The Return to Hogwarts

Fudge said excitedly,

"I think we need to speed things up by recruiting more strikers to protect the public safety. Amelia, we need to push this resolution through as soon as possible and get the team organized before Easter!"

"But, Minister—"

Umbridge was stunned for several seconds before she came to her senses.

"This proposal is still pending."

“I will pay Amelia’s offer, Dolores—”

Fudge immediately gave Umbridge a warning look, signaling her to shut up.

It must be said that Amosta Blaine was indeed a master of seizing opportunities. The proposal to send additional strikers caused great controversy within the ministry because it would divert funds from multiple construction projects. After numerous discussions without resolution, Amosta managed to easily push through the decision by taking advantage of this terrorist incident.

Amelia glanced discreetly at Amostella, whose expression remained unchanged. If she didn't know Amostella and Dumbledore's character, she would almost have thought that he had orchestrated the attack on Granger.

Boom, boom——

There was a knock on the office door, and Severus walked in carrying a cup of steaming golden liquid.

When he left, only Dumbledore and Amosta were there. Now, several high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Magic have arrived. It didn't take long for Severus to sense the tense atmosphere in the office. However, he ignored it and went straight to Hermione's bedside with the potion.

Fudge had intended to greet Severus, but seeing that he was focused on feeding the unfortunate little witch the medicine and didn't even glance at them, he could only cough awkwardly a few times and pretend to look at Hermione's face with concern.

"This medicine has a strong inhibitory effect on the curse, Amosta—"

After giving Hermione the medicine, Severus said softly,

"But that won't get rid of her weakness. You'd better break the curse on Granger within half a month—"

"When will Miss Granger wake up, Severus?"

Dumbledore finally emerged from behind his desk.

“It’s hard to say, Headmaster Dumbledore,” Severus shook his head, “but she overused her magic earlier, so I guess Miss Granger will probably be unconscious for a day or two—”

"Dumbledore, Amosta—"

Amelia said with a worried expression,

"You see, should we transfer Miss Hermione Granger to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Injuries? They're more specialized there for treating magical injuries, and they have plenty of staff. Don't worry about her safety; I can send Aurors to protect her during her hospitalization—"

"Oh, that's a great idea!"

Fudge looked at Amelia approvingly and said happily,

"Furthermore, the Ministry of Magic can cover all her medical expenses!"

Amosta observed Hermione's condition. As Severus's potion began to take effect, strands of vibrant golden magic rapidly seeped into Hermione's cursed arm, forming a tight defense. After he withdrew the magic that suppressed the curse, the dark cloud attempted to touch it, but was burned and retracted as if encountering a natural enemy.

Meanwhile, the nourishing ingredients in the potion were restoring Hermione's energy, and her breathing became easier.

If Amosta intends to stay at Hogwarts and let the Ministry of Magic handle the matter, he will definitely keep Hermione by his side. But since he is going to investigate personally, it would be a good thing to keep Hermione away from her classmates at Hogwarts for a while. Thinking this, Amosta looked at Dumbledore.

“I agree with you, Amosta—” Dumbledore’s breathing was slightly heavy, but he did not offer any objection.

Now, it's time to discuss the reasons behind the attack Hermione suffered.

Hermione had several fan letters that she had received along with her package on her bedside table. Amelia walked over, picked up a few, and began to look through them with a serious expression.

"These are all letters from wizards who admire Miss Granger—"

After a moment, Amelia looked away from the letter.

“I know that even within the Ministry, there are some people who highly praise Miss Granger’s performance in the first event of the tournament. And correspondingly, Amostall, Dumbledore, and Miss Granger being attacked... I think it's unlikely that a Muggle-born student would provoke a dark wizard. Do you think this could be one of the other three champions... some extreme fan?”

Amostella knew that what Amelia really wanted to say was that the other three warriors currently had a clear conflict of interest with Hermione, and whether the attack Hermione suffered was related to them.

Cedric and Fleur, Amosta believed they wouldn't do such a thing, but Krum, at least with Karkaroff behind him, no one dared to vouch for him.

"This matter needs to be investigated before we know the answer, Amelia. Blindly speculating is pointless—"

Amostella didn't want to pretend he knew everything. This was indeed the most unexpected thing he had encountered in the year or two since returning to Hogwarts, and even now, he had no reliable guesses.

The three from the Ministry of Magic left.

Cornelius Fudge left the fireplace looking disheveled, almost impatient to leave Hogwarts. He might be glad Amostella Blaine hadn't pressed him for more time, but once he came to his senses, he would surely consider it a humiliating visit.

Before Dolores Umbridge stepped into the fireplace, she gave Amosta a furtive, menacing glance; for her, this trip had been a devastating loss.

Forced by circumstances, she had no choice but to make a tough decision, but she remembered it well and would make Blaine pay the price whenever she had the chance!

The project to expand the striker team would undoubtedly encroach on her original interests, and Amostella's confirmation that Hermione Granger had been attacked meant that the Department of Magical Transportation, which she was nominally in charge of, would have to bear some responsibility. In order to give Hogwarts an explanation, she had no choice but to quickly strip the Department of Transportation of its power from her.

“I fully understand your anger, Albus, Amostella—”

When only Amelia was left, she spoke in a way that was more like that of a friend.

"But we all know we are about to face an even greater threat, so--"

Amelia didn't say anything more, but her meaning was clear: she didn't want the situation to escalate.

Dumbledore used Fawkes to escort Hermione to St. Mungo's, leaving only Amosta and Severus in the headmaster's office where they had been going back and forth.

At noon, the sun shone brightly high in the sky.

Standing by the small window, Amosta saw Madame Maxim leading her students toward the castle, while at almost the same time, Karkarov disembarked from the ghost ship on the Black Lake.

It's unlikely to be a coincidence; they probably all received the reports around the same time.

Amosta stared expressionlessly at the two groups of people moving hurriedly.

"Calm down, Amosta—"

Severus knew Amosta too well; he knew that although Amosta remained outwardly calm, his heart was actually filled with rage. Severus frowned and looked at Amosta's profile.

"I'm very calm—"

Amostella turned her face away, her calm tone accompanied by a faint smile, silently conveying a murderous intent that sent chills down Severus's spine.

"I'm just confused. Confused about the person who did this. Didn't they consider the consequences? Or are they fearless of Hogwarts' retaliation?"

Chapter 749 Chaos and Hatred

2024-02-09

Everyone who approached him looked on with curiosity, as if they all wanted to find out the truth from him. But facing their gazes, Harry felt a surge of anger. He was already angry enough, but now he was even angrier.

Hermione was attacked without warning and her fate remains unknown.

However, these people were not worried about Hermione at all; instead, they were more interested in watching the spectacle. Harry wished he could pull out his wand and give the students on both sides of the corridor, who were staring at him with strange looks and whispering among themselves, a few hard whacks.

Although he knew it was only natural, and Hermione wasn't their best friend, he just couldn't control the hatred growing in his heart. This feeling of hatred was just like when he first heard last year that his parents had died because of the betrayal of their best friend.

“I hope you can control your emotions, Mr. Potter—”

Professor McGonagall noticed the hatred in Harry's emerald eyes. She spoke in a firm tone, but when her gaze fell upon a scabbed bloodstain on Harry's cheek, caused by a pebble on the ground, her tone softened. She gently squeezed the shoulder of the arm that was around Harry.

“You should trust Professor Dumbledore and Professor Blaine. Miss Granger will recover, and the man who persecuted her will be brought to justice. He will spend the rest of his life in Azkaban—”

“That kind of scum doesn’t deserve to go to Azkaban!” Harry said bitterly. “He should be killed!”

"This is not something a junior wizard should say, Potter. In any case, leave it to Professor Dumbledore and Professor Blaine; they will punish the murderer!"

Professor McGonagall sighed heavily in her heart and dragged Harry into the already overcrowded school hospital.

In the school hospital, Mrs. Pomfrey hurried around each bedside, bandaging and wiping away white fluid from the wailing young wizards, her round face filled with anxiety and frustration.

Today was supposed to be another leisurely and pleasant day for her, except for taking care of two first-year wizards who had injured their ankles in the stairwells by those mischievous people, and a few third-year students who had caught a bad cold and needed to rest in bed.

But she never expected that her leisure and comfort would end so abruptly. After finishing her rounds in the wards, she was about to go down to the auditorium for lunch when she stepped out of the hospital and heard a muffled rumble from the stairs.

Then, one patient after another was brought to the school hospital right before her eyes. Professor Moody even brought in two Hogsmeade villagers with shards of glass stuck in their shoulders!

"Oh!"

By the time she finally came to her senses, her territory was already filled with injured people.

"Can anyone tell me what's going on?!"

Faced with a group of young wizards waiting to be bandaged, Mrs. Pomfrey screamed in despair.

Although Harry felt perfectly fine, Professor McGonagall forcefully pressed him onto the sickbed and instructed Madam Pomfrey to examine him.

Perhaps because there were too many people waiting to be cared for, Madam Pomfrey's actions were more violent than ever before. When she checked his eyes to see if there were any signs of being corrupted by dark magic, she almost twisted his eyelids off.

"Well, Bobby, he was very close to Miss Granger back then."

Professor McGonagall looked at Madam Pomfrey, who was moving around on Harry, with a worried expression.

“I don’t think there’s a big problem, Minerva—”

As Madam Pomfrey pried open Harry's mouth, she examined his tongue.

"Of course, the child's been a little frightened. A cup of hot chocolate milk and a good night's sleep will make him feel better. The milk's on that counter over there, Minerva. It would be great if you could help me out—"

After the examination, Madam Pomfrey rushed off to clean the glass shards off the two unfortunate Hogsmeade villagers, while Professor McGonagall struggled through the crowd to pour him some milk. Harry, finally, had a chance to observe the chaos at the school hospital.

Everyone he knew from Hogwarts seemed to be here.

Harry saw his roommates, Neville, Seamus, and Dean, standing by the door, craning their necks to look inside. They hadn't been affected by the explosion, nor were they even at the scene; they had simply heard about it and come to visit.

Ginny, Colin, Fred, and George, members of the Gryffindor team and classmates in gym class. Harry saw Cedric and Cho Chang in the crowd, peering inside. Harry knew they were all eager to know what was going on, but he didn't want to pay them any attention right now, and he had no inside information to share.

Ron was one of the more seriously injured among the wounded. His head was wrapped in a thick layer of white gauze. He was still unconscious and looked a little pale, probably because of excessive blood loss. Mrs. Pomfrey, who went over to stop the bleeding from Macmillan's lips, drew the curtain next to Ron's bed so that Ron could rest better.