The Return to Hogwarts

"He always picks on adventurous kids."

"This assessment isn't entirely polite; Filch's love for this school is second to none,"

Amosta casually remarked as he flipped through the documents.

"Without Filch, you would find every corridor in the castle reeking of dung. I think you know very well what those energetic little wizards are capable of."

Sirius's brow unfurrowed, and he shrugged innocently, no longer bothering with Filch's wild ideas.

Not long after, there was another loud knocking on the office door. When the door was opened, Hagrid, wearing his mole-skin coat and carrying his little red umbrella, squeezed in.

"Oh, Professor, are you really not going to consider getting a bigger door?"

Hagrid muttered.

"Nobody wants to mess with my doorframe except you, Hagrid."

Amosta rubbed his forehead and smiled helplessly.

Hagrid chuckled a few times, then handed over a piece of parchment covered in crooked, illegible writing—a piece even more obscure than the ancient runes on Slytherin's locket and Ravenclaw's crown.

"I need to buy some medicine to get rid of carnivorous slugs, Professor. These nasty creatures have been ruining the vegetables in the garden all winter."

"It's rare to find a magical creature that you also find repulsive, Hagrid—"

Amosta made a joke, and then he had to let Hagrid read the words on the parchment himself, because after frowning and looking at it for a long time, he really couldn't understand anything. After he figured it out, he signed his name on the request form without hesitation.

"Thank you, Professor—"

Hagrid nodded and said,

"I need to hurry over to Professor McGonagall to collect the money. Hopefully, I can catch the nine o'clock train, so that I might still make it to tonight's dinner!"

Hagrid turned and walked away, muttering to himself as he went.

"Why don't the wizards build a bigger fireplace?"

Amosta chuckled at his complaint and prepared to continue his work, but before Hagrid could leave, something suddenly rang out and he called out again.

"Wait, Hagrid."

"Is there anything I can bring you?"

"It's not——"

Amosta gently shook his head.

"Actually, what I wanted to ask was about Buckbeak's problem, um... do you have any clue now?"

To be honest, this question surprised Hagrid quite a bit, because this was the first time Professor Blaine had inquired about it since Buckbeak's incident. But when the topic came up, Hagrid's hairy face immediately fell.

"The Committee on the Handling of Dangerous Creatures has scheduled the questioning of that poor little guy for mid-March. I'm preparing the materials. To be honest, I'm not very good at this, but luckily Hermione helped me write something during her vacation."

Amosta nodded slightly, lowered his head to think for a moment, and then said thoughtfully.

"But you surely know very well, Hagrid, this isn't a matter of right or wrong. The Department of Magical Creatures Control is unlikely to follow the rules completely. Lucius Malfoy is taking his anger out on you."

“I understand, Professor, but I…”

Hagrid's eyes welled up with tears, and his voice was thick with nasal tone.

“I can’t give up on that child. It’s all because of me. I convinced it to take my class because I thought it could be friends with the other little ones.”

Hagrid is still the same as ever--

Sirius, who was itching to voice his opinion, wasn't going to miss any opportunity to do so.

“Crooked Hill told me about that hippogriff. Why can’t he just secretly let Buckbeak go? As long as he doesn’t leave any evidence, with Dumbledore around, the Ministry of Magic can’t do anything to him!”

"Perhaps his past experience of being expelled made Hagrid more afraid of breaking the law—"

Amosta stood up and said that he was going to put aside the pile of boring documents for the time being and go to the auditorium to enjoy a delicious breakfast.

"But if you want to solve this, it's actually not difficult, is it?"

Sirius revealed his true intentions: "That scoundrel Malfoy has something to ask of you. Perhaps if you just give Malfoy a message, he'll drop the charges immediately."

"I do not deny."

Amosta nodded.

"But I don't want to help Hagrid solve his problem this way; it won't help."

Sirius was about to say something, but before he could speak, he found himself turned into a cat again, and at that very moment, the office door opened.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron burst in, but they were accompanied by far more than just them. The entire Gryffindor Quidditch team and Harry's dormitory staff blocked the corridor, but none of them followed them into the office.

"I heard you've been looking for me everywhere,"

Looking at the three young wizards whose faces lit up with joy upon seeing him, Amostella smiled and said...

"I hope it's because of your concern, and not because of the fire crossbow bolt in your hand."

Harry scratched his face and laughed sheepishly.

"Oh, you've already heard about it, haven't you?"

After greeting Professor Blaine, Hermione couldn't wait to share her thoughts.

"Who else but you would give Harry a flying broom for free? I mean, this isn't just any broom; it's worth more than all the brooms owned by the entire Gryffindor team combined."

"That's not necessarily true, Hermione!"

Ron immediately retorted, unconvinced.

"Harry is very famous; he has just as many fans as Lockhart!"

Hermione's face flushed red at the mention of the charlatan Gilderoy Lockhart; her adoration for Lockhart was one of her few indelible 'stains'.

Harry was used to Hermione and Ron's daily bickering. Seeing that Professor Blaine had already stated his purpose, he handed over the Firebolt directly, his eyes filled with anticipation as he looked at Professor Blaine stroking the shiny ash wood handle of the Firebolt.

The Firebolt is indeed an excellent flying broom. Putting aside its exquisite materials, the ingenious design of its magical corridors inside is enough to amaze and amaze Amosta.

“I don’t see anything wrong with this broom, Harry. In my opinion, it’s safe.”

Not only in the office, but also in the corridor outside, a burst of enthusiastic cheers suddenly erupted after Professor Blaine uttered those words.

"I knew it would be like this!"

Oliver Wood waved his hand vigorously and said excitedly,

"I'll see who can stop us from winning the championship this year!"

"Get out there on the playground and show me what you've got, Harry!"

Through the wall, Harry's teammate Arya cheered.

"I'm not questioning your competence, Professor—"

Hermione frowned and glared at Amosta, seemingly very dissatisfied with his conclusion.

"But isn't it really a strange thing? Who would spend a whole year's salary to buy a flying broomstick like this for Harry?"

"Oh, come on!"

In his excitement, Ron didn't forget to tease Hermione.

"Do you really have to prove that your point of view is never wrong?"

After the three of them left the office noisily, Sirius immediately asked in an eager tone,

"Can I go and watch Harry train? Staying here with you all the time makes me feel like I'm in Azkaban!"

"No problem at all,"

Amosta's smile held a strange meaning.

"I'm not going to keep you locked up in the office forever. If you find it too stuffy here, you can wander around the Forbidden Forest for a few days. Hmm, I don't need to help you disguise yourself. Your Animagus form is perfect in itself. Of course, such a big dog would be very conspicuous on campus. If you could control your size, it would be even more perfect."

"A word is settled!"

Sirius said happily,

"Body shape is not a problem, I have my own solutions."

Sirius first transformed into a large black dog, and then, amidst a series of teeth-grinding clicking sounds of bones snapping together, he turned into a tiny puppy about the height of a low stool. After wagging his tail excitedly at Amosta, he dashed out through the automatically opening door, looking incredibly joyful.

Amosta, with his bottom resting on the edge of the table, watched Sirius's figure disappear into the room. Suddenly, the finger resting on his thigh twitched, and from the void, the sound of chains breaking abruptly rang out.

I'm asking for more monthly votes; I want to reach 1000 this month.

Chapter 285 A Brilliant Performance

2023-05-07

January's weather was still predominantly cold and damp, but none of the young wizards who rushed to the Quidditch pitch cared about the howling wind. They formed a circle, with Harry, eager to try his hand at the game, at the center of the circle.

Wood glanced at Harry's broom with a fanatical, adoring look, then said impatiently,

"Get into the swing of things, Harry!"

Even though Sirius Black's presence still cast a shadow over his heart, even though he, Ron, and Hermione had to clean most of the castle's bathrooms during the pleasant Christmas holidays because of Malfoy's betrayal, and even though the origin of the broom was a mystery, Harry was still incredibly happy at this moment, and nothing could disturb him.

He was finally about to ride that fire bolt and fly into the sky!

Ever since he received the broom, Harry had been fantasizing about this scene every night, and now his dream had finally come true. He didn't want to wait a second longer, and the moment Wood gave the instruction, Harry immediately kicked his foot and shot into the sky like a phantom.