Hogwarts: A little lion in the skin of the Eagle School

The next day.

Ginny didn't wake up until the sun was high in the sky.

Last night, since Hermione hadn't come back, she wanted to see how late Hermione could stay at John's place, and also ask her what to do when alone with a boy.

I ended up falling asleep in the middle of the night and only woke up now.

She rubbed her eyes and looked at Hermione's bed, finding that it was just like last night, without any signs of having been disturbed.

Hermione...did she sleep at John's place...?

Thinking this, Ginny was instantly wide awake.

After a noisy wash, she went to the kitchen on the first floor.

There were quite a few people sitting in the kitchen at this time, either eating breakfast or discussing the information about the Death Eaters from the previous night.

John, for example, was resting his chin on one hand while slowly stirring the nearly cooled pumpkin juice with the other, looking completely lost in thought.

Hermione sat diagonally opposite him, looking down at the Daily Prophet with an unchanging expression.

Good morning, Ginny.

Someone noticed Ginny and greeted her.

Ginny responded and sat down to eat breakfast with them.

However, her attention was entirely focused on Hermione and John, as if she were eating some earth-shattering gossip.

But right now, the two of them aren't interacting at all.

They didn't even make eye contact.

At this moment, Harry and Ron also got up and went into the kitchen one after the other, sitting down next to John to eat breakfast.

"Good morning, John. Did you sleep well here last night?"

Harry showed concern for John as always.

However, his casual concern caused both John, who was lost in thought, and Hermione, who was reading the newspaper, to pause abruptly.

"Uh...it's alright."

John stammered in response, his hand unconsciously scratching his cheek as if he had thought of something embarrassing, his eyes glancing at Hermione from time to time.

"Is that so? That's good."

Harry, unaware of John's unusual behavior, nodded.

Ron next door glanced at John while eating his breakfast.

After reading it, he asked in confusion.

"John, what happened to your neck? There are so many red marks?"

Tear it apart!

As soon as Ron asked the question, Hermione, who was opposite him, tore a thin tear in the edge of the newspaper because she used too much force, and if you looked closely, you could see that Hermione's cheeks turned red.

However, because the sound was quite faint and was blocked by newspapers, no one except Ginny noticed it.

When John heard Ron's question, he subconsciously raised his hand to touch the back of his neck and stammered.

"Ugh... I got bitten by something dirty... Ouch!"

John had just made up an excuse when he felt his foot being kicked hard under the table, and he cried out in pain.

Looking up, he saw Hermione glaring at him with displeasure.

Harry and Ron looked at John strangely, wondering why he seemed a bit off today.

"There are indeed some areas that haven't been cleaned properly, so it's not surprising that there are dirty things there."

However, they didn't say anything, but simply agreed with John.

John glared back at Hermione, then nodded in agreement, "Yeah, that filthy thing was huge, and it even climbed into my bed, keeping me up all night."

Harry was taken aback: "That's an exaggeration?"

"Yes!" John nodded and said with certainty.

Hermione across from him had clenched her little fists, her face flushed, looking fiercely cute, as if she wanted to shove John into a jar of jam and marinate him right there.

Ginny took in all of these reactions.

"Wow, baby, you have such a good appetite today?"

Just then, Mrs. Weasley walked in carrying a stack of freshly baked buttered bread and found her precious daughter stuffing bread into her mouth.

Ginny chuckled as she chewed her noodles.

"Mmm, today's breakfast is so appetizing."

......

There are not many entertainment options in the Order of the Phoenix.

After all, this isn't a vacation.

Fortunately, there were two former Blackguard professors here, and John could go to them to discuss spells when they were free.

The main focus, of course, is his research on the defensive spell that requires long-distance maintenance.

Within the Order of the Phoenix, he could freely use and study spells. Even if the Ministry of Magic could observe the magical fluctuations within, it would be impossible to determine who was casting the spell.

After hearing about John's research direction, Professor Lupin and Professor Moody gave different opinions.

Professor Moody scoffed, thinking it was unnecessary or presumptuous. Although he was dismissive, he still offered his advice.

Professor Lupin was slightly surprised by John's research direction, and then he and John made some attempts together.

In the end, it was Professor Moody's suggestion that gave John inspiration.

If you can't maintain the spell all the time, then just "plant" it.

Like a curse, a curse doesn't need maintenance.

Once planted, it will automatically take effect according to the rules of the curse.

The downside is that it only works once, and you have to replant it after that. But that's not a big problem, as long as it works.

Moreover, the underlying logic of curses and anti-curses is completely opposite, so changing it is quite difficult.

We need to change "defense" from a passive response to an active, rule-based approach.

We also need to learn how to cast curses and understand how curses can keep running without any maintenance.

In short, there's a lot to learn...

While Harry and Ron were still flipping through their fifth-year textbooks, John was already studying "Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts: Theory and Practice," "Essentials of Cursed Theory," and "Introduction to the Construction of Magical Roots," books they wouldn't be able to finish even by graduation.

John's room was also cursed by himself with a bunch of strange curses.

For example, stepping on a carpet will result in being "eaten" by the carpet, reaching into a drawer will result in being "bitten" by the drawer, and picking up a water glass will result in being splashed with water, even if the glass is empty.

These are all prank-like little curses, not very harmful, but extremely insulting.

Hermione stopped going to his room to stick stickers on him.

On the contrary, Fred and George would come to him every day to discuss wicked ideas, and this little curse could be used on some of their trick props.

And so, the week at the Order of the Phoenix passed quickly.

It's time for the start of the school year at Hogwarts again.

"A black door?"

"Hmm, I haven't seen that door before. There's a round thing on the door, and the corridor has obsidian-like brick walls."

On their way to King's Cross Station, John and Harry walked at the back of the line, chatting about Harry's recent dream.

"And in my dreams, I always feel like I want to go through that door to find something, even though I don't even know what kind of door it is..."

John felt a sense of unease as he listened to Harry's description.

Harry had the same recurring dream last semester, except that he dreamt of Pettigrew and Voldemort.

Now it's a door, and it looks really strange.

Does Harry have some kind of precognitive ability?

"Have you spoken to the principal?"

"No, I plan to go to the school and talk to the professor directly about this."

John nodded and didn't ask anything more. Nothing was as simple as telling him to go directly to Dumbledore.

"Perfect timing, I also need to ask Dumbledore about that locket. Let's go together then."

"Okay, sure."