The Return to Hogwarts

It wasn't that Amosta wasn't confident in persuading Dumbledore or finding a way to clear the money from Hogwarts before the Board of Governors; it was just that this was the first Triwizard Tournament in over a century, and Amosta didn't want too much commercial involvement in it, or if there was, it shouldn't be so blatant.

Amosta had planned to stay home all day and spend the afternoon refining his teaching plan for the next phase of his physical education class, but a sudden letter from Sirius Black got him out of his office and living room.

Hogsmeade, the Three Broomsticks pub.

After Mrs. Rosmerta, the bar owner, put down her cup of green tea and left the private room happily with her newly acquired autograph, Sirius couldn't wait to ask...

"How is Harry? Is he still angry?"

“Why would I know this?” Amosta rolled her eyes and said irritably, “I’m not this little guy’s babysitter.”

Sirius Black had planned to see Harry off at the Crossroads train station yesterday, but he wasn't sure if Harry was still angry with him, and he hesitated and missed the trip—

Remus, holding a glass of syrupy soda, said with a smile.

"By the time I got there, the Hogwarts Express had vanished!" Sirius slammed his fist on the table in frustration.

“I’m very busy—” Amosta said without any embarrassment. “I’m not here to hear your plans to resolve the feud between father and son.”

“Amostella is right, Sirius. Today is the first day of Hogwarts, and every professor has a lot to do. We shouldn’t take up too much of his time. Let’s start with me, Amostella. After you told me what you wanted me to do, I wrote a letter to Albus.”

Remus's smile faded, and he sat up straight. Seeing that Amosta didn't seem annoyed that he had told Dumbledore, he breathed a slight sigh of relief and continued,

"Albus gave me advice. He thought I didn't have to tie myself down because of Harry. He said if I thought what you asked me to do would be worthwhile, then I should do it."

Amosta nodded slightly. It was expected that Remus would bring these things up to Dumbledore, which was why he had said so much to Dumbledore the night before last.

Needless to say, Sirius made the same choice.

"--These are two letters of introduction. Show Amelia Borns the one first, without letting anyone else see it, and then take the other one to Fudge--"

Amosta pulled out two pre-prepared letters of introduction from his pocket and handed them to Sirius.

Sirius took the letter, rubbed it in his hand a few times, then looked at Amostella with a strange expression.

"Is that all? I mean, are you sure you don't need to personally speak with the Minister of Magic?"

"Don't worry, it's fine--"

Amosta said calmly, "Connelly Fudge will understand what I mean. If I make the request myself, it will only embarrass him."

"But Mrs. Burns is known for her fairness in the wizarding world. Would she be happy to let Sirius Black get into the Auror's office through your connections? And what about Rufus Scrimgeour?"

Remus also raised his own questions.

"Fairness depends on the circumstances,"

Amosta patiently explained to Remus.

“Although Amelia is the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she has limited control over the Ministry of Magic’s most elite magical armed forces. Moreover, I wrote to her simply to let her know that she would understand and support Sirius Black, whom I introduced. As for Rufus Scrimgeour, all Fudge needs to do is agree to this matter; it’s not his place to interfere for the time being.”

Amostella looked at Sirius, who was listening intently, and paused for a moment.

"You don't need to think too much about conspiracies and intrigues. Once you're in the Auror's office, just do your best to demonstrate your abilities. If anything happens, write to me anytime."

Amosta gave the two some instructions, glanced at the sky (it was probably time for dinner at Hogwarts), said goodbye and left in a hurry, leaving Sirius and Remus sitting in the private box looking at each other with complicated feelings.

"When I was teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts earlier this year, I discussed with a few Gryffindor young wizards what grades were needed to become an Auror in Newts--"

Sirius looked at the letter of introduction in his hand and shook his head with deep emotion.

"That's because the Ministry of Magic is well aware that they don't have many means to restrain a wizard like Amostella, a wizard in his early twenties."

Remus's expression was equally complicated.

"We should be so glad Amosta is on our side, otherwise, even with Albus—"

"The Ministry of Magic has much more confidence in Dumbledore—"

For some unknown reason, Sirius smiled dismissively.

"They probably think Dumbledore is just a figurehead with a reputation for intimidation, and that he's actually too old to wield his wand anymore—"

Chapter 507 Harry's Accusation

2023-09-30

Although the storm had stopped, Harry's first day of school was far from pleasant.

The herbalism class with Hufflepuff in the morning went relatively smoothly; Professor Sprout simply had them squeeze the pus from the root of a slug-like plant because it had high medicinal value. But the situation took a sharp turn for the worse during the magical creature conservation class in the morning.

Hagrid, unsurprisingly, gave them another surprise. He brought out a creature even more 'interesting' than the hippogriff—the blast-tailed snail, a small creature that could breathe fire, stab people with the spikes on its shell, and especially liked to bite. In short, no one left Hagrid's class unscathed.

The afternoon divination class didn't impart any useful knowledge to Harry; all he gained was homework that would consume his entire weekend.

"I was just about to come find you, Harry!"

It was dismissal time, and the foyer was packed with people waiting in line for lunch. Harry and Ron stood in line, looking dejected, while Hermione, carrying a huge stack of books, came down the steps. She immediately spotted the distraught Harry and Ron at the end of the line.

"What's going on? Are you going to eat first?"

Hermione looked at Harry with a bit of surprise.

"Don't we always finish Professor Blaine's running exercises before dinner?"

Perhaps it was because the training had made Hermione more resilient and able to bear greater weight, Harry noticed that Hermione was carrying more books with her after school started. Not only was she holding a bunch in her arms, but her schoolbag was also stuffed full. Harry glanced at it casually and realized that these books were clearly not all needed for fourth grade.

Just as Harry was about to return to Hermione's question, Ron spoke first.

“Harry needs rest, Hermione, to recover from this grueling day and to remember our weekend that ended before it even began—”

Harry nodded earnestly.

"That's it."

Hermione raised an eyebrow, clearly disliking Ron's excuse, but considering that 'normal' young wizards need to adjust gradually, she said nothing and joined the queue.

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!"

Hermione, who was the physical education teaching assistant, was just about to remind Harry that he was not allowed to make excuses to skip daily training after meals when a shrill voice suddenly rang out.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned around and saw Malfoy leading Crabbe and Goyle into the foyer from outside the door. Malfoy was panting, with a few strands of hair stuck to his forehead, clearly having just returned from the Quidditch pitch.

Normally, Malfoy and his gang would pick a fight with Harry, but this time, he ignored Harry and went straight to Ron, which was rather unusual.

Harry and Hermione glanced quickly at Ron, then their eyes fell on the newspaper in Malfoy's hand. Their intuition told them that there was something in it that was bad for Ron.

"What?" Ron had clearly sensed something and asked warily.

"Something interesting has happened!"

A smug smile crept across Malfoy's lips. He cleared his throat forcefully, deliberately speaking loudly enough for everyone in the hall to hear.

"The Ministry of Magic is in new trouble again—as our special correspondent Rita Skeeter writes, due to Arnold Weasley's bizarre behavior in the Office Against the Misuse of Muggle Items, the Ministry has been plunged into a new awkward forbidden zone following the Quidditch match attack and the unexplained disappearance of a female employee—"

The name Arnold Weasley only flashed through Harry's mind for a moment before he remembered 'the female employee disappeared'. Did Mr. Weasley and Professor Blaine not tell the Ministry that Bertha Jorkins had died at Voldemort's hands?

Among the faculty, staff, and students of Hogwarts, quite a few subscribe to the Daily Prophet, including Hermione. When she heard Malfoy begin, she tugged at Ron's sleeve and whispered...

“Let’s go, Ron. Ignore Malfoy; he’s just a boring clown—”

But Ron refused to leave. He stood there with a furrowed brow, determined to listen to Malfoy read the news. Hermione had no choice but to look to Harry for help, but to her surprise, Harry was also listening intently to Malfoy read the article.

Half a minute later, Malfoy folded the newspaper and showed the photo to the young wizard in the foyer, who was half-silent and half-pointing at Ron, grinning and showing his white teeth.

"Look at this, a picture of your parents standing in front of your house—and you actually call this a house! If your mother could lose some weight, she'd be passable, right?"

Ron was trembling with anger, and everyone in the hallway was staring at him.

"Get out of my way, Malfoy." Harry finally snapped out of his daze, noticing the meaning Hermione was conveying with her eyes. "No need to get angry, Ron."

"Hey Potter, your big head at the Quidditch World Cup was much funnier than usual. It's a shame the Daily Prophet should have given you a shot too!"

“Is that so?” Harry said coldly. “Then what about your parents, Malfoy? Shouldn’t they make an appearance too, and plan some mischievous little activities for their Quidditch final? If they’re going to report it, what should the background be? Your house is definitely not appropriate. I think Azkaban would be quite suitable!”

The noisy hallway suddenly fell silent, and everyone turned their gaze to Harry, taking several seconds to realize what Potter was talking about.

“Shut up, Harry—” Hermione noticed the surprised looks on people's faces and said nervously, “This isn’t the place to talk about this. There’s no evidence, and—”

"How dare you slander my mom and dad, Potter!"

Malfoy's pale face flushed slightly. He clearly understood what Harry was talking about, but his eyes showed disbelief, as if he really didn't know.

"What, your parents didn't tell you about their mischievous little plan?"

People's attention quickly jumped from 'Arnold Weasley' to what Harry was implying. Even Ron noticed the strange atmosphere in the hallway. Hermione walked up behind the two boys who were standing there dumbfounded, grabbed one of their arms with one hand, and tried to drag them away without saying a word.

“Wait, get this straight, Potter!” Malfoy yelled.

"Shut your mouth, Malfoy!" Hermione yelled angrily, pulling Harry and Ron around.

boom!

Several people screamed—Harry felt something white-hot brush against his cheek—he quickly reached into his robes for his wand, but before he could touch it, a roar echoed through the hallway.

"Oh, don't do that, boy!"

Harry, Hermione, and Ron whirled around to see Professor Moody limping down the marble steps, wand in hand. His two eyes, one large and one small, were fixed on the doorway, and he looked somewhat surprised.

"You've hidden pretty well, kid, but I'd like to see where you're going to hide!"

Harry immediately looked toward the doorway and saw that the marble tile where Malfoy had just been standing was emitting blue smoke. Crabbe and Goyle were stunned and stood frozen in place, while Malfoy was terrified and scrambling toward the door!

Did he hurt you?

As he passed Harry, Moody spoke angrily, his voice low and hoarse.