The Return to Hogwarts

“No—” Harry said blankly, “No hit.”

Moody quickly walked away from Harry, shoving aside Crabbe and Goyle, who were trembling with fear. With a grim face, he raised his wand high, and the moment he stepped out the door, the wand fell again!

Snapped!

A strong gust of wind rushed into the hall from the doorway, making Harry unable to open his eyes, while a group of young wizards waiting in line for their meal behind him also gasped in surprise.

"what happened?"

Once she was able to stand firmly, Hermione immediately raised her questions.

Moody stood motionless at the castle gate, his wand pointing toward the marble steps outside.

"What are you doing?"

Amostella, standing at the bottom of the stairs, glanced at Draco, who was hiding behind her and looked quite frightened. She raised an eyebrow, put down her wand, and calmly looked towards the doorway.

"Professor Moody?"

Chapter 508 Take action

2023-09-30

"Get out of the way, Blaine!"

Moody spoke in a deep voice, his demonic eye fixed on Amosta.

"I have to teach this despicable brat a lesson!"

Like the surface of a lake rippled by a gentle breeze, Amosta narrowed his eyes slightly, not at Moody's rude words, but at his magical eye. Amosta was quite accomplished in alchemy, and in his view, this special magical eye was engraved with a very intricate array of magical runes, constantly amplifying magical energy to probe its surroundings and providing feedback to the user.

Perhaps the most common wizard's reaction to this is that the magic eye is quite frightening, but for a wizard like Amosta who is born with an incredibly powerful magical perception ability, whose perception of magic can even be compared to vision, this is equivalent to someone holding a magnifying glass close to his face and trying to pull open his clothes. You can imagine how uncomfortable this feeling is.

"Help, Professor Blaine!"

Draco poked his head out from behind Amosta. It was clear he was genuinely terrified by Moody's ferocity and irrationality; his face was deathly pale, and tears were welling in his eyes.

"This madman tried to kill me!"

call out!

Suddenly, a rope the thickness of a thumb shot out from the tip of Moody's staff. After detaching from the staff tip, the nimble rope contracted and gathered its strength before lunging forward to loop around Draco's neck, attempting to pull him away from Amosta's back.

Amosta, who was turning his head to look at Draco, didn't even turn around. He waved his wand in the back, and before the young wizards who poured out of the hall could see what was happening, the rope that Professor Moody had conjured had already turned into a wisp of black smoke and was dispersed by the wind.

"I think you understand,"

Amosta turned to Moody again. "This is no longer a joke, Professor Moody."

"Oh, are you going to protect this despicable scoundrel, Blaine!"

Amosta's warning didn't silence Moody; instead, it seemed to enrage him. Moody stepped over the threshold to the top of the marble staircase, pointed his wand at Amosta and Draco, and growled,

"I'd like to see how you plan to stop me."

Amosta finally frowned. He stood still, his wrist twirling nimbly. Then, a red ball of light, about the size of a Quake ball and crackling with crimson lightning, emerged from the tip of his staff and flew swiftly to the top of the marble-staircase-like area!

"Oh, this spell!"

Among the crowd watching from inside the goal, Angelina of the Gryffindor team immediately covered her mouth and let out a short cry.

Moody's Demon Eye trembled violently, and then, the surface of the red sphere of light suspended in mid-air suddenly rippled—

Moody suddenly swung his wand horizontally, and countless red lights like shattered stars appeared in front of him. But this was not the end. The light orb fired one crimson spell beam after another at Moody. These spell beams were undoubtedly blocked by Moody, but this did not mean that he could properly absorb the impact of the spell!

Bang, bang, bang!

The young wizard, hiding in the foyer, watched helplessly as Moody kept waving his wand to block the continuous bursts of red magical light. However, he was still forced back step by step by the powerful force and was eventually driven back into the foyer by Professor Blaine!

"What are you doing?!"

A surprised voice suddenly came from the staircase on one side of the foyer. It was Professor McGonagall, who was holding several books and looking at everything that was happening with astonishment.

wow-

The ball of light that had been floating in mid-air vanished with a whoosh, while Moody, leaning against the towering door frame, gasped for breath, his scarred face twitching repeatedly.

Professor McGonagall nearly twisted her ankle as she rushed down the stairs, but Colin, who was holding a camera, caught her with his neck. After quickly apologizing to Colin, Professor McGonagall rudely pushed through the crowd to Moody's side. She first looked him over, making sure he wasn't missing any parts, then took a deep breath, her voice trembling with anger.

"Amosta, and Alastor, tell me what you're doing!"

"He wants to kill me!"

Draco, incredibly quick-witted, immediately darted out from behind Amosta and pointed at Moody, shouting...

"It's this madman! Professor Blaine fought back to protect me!"

“You’re talking nonsense, Malfoy!” Ron yelled. “You were the one who attacked Harry first!”

"Shut up, everyone!"

Professor McGonagall's face was ashen. She glanced at Amostella and Arathos, who were still staring at each other, took a few quick breaths, and then turned her gaze to Hermione.

"Alright, Miss Granger, you saw everything, didn't you? Now explain yourself!"

Ron quickly and subtly nudged Hermione's arm, and in return, he received an angry glare from Professor McGonagall!

With so many people witnessing the whole story, Hermione couldn't possibly take sides, so she recounted the entire incident in its entirety.

"This happened before the first day of school was even over!"

Professor McGonagall said angrily,

"Slytherin, twenty points deducted. Malfoy, two days of confinement. I'll tell Severus to handle your punishment!"

Before Harry could even feel happy, he noticed Professor McGonagall's gaze fixed on him, and his heart sank.

"You too, Potter!"

After announcing his punishment, Professor McGonagall looked at the growing number of students in the hallway and said sternly,

"Go eat, everyone! Don't stand here!"

No one dared to disobey Professor McGonagall, who was in a fit of anger. The young wizards scattered in a panic, including Harry and his friends, as well as Draco, who had received a signal from Amosta, and slunk into the Great Hall.

"Professor Moody!" The hallway was finally empty. Professor McGonagall, her lips pressed tightly together, stared at the now-stunned Professor Moody. "Regarding your use of magic to attack a student—"

"It's just a transformation spell. I think it'll be a good scare to that despicable, filthy brat, so he'll learn his lesson—"

Professor Moody said nonchalantly.

“Transfiguration won’t work either—” Professor McGonagall said weakly. “If we think a student’s behavior deserves punishment, we can deduct points and put them in solitary confinement, or report it to the head of their house. I’m sure Dumbledore told you that—”

"Maybe--"

Moody pulled the flask from his waist, gulped down several mouthfuls, grunted, and then looked warily at Amostella, who was coming up the marble steps, seemingly still expecting Amostella to raise her wand again and give him another hard blow.

"And Amosta--"

Professor McGonagall frowned, seemingly pondering how to reprimand him, but after a moment's thought, she couldn't seem to find anything to criticize him for.

“Next time, you should at least figure out the situation first, and then go easy on me. Amosta, Professor Moody is your colleague, not a dark wizard you need to deal with—”

Regarding the latter point, I have reservations—

Amosta said calmly.

He didn't care how Draco had gotten into trouble with Harry and the others again; they could always find a reason to create conflict between them. But there were some things he had to point out.

"Perhaps you still retain some habits from your professional career, Professor Moody, but I must point out that not everyone is willing to be spied on with the Magic Eye. Furthermore, as the Head of the Hogwarts Student Safety Office, I am not entirely satisfied with your explanation for your recent attack on Draco Malfoy. I believe it is necessary for me to examine your daily teaching, and if the content does not satisfy me, I will not rule out the possibility of asking you to leave Hogwarts."

"You're scaring me—"

Moody's face darkened with anger. He instinctively wanted to retaliate, but for some reason, when faced with Amosta Blaine's expressionless face, he stopped halfway through his sentence. Finally, he abruptly dropped the word "welcome" and turned to leave.

“Alastor was invited by Albus, Amosta, we should at least be friendly--”

Objectively speaking, Professor McGonagall clearly favored Amosta, but she still said that.

“I’ve already considered that, Professor McGonagall—”

Amosta spread his hands and said innocently.

Chapter 509 Worry

2023-10-01

The battle between Professor Blaine and Professor Moody took place in the Great Hall foyer before dinner. Many young wizards witnessed the battle, and those who missed the exciting scene learned about it during dinner's discussions.

The students had stopped caring about what had caused the conflict between the two professors and were instead fascinated by the duel itself. There was no doubt that Professor Blaine had emerged victorious, and no one was surprised; given his many impressive achievements over the past two years, it would have been truly unbelievable if he had lost a conflict with someone else.

Professor Moody was nowhere to be seen at the faculty and staff dining table. People assumed he was too ashamed to show up after losing his duel with Professor Blaine, but Neville, panting as he returned from his Quidditch run, told everyone that Professor Moody was patrolling the campus.

"No wonder Dad speaks so highly of Professor Moody—" Ron exclaimed to those around him, "You know what I mean!"

“No one will be unaware, you silly boy,” George said kindly.

Harry stared intently at the patterns on the silver cup in front of him, looking lost in thought.

"What are you thinking about, Harry?" Hermione noticed Harry's bad mood and asked quietly, "Is it because of Professor Blaine helping Malfoy?"

“I don’t understand—” Harry began to speak fluently, as if he had opened a floodgate.

"Did you hear what that reporter Skeeter said in the Daily Prophet? The Ministry of Magic still thinks Bertha Jorkins is just missing. But how can that be? They captured that woman named Creona with Professor Blaine's help, didn't they? If they interrogated her, they should know Voldemort killed her. And they still claim Creona is with that group of masked men, even though they clearly don't know her. Even if they're mistaken, Professor Blaine knows everything, but—"