The Return to Hogwarts

"Oh, I forgot—"

Harry said, a little embarrassed.

"Then you must concentrate on recalling those happy memories. The stronger those memories are, the higher the chance of the spell succeeding."

“Yes—” Hermione’s tone broke down again, “You must have noticed, now when I close my eyes all I see are happy memories, not Dementors, werewolves, vampires or anything like that.”

Well, Harry had nothing to say.

Even with the help of the secret passage, the distance between Hogwarts and Hogsmeade is not short. In Harry's memory, when they went to Hogsmeade through the secret passage last school year, they always had to go through a long and dark journey. But this time, they ran all the way here, and their physical strength was not so exaggerated. Now, he felt more and more that a good body is also a very valuable advantage for wizards.

Before entering the secret passage, the sun, hidden behind thin clouds, was still casting a faint ray of sunlight on the earth. But when Harry and Hermione emerged from the warehouse of Bee Duke Candy Shop, they were surprised to find that the sky had darkened and a misty rain had begun to fall outside.

"Hurry, Harry, we can't let those girls see them, they're from Beauxbatons—"

When Hogwarts is closed, only some local village children visit Bee Duke's Sweets Shop in Hogsmeade. Hermione, however, noticed several tall young girls picking out sweets from behind a few shelves, their enthusiasm far exceeding when they were looking around Hogwarts.

How did they get out?

Harry crouched low and followed Hermione as they quickly escaped the candy store. However, they also spotted some young men and women on the street whose style was distinctly different from that of the local villagers.

"Aren't they guests?"

Hermione wasn't surprised at all.

“There will always be some privileges, Harry. Take out the Invisibility Cloak and put it on. I'm afraid they have people at the Three Broomsticks too. I've spotted Durmstrang students.”

Hermione was right. When they arrived at the Three Broomsticks pub, they found a group of Durmstrang students there, and quite a few of them. Compared to candy, the Durmstrang students were clearly more interested in alcohol. They surrounded the bar and asked Mrs. Rosmerta to bring out the strongest liquor in the pub, which made Mrs. Rosmerta roll her eyes.

Harry glanced at them a few times but didn't see Krum, wondering if he hadn't gone out because he didn't want to cause a commotion.

Harry and Hermione, hidden by their Invisibility Cloaks, scanned the shop several times before spotting Sirius Black sitting there. He was clearly there, yet surprisingly inconspicuous. He held a beer in his hand, and his gaze as he looked at the Durmstrang students wasn't exactly friendly.

Sirius Black –

The moment Harry saw his godfather, the joy in his heart almost burst out of his chest. He instinctively reached for his Invisibility Cloak to greet him, but Hermione hurriedly stopped him.

“We can’t show ourselves, Harry—” Hermione said, her heart pounding. “We snuck out!”

Sirius was more wary than expected. He immediately noticed two unseen figures approaching him, and his brow furrowed sharply. However, just two seconds later, he was all smiles.

"Ah, Harry and Hermione, it was a wise choice of you to bring out James's Invisibility Cloak!"

"How did you know it was us, Sirius?"

Sirius pulled two stools close to his side, then spotted Harry and Hermione with dead eyes. Hermione, being pulled to sit down by Harry, asked in surprise.

"You still have a lot to learn!"

Sirius smiled and pointed to the floor. Harry and Hermione turned to look and saw two sets of footprints leading from the doorway to where they were. Judging from the footprints, it was clearly a boy and a girl.

“Oh, how clever!” Hermione exclaimed.

"How have you been lately, Sirius?"

Harry leaned against the edge of the table and asked excitedly. Sirius looked just like when he was picked up by the Dursleys during the summer holidays; he looked a little thinner from the sun and wind, but he seemed to be in good spirits.

Sirius couldn't see Harry's expression, but from Harry's tone, he roughly knew that Harry was grinning at him. He couldn't be too obvious, lest onlookers think he was crazy.

"Besides 'fulfilling,' there's no other word to describe it, Harry—"

Sirius Black raised his glass to cover his face and chuckled quietly.

"How about you, Harry? How's it going?"

“Everything’s going well,” Harry said quietly.

Two months into the new semester, he hasn't encountered any major problems yet, which seems to be the first time in several years.

"Then, Hermione—"

Sirius Black stared at the swirling beer in his glass, pretending to be deep in thought.

"Your situation lately probably isn't so pleasant, is it?"

Chapter 588 The Repentant Death Eater

2023-11-11

Compared to Harry, Hermione's relationship with Sirius was not as close.

However, they lived together at the Weasleys' house for a while during the summer holidays, and given their relationship with Harry, Sirius was a trustworthy friend. Moreover, since she was Muggle-born, Sirius could be considered an elder in the wizarding world.

Hermione poured out all the pressure and strange looks she had been enduring. Gradually, her shoulders began to twitch slightly. Harry, who was with her under the Invisibility Cloak, listened silently to Hermione's troubles, and unconsciously, a surge of anger welled up inside him.

Harry knew very well what Hermione was facing; it was all things he had been through.

"I see--"

After Hermione finished complaining, Sirius said gently,

“I understand better than anyone what it feels like to be misunderstood, Hermione. It’s an incredibly agonizing feeling, but no matter what, as long as you persevere, you’ll see hope. You can’t let those who are persecuting you get what they want—”

Hermione wiped away the tears from the corner of her eye, looking at Sirius with some surprise. Then she realized that her grievances were insignificant compared to Sirius's. Sirius had been wrongly accused of betraying Harry's parents and had been imprisoned in Azkaban for twelve years. He chose to escape in order to catch the murderer, facing the constant risk of being killed along the way. As he said, with the help of some people, he eventually cleared his name and was accepted by the people.

"Thank you, Sirius—"

Hermione pursed her lips and said gratefully.

"Do you have any ideas, Sirius?" Harry asked immediately.

"I'm not sure—"

Sirius sighed heavily.

“I do have some thoughts, but since Amosta and Dumbledore have both chosen to remain silent—”

Sirius's statement was quite strange; neither Harry nor Hermione understood what he was trying to say.

Seemingly realizing he shouldn't show too much worry in front of the two children, Sirius straightened his expression and said solemnly,

"Hermione, I need you to tell me everything that happened after you were chosen as a champion. This will help me make an accurate judgment."

Hermione had already shared the argument in the room behind the Great Hall with Harry, Ron, and Ginny. Bringing it up again, Hermione experienced the feelings she had then—though not as desperate as before, her heart still pounded rapidly.

"--Barty Crouch finally affirmed my warrior status, telling Headmasters Durmstrang and Beauxbatons that if they felt it was unfair, then Hogwarts' score would be the average of mine and Cedric Diggory's, and that was the end of it—"

Hermione couldn't speak loudly; she had to be careful not to let anyone hear her. And with people coming and going in the bar, her narration was fragmented. It took her about fifteen minutes to finish telling the story of what happened in the Great Hall that night.

"So?" Harry couldn't wait any longer and immediately asked, "Did you find anything, Sirius?"

"It's obvious—"

Sirius fell into deep thought, his grey eyes occasionally flashing with a sharp, rational light; it seemed his Auror career had made him more astute. Two minutes later, amidst Harry and Hermione's eager anticipation, Sirius spoke in a low voice,

"The one who put your name in the Goblet of Fire, Hermione, is in that room that night."

Hermione clenched her fists, and Harry nearly jumped up from his chair in anger, but Hermione pulled him back in time.

"How did you figure that out, Sirius?" Hermione asked, slightly out of breath and looking nervous.

"Is there even a need for judgment?" Sirius chuckled. "Amostella has already given the answer, hasn't she? Normally, the Goblet of Fire would only choose one champion of Hogwarts, but the result is that both your and Amos's son's names have jumped out of the Goblet. This is definitely not an accident, unless someone interfered with the Goblet of Fire, and the person with that power was in the room that night—"

The headmasters of the three schools, Professor Blaine, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, Professor Moody, two high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Magic, and four champions—Hermione's mind raced through the room in an instant.

"I thought Professor Blaine said that just to help me."

"Clear the suspicion?"

Sirius smiled and finished what Hermione hadn't said.

"Adults aren't as simple as you think, kids. In that situation, every word everyone said had a purpose. Of course, Amosta did say that partly to clear you of suspicion, but I think he was also telling the killer hiding in the shadows that he had locked onto the target and was warning the killer not to make any rash moves—"

"But who could it be?"

Hermione asked urgently.

Harry didn't speak, but Sirius glanced at his spot.

“I know who you suspect, Harry, but unfortunately, I don’t believe Snape did it.”

Sirius Black had anticipated Harry's possible rebuttal, so he immediately added,

“We all hate that snotty-nosed guy, Harry, but that’s a different matter. I know him; this isn’t his style. If he wanted to cause trouble for Hermione, he’d most likely tamper with the potion-making ingredients in class and then blame Hermione for breaking the rules or something.”

Harry sulked and stopped talking.

That night--

After telling Harry to shut up, Sirius fell into deep thought again, and as he pondered, he slowly said,

“Moody said that whoever put your name in the Goblet of Fire either wants to kill you or cause trouble for Hogwarts,” Sirius said thoughtfully. “Hermione, did you notice who Moody was looking at when he said that?”

"Professor Karkaroff, the principal of Durmstrang—"

Hermione thought for a moment and answered the question casually. Then, her brow twitched, and she looked surprised.

"You suspect that the headmaster of Durmstrang put my name in the Goblet of Fire, but why?!"

"Oh--"

Sirius took a sip of his drink and shrugged.

"It's not just me, Moody is obviously suspicious too. Don't underestimate Alastor Moody. Although he's retired, he was a legendary figure among the Aurors before, with a very keen sense of smell. Many bad guys were terrified of him, much more useful than Rufus Scrimgeour now."

"But that night, Karkaroff kept trying to deny me being a warrior. He... he didn't seem like it—"