The Return to Hogwarts

"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked quickly. "Your gold is gone too?"

"It's a magic wand!"

Harry cried out in alarm, "My wand is gone!"

Chapter 487 Untitled

2023-09-19

"Your wand is missing, Harry?" Hermione frowned deeply. "What happened? Where did you leave it, in the woods?"

For wizards, the importance of a wand is self-evident. In the three years since entering the wizarding world, Harry has never let his wand leave his side. Suddenly realizing that he has lost his wand, a sense of weakness and helplessness welled up in his heart. He clenched his teeth and carefully recalled the way he hurriedly escaped from the Quidditch pitch, thinking about where his wand might be.

"Gold!" Ron seemed to have collapsed. He turned the money bag Charlie had given him inside out, but couldn't find a single copper nut. His face flushed red, and he roared fiercely.

"Our gold is gone too, Hermione, a whole thousand Galleons! The bonus Ludo Bagman gave us is gone! Who stole our gold?!"

Since they met Ron, Harry and Hermione had never seen him so angry. Ron's lips were trembling, and he kept waving his money bag. His face looked like he was about to swallow the thief who stole his gold whole!

Ron's appearance didn't surprise Harry and Hermes much. Ron had always been bothered by his family's dire financial situation, and the thousand Galleons he won from Ludo Bagman was nothing short of a life-changing opportunity for him. But now that someone had stolen his gold, Ron's angry reaction was not surprising.

Hermione bit her lower lip, looking at the frantic Ron with a worried expression. Even she didn't know how to soothe Ron's anger.

Harry also had a share of the lost money, and normally he would be angry too. However, the worry about losing his wand completely drained him of the energy to worry about anything else.

Three years ago, Harry, under Hagrid's guidance, bought this wand from the best wandmaker in Diagon Alley. This wand was practically proof that he had officially entered the mysterious magical world. For the past three years, his wand has helped him through many difficult times like a brother. Even though this wand has a somewhat ambiguous relationship with Voldemort, Harry is still very satisfied with it.

In the garden, on either side of the dining table, Ron was pounding his fist and cursing the thief who had taken his gold, while Harry, seemingly petrified, stood frozen in place, desperately trying to figure out where he might have left his wand. Hermione looked at the two boys with concern, unsure of who to comfort first.

"I remembered!"

Suddenly, Harry's eyes lit up, and he called out to Hermione with a delighted expression.

"Back in the penthouse, I still had my wand. I used it to fight that wizard in the black cloak, but in the end... I got whipped!"

Harry rolled up his sleeves to show Hermione his right arm, now completely healed by Cleopatra.

"That whip really hurt! I couldn't hold my wand at all; it flew out of my hand and then... then landed in a pile of rubble!"

"Didn't you retrieve it before we escaped, Harry?"

Hermione stared at Harry, seemingly incredulous at his carelessness.

“I remember it!” Harry slammed his fist on the table in anger, shouting indignantly.

"But then that witch almost killed Sirius, and then the dark witch named Creona appeared, followed by Professor Blaine's duel with her, and finally Sirius and Mr. Weasley urged us to escape the box as soon as possible. Hermione, you would have forgotten too!"

That's true. One thing after another has happened tonight, and under those circumstances, it's not hard to understand why Harry forgot to pick up his wand.

"I need to find my wand, or how am I going to attend classes next school year!"

After a few seconds of frustration, Harry suddenly said to Hermione.

"Now?"

Hermione frowned, her tone full of disapproval, and she made no attempt to hide her thoughts.

“Running out now is not a wise decision, Harry. You saw it all. When we came back, there were panicked wizards everywhere. The Ministry of Magic was searching everywhere. They thought there might be injured thugs who couldn't get away still hiding here. I bet if people hadn't seen Professor Blaine go into this tent, the Ministry of Magic would have come in and searched. You know what I mean, Harry. It could be dangerous!”

"We should go!"

Ron, who had been frantically trying to calm himself down, suddenly fell silent; his eyes were bloodshot and filled with alarming veins.

"I'm going to go into the woods and see. That despicable, vile thief must have attacked us while our attention was drawn to Professor Blaine's duel!"

Hermione pursed her lips, looking at Ron with a hint of disappointment in her clear amber eyes.

Harry and Ron both insisted on going, and Hermione knew she couldn't stop the two boys, but she still grabbed Harry and Ron's sleeves.

“At least we should tell Sirius, Harry. He'll be worried sick if he finds we're not in the tent. Or... notify your father, Ron. There are bound to be a lot of Ministry of Magic officials on the road to the Quidditch pitch, and we—”

"Sirius was injured tonight, Hermione. He needs to rest, and I don't want to disturb him any further—"

Harry considered Hermione's suggestion for a second, then rejected it, while Ron shook off Hermione's hand and rushed out.

"We have Harry's Invisibility Cloak; the Ministry of Magic can't find us!"

Although she didn't approve of Harry and Ron going out on adventures at this time, Hermione still followed them.

Over the course of summer vacation, the three of them had grown taller and more slender. The invisibility cloak that could easily cover them when they were in first grade could only barely cover them now. Fortunately, Sirius's tent was set up close enough to the woods, otherwise, crossing such a large area of ​​woodland would have been a real ordeal.

As expected, the outside world remains chaotic.

Many of the people who had gathered here to watch the game had left, but quite a few still chose to spend the night here. However, not all of these people who chose to stay were doing so for safety reasons. Some foreign wizards with ulterior motives had their eyes on the tents left behind by the travelers who had fled in panic. They broke in without permission, looted the valuables inside, and then sneaked away.

"Oh, all these things are mine, what do you want to do with them!"

They hadn't gone far when Harry and his companions encountered such an incident: several Ministry of Magic employees cornered the petty thief, demanding proof that the pile of exquisite ornaments he was carrying truly belonged to him. Unable to reach an agreement, the two sides quickly clashed, engaging in a violent fight in front of the luxurious tent.

"Oh, so you dare to cause trouble for the Ministry of Magic at this time? Just wait and see, the Dementors of Azkaban will give you a good beating!"

They met at Weasel Hill this morning. Cedric Diggory's father, along with a few others, hurried past Harry to join the battle. Not long after, the foreign wizard who was trying to take advantage of the chaos was hit by a Stunning Charm. When Mr. Diggory and another wizard rode the unconscious thief past Harry again, Mr. Diggory said angrily.

"Let's go, don't waste time, Harry, let's go find your wands!"

Hermione nudged Harry's ribs and said impatiently.

Harry pursed his lips, not uttering a word of his disappointment with the wizarding world at what he had witnessed. The wizarding world was not a fairy tale world; Harry had already experienced this firsthand last summer when Professor Blaine took him into that eerie and mysterious underground cavern.

The security inside the woods was even more stringent than outside. In an area roughly the size of two classrooms, there was at least one Ministry of Magic official patrolling. After tonight's events, these officers dared not be careless in the slightest. They surveyed the dark woods with the sharp eyes of hawks. Ron accidentally stepped on a branch while rushing to find Galon. It was just a slight sound, but the Auror in charge of that area noticed the movement. He immediately rushed over and, after circling the area several times without finding anything amiss, slowly walked away to other places.

call--

Even Ron, who was obsessed with his gold, was terrified by this turn of events. He instinctively let out a breath, and then Hermione delivered a sharp blow to his ribs.

Having experienced this minor mishap, Harry and his companions moved forward with even greater caution than before. After about twenty minutes, they hadn't moved more than two hundred feet when, on a small hill, Harry spotted several people wearing dark green wizard robes with a cross of bones and wands embroidered on the back.

These wizards, dressed in distinctive styles, were gathered around a wizard lying on the ground, barely alive. Some were waving their wands, casting a burst of light, while others were carefully feeding the wounded wizard potions. In short, three or four people were busy running around.

Those are—

Ha asked in a whisper.

“A healer from St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Injuries.” Ron’s voice was urgent.

vomit--

At that moment, the healer who had his back to them suddenly stood up, exposing the injured man's face to the three of them. Harry got goosebumps all over after just one glance, while Hermione squatted down and vomited.

Chapter 488 The Astute Hermione

2023-09-19

Hermione covered her mouth and squatted down, dry heaving. Harry and Ron also gasped as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over their heads, shivering. They hurriedly looked away, but the scene they had just glimpsed was deeply imprinted in their minds and would not be forgotten.

The wizard lying on the ground was charred and his skin was cracked. Blood seeping from the shocking cracks on his body stained the ground red.

Most horrifyingly, the wizard's nose had melted away completely, like a candle that had burned out, leaving only a limp mass of flesh plastered on his face. Even so, the healers at St. Mungo's did everything they could to save his life, but even Harry could see that it was all in vain.

Sure enough, just two minutes later, the healers surrounding the injured wizard stood up one by one with sighs. They took off their hats and bowed to express their grief for the deceased.

"Oh, poor fellow—"

The therapist who had previously turned his back to them sighed and said...

"If his leg hadn't been crushed by the shelf, he would have had a chance to live. He was too close to Mr. Blaine's magic; his body was practically roasted alive!"

What will his family say when they see him?

Another therapist said with concern,

"Strictly speaking, he died at the hands of Mr. Blaine."

"I hope his family won't make a mistake."

The healer, who was administering the potion to the deceased, said calmly.

"If his family wants a huge sum of money, the Ministry will give it to them. But if they want to cause trouble for Mr. Blaine, the Ministry will not allow it. Without Mr. Blaine's help tonight, hundreds of times more people might have died here. If they really dare to go to Hogwarts to demand an explanation from Mr. Blaine, I'll kick their heads off with my boots!"

Hermione took a deep breath and stood up. She mustered her courage to look at the body that was still faintly visible, emitting wisps of white smoke. Her pretty face was filled with sadness.

Professor Blaine certainly didn't intend to kill the wizard, but the unfortunate wizard did indeed die at Professor Blaine's hands. So, in this situation, should Professor Blaine bear any responsibility?

Even Hermione couldn't figure this out, but she knew that the healer was right: if the deceased's family wanted to hold Professor Blaine accountable, the Ministry of Magic wouldn't agree, nor would the British wizarding community or the residents of the wizarding world who came to watch the game.

Hermione, Harry, and Ron didn't want to discuss the unfortunate wizard's death in depth; they remained silent and continued walking.

The lights in the Quidditch arena had dimmed, and although the starry sky overhead was dreamlike, it couldn't brighten the woods. Harry and his friends wandered around the woods for a while before finally finding the small hill where they had stopped to watch the Quidditch match after escaping from the arena. This was currently the liveliest spot in the woods.

Several groups of people gathered on the high slope, the largest group undoubtedly being wizards from the British Ministry of Magic, followed by staff from the Bulgarian and Irish teams, and the 'mascots' that the two teams brought tonight.

"What's going on? Why are they still arguing about the result of the match?"

Surrounded by staff from three parties, the goblin and the Veela, now in her true form, were still arguing fiercely in English with completely different accents. Harry listened for a while with a frown before he realized that the focus of their dispute was still the Bulgarian team's less-than-civilized playing style in the latter half of the match.

"What a waste of time!"

Ron gritted his teeth and said that he desperately wanted to go up the hillside to check if there were any clues left by the thief, but looking at the hillside full of people, he knew that no matter if the thief left any clues, it had been trampled clean.

Ron glared angrily at the group of people on the hillside, then suddenly his eyes lit up, and he turned to look at Hermione.

“Do you remember, Hermione, there were other people on this hill besides us? Let me think… Krum, of course, he wouldn’t steal my money, but there was also a very old guy. Do you remember his name?”

"Ephias Dorji--"