Hogwarts Study Panel

Chapter 521, Section 519: Reunion

Sheehan was the first to board the train, while Professor McGonagall kept her eyes fixed on it.

Professor McGonagall calmly disappeared from the station only after the little wizard's figure flashed past the train window.

Where she disappeared, next to the third pillar, Mrs. Weasley gave Harry an extra hug. Harry felt a little embarrassed, but he was still very happy.

"Take care, okay, Harry?"

She straightened up and spoke, her eyes gleaming with a strange light.

She opened the huge handbag and said:

"I made sandwiches for all of you. Remember to give this one to Green..."

It's strange, but he and Professor McGonagall are always together...

"Here, Harry, and you, Ron... no, not the corned beef one... Fred? Where's Fred? Here, dear..."

Harry,

Mr. Weasley approached and whispered,

"Come over here for a moment."

He tilted his head toward a pillar, and Harry followed him behind it, while the others followed Sheen into the car.

On the train.

Sheen walked down the aisle. They weren't late, but most of the compartments were already full, except for those at the back of the car.

"Sheen—can you slow down—"

Justin was the first to catch up, with Hermione carrying a pet basket beside him.

Sheen paused, then entered the cubicle with Justin and Hermione.

There was only one person in the cubicle, a man fast asleep by the window.

Justin and Hermione stood at the door and looked around.

The Hogwarts Express is usually a student-only train, and apart from the witch who pushes a food cart, they had never seen any other adults on board before.

The stranger was wearing a neat wizard's robe, but several places on the robe were patched.

He looked sickly and had no strength at all.

Although he looks very young, his light brown hair is already turning gray.

"Hmm...who is he?"

Hermione asked in a low voice, and then they closed the sliding door and chose the seats furthest from the window.

"Our store manager."

Justin said happily.

"What store manager?"

Hermione was stunned.

Before Justin could reply, Harry, Ron, and Neville burst through the door.

"Everyone is here!"

Ron said happily.

The Hogwarts Express carriages were spacious enough to comfortably accommodate six young wizards, but it was easy enough for Ron and the others, who had left their luggage in the next compartment, to have some time to themselves.

"Your sandwiches."

Harry remembered Mrs. Weasley's advice.

"Steak sandwich, thank you, Harry."

Justin happily accepted it.

"blueberry……"

Hermione glanced inside happily.

The group turned their attention to Sheehan, whose sandwich had unmistakably turned into a pumpkin pie.

Sheen carefully put the sandwich away.

"Who is he?"

Ron found the sleeping wizard.

"Professor RJ Lu Ping."

Justin immediately whispered.

"how do you know?"

Ron asked curiously.

Hermione was also confused. Didn't she just hear something about the shopkeeper?
However, she did know that Justin and Sheehan had opened a bookstore, where the old manager was not always present, but often wore a hood and spent his days tidying up the shop.

I heard he's leaving soon, specifically because the old shopkeeper has been conducting intense interviews for a new wizard shopkeeper for several days in a row.

Hermione also heard that his requirements were terrifyingly high… “He’s from Grimm’s Bookshop…”

Hermione answered instinctively.

"It's written on his box."

Unexpectedly, Justin pointed to the luggage rack above the man's head in his reply.

There was a tattered little box there, tied with many ropes, the ropes neatly knotted, and Professor RJ Lu Ping's name was printed on one corner of the box, the letters already peeling off a bit.

The small box looked like it was about to fall apart, but it was entwined by a magical vine. Whenever the box was deformed by the swaying train, the seemingly living vine would bind it tightly.

No one knows who performed the transformation.

Besides Lupin himself and...

"Oh, Sheen, look, what a wonderful Transfiguration..."

I know you did this, I mean, it's not fair.

Justin said quietly, with a hint of feigned resentment.

“You don’t have a broken box.”

Sheen said.

"I can have it."

Justin's eyes lit up.

"Come on—"

Hermione couldn't stand it anymore.

"I wonder what subject he teaches?"

Ron looked at Professor Lupin's lifeless figure with great interest and asked.

"Is that even a question?"

Hermione whispered,
"There's only one vacancy, isn't there? Defense Against the Dark Arts."

The young wizards already have two teachers who teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, but each only taught them for a year.

There are rumors, or rather, Hagrid's words, that the job was cursed.

"Okay, I hope he can handle it."

Ron said skeptically,
"Look at him, a powerful witch could take him down, wouldn't she..."

Even Hermione frowned at this.

They went to great lengths to get rid of that fraudster Lockhart, and now a bookstore manager has come to be their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor—it doesn't seem very convincing at all.

“Sheen…”

When faced with a problem, Hermione chooses to consult the young wizard.

"Mr. Lupin has ample talent."

Sheen said.

"Oh?"

Hermione was pleasantly surprised and wanted to ask something else, but Ron interrupted her again.

"Sheen, are you going to Hogsmeade now? If we're all together,"

Ron said to Sheehan with great interest,
“Blake wouldn’t dare—”

"Please, Ron, stop talking nonsense."

Hermione glared at him, still angry, and said irritably,
“Blake killed a large group of people on a crowded street. Do you really think he wouldn’t dare to do it just because we’re here?”

As she spoke, she fiddled with the straps of the Crookshan willow basket.

"Stop! Stop! You have to open it—don't let that thing out!"

Ron said, but it was too late.

Crookshan nimbly jumped out of the basket, stretched, yawned, and leaped onto Ron's lap.

The bulge in Ron's pocket trembled, and Ron angrily pushed Crookshank off the hill.

"Get lost!"

"Ron!"

Hermione said angrily.

Ron was about to reply when Professor Lupin suddenly stirred. They looked at him worriedly, only to see him turn his head to the other side, his mouth slightly open, and continue sleeping.

The Hogwarts Express traveled north, and the scenery outside the window became increasingly desolate.

As the clouds thickened, the sky gradually darkened.

(End of this chapter)