to provide cover for Sirius.

"That won't work on him, Harry!" Sirius, who often practiced with Harry, immediately knew what Harry was going to do, "His eyes can see through the fog!"

"What?" Harry was forced to stop mid-spell and ducked forward, dodging another silent Stunning Spell.

But he couldn't dodge the second one, and the red spell light hit Harry, who was lying on the ground, solidly, and made him fall into a peaceful sleep.

"Enough, Moody!" Lupin, the werewolf sitting at the back of the restaurant, broke through the wall and hugged Mad-Eye from behind, thus calming the dispute.

Although Mad-Eye's magic eye can provide a wide field of vision, even he cannot face enemies on both sides while also paying attention to the guy hiding behind the wall.

"What kind of monster is this!" Even though he was caught by the huge werewolf, Mad-Eyes did not stop struggling. Instead, all kinds of ugly curse words came out of his mouth.

Sirius finally found his wand on the ground, waved his hand to disperse the smoke released by Harry, and limped to Lupin and Mad-Eye: "Look what you have done to my house! Not only are you scarier than before, you're even crazier than before!"

"Come over here and fight me if you dare! You son of a bitch dark wizard!" Mad-Eyes spat at Sirius, who dodged it, but the carpet that Mrs. White carefully selected was in trouble.

"I think we have to shut his mouth!" Mrs. White came over angrily, rolled up a dirty rag and stuffed it into Mad-Eye's mouth, which stopped him from spitting dirty words.

"I'm sorry, Sirius." Lupin, who had restrained Moody, looked at the big hole in the middle of the corridor. The Weasleys were sitting in the restaurant in shock, and they seemed to have no idea how the fight started. "But we have to find a way to control him. I can't keep holding him like this."

"Oh..." Regulus's arrogant voice came from upstairs. He stood on the stairs with his arms folded across his chest, looking coldly at everything that happened in the corridor. "You have captured the most outstanding Auror in modern times? This is really an amazing action of the Order of the Phoenix. Do you need me to provide you with some poison? What did I say before? The Order of the Phoenix is always merciful--"

"Stop making trouble! Regulus! Go see Harry!" Sirius said angrily, and began to repair the walls of the house.

"Ouch... my back of the head hurts!" Harry had already woken up. After all, he was hit by a silent spell, which was less powerful than the original one, so he was able to recover at this time. "Who is he?"

"Alastor Moody." Mrs. White turned the carpet at the door into a rope and tied Mad-Eye's feet and hands tightly. "A crazy retired Auror! Dumbledore is going to make him your professor next school year! In my opinion, he is not as good as Severus."

Hearing Dumbledore's name, the bound Mad-Eye became even more agitated and began to wriggle like a fat, wounded worm.

"We have to have a good talk before we can untie you, Mad-Eye." Werewolf Lupin carried Moody into the restaurant with one hand, put him on a chair, and then turned back into wizard Lupin.

"Your destructive power after transformation is too strong, Moony!" Sirius helped Mr. White up from the ground and dragged him into the dining room. "My walls are like paper in front of you!"

"I'll take that as a compliment, Padfoot." Lupin smiled and returned to his seat. Unlike his sensitive state at school, Lupin had now completely accepted his identity as a werewolf.

When all the members of the Order of the Phoenix were seated, Mr. Weasley spoke first: "So... Moody is the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts next semester?"

"He's too crazy!" Mrs. Weasley patted her chest with her hand and then turned her gaze to the only minor in the crowd, "Wait! Before we talk about business, we should ask Harry to leave first."

"Why?" Harry asked, eyes wide. "My parents are here!"

"You are not yet a member of the Order of the Phoenix, child," said Mrs. Weasley fondly. "You are only fourteen, and -"

"Thank you, Molly." Mrs. White patted Harry's hand. "I think it is necessary for him to understand the full picture of the matter. Moreover, Voldemort's target has always been him."

Mrs. Weasley looked embarrassed and said sheepishly, "I'm sorry... you were so enchanted that I always forgot that you were Harry's parents..."

"It's okay, Molly." Mrs. White unbuttoned a button on her dress, and everyone's perception of her began to return to normal. "I suspect Moody's magic eyes can see through this disguise, otherwise why would he attack James?" "It's indeed possible." Sirius nodded in agreement. "Ivy said that the effect of the magic is to create a layer of magical phantom. Since Mad-Eye's magic eyes can see through black magic, it must be effective against this kind of magic prop."

"Okay, Moody," Lily moved her face closer so that Moody could have a closer look, "I thought Dumbledore had explained it to you clearly! We are resurrected, James and I, and Sirius's brother, we are all resurrected. Look carefully, we are not dark wizards or Death Eaters."

Mad-Eye's evil eyes were fixed on Lily's face, and then he nodded slowly.

Lily smiled and reached out to pull the dirty rag out of Mad-Eye's mouth.

“&*%￥#%￥#%!”

Lily smiled and blocked the rag back.

"It seems we have no choice but to wait for Dumbledore to explain it to him personally." Mr. Weasley shook his head, "Let's try to wake James up first."

"Try this, Sirius." Lupin threw a small bottle to Sirius beside Mr. White.

"What is this?" Sirius pulled out the cork of the bottle. A strong stench rushed to his head, choking him so much that he immediately put the bottle back in.

"Smelling salts." Lupin smiled. "It's a Muggle thing. Maybe it can be useful."

"It looks like dried shit!" Sirius held the bottle far away, but when he thought about giving it to his good brother to smell, he couldn't help laughing, "James will definitely like this!"

The active ingredient of smelling salts is ammonium carbonate monohydrate, which releases ammonia to stimulate the human respiratory tract, thereby increasing respiratory movements and awakening people who are in a coma.

But the taste of this stuff was really unpleasant. Sirius just shook the bottle under Mr. White's nose and he woke up immediately.

"Oh my God! It stinks!" Mr. White shouted, pushing Sirius's mischievous hand away. "What the hell is this!"

"Now that James is awake, we can get down to business. Who has accurate information about Dumbledore?" Lupin asked with a chuckle, catching the bottle of smelling salts thrown by Sirius.

There was an awkward silence in the restaurant.

Regulus smiled inappropriately: "The White Lord and the Dark Lord are really of the same character. They never tell their subordinates where they are going or what they are going to do."

"Dumbledore is not the White Lord! We are not his subordinates!" said Mr. Weasley seriously. "If he doesn't tell us why, I think he has his reasons."

"I've seen this face quite a few Death Eaters." Ever since Regulus betrayed the Dark Lord, he had a strong resistance to authority. Even in front of Dumbledore, he spoke his mind.

The word "Death Eater" undoubtedly activated Moody, who had calmed down. He twisted his body vigorously, and his face turned red with anger.

"Let's put aside our differences and get back to business!" Sirius would only become a mediator between his colleagues and his younger brother. Usually he would rather be the warrior charging at the forefront.

"Well, does anyone know about the Dark Lord?" Regulus asked. "I heard that the Dark Mark appeared at the Quidditch World Cup. You were all there at the time. Who saw the real situation?"

All eyes at the table turned to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. As the VIP package also included a very secure tent area, only Percy and Mr. Weasley, who were on night watch that day, knew the situation firsthand.

"A Death Eater is dead. It was old Goyle," said Mr. Weasley quietly.

"That's all?" Regulus continued to ask, "Goyle is not a core member of the Death Eaters, he has no business doing such a thing. Besides, we all read the newspapers and know that this matter is related to your son Percy - what did he say? That rising star?"

Mr. Weasley shook his head. "He hasn't talked to me about it. He's only just started working and isn't ready yet."

"We should recruit him into the Order of the Phoenix!" Sirius suggested. "He killed a Death Eater on his first patrol! This is something I never dared to think about! Based on his performance in class, I always thought he was a nerd!"

Mrs. Weasley glared at Sirius, clearly disapproving of her son taking such a risk.

"That's really inconsistent with my impression," Lupin, who also taught Percy, said, "I thought he would become a stable civil servant. Why did he suddenly become an Auror?"

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were obviously as confused as he was. "He said he applied for a job transfer a month ago, but we've never heard him talk about it at home... But he wasn't happy in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. You know, the director is that Malfoy."

"Malfoy is highly suspicious," James said. "He was in league with Goyle and Crabbe in the past. Everyone knows that."

"So what action should we take?" Regulus gave a suggestion, "I know where Malfoy Manor is. It won't be too hard to find. Maybe we can break in and capture him to ask him clearly?"

"Oh! Regulus!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, "We don't do anything illegal! And there is no evidence that Malfoy is the mastermind behind this incident!"

Regulus spread his hands and used exaggerated mouth shapes to form two words that everyone could understand: weak and stiff.

"Then what action should we take?" Regulus waited until everyone understood and frowned before asking as if nothing had happened.

"We can inquire about the information, but we shouldn't do anything without Dumbledore's instructions," Mr. Weasley said steadily.

There was a knock on the restaurant door and a dark figure came in. It was Snape.

"Dumbledore's instructions have arrived." He smiled, very cleverly directed only at Lily.

Even Moody saw the silver phoenix on Snape's shoulder. Or rather, Moody, who had the magic eye, was the first to see it.

His demeanor relaxed a lot, and he twisted his body to signal Lily to help him remove the dirty rag from his mouth, because the iconic Phoenix Patronus was impossible to imitate.

Snape did the job. With a wave of his wand, the dirty rag fell on the dining table, and the rope wrapped around Moody turned back into the blanket.

"This message is mainly for you, Moody." Snape did not look for a place to sit down, but just stood quietly at the door of the restaurant.

The silver phoenix spoke, and it was Dumbledore's familiar voice: "Alastor, my old friend. I beg your pardon, but Defense Against the Dark Arts is very popular this year! I have appointed Severus as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for the next school year, and Lily will take over as the Potions professor. In addition, I hope you can return to the Auror team and use your influence again to find out what happened to the person who sent the Dark Mark that day."

"We are pressed for time, so we must act quickly. I have a feeling that Voldemort will definitely make some moves this year, and we must first cut off the possibility of his further expansion of power before he officially returns. Therefore, those who work in the Ministry of Magic must give full play to your role and try to unite your colleagues. If necessary, I think we can overthrow Fudge's position as minister and replace him with someone we are more familiar with. Others must contact groups that may become Voldemort's helpers... In short, everything must make way for the fight against Voldemort. This is the best time for us to defeat him completely!"

The silver phoenix disappeared after saying this, leaving only Snape's dark shadow at the door.

He nodded at Lily and said in a tone of suppressed joy, "Severus Snape sends his regards, Professor White. We'll see you at Hogwarts."

"Snotlout! How dare you!" James stood up suddenly.

Snape just looked at him contemptuously, turned and left 12 Grimmauld Place.

"I really should get a mandatory magic doorbell," Sirius said, facepalming.

(End of this chapter)