The Return to Hogwarts

Harry picked up the quill and quickly scribbled down a sentence, then handed it to Ron, who was clearly impatient but pretending to be indifferent. Ron did waver for a moment after seeing the messages written by Petit and Harry, but remembering the tragic death of Scabbers, his heart hardened again.

'Absolutely not, unless she apologizes first!'

"Oh, what's going on?"

Professor McGonagall frowned as she stepped down from the podium and looked at the students, saying...

"Haven't you all realized how well you've praised me in my class yet?"

Sitting in the far west row, Malfoy was also a little confused by Hermione's behavior. He subconsciously glanced at Harry's seat, but Pansy Parkinson, who was sitting next to him, suddenly raised her hand.

"Miss Parkinson's?"

Professor McGonagall called out the name with some surprise, "Alright, you can answer this question."

"The conditions required to master Animagus are extremely demanding. The entire process takes months, and if even one step is wrong, you have to start all over again. This process can be repeated over and over again, which may take several years. Therefore, it is very easy for wizards to go mad. As a result, the Ministry of Magic strictly controls this spell!"

Parkinson gave the answer in a high-pitched voice.

Her answer was perfect; even Professor McGonagall couldn't find any fault with it. Just as she was about to add five points to Slytherin's score, Parkinson, who had stood up, suddenly pointed at Hermione's seat and loudly proclaimed with a sneer,

"Professor McGonagall, I've found Hermione Granger sleeping in your class!"

Hermione, her mind filled with today's lessons, the gruesome death of Scabbers, and the resolute Ron, was half-asleep when she suddenly heard someone call her name. Instantly, she snapped awake, instinctively shoving her chair aside. Her swollen, red eyes met Professor McGonagall's furrowed brow.

"Excuse me, Professor, I didn't hear your question clearly!"

The classroom fell silent for a moment, then suddenly erupted from Slytherin's side with the sound of chairs and desks shaking and loud laughter.

“There’s no need to worry, Miss Granger,”

Professor McGonagall glared unhappily at Parkinson, who was slamming his fist on the table, then strode over to Hermione, took her arm, and looked down at Hermione's goldfish-like eyes with concern, saying...

"You seem to be severely lacking in rest, Miss Granger?"

Hermione, already ashamed of being mocked, shuddered at Professor McGonagall's worried question. Her swollen, red eyes widened, and her voice was filled with pleading.

"No, Professor, I... I just had a nightmare last night, Professor, so..."

"All right,"

Professor McGonagall couldn't possibly miss such an obvious excuse, but seeing the pleading and resolute look in Hermione's eyes, she softened, even though she was already planning to take back the Time-Turner. After a moment's hesitation, she said firmly,

“I think you need to go to Mrs. Pomfrey now. She has some ways to help you recover. Miss Granger, there’s not much left in this lesson, you can go now.”

Squeak!

The heavy slam of the door shut instantly silenced the mocking laughter and uneasy chatter inside the Transformation Classroom.

There were still a few minutes left before the end of the last class of the morning. There wasn't a single professor or student coming or going on these floors where classrooms were densely packed. Hermione held onto the handrail of the stairs, dragging seven or eight large books, and staggered down the stairs towards the school hospital.

Crookshanks couldn't have killed Scabbers, Ron, and Harry. Poor Crookshanks.

The embarrassment from the Transfiguration class quickly faded from Hermione's mind. She was filled with sorrow as she thought about what had happened the night before, Ron's heartless words, and Harry, who, despite trying to appease Ron's anger, still believed that Crookshanks had killed Scabbers.

Wow!

Hermione's backpack straps finally gave way, and each of the two-inch-thick magic books crashed to the ground. Hermione frantically squatted down and began to pack the books back into her backpack one by one. One book was a few steps down, and Hermione, holding the open backpack, hurriedly reached out to grab it. However, the weight of the backpack caused her to suddenly lose her balance!

Boom!

After a short, panicked scream, Hermione tumbled down seven or eight steps, her forehead hitting the opposite wall. Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed unconscious.

In the office on the third floor, Amosta, with a solemn expression, saw this scene, strode to the door, and slammed it shut as he left.

Standing at the corner between the fifth and fourth floors, Amosta looked down at the little witch, who was either unconscious or asleep. As his right foot was in the air, a sudden realization flashed in his eyes. He looked around at the empty corridor, paused for a moment, and then his figure gradually blended into the wall.

A few seconds after a hidden spell entered the little witch's body, Hermione, who had collapsed to the ground, suddenly let out a soft moan. She struggled to support herself with her arms, her bloodshot eyes filled with confusion.

"Oh my god, how long have I been asleep?!"

Confused and oblivious, Hermione hadn't noticed that the bump that should have appeared on her head had disappeared, and she had completely forgotten Professor McGonagall's instructions. After a flurry of checking the time, under Amosta's watchful gaze, she hurriedly pulled out a delicate, glittering hourglass from her collar, which was attached to a thin gold chain. She looked around guiltily, turned the hourglass upside down, and then disappeared from Amosta's sight with a soft "poof."

"really--"

Amostella reappeared, staring at the spot where Hermione had vanished, shaking his head and smiling.

"I've been worried about this. I never expected it to be you, Miss Granger."

Chapter 197 A Screen Full of You

Hermione felt like she was back in first grade, always alone, going to class alone, eating alone, going to the library alone, and her classmates keeping their distance. Well, not quite. She could feel several pairs of worried eyes on her, but they hesitated to approach.

"We should go and comfort her."

Students left the Great Hall in droves, and the Gryffindor tables were nearly empty. Harry, feeling a pang of guilt, tried to persuade Ron, but Ron, still seething with anger, refused.

"I think we can use this opportunity to help her change her arrogant and conceited nature!"

When Ron's angry words reached her ears, Hermione's lips tightened instantly, and she suddenly felt an urge to cry. However, she mustered all her strength to suppress this urge, grabbed her schoolbag, and got up to leave.

"Miss Granger, please wait—"

Hermione turned around in surprise and saw Professor Blaine stand up from the faculty dining table and stride toward her.

“I would appreciate it if you could spare some time to come to my office before dinner, Miss Granger.”

Ignoring the curious onlookers, Amosta calmly uttered these words to Hermione, who looked haggard.

"But, Professor—"

Suddenly, Hermione realized that she hadn't yet paid Professor Blaine a private visit since his return to Hogwarts, which was extremely impolite, especially considering it was rather cold to a professor who had helped her on numerous occasions.

"I probably won't have the time, Professor Blaine. I have two classes this afternoon, I need to finish my paper on the history of magic while I have dinner, and I also have Professor Sinesta's astronomical observation tonight."

Amosta raised an eyebrow, somewhat exasperated by Hermione's straightforwardness and stubbornness.

"Since that's the case,"

Amosta said to Hermione in a firm tone, "Come with me now, Miss Granger."

"Professor Blaine also knows about Hermione's wretched beastly faults,"

As a bewildered Hermione followed Professor Blaine away, Ron immediately said...

"Could he have called her over to persuade her to throw it away?"

"I think it's unlikely, Ron."

Harry said with a hint of helplessness,

"Professor Blaine won't make a big fuss over a cat eating a mouse."

"professor--"

Pushing open the window, the sky remained that unpleasant gray. On the damp lawn, Mrs. Hooch was teaching the first-year Ravenclaw wizards how to sit steadily on their flying brooms.

Amosta rummaged in his pocket, pulled out a bottle of pale green potion, dripped a few drops into a teacup, then poured in boiling tea. He handed it to Hermione with a puzzled look before returning to his seat behind his desk.

“When I visited Professor Snape yesterday, I took some dried Billywig needles from him and brewed myself some sobering potion, but,” Amostella placed the bottle of sobering potion in front of Hermione, “I think you might need it more than I do.”

"Oh, thank you, Professor!"

Hermione said, biting her lip, touched.

Amosta casually waved his hand, signaling Hermione to clear her head first. The office fell silent, with only the cold wind blowing in through the window bars fluttering their wizard robes.

Yesterday afternoon--

Amostella, who had been gazing at the ripples of the Black Lake, keenly noticed Hermione's improved spirits after letting out a sigh of relief. He turned to her and smiled, saying...

“Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley came to see me,”

Hermione immediately tensed up, thinking Professor Blaine was going to scold her for not coming with them to visit him, but then she unexpectedly heard...

"They told me that Ron's rat named Spotty seems to be in bad shape lately because of Crook Hill?"

Hermione's face immediately fell, a look of sorrow on her face. She lowered her head, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Banban is dead."

After a long pause, Hermione spoke with a sob in her voice.

died? !

"He believes it was Crookshan who did it. When did it happen?"

After understanding the general outline of the matter, Amosta frowned almost imperceptibly as he looked at the little witch whose thin shoulders were trembling slightly, feeling somewhat puzzled.

To prevent random people from entering and leaving the Screaming Shack, Amosta set up a warning spell around the house that would alert any living creature with a certain amount of magic that tried to enter the room and automatically attach a location marker. Amosta did this so that if someone accidentally broke in and actually discovered something, he could find them in time and erase their memory.

Last night, during dinner in the Great Hall, based on the information from the alert magic, Crookshanks probably didn't have enough time to 'commit a crime'.

"Not everything that eats mice is a cat; could it be an owl that slipped in through the window?"

“But Ron’s bed has Crookshank hair.”

Hermione was grateful that Professor Blaine did not immediately accuse Crookshanks of the crime, but she could not pretend that Professor Blaine's speculation was true.

"Well, if that's the case..."

Amosta rested his elbow on the armrest, propped his chin on his hand, and said thoughtfully,

"Have you tried using a time-tamper to sneak back in time and take a look?"