Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 477 Hogsmeade Week

Dumbledore didn't stay long after his return; just as he had told Siron, he soon left the school again.

Knowing that a professor at the school was acting strangely, Dumbledore left without doing anything... Sirius didn't know if he really had something more important to do, or if he had already made some arrangements.

After spending a week in the library, Xiren still couldn't find any way to prolong the effects of the compound decoction, and in fact, it wasted a lot of his time. As a result, he's been working until the early hours of the morning every day in the common room just to barely finish his heavy homework.

He also tried asking professors for autographs on the restricted section, but after ruling out Sirius Black as an option, the other professors seemed unwilling to let students access books related to dark magic.

However, Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, hinted that if Siron wasn't in a hurry, he could ask Flitwick for a signature when he was in sixth grade, and perhaps the outcome would be different then.

It seems that for most normal professors, sixth grade is a very important watershed, whether it's learning Apparition or having the right to borrow forbidden books, it all happens in sixth grade.

Having learned this, Xiren simply abandoned the idea of ​​searching for clues in those regular magic books. This way, he was finally able to return to his dormitory before midnight, and he was much more alert during his classes that day.

After a while, Hogwarts returned to its usual tranquility.

The incident of Snape and Sirius Black arguing and even fighting in the Great Hall is gradually fading with time, but its impact continues to affect everyone.

The students of Gryffindor, in particular, felt it most acutely.

Because Snape can no longer deduct points from their Potions classes recently, although Dumbledore retained his power to confine students, there is a fundamental difference between the two.

Points can be deducted at any time, but putting students in solitary confinement requires a sufficiently reasonable reason. So as long as they pay a little attention, they can attend a normal potion class without sarcasm or point deductions.

It may not sound like much, but for Gryffindor, doing this is incredibly difficult.

Snape seemed to have some special metric; even if they did nothing at all, he would find all sorts of reasons to deduct Gryffindor's house points.

A week later, Gryffindor's score hourglass in the Great Hall was much fuller, and their ranking had risen to second place, only behind Ravenclaw.

Another consequence was that Snape and Sirius completely broke up, and their eyes were practically blazing with fire every time they saw each other.

Of course, they definitely won't fight again... and even if they had that thought, they wouldn't do it in the castle.

The two of them are currently not talking to each other. Even if they sometimes meet in the hallway, they will turn around at the same time without making any contact.

Of course, they didn't give up on causing trouble for each other, they just changed their methods.

After Gryffindor's practice yesterday, Harry said that Sirius went to the Quidditch pitch and gave them a lot of ideas on how to deal with Slytherin.

This includes, but is not limited to, putting the potion of life and death in their breakfasts, and replacing the special wax for maintaining brooms with glue, etc... It seems that as long as Gryffindor beats Slytherin in Quidditch, he can outmaneuver Snape.

Xilun suddenly wondered if he was overthinking things.

Perhaps Sirius wasn't replaced; he simply bumped into Gilderoy Lockhart one day, chatted for a while, and then Lockhart used a spell to steal a piece of his memory. Although Sirius knew this was unlikely, he had to admit that the suggestions Harry had just mentioned were very much like Sirius's style.

Those Death Eaters, whose minds are filled with Killing Curses and dark magic, couldn't possibly pull off such a convincing act. At least they wouldn't be this...naive?
The days that followed were relatively peaceful, and the Daily Prophet was filled with an atmosphere of tranquility, with a huge photograph taking up almost half the page.

But this photo doesn't show Death Eaters or an attack; it shows an old witch holding a piece of strawberry chocolate cake.

Madame Selene's Magical Bakery: Relive the Tastes of Your Childhood

Yes, the most important front page headline of the Daily Prophet features an advertisement for the opening of a magical bakery.

Although Lady Selene was indeed quite famous in the cake world, and her chocolate cauldron cakes were a favorite among countless young wizards, Siron still felt a strange unease seeing her photos and advertisements on the front page of the Daily Prophet.

This strange feeling becomes even more pronounced when compared to newspapers from two years ago.

Back then, the Daily Prophet would frequently report on things related to Sirius Black. Regardless of whether those reports were true or not, the name 'Sirius Black' appeared very often, as if afraid that people would forget him.

And now, three Death Eaters have escaped from prison, and a director has betrayed the regime? But apart from Rita Skeeter's initial revelations and clarifications, the Daily Prophet has never mentioned this topic again.

And then there are Dementors… Nobody likes those creatures, including Siron, but when three Death Eaters escaped, there wasn’t a single Dementor around Hogwarts, which is a bit unusual.

Is Fudge no longer worried about the escaped Death Eaters causing trouble for Harry?
Xilun felt that many people had probably forgotten that there were still three Death Eaters at large.

“Maybe those guys have already been captured by the Aurors,” Ron said when Siren told the others about it.

“That’s unlikely,” Hermione said, shaking her head. “If that were the case, we would have seen plenty of articles in the Daily Prophet praising the Ministry of Magic and the Minister of Magic by now, but we haven’t.”

Harry thought about Fudge's personality and realized that Hermione was absolutely right.

In contrast, the silence in The Daily Prophet seems more like an attempt to cover something up.

“Don’t think about it so much. Those Death Eaters can’t possibly break into Hogwarts,” Ron said. “Why can’t we talk about something more cheerful, like our first Hogsmeade Week of the school year?”

When Hogsmeade was mentioned, everyone's mood improved significantly, and they unconsciously spoke with a hint of anticipation.

Since entering fifth grade, they have been overwhelmed by heavy course loads and endless homework.

In this suffocating busyness, 'Hogsmeade Week' is like the butterbeer in the Three Brooms—it has a magical power to relax people.

……

(End of this chapter)