The Return to Hogwarts

Amostella looked at the terrified Malfoy. The little guy clearly realized that his disruptive behavior in Defense Against the Dark Arts class was the trigger for the fight between the two professors, and now, realizing the serious consequences, he was frightened.

No one will punish you for this—

Amosta said with a smile.

Draco's face turned pale, his lips ashen, and he merely nodded, his body tense, in response to Professor Blaine's reassurance.

Dumbledore was repairing the dilapidated school hospital, which was covered in dust. Amostella had no intention of staying any longer to help Sirius and Professor Snape clean up the mess.

"Come on, Draco, come to my office. I happen to need your help with something—"

Chapter 371 Physical Education Class?

2023-07-07

That afternoon, no junior wizard could concentrate on their lessons; everyone was buzzing with discussion about what was, in the most significant way, a true duel between professors in Hogwarts' history.

Amidst the various opinions, people gradually pieced together the truth of this duel.

No one was too surprised that Professor Blaine had subdued Professor Snape and Professor Black with just one spell. After all, since Professor Blaine entered Hogwarts, the young wizards had witnessed or heard many incredible things he had done, and people had become accustomed to it.

Now, in the minds of young wizards, Professor Blaine's image is gradually approaching that of Dumbledore, and in some houses, the idea that Professor Blaine has surpassed their headmaster is becoming increasingly popular.

People were more concerned about the outcome of the duel between Professor Black and Professor Snape.

There are significant disagreements on this matter.

From the mouths of several young wizards who witnessed the duel, people learned the details of the battle, but regarding the outcome, the young wizards who lacked experience had different opinions.

Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw maintained a relatively impartial view, but the Slytherin students firmly believed that their Headmaster had won, while not a single Gryffindor junior wizard thought Professor Black had lost this fierce duel.

In just one afternoon, the atmosphere at the school became inexplicably tense.

Whether in the classroom or at school, the young wizards from Slytherin and Gryffindor would always glare at each other with fierce eyes when they met. The tense atmosphere between the two sides even forced Dumbledore to arrange for professors who did not have classes to patrol the castle.

None of the individuals involved appeared in anyone's sight. Sirius and Snape each asked their colleagues to cover their classes, Professor Blaine remained in his office, and even Malfoy did not appear all afternoon. As night fell and a dazzling array of stars appeared on the ceiling of the Great Hall during dinner, no one saw them.

Harry averted his angry gaze from Ernie Macmillan of Hufflepuff, for he had just seen Ernie gesticulating wildly as he expressed his opinion on the duel, a conclusion that Harry found unacceptable.

"Sirius will definitely not lose to Snape!"

Harry spoke with unwavering conviction once more, his words eliciting agreement from the surrounding classmates. Strangely, neither Ron nor Hermione offered their opinions. They exchanged a glance, and Hermione cautiously spoke...

"Why don't you go ask Sirius, Harry? He certainly won't hide anything from you—"

In fact, after the afternoon classes ended, Ron suggested they should go ask Sirius Black, but it was Harry who refused.

"I'm trying not to bother him right now, Ron—"

When asked about Ron's question, Harry said, "He has just taken over Professor Lupin's job and has a lot to do. I don't want to bother him with this."

Ha used this reason to firmly reject Ron's proposal, but in fact, this was not his true thought.

With several professors absent, the staff dining table was half empty. Dumbledore was discussing some matters with the heads of the three houses, while Hagrid noticed the worry in Harry's eyes and gave him a reassuring look.

At this moment, Malfoy, who had been missing for most of the day, suddenly reappeared, looking excited as if he had encountered something worth celebrating.

Harry, Harry, and his two companions exchanged a glance, a somber atmosphere hanging over them.

Generally speaking, anything that makes Malfoy happy is not good news for them.

Strangely, Malfoy appeared with Filch. He didn't immediately go into the Great Hall for a meal, but instead helped Filch post some notices on the bulletin board in the foyer.

As is well known, the Malfoy family are staunch supporters of the pure-blood theory. Malfoy looks down on wizards who are not pure-bloods. In the first semester of his second year, he even called Hermione a Mudblood. As for Filch, almost everyone knows that he is a Squib.

When the young wizards in Slytherin were in the castle, they never gave Filch a friendly look, but Malfoy, who was a prime example of this, actually had the leisure to help Filch with his work, which was really puzzling!

"I bet that old idiot Filch has come up with some useless rules again—"

Fred gave a contemptuous smile and looked at his brother, and sure enough, he saw ill intent in George's eyes.

"Maybe we should teach him a lesson—"

George echoed.

“You’d better keep your composure—” Hermione kept staring at the arrogant Malfoy until he returned to the Slytherin table, where he was animatedly discussing something with those around him.

“Filch is now under the jurisdiction of the Student Safety Office, which means that any decision he makes is authorized by Professor Blaine. If you don’t mind offending Professor Blaine, you are welcome to continue your pranks.”

Why don't we go and take a look?

Harry suddenly said that he saw at the Ravenclaw table, Cho and a woman with light reddish-gold curls walking hand in hand toward the notice board. At the Hufflepuff table, their Quidditch team captain, Cedric Diggory, who had defeated him in the Quidditch match last year, also stood up, caught up with Cho, greeted her, and walked toward the notice board together.

Hermione noticed Harry's unusual expression; she raised her delicate eyebrows.

"Okay, let's go take a look."

Their rising was like a signal; the sound of tables and chairs clattering echoed through the hall, and many young wizards, unable to contain their curiosity, rushed towards the foyer from the four long tables.

The spacious foyer was crowded with so many young wizards that the first few were pressed tightly together. Harry could smell the fresh scent of Cho Chang's hair, which was right next to him. Harry felt his heart had never been beating so fast, not even a second before catching the Golden Snitch in Quidditch. This feeling intoxicated him, yet also bewildered him, until he noticed Cho Chang looking at him with a strange expression, which brought him back to his senses.

"Oh, what?"

Harry realized that Cho Chang was talking to him, but he couldn't hear anything clearly, so he asked in embarrassment.

"Oh--"

Cho Chang pursed her lips, struggling to fend off the pushing young wizards, but her arm still involuntarily pressed against Harry's chest. She smiled apologetically at Harry.

"I mean, Professor Black, your godfather, how is he doing? Everyone's talking about his duel with Professor Snape!"

Harry had no idea how Sirius was doing. He opened his mouth to speak, but Cedric, who had overheard their conversation, interrupted.

“I don’t think Professor Black would lose to Snape. He’s a hero, isn’t he? Even the Dementors of Azkaban couldn’t defeat him.”

Harry felt uncomfortable with Cedric's sudden outburst, but he had no choice but to respond.

“I agree with you,” Harry nodded. “I don’t think anything can defeat him.”

Cho Chang was clearly more familiar with Cedric and also closer to him. As they looked at the text on the announcement, they talked about the Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff match that had just ended last weekend, in which Ravenclaw had ultimately won.

Cedric didn't seem to be as 'dumb-headed and unable to speak coherently' as Fred had described. In fact, he seemed quite adept at flattery, and after a few words, Cho Chang lost interest in Harry.

If the feeling just now was like floating on clouds, then Harry now felt like he had been brutally trampled into a cold hell. His eyesight seemed to be malfunctioning, and the words on the notice right in front of him were avoiding his gaze. He was so disoriented that he couldn't see anything clearly.

Hermione stood right behind them, and she saw everything clearly. Faced with Harry's easy defeat, she had nothing to say but sigh.

"Oh, Professor Blaine plans to introduce physical education classes to improve the physical fitness of young wizards, starting in the third and fourth years—wizards in other years who are interested can submit an application to the Student Safety Office with the Dean's approval."

Ron started yelling and shouting.

"Sports and physical fitness, what strange words!"

Ron frowned as his foot was stomped on, looking at Hermione, who was half a head shorter than him and glaring at him irritably.

Why did you step on me?!

Chapter 372 Attention

2023-07-08

At nine o'clock in the evening, a time when most people would be going to bed, the Gryffindor common room was still brightly lit. Everywhere, young wizards could be seen discussing Professor Blaine's upcoming physical education class at Hogwarts. Even the young wizards who were Gryffindor's prefects forgot to remind everyone to keep order and joined in the lively discussion.

When a hot topic arises in the wizarding world or at Hogwarts, wizarding 'natives' like Ron are always more likely to be popular.

Because native wizards have a deeper understanding of the wizarding world, their knowledge of magic is far superior to that of young wizards like Harry who grew up in the Muggle world. Of course, there are also 'freaks' like Hermione.

But this time, things were different. Young wizards born in the wizarding world gathered around wizards like Harry, Hermione, Dean, and Seamus, who grew up in the Muggle world, to hear them explain what 'physical education class' was all about.

Amidst the unnoticed buzzing, the portrait of the Fat Lady opened, and Percy Weasley, the leader, crawled in through the hole. When he saw the 'spectacle' in the lounge, he instinctively frowned, wanting to reprimand her. However, considering the special circumstances and that he himself was breaking school rules, he swallowed the reprimand that was on the tip of his tongue.

"Don't block the doorway, Mr. Chairman!"

Percy's two twin brothers, Fred and George, then climbed into the lounge. They grabbed Percy's arms and moved him away from the hole to make room for Ginny, Colin, and the others behind him.

"How about it?"

By the candlelight near the fireplace, Ron, who had spotted them coming in, waved to them.

"easy--"

George tossed his hair, looking nonchalant. "Didn't take much effort, did you, Fred?"

"Excuse me, could you please move aside?"

Fred pulled Ron up from the sofa, plopped down, and let out a long sigh of relief.

“It took us a bit of effort to persuade her to sign the application. Professor McGonagall had no problem with Ginny’s application, but he was clearly not happy that George and I were involved,”

Fred shook his head and said,

"She's worried that this will make our OWLS results even worse, but who cares about that stuff? Do you care, George?"

“I don’t care,” George replied curtly.

Ginny giggled, while Ron, whose bottom was nowhere to be found, glared at Ginny with displeasure.

"Speaking of which, why did you apply to participate? You're only in second grade, and you're a girl, aren't you?"

“Do you have some kind of prejudice against girls, Ron—” Ginny questioned, but then she noticed Harry was also looking at him, and a blush immediately rose to her fair cheeks, her tone softening.

"Professor Blaine certainly wants his course to get more support, doesn't he? He rescued me from the secret room, I should be grateful, and besides, I think the course will be very interesting!"

This is indeed a very strong reason; Professor Blaine has done the Weasleys a great favor, a point Ron cannot refute.