The Return to Hogwarts

"We can only find some clues in Tom's past --"

Dumbledore pondered,

“I believe that an old friend of mine, Horace Slughorn, who was Severus’s former head of Slytherin and also Tom’s favorite and most influential professor during his time at Hogwarts, has some key information. I have been corresponding with him since the locket was destroyed, but he is unwilling to talk to me about Tom.”

To be honest, it's not surprising. Most people who knew Tom are reluctant to talk about him anymore, but I think it's time to speak with my old friend face to face. You understand, Amosta? We all know that Tom will be back among us in a few months, and we need to get things sorted out quickly to minimize the casualties.

Amosta nodded solemnly, then suddenly his eyelids trembled.

Slughorn, he remembered this person. Dirk Clysway, the current head of the Goblin Office at the Ministry of Magic, had mentioned him to him. Dirk told him that Slughorn seemed to regret not becoming his headmaster.

“Let’s split up, Amosta—”

Dumbledore rose from his chair, hurriedly took his travel cloak from a nearby hanger, and then spoke to Amostella.

"Hopefully we can all bring back good news! Oh!"

Dumbledore only snapped out of his daze after walking over to Fawkes. He turned to Amosta and gave him an apologetic smile.

“If you have no objections, I'd like Fox to come with me. It wouldn't be a bad thing, would it? Young people should get out there and explore.”

boom--

Amos rolled his eyes as he watched Dumbledore and Fawkes disappear into the flames.

When Amosta returned to his office, the owl, having eaten and drunk its fill, had already left. He quickly packed his bags, but just before leaving, he suddenly remembered something and hurriedly went back to his desk, picked up a quill pen, and hastily wrote something on a piece of paper.

A wisp of electricity, generated by a snap of the fingers, caused the parchment to float up and automatically fold into an exquisite paper crane. Then, the paper crane, which was automatically copied into three copies, flapped its wings and flew out like a shooting star through the crack in the window squeezed open by the owl.

The Tower of Gryffindor

Stepping out of the warm common room, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were having a heated discussion as they hurried down the stairs.

A beam of white light suddenly shot up from the bottom of the stairs, circled above the three of them a few times, and then swooped down. Hermione caught the paper crane with lightning speed.

"What's going on, Hermione?" Harry asked, exchanging a glance with Ron. "Is it that Krum's apology letter?"

“Oh, no—” Hermione flipped through the pages impatiently, “It’s Professor Blaine, he’s on leave again.”

Chapter 676 Ron's Determined Efforts

2024-01-04

As Hermione had predicted, Harry and Ron were extremely indignant when she recounted some of the accusations Krum had made against Professor Blaine outside the library. Like Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Blaine, a rising star in the wizarding world, was a prominent figure at Hogwarts.

Now, Krum actually believes that Professor Blaine might be a worshipper of the infamous Gellert Grindelwald, a statement that should infuriate every young Hogwarts wizard who hears it.

Who does he think he is?!

As Harry emerged from the warm common room, he shouted...

"Professor Blaine has killed more dark wizards than he has ever seen!"

As a fervent Quidditch fanatic, Harry's outburst towards a widely popular international Quidditch star speaks volumes about his anger. Ron, even more obsessed with Krum himself, declared he'd throw away the Krum figure he'd bought outside the World Cup stadium that night.

Hermione was secretly glad that she hadn't told Harry and Ron the purpose of Krum's conversation with her, otherwise, who knows how they would have reacted!

"But, having said that—"

Hermione put the notification from Professor Blaine into her pocket and said thoughtfully,

"Krum said that symbol was Grindelwald's mark."

"He's definitely talking nonsense. I bet there's something else going on!"

Ron said immediately.

Since his falling out and reconciliation with Harry and Hermione, Ron has always tried to agree with Harry and Hermione whenever they express their opinions, and both Harry and Hermione can see that Ron is trying to mend their friendship.

Of course, neither Harry nor Hermione held a grudge against Ron for his coldness during that time, but seeing how much Ron still cherished their friendship warmed their hearts. At the same time, they both reflected on their usual attitudes toward Ron.

“I think you’re right, Ron.”

Hermione nodded in agreement; previously, she had rarely seemed to explicitly agree with Ron's conclusions.

"But the question is, what does that actually represent?"

“You think that symbol,” Harry looked around to make sure no one was nearby before lowering his voice, “is related to that horrible ‘door’ we had in Madam Hufflepuff’s office… and, uh, the Hallows, Hermione?”

"I was looking up information in the general books section before Krum called me out, but I didn't see Professor Blaine. I think he must have been in the restricted books section."

As Hermione passed through the corridor, she pressed her messy hair down with her hand, a strange light flickering in her brown eyes.

"if I could--"

Harry understood Hermione's meaning, and a flicker of interest crossed his face.

His experience in the secret room behind that terrifying corridor was quite bizarre in the grand scheme of his 'troublemaking' career. It didn't take much intelligence for him to realize that there was some incredible secret hidden behind that illusion. Any 'normal' young wizard would be curious, and Professor Blaine had only forbidden them from telling others about it, not from investigating it themselves.

"Let's wait and see—"

Ron's suggestion surprised Harry and Hermione, but under their gazes, Ron still wore a bitter expression.

"Don't forget, Harry, Hermione, because of this, we have to clean the gym until Christmas. I'm fed up with Malfoy's sarcastic looks after every class. At least, let's wait until this punishment is over before we start doing anything, okay?"

Well, I have to say, Ron's suggestion makes a lot of sense.

After navigating several forks in the road with practiced ease, Harry and his two friends arrived at the classroom for their physical education class. Of course, they weren't there on the weekend to clean.

Ron faced the gym classroom marked with a sign, a look of sadness appearing on his pale face from the cold.

Ron used this classroom twice.

The first time was in second year, when Professor Blaine was still the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He turned this place into a terrifying maze, containing the two most terrifying dark creatures the young wizards had ever encountered. He challenged them to deal with the two infernals, and in the end, only Harry succeeded.

The second time was in the third year, when Professor Blaine substituted for Professor Lupin and turned the classroom into a vast swamp where the young wizards from the four houses raced against each other.

Looking back now, these two classes were among the most interesting of all the magic education courses they had taken.

Because of Professor Blaine's punishment, he had become quite familiar with the classroom during this time. While Harry and the others were having class inside, he would stand quietly outside the classroom, silently savoring his bitterness in the darkness.

He deserved it all. Even Ron himself thought so, after all, Professor Blaine gave everyone a fair chance.

Fortunately, Professor Blaine was kind enough. Although he insisted on no longer accepting him, he at least pointed him in the right direction.

squeak-

Harry and Hermione stood behind Ron and had him open the door to the gym. They knew this meant something special to Ron.

Despite its enormous space and lack of a fireplace, this spatially isolated and tranquil classroom remained remarkably warm, untouched by the chill of the castle outside.

Although he was very familiar with it, Ron still stopped at the door as he entered the classroom, quietly examining it. His complex emotions revealed a bittersweet expression.

Because it was daytime, and the sunlight streaming through the windows made the classroom bright enough, the torches on the walls were not lit. However, sensing someone entering the classroom, the armors standing against the walls still made a series of tinkling sounds. These crisp metallic clanging sounds echoed in the spacious classroom, sounding ethereal and mysterious.

Finally, Ron slowly walked in. He stood at the starting line that Professor Blaine had drawn on the ground when the students practiced dodging dung balls in physical education class, and stared blankly at the other side of the classroom.

Harry and Hermione stood behind Ron, remaining silent. They knew Ron needed some time to process his emotions.

"You said-"

After a long silence, Ron suddenly turned to face Harry and Hermione, a hint of hesitation on his freckled face.

"Am I being a bit... well, too eager for quick results? I mean, you guys practiced running drills for a month before practicing dodging dung balls, while I've only had half a month."

“I think you’re perfectly fine, Ron!” Harry said, sounding somewhat anxious. “Because the training volume has been much higher than what we did, I think you’ve met the standards for participating in the second phase of training!”

"Physical training is very important and requires long-term commitment, Ron—"

Hermione was far more adept at teaching than Harry; her serious expression was very similar to Professor McGonagall's in class.

"But the second phase of evasion training places more emphasis on reaction and agility, and does not rely entirely on physical strength. Therefore, these two training programs do not conflict and can be carried out simultaneously. Professor Blaine had us do running exercises for a month. Improving our physical strength was only one of the purposes; he was also selecting us."

Hermione stopped talking abruptly halfway through her sentence.

Professor Blaine did that to weed out students who lacked willpower and were unwilling to suffer losses, and Ron gave up his persistence because of these two points.

Ron pursed his lips and fell silent for a moment. If he could, he would even like to apply to the Ministry of Magic for a Time-Turner and give his past self a good punch.

“Ron--”

Ron fell into a long silence, which made Harry very uneasy. Hermione and Ron were his best friends, and he couldn't remember getting much help from them over the years, but there was a subtle strangeness to being friends with them.

It's much more fun being with Ron, while being friends only with Hermione would undoubtedly be less fun and would also add a lot of time spent in the library.

Therefore, Harry was happier than anyone else that Ron had made up his mind to enter the dueling training, fearing that Ron would give up again because of fear of difficulties.

"Then let's get started—"

But this time, Harry's worries were clearly useless. Ron suddenly lifted his eyelids and gave Harry and Hermione a bright smile.

What are we waiting for?!

Chapter 677 First Experience

2024-01-05

Hermione was already very skilled at manipulating these armors. As her wand fell, the armors that had been clanging and clattering against the wall suddenly lurched forward, making a throwing motion in unison. The oppressive scene and the chilling atmosphere immediately made Ron's expression change.

"and many more!"

Ron, his face pale, suddenly cried out. He was breathing heavily, and beads of sweat were already forming on his forehead, as he faced the armored figures poised to strike.

"Do you have any experience, I mean, tips on how to dodge armor attacks that you can share with me?"