The Return to Hogwarts

2024-07-13

Even Harry, many years after graduating from Hogwarts, still breaks out in a cold sweat when he thinks about the past few nights.

He had intended to follow Snape and Malfoy into the Forbidden Forest to teach Malfoy a lesson as punishment for his father's actions that had driven Hogwarts to the brink of closure.

Unfortunately, their plan failed to be carried out, and they were exposed by Snape.

Professors Dumbledore and Blaine were not at the school, and Professor McGonagall, as the Head of Gryffindor, presided over their punishment.

First, an enraged Professor McGonagall deducted another 20 points from each of the students on top of the points already deducted by Snape, which almost certainly meant that Gryffindor was destined to lose this year's House Cup.

Secondly, Professor McGonagall punished them by making them go to the Forbidden Forest every night to collect materials for Snape.

For the past few nights, they had followed Snape into the Forbidden Forest to catch frogs, gather nettles and angelica, search for motra rats and collect their venom.

Ron was bitten by a Motra rat and spent the night at the school hospital.

Almost every night, they are able to go to bed before midnight.

While working in the Forbidden Forest, Snape simply stood by and gave orders, mocking their clumsy attempts at maneuvering, while doing absolutely nothing himself.

Honestly, these past few nights of torment made Harry feel for the first time that he might just drop out of Hogwarts.

Of course, Hermione was completely implicated. When the three of them decided to follow Snape into the Forbidden Forest, Hermione was firmly against it. She only followed them to prevent them from doing anything foolish.

Afterwards, Neville, who had made this rash suggestion, sincerely apologized to Hermione.

"I hope this will teach you a lesson—"

That night before bed, Hermione scratched the welts on her face from mosquito bites in the Forbidden Forest, and said weakly to them,

"We're already very lucky to have avoided being expelled."

"Perhaps that wretched old bat knew that Hogwarts wouldn't be open for long, so he didn't insist on expelling us and took advantage of the last chance to torment us."

The three of them went straight to bed without even washing up after returning to their dorm. Ron, after uttering those words, started snoring loudly without waiting for Harry and Neville's opinions.

However, the efforts of Harry and his friends could not lift Hogwarts out of its financial straits.

After Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout negotiated with the villagers of Hogsmeade and some suppliers, the food on the table, while not as lavish as usual, was at least not so meager.

However, Professor McGonagall was clearly unable to solve the problem of teaching expenses.

On Monday noon, after a weekend, Angelina told Harry that Snape had actually allowed the Potions Newts students to study on their own during class.

"But we've brought Snape a lot of random stuff, haven't we?"

Harry asked in surprise—he had never heard of such an 'absurd' thing happening at Hogwarts during Potions class.

"The NEWTS level courses involve many advanced potions--"

Hermione said,

"We need many precious magical ingredients, and we can't get those things by ourselves in the Forbidden Forest. Oh, Katie has her OWLS exam, right? This is a nightmare for students facing the OWLS level exam!"

"You still have the nerve to worry about other people, Hermione?"

Ron was scratching the wound on his arm from the Motra rat bite. Although Madam Pomfrey had removed some of the negative effects, the wound was still very itchy during the healing process.

"We are the ones who truly need to escape this nightmare. Oh, I really hope Professor Blaine and Professor Dumbledore can reach an agreement with the Board of Governors soon, so that the old bat won't have a chance to torment us!"

Ron was seething with hatred as he watched Snape leisurely eating breakfast at the faculty and staff table.

Harry suddenly remembered something. He dropped the apple pie in his hand, wiped his mouth, and looked anxiously at Hermione.

"Professor Dumbledore and Professor Blaine are negotiating with the Board of Trustees. What does the Daily Prophet say about this, Hermione? Is there any report about it in there?"

"No--"

Hermione shook her head.

"Recent newspapers, aside from criticizing the quality of Hogwarts, have not reported anything about this matter."

This isn't surprising, is it? After all, the Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors did something dishonorable. If the wizarding public knew that the Ministry of Magic used such despicable means to interfere with Hogwarts, what would people say? The Minister of Magic's approval rating would be ruined.

Harry bit his lip, his worry growing even more about Hogwarts' uncertain future.

He never expected that before Voldemort's return would cause any major trouble, the wizarding government, in order to maintain its authority, would actually force Hogwarts to close down.

With a gloomy mood, Harry finished his afternoon classes.

As dusk settled over the gloomy sky, the mood of the group who had returned to the auditorium for dinner inevitably soured.

"Can't it just rain?"

Ron glared angrily at the cloudless sky, tearing at the bread slices in his hand with each powerful bite.

"I refuse to believe Snape would send us out into the Forbidden Forest in the rain to catch leeches!"

Harry was about to say something when a couple suddenly burst into the hallway, silencing him.

Not only was it him, but many young wizards also turned their astonished gazes toward the witch who had run into the hall.

The witch wore a banana-yellow robe, her nails were dazzling pink, and her hair was styled into elaborate, stiff, and bizarre large curls. She wore bejeweled glasses and carried a crocodile-skin handbag.

The young man behind the witch was carrying a professional camera on his shoulder and was running breathlessly to keep up.

"Hurry, Bozo, this is a rare opportunity!"

The witch spoke with extreme excitement, ignoring the astonished looks of the young wizards and professors, she rushed to the end of the Gryffindor table, craned her neck to peer over the head of a first-year wizard, and eagerly examined the food on the table.

For some reason, the witch frowned in displeasure.

"Oh, isn't this a bit too much, Bozo? This won't generate any buzz if we film it like this."

As the witch spoke, she raised her thickly drawn eyebrows, pondered briefly, and then rudely shoved the young wizards aside.

"Excuse me, could you move aside?"

The witch spoke to the frightened young wizards, pulled out a stool, and examined the food on the table again. A few seconds later, she began to eat.

The excited witch pushed aside the pudding, roast steak, and fried sausage that had reappeared on the little wizard's table, leaving only a few greasy pumpkin pies and boiled potatoes.

After doing all this, she glanced at the messy dining table and caught a glimpse of Colin's half-eaten bread in his mouth.

"Oh, can I borrow it for a moment!"

The witch reached into Colin's mouth and snatched the bread slice from his mouth, casually tossing it into her plate before clapping her hands, startling Colin so much that he almost fell off the bench.

"That looks much better."

The witch nodded in satisfaction and stepped aside. The young man behind her, carrying a professional camera, had already set up his equipment and began snapping photos of the leftover food on the table.

At the end of the farce, the witch even pulled back several first-year wizards who had been driven aside earlier, forcing the terrified wizards to take a picture with the dining table.

"Thank you!"

The witch stuffed the bread slice she had taken from Colin's mouth back into his mouth.

“Let’s go, Bozo, let’s go upstairs first. Blaine said he’ll be waiting for us in his office. It’s the third floor, right? He already said that in his letter.”

Harry watched as the witch, in her high heels, led the photographer up the stairs on the side of the foyer and disappeared from his sight.

"Rita Skeeter, a reporter for the Daily Prophet, but what's she doing at Hogwarts?"

"I'm totally confused," Ron asked in surprise.

“That’s not important, Ron—”

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, her spirits lifted after days of being tormented by Snape.

"Didn't you hear what she said at the end? Professor Blaine is back. Oh, I think all of this should come to a conclusion now."

Chapter 1028 Stripping

2024-07-13

In fact, the "battle" with the board of directors had ended two days ago.

The reason we were delayed for two more days was because Amosta went to Paris again.

When Rita Skeeter knocked on the office door, he was sitting at his desk reviewing a summary of some of the unexpected events that had occurred at Hogwarts during the days he had been away.

Some of the problems were to be expected, but Amosta had a wry smile on his face when it came to the fact that Harry and his friends had followed Severus into the Forbidden Forest and were punished by having to go there every night to collect materials for Potions class.

"Please come in--"

Amosta stuffed the compiled data into the drawer, composed himself, and began to speak.

"You wait here, I'll go talk to him—"

After a quiet instruction came from outside the door, the office door was pushed open, and Rita Skeeter's heavily made-up face came into Amosta's view.

"Ah, Amosta, long time no see. Have your negotiations with the board of directors ended?"

As soon as she entered, Rita's face lit up with joy, and she walked briskly toward Amosta.

As she got closer, she seemed to want to give Amosta a hug, but when her gaze fell upon the authority hidden beneath his calm smile, Rita slightly suppressed her exaggerated smile and grabbed Amosta's hand, shaking it vigorously.

Good evening, Rita.

Amosta nodded, smiling as he withdrew his hand.

"Your information network is more advanced than I expected. It seems you already have some understanding of the situation?"

"I rushed over as soon as I received your letter!"