The Return to Hogwarts

Hermione chuckled. It was quite an achievement for Harry to say that.

"Oh, appropriate adventurous activities can still continue—"

Sirius let out a huge sigh of relief, straightened his back immediately, and a bright smile spread across his face.

"I bet you guys didn't have lunch, right?"

"Excuse me—" Sirius Black raised his hand high and said to Mrs. Rosmerta behind the bar, "Boss, could you get me something to eat? I'm starving, I need a lot!"

Soon, Mrs. Rosmerta brought over fragrant chicken sandwiches. Harry and Hermione were indeed starving. They were at an age of rapid development, and both their bodies and magic made them extremely hungry. After Mrs. Rosmerta turned around, the two of them glanced around and then eagerly reached out from under their invisibility cloaks.

Listening to the rapid chewing sounds, Sirius smiled and casually asked,

"Oh right, I forgot to ask, why didn't Ron come with you guys? Is it because James's Invisibility Cloak can't fit all three of you?"

Hermione's expression immediately became unnatural. Although she knew Sirius couldn't see her eyes, she still avoided eye contact.

"Well--"

Harry struggled to swallow his food, a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice.

"I called him over, but he didn't want to come. He borrowed the fire bolt, saying he wanted to play Quidditch—"

"Oh," Sirius's smile faded slightly. He raised an eyebrow and asked softly, "Has Ron been a little unhappy lately?"

Fortunately, the bar was quite crowded, and the various noises blended together, so no one noticed Harry's violent coughing as he choked on his food. He took the Butterbeer that Sirius had secretly slipped under his Invisibility Cloak and gulped it down. With Hermione constantly patting his back, Harry, whose face was flushed, finally caught his breath.

"How do you know!"

Harry, breathing heavily, stared in astonishment at Sirius.

"Isn't it obvious?"

Realizing Harry's surprise, Sirius didn't feel smug; instead, he seemed a little worried.

"Harry, Hermione, and Ron, the three of you have always been the closest of friends. Harry, you have always been the most famous of the three of you, that goes without saying. And now, Hermione has also become a warrior in the Triwizard Tournament. According to what I have heard, this tournament will have a greater impact than any other one before."

Amosta seems to have made a deal with the fairies, allowing them to broadcast the match footage in other European countries. The Daily Prophet hasn't interviewed you, Hermione, because they've been focusing their efforts on promoting this lately. This means that once the match starts, Hermione will be famous, while Ron will remain unknown. He must be feeling terrible, right?

Sirius's brow was furrowed, and his eyes were filled with worry.

"Based on my understanding of Ron, he's not a particularly easygoing young wizard who can handle pressure. Of course he'll be a little unhappy, but I thought you must have had a deep conversation already. What, didn't you?"

Harry looked at Hermione, only to find her shrinking back, avoiding his gaze. Then, Harry slowly turned his head, his mouth slightly open, his eyes filled with confusion.

"What are you talking about, Sirius?"

Sirius Black's breath hitched. After a few seconds of thought, he said with a hint of helplessness,

"Don't you realize that Harry, Ron might be jealous of you and Hermione?"

Ron is jealous

Harry's bright green eyes widened, and the figures of the passersby in the pub, including Hermione and Sirius beside him, became blurry, as if they were living in another world.

Harry's frozen thoughts still flowed slowly, starting from that night a week ago when Hermione's name echoed throughout the Great Hall, continuing until he had just left Hogwarts, gradually expanding to recall the bits and pieces of Ron's life over the past few days. Gradually, his mind filled with somber faces—

"envy."

Harry felt a fire burning in his chest, intense and suffocating.

“Jealous of what?” Harry said softly. “Jealous of my ugly scar that gets stared at wherever I go, or jealous that someone has their eye on Hermione and is planning to get rid of her in the Warsaw Pitching Tournament—”

Neither Sirius nor Hermione spoke, while Harry continued talking to himself.

"How stupid! I thought he was worried about Hermione, maybe even a little scared, but his jealousy and unwillingness to talk to us is just utterly ridiculous."

Harry clenched his fists so tightly they cracked, his emerald eyes gleaming with fire. He slowly turned to look at Hermione, and there she saw a sad expression on her pretty face.

“You realized it a long time ago, didn’t you?” Harry said. “When?”

Hermione remained silent for a moment, then continued, "That night, from the moment I returned to the Gryffindor tower..."

Harry's breathing became erratic. He simply couldn't believe that his supposedly solid friendship had developed such a serious rift, and that Hermione and Ron had known about it all along, while he, like a fool, had been kept in the dark!

“Why,” Harry said through gritted teeth, “why didn’t you tell me—”

Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes. She didn't know how to answer the question, and what could she say?

Sirius Black sensed Harry's mood from the heavy breathing beneath the Invisibility Cloak. After a moment's hesitation, he spoke softly.

"Perhaps you two do need a frank conversation, Harry. I think you both need to talk to Ron. You can't ignore your friends' opinions. You know I've been thinking about me, Remus, and your father James and Peter lately, Harry. If we had paid more attention to Peter back in Hogwarts, maybe he would have ended up on the right path—"

Harry stared at Sirius in disbelief—Peter's betrayal had directly led to the deaths of his parents at Voldemort's hands, and Sirius had been imprisoned as a result. Harry knew perfectly well how much Sirius hated this man, but he never expected to hear such words from Sirius's mouth one day.

“I’ll talk to Ron!”

Harry jumped to his feet, causing the Invisibility Cloak to slip off, revealing Hermione as well. The villagers and students dining around them stared at them in astonishment, but Harry ignored their gazes, gritting his teeth and breathing heavily.

"But before that, I'm going to punch his nose until it's swollen; maybe that will make his head a little sharper!"

"Harry!"

With that, Harry grabbed his Invisibility Cloak and ran out the door. Hermione tried to stop him, but only managed to grab the hem of the cloak, and then watched helplessly as it slipped through her fingers.

Ignoring the curious onlookers, Harry felt a fire burning within him that threatened to consume him. He couldn't believe Ron could have such a foolish idea, especially since Ron's act of concealing these thoughts seemed more like betrayal to Harry!

Just as he was about to push open the door, someone outside the bar opened the door first and prepared to enter the Three Broomsticks Bar. Harry couldn't stop in time and crashed into him hard. The person who was about to enter was obviously not as strong as Harry. She let out a painful cry and almost flew backward as she crashed into the arms of the man behind her!

Amosta, supporting Fleur who had suddenly stumbled into his arms, glanced at Fleur, who was crying in pain and had a bleeding nose, then looked at Harry, who was leaning against the bar and clutching his forehead, and fell silent.

Chapter 591 Speechless

2023-11-13

As the morning mist dissipated in the gentle breeze and golden sunlight, the villagers of Hogsmeade, having finished their breakfast, boarded their carriages and headed to their fields to work. After Halloween, they needed to quickly harvest the less desirable pumpkins and plant cabbages so they could have a harvest before Christmas.

To be honest, these villagers, who don't have much magical talent, are no different from Muggle farmers, and in fact, they are even worse than Muggle farmers.

Because of the restrictions of the Wizarding Secrets Act, they cannot use some of the very mature agricultural machinery invented by Muggle scientists from the Muggle world. The insignificant spells they possess and the few magical items they can use are not very useful. Therefore, their way of life and work has not changed much for hundreds of years, just like their ancestors in the Middle Ages.

In fact, the villagers of Hogsmeade are considered lucky because they are adjacent to Hogwarts, and most of their produce is directly purchased by Hogwarts, which saves them a lot of trouble. However, the villagers living in Dingworth in Cornwall, Upper Frigley in Yorkshire, Autry St Catchpol on the south coast of England, and Godric's Hollow in the southwest are not so lucky.

The wizarding world itself has a limited population, which cannot consume their output. They can only sell their products to Muggles.

But that's precisely the problem. Their efficiency can't compare to that of Muggle farmers, and due to legal restrictions, the magical world's output needs to undergo strict approval processes to be delivered to the Muggle world. This means they have to spend some gold to smooth things over, and because of the final selling price, their output doesn't have any advantage in the Muggle world.

Therefore, in order to survive, deception and tax evasion are almost essential skills for farmers in the magical world who rely on the land for their livelihood. Of course, it's not that they don't have ways to make their lives more comfortable, but they are unwilling to give up their prestigious titles of 'residents of the magical world and wizards'.

Are they serving Hogwarts?

On the road from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade, Amosta led Beauxbatons and Durmstrang's young wizards through a forest shrouded in a chilling mist. The little ones were in high spirits, after all, they were about to visit the famous Hogsmeade, the only remaining pure wizarding village in all of Britain.

Amosta did not stop them from moving around. Some of the impatient ones jogged toward the village that was faintly visible in the mist, while Fleur and Gabrielle followed behind them.

Fleur seemed to have shaken off the bad mood caused by the mistake of getting four champions from Hogwarts. She looked around with great interest, and when Amosta suddenly stopped in a field and looked at the busy villagers, Fleur asked...

"Do not--"

Amosta shook his head slightly, his tone somewhat somber.

"They are serving their own lives."

The workers I saw in the industrial area of ​​Diagon Alley last time, and the villagers in front of me, all belong to the true bottom of the magical world. They are too ordinary, too common, too insignificant, while those powerful figures above the clouds cannot see these 'dust'.

Hibiscus turned her head to look at Amosta Blaine, whose eyes and brows were radiating a faint, incomprehensible pity and worry.

Let's go--

Amosta shook his head and led the group of people around him to continue crossing the wilderness.

"Oh, sister, did you see that!"

Gabrielle skipped and hopped along the way like a joyful little elf, curious about everything. Once Hogsmeade came into view, Gabrielle immediately noticed a house standing on the high slope adjacent to Hogsmeade village. She pointed it out to Fleur in amazement.

"There's a house there, but it's strange, who would live there—"

"That's the Screaming Shelter--"

Amosta explained with a smile.

"It's very famous; it's the most haunted place in the UK."

"Wow!"

Gabrielle shrank behind Fleur, but she couldn't resist her curiosity and secretly peeked at the houses on the hillside, while many of the students who were with Amosta also showed eager expressions.

"I don't recommend you take that risk--"

Amosta said

"This house is quite old and has been neglected due to lack of maintenance. I'm not sure if a group of people barging in might cause it to collapse—"

"So, there are no ghosts or monsters there?"

Furong said with interest.

"what--"

Amosta smiled.

"I don't think so, but there really was a werewolf living in there—"

Amostella stopped in front of the sign at the village entrance and smiled at the guests. This gentle smile made many of the little witches in Beauxbatons blush and their hearts race. Even Fleur stared at him in fascination.

"--Next is free time. You can explore this ancient and mysterious village to your heart's content, as long as you arrive here before 5 p.m.