My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 325, Section 322: Returning to School

Hermione bought a cat named Crookshanks in Diagon Alley.

This made Ron very unhappy because the cat looked very threatening to his pet, Scabbers.

Umaru was very happy about this. Her Animagus was a hamster, but she had no fear of cats and even proudly declared that Crookshan would become her new mount in the castle.

The big, ugly-cute ginger cat seemed to like Umaru a lot; at least it didn't resist when Umaru tried to pet it.

Since school starts tomorrow, the Weasleys decided to stay at the Leaky Cauldron tonight and head straight to King's Cross Station to catch the train the next morning. Hermione and Lynn rode in Mr. Granger's car back to their own home.

Silent all night.

The next morning, on the Hogwarts Express, Lynn took Burma to find Ian and the others, while Hermione and Ron were still waiting for Harry on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Mr. Weasley seemed to have something to tell Harry privately.

Lynn certainly knew what Mr. Weasley was going to tell Harry, but he also knew that Sirius Black wasn't really a threat this semester. The real threat was the Crookshanks that were hiding in front of Ron's chest because they were afraid of Hermione.

Lynn couldn't help but secretly wonder what Ron would think if he found out that the mouse that was always by his side was actually a short, fat middle-aged man in disguise.

Peter Pettigrew's situation is actually quite easy to resolve. Once we know the whole story, we can simply arrest him, then contact Sirius Black to find a way to clear his name and allow him to reunite with Harry.

However, capturing just Peter the Pettigrew would be a waste of resources, so Lynn had a better plan.

Moreover, his focus at Hogwarts this semester isn't on these things, but on other, more important matters.

Umaru wasn't in a good mood today, with huge dark circles under her eyes. After learning that the electrical appliances in Hogwarts would lose all their power, she stayed up all night playing games, as if she wanted to play all the games she wouldn't be able to play for the next whole year in one night.

If Lynn hadn't caught her playing video games in the middle of the night and forced her to go to sleep, she probably wouldn't have been able to get up this morning.

Even now, when Lynn brought her to the private room that Ian and the others had reserved in advance, she immediately collapsed onto the soft chair, ready to catch up on some sleep.

"You need to be prepared." As soon as Lynn entered the private room, Cedric solemnly instructed them, "Because my father works at the Ministry of Magic, I know some things in advance. This semester, a large number of Azkaban jailers will be stationed around Hogwarts."

During his summer vacation, Ian's only source of information about the magical world in his enormous ducal mansion was the Daily Prophet, so he was well aware of the major events that had recently occurred in the magical world.

"Is it to capture Sirius Black, the dark wizard who escaped from prison?"

"Yes, because he was the first prisoner to successfully escape from Azkaban, which shocked the entire Ministry of Magic and enraged the jailers. For the safety of Hogwarts, Dumbledore, though he disliked them, agreed to let them guard the castle's perimeter."

Ian didn't quite understand.

"Why must they come to guard Hogwarts? Black will definitely come to Hogwarts anyway?"

Cedric said in a low voice.

"Because Black wanted revenge on Harry Potter, someone heard him shouting 'He's at Hogwarts!' while he was in prison. So the Aurors all guessed that Black, who was surrounded by the Ironclad of Darkness, wanted to kill Harry Potter to avenge Darkness."

Ian shrugged.

"It's outrageous. This is the first time I've ever heard of a criminal escaping from prison and not hiding, but instead going out to kill someone in broad daylight."

"Many of the real Death Eaters are actually crazy; their thoughts are different from those of normal people like us."

They quickly changed the subject, since talking about this always made them feel a little uncomfortable.

"Congratulations, Lynn. It's been published in the newspapers that you've received the Order of Merlin, Second Class. They say you're the youngest recipient."

Lynn shrugged and said, "It's just a medal. Even though it's pure gold, you can't melt it down into many Galleons."

"Such a medal cannot be measured in money; it represents the highest honor for a wizard."

"The highest honor is the First Class Medal; I only have the Second Class."

They hadn't seen each other for a summer, and Lynn hadn't really been with them much during their third year, so they naturally had a lot to talk about on the train.

Umaru woke up around noon, and her condition seemed to have worsened.

Because she had slept for too long, her head was still dizzy. After waking up, she didn't want to eat anything, so she just held a cup of pumpkin juice that Lynn had bought for her from the snack cart and sipped it slowly.

"Let's see if you still stay up all night in the future."

This girl is still being stubborn.

"It's not my fault for staying up late, it must be because I didn't cover myself with a blanket while playing games last night and caught a cold."

"How do you know that the feeling of having a cold is different from the feeling of not getting enough sleep from staying up all night?"

"Because I've stayed up all night before, and the next day I was still full of energy and completely fine!"

Umaru said smugly, but the next moment Lynn flicked her finger on her forehead.

"Well, look like you've been secretly playing games late at night a lot this summer."

When her scheme was exposed, Umaru knew she was in the wrong, so she covered her head, blinked her big, watery eyes, and tried to act cute.

"I was wrong."

Cedric covered his mouth and chuckled as he watched Lynn scold Umaru, while Ian added fuel to the fire with a blank expression.

"She's probably thinking to herself right now, 'I'll be more careful next time so you don't catch me.'"

Umaru's eyes widened immediately, and she pointed at Ian, complaining to Lynn, "Brother! He used magic to peek into my head!"

Cedric collapsed onto Ian laughing, and Lynn gave Umaru another tap.

"Your thoughts are practically written all over your face, why would you need someone else to spy on you?"

The private room was filled with laughter and cheerful conversation, while the sky outside gradually darkened.

The Hogwarts Express travels very slowly; they depart from London in the morning and don't arrive at the Hogwarts platform until nearly 8 p.m.

However, just as they were getting close to Hogwarts, the train suddenly encountered an accident.

The train stopped, and all the lights inside the carriage went out!

(End of this chapter)