Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 460 Defense Against the Dark Arts Office

The group separated on the third floor. Colin and the remaining fourth-year students continued upstairs, heading back to the Gryffindor common room.

Ron sighed softly only after they were completely out of sight.

“What a pity,” he said. “Professor McGonagall lifted Malfoy’s confinement. No, I have to talk to Sirius. I really hope he can let Malfoy experience what it’s like to squeeze a whole bucket of slugs by hand.”

Ron had never forgotten the time years ago when Snape locked him and Harry up in solitary confinement and made them handle a huge bucket of slugs and florid caterpillars by hand.

It's a memory that's still fresh in my mind.

“This is nothing to be happy about,” Hermione said sternly.

“Of course this is something to be happy about!” Ron said indignantly. “Why should only Snape deduct points from us? Don’t tell me you think this is right!”

“That’s certainly not right,” Hermione said. “But think about it carefully, do you think Snape would let what he did to Sirius go unpunished?”

“Hmm…” Ron paused for a moment, “I don’t think so…”

He said uncertainly.

“Definitely not,” Hermione said. “So he’ll definitely take back as much as he can. No wonder I felt something was off with the hourglass while I was eating breakfast. If you go back and take a look now, you’ll find that Gryffindor and Slytherin’s gems are down to two-thirds, and it’s only the beginning of the school year.”

"If this continues, Gryffindor and Slytherin will never win the House Cup; it will only benefit Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff."

“As long as it’s not Slytherin, it’ll be fine,” Ron said stiffly, but his voice was much softer than before.

"And..." Hermione pretended not to hear and continued, "Think about it, if Sirius Black just found some excuse to put Malfoy in solitary confinement, wouldn't Snape use the same method on Harry?"

"Although I don't want to say it, Snape is the headmaster. If he wanted to cause trouble for Harry, it would be much easier for him than for Sirius Black, a professor."

Ron fell completely silent after that.

“Actually, I’m fine,” Harry said softly. “Even without Sirius, Snape has been giving me trouble all along. I’m used to it.”

"But you don't need to fight them to the death, Harry, it's not worth it!"

As they spoke, the group had already reached the office door.

As soon as they got close, they heard bursts of deep laughter coming from inside.

“It’s Hagrid,” Harry said. He knew that laughter too well to be mistaken.

He went up and knocked on the door.

"Who's out there?" Harry hadn't even had time to speak when the door was opened from the inside, accompanied by a series of footsteps approaching.

Sirius peeked out and looked at them.

“Ah, I was just wondering when you would come to see me,” he said with a smile, stepping aside. “Come on in, I just bought some butterbeer from the Three Brooms, you don’t get this kind of good stuff in the castle.”

They went inside and, sure enough, saw Hagrid sitting at a table. He waved to them warmly and then stood up.

"Then I'll head back now. If you want to go to Three Brooms again tomorrow, remember to come find me."

"Hagrid, are you going back?" Harry asked hastily.

“I’d love to stay a little longer, but those little guys are waiting for me to feed them… Oh, why can’t they make the door bigger?” Hagrid took a deep breath and squeezed himself out of the doorway.

"See you tomorrow, Hagrid," said Sirius.

“Are you and Hagrid very familiar with each other?” Harry asked. “We’ve known each other for a long time. The motorcycle he rode to pick you up was the one I lent him.”

Sirius handed them each a bottle of butterbeer, saying, "You just told me a lot about you, Harry. I had no idea your life at Hogwarts was so exciting."

"what?"

“That’s the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor from before,” Sirius said. “Those stories were truly eye-opening.”

“I don’t think so,” Harry said, a smirk playing on his lips.

"So you really saw the mysterious man?" Sirius pointed to the back of his head. "You mean that idiot Quirrell, the one behind his head."

“Ah, I saw him.” Harry seemed to remember something and nodded with lingering fear. “If Sirius hadn’t found Headmaster Dumbledore in time, I might have been killed.”

Siren hadn't expected to be mentioned so suddenly, and quickly said, "Actually, it has nothing to do with me. I just happened to run into Dumbledore at the door."

“But to dare to follow a professor in your first year… Harry, I must admit you’re much braver than we were back then.” Sirius glanced nostalgically at the field outside the window.

"When James and I first entered school, we only went up against that snotty Snape. Forget about the professor, we would have run away as soon as we saw Filch."

"My father..."

“That’s right,” Sirius said, pointing to a thicket of bushes near the greenhouse outside the window. “Look there, that’s where James and I first spoke, and we’ve been best friends ever since.”

"It's so nostalgic, it feels like it all happened just yesterday."

Harry quickly ran over and peered out the window.

There was nothing special about it, just an ordinary grassy field, but Harry could vaguely see a blurry figure standing there, walking forward with another person arm in arm.

"Can you tell me...about them?"

“I can keep talking if you’re willing to listen,” Sirius said softly.

While the two reminisced about the past, Celen was looking around the office with great interest.

He was familiar with this place; Professor Lupin's office had been here before, and Sirius had chosen the same spot.

Even the office furniture hasn't been changed much.

There's a huge table right at the entrance... it must have been enlarged to accommodate Hagrid.

Next to it was a long sofa and two armchairs, and against the wall was a large wardrobe, from which Professor Lupin found the first Boggart he acquired.

Besides these, all that's left is a desk and a bunch of odds and ends. It's not exactly clean and tidy, but there's really not much stuff there either.

Xilun stared at the cabinet for a while.

“There’s no Boggart in there anymore,” Sirius’s voice came from the side. “Remus told me that he deliberately set up a trap in this wardrobe to catch the Boggart, but those things are obviously smarter than he thought, and no one fell for it.”

"Speaking of the decorations..." Sirius clapped his hands suddenly, "When we graduated, we left a gift for the people who came after us. I don't know if they've found out yet. That was our proudest masterpiece."

"What is it?" Hermione asked curiously.

“A magical map,” Sirius said. “I wonder which lucky person found it. I really want to see it again.”

……

(End of this chapter)