The Return to Hogwarts

“Look at those kids, Amostella, oh, I think maybe one day they’ll be Hogwarts students!”

Chapter 647 Professor Blaine is acting strangely

2023-12-14

The commotion of the night has come to an end. In the end, Dumbledore's startling words were just a joke to Horn, and even Amostella didn't take them seriously. Even if one day these druids could be recruited into the wizarding world, that would be at least after they had defeated Voldemort.

When they parted, Horn clearly wanted to find out why Dumbledore and Blaine had tacitly allowed Creona to infiltrate Hogwarts as Moody. However, they couldn't tell the centaurs the truth now. In fact, even Dumbledore had sternly warned Horn not to reveal that they already knew her identity.

"In my opinion, Horn clearly trusts the druids more—"

As they entered the Hogwarts campus and headed towards the castle, Amosta, who had been unusually silent, suddenly spoke.

“I won’t underestimate the risks involved, Amosta—”

Dumbledore said calmly,

"But you should learn to trust others. It is undoubtedly a very sad thing to have to rely on magic to keep someone's secrets for you."

In some ways, Amosta was more cautious than he was. Dumbledore thought he would have to use more persuasion to convince Amosta to accept his point of view, but to his surprise, Amosta did not refute his point of view, but simply nodded silently.

"Amosta?"

In the dimly lit hallway, Dumbledore, watching Amostella silently ascend the stairs, suddenly called out. His azure eyes gleamed with an unusual light, and he spoke with a smile.

"Like I just said, you have to learn to trust others. I mean, if you need my help, whether it's in magic or life advice, you know, at least in terms of age, you probably don't have any hope of surpassing me."

Amosta raised an eyebrow in surprise, then smiled.

"Thank you very much, Headmaster Dumbledore, but the question I face... I'm afraid no one in this world can answer it for me. Even if you live to the next century—"

November ended quietly, and December strolled in leisurely.

Over ten days passed, and the atmosphere in the castle subtly changed. People were no longer keen to discuss the first match of the final round of the three-way battle, which had been extensively reported in the newspapers for half a month; instead, they were more eagerly anticipating the arrival of Christmas.

Tuesday night was the first night in nearly two weeks when the stars were visible, so Professor Aurora Sinesta issued an urgent notice, temporarily changing the class schedule and asking the young wizards of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff to go to the Astronomy Tower to observe the stars.

This notification undoubtedly angered Hermione, because according to her plan, besides spending time in the library to find some clues about the strange noises in the golden egg, she had other important things to deal with that night. So, on the way up the tower, she kept complaining to Harry and Ron that her plans had been disrupted.

"Oh, come on, Hermione—"

Ron said nonchalantly,

"There are still three months until the next match, and there's a Christmas break in between. You have plenty of time to think about what that terrifying sound from the golden egg was all about. Speaking of which—"

Ron glanced at the backpack that Hermione was holding in her arms.

"What's with all that jingling and clanging in your bag? It can't be those fan letters, right?"

Since the competition ended, the warriors who participated have become the darlings of the European magical world. Each of them has received countless letters, most of which express admiration for them, but many of them also use sharp words to satirize their method of using fire dragons. These letters did cause Hermione some trouble at first, but after reading them many times, she became more at ease.

"Oh, no."

Hermione clutched her backpack tightly and stammered,

"Well, I can't make use of Christmas time, Ron. I'm planning to go home for Christmas and won't be able to go to the library to look up information—"

"go home?"

Harry asked, somewhat surprised, but then he realized he shouldn't show surprise, lest he reveal to Hermione his intention to have them both stay and spend the holidays with him at Hogwarts.

But to Harry's embarrassment, Hermione clearly noticed, giving him an apologetic look, taking a deep breath, and saying...

"Yes, I'm planning to go home for Christmas if anything happens to me in the second game. I mean, I spent my last Christmas with them—"

Hermione would never have been able to say such things so calmly before. Becoming a champion has changed Hermione quite a bit. Harry and Ron, who were looking at each other anxiously, could see what the other was thinking.

"--Don't worry, Harry--"

Ron broke the silence first, clearly understanding the reason for Harry's earlier surprise. "I'm planning to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays. It won't make a difference if I'm there too, and you'll have plenty of time to train me, Harry. Maybe I can have a second training session after school starts. Oh, dodging those dung balls, I don't know how you guys even got through it!"

"You've made rapid progress, Ron—"

Harry knew Ron was saying this to comfort him, but a warm feeling rose in his heart, and he was once again grateful that Ron could be his friend again.

"I think by the time the holidays come, you'll be able to start practicing dodging. There won't be many people at school during the holidays, so we can make the most of the empty gym classrooms."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione climbed up to the astronomy class's observatory one by one. To get the best view, the observatory was completely empty with no walls on all sides, and the remaining pillars obviously couldn't keep out the cold wind.

"I'm sorry, Amosta, I have to start class now—"

The biting wind made the young wizards shiver. Harry wished he could do what Quirrell did in his first year of Defense Against the Dark Arts class and wrap his head up in a scarf. As he was huddled up, he suddenly heard Professor Sinestadt's voice from Astronomy class. He looked in astonishment behind a stone pillar, while Hermione, Ron, Neville, and the others around him all looked in that direction with surprise.

Amosta, who was bent over with his face pressed against a telescope, snapped out of his reverie. He straightened up, turned around, looked at the young wizards who were hovering over him, and smiled apologetically.

"Oh, sorry, Aurora, I... well, I got a little lost in thought—"

"It's nothing, Amosta, the mysterious starry sky always fascinates—"

Professor Sinister didn't seem to mind at all; on the contrary, she seemed quite pleased, her tone revealing eagerness.

“You weren’t this interested in my classes when you were at Hogwarts, Amosta. Perhaps you’re finally realizing the importance of astronomy. Oh, and if you’d like, you can sit in on them. I’m sure the kids won’t mind—”

"Oh, thank you, but I have something else to do, so maybe next time..."

Amosta nodded gratefully, then, under the bewildered gazes of many young wizards, strode down from the observatory.

"Perhaps you have already discovered—"

Professor Sinister said seriously,

“Even a great wizard like Professor Blaine is fascinated by the mysterious laws of planetary motion. I hope you can all feel the magic of astronomy. Just as I told you in your first astronomy class, astronomy is the most mysterious and unfathomable of all magical subjects. Only diligence and dedication can help you experience the wonders of this magical subject!”

"I remember that old liar Trelawney said something similar—"

Ron shrugged, a remark that drew strong disapproval from Patil and Lavender, two of the Gryffindor students most infatuated with Professor Trelawney.

"But I must say, this is very strange--"

Hermione said, frowning.

"You may not have noticed, but Professor Blaine has rarely come down to the Great Hall for meals lately. Also, he didn't seem very focused during last week's PE class, which is unusual for him."

"Have it?"

Harry said in surprise that he thought about it carefully and found that he hadn't found anything.

Hermione rolled her eyes, then looked worriedly at the staircase where Professor Blaine had disappeared.

"Anyway, I hope he can get through his troubles as soon as possible--"

Chapter 648 Help

2023-12-14

Even back in his office, Amosta did nothing else. He held a cup of hot tea, leaned against the fireplace wall, and stared blankly at the clear but not particularly dazzling winter night sky.

Even as the world turns, the familiar starry sky remains above us, with those shining stars staying in their rightful places, perhaps unchanged for millions of years.

"call"

Only when the brightest moon in the night sky crossed to the other side of the castle did Amosta sigh softly, turn his gaze away, and come to his senses. The cup of tea in his hand was almost frozen solid. The pine wood in the fireplace had burned out, and the dimly lit office was as cold as it was outside.

Amosta did not relight the fireplace. Back behind his desk, he gazed at the photo frame on the table, at the old man smiling at him, and his thoughts began to wander uncontrollably.

In his previous life, Amosta lived for over twenty years. In this life, he has already spent over twenty years in the world of magic. To be honest, the world he is currently in feels more real to him, while his previous life felt like a fleeting dream. If Amosta were to make a choice, he would definitely prefer to live in the present.

But on the way home.

What he experienced was the most mysterious and incredible even in the world of magic. How could a great magician like him, who had already reached the pinnacle of the magical path and was waiting for the opportunity to advance further, not investigate the secrets behind it all?

The thought of taking things a step further caused Amosta's brow to furrow with worry.

His current level of power is such that if he were to advance any further, he would become a Saint. According to Elder Horn of the Centaurs, after the battle between King Arthur, Merlin, and Morgan le Fay, and as the magical world accelerated its departure from Earth, no one has been able to reach that legendary level again.

Amos Tower didn't entirely agree with Horn's statement. At the very least, the four founding leaders of Hogwarts were definitely not on the same level as him. In other words, the four leaders were still able to leave their mark on that wondrous magical world with their powerful mental strength, but that was a thousand years ago.

In the current magical world, the one with the highest level of skill is undoubtedly Albus Dumbledore. Amostella had thought that Dumbledore, the unparalleled master of his time, had already reached that level, but now it seems that this is not necessarily the case. Dumbledore is indeed a step above him, but his power seems to be quite far from that of the legendary saints.

As for Voldemort and the likes of Gethler Grindelwald, who had been in Neugarmund for more than half a century, they were roughly equal to him, only their paths differed, resulting in slight differences in their offensive power. In a life-or-death battle, Amosta would not fear either Voldemort or Grindelwald.

But then again, if a wizard of Dumbledore's extraordinary talent couldn't overcome that hurdle even after a lifetime of hard work, what about myself?

boom--

Just as Amosta was envisioning the future, a ripple suddenly appeared in the deathly silence of the office, and a house-elf appeared before Amosta.

It's Ruijia!

The little elf seemed to have encountered something terrible. Upon landing, it looked terrified, completely lacking its usual respect and humility before the wizard. Instead, it frantically stumbled and fell onto Amosta's desk, its tennis ball-sized eyes brimming with tears, stammering,

"Mr. Breen, please, please—"

Amosta, who had been lost in thought, immediately became serious. He abruptly stood up from his seat and said in a deep voice,

"Calm down, Ruijia, what happened?"

"Kind Mr. Blaine, please save Winter!"

A long string of clear snot hung from Ruijia's big nose as she spoke instinctively. However, at the end of her pleading, she seemed to regain a bit of her senses.

"The kitchen—whoosh. The famous Harry Potter, a school hero, and a red-haired boy, they're in danger, and they sent me to you!"

Professor Sinister's use of Professor Blaine's words to encourage the students and hopefully inspire them to be more enthusiastic about astronomy class did have some effect. However, the young wizards' enthusiasm was quickly extinguished by the howling, truly knife-like, cold wind at the astronomical observatory.