Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 216 Some Preparations

"I found it, teacher."

After returning from the Department of Mysteries, Ike went straight to Voldemort, but omitted the fact that he had met Dumbledore.

"But I didn't get it. It was enchanted with some kind of magic I don't know about. It might require certain conditions, or..."

"Or what?" Old Fu asked.

"Perhaps it's a specific person," Ike replied, his eyes fixed on Old Vol's red pupils.

This had almost become a habit; Ike always acted this way when talking to Voldemort. Protected by Occlumency, he wasn't worried that Voldemort would discover what he was hiding. Perhaps it was precisely because of this behavior that Ike was able to gain Voldemort's trust.

Old Fu stared at Ike for a while before nodding slightly and saying, "I think I know who did this. It's not your fault, little Ike. It's normal that you couldn't get it with his skills."

"I'm sorry, teacher, I've disappointed you." Ike lowered his head at the right moment, revealing a hint of guilt.

Old Fu stood up, gently patted Ike's shoulder, his words full of comfort and encouragement: "It's alright. It was just to confirm the location of that thing. I still have a plan for it. Your information only made me more determined."

"Alright, it's been a whole night, go get some rest. We still have a lot to do..."

After saying goodnight to Old Voldemort, Ike returned to his laboratory. He didn't fall asleep immediately, staring at the ceiling until dawn, his hand constantly stroking the ring he was wearing.

Finally, the ring responded.

"What's wrong?"

"I met Dumbledore and learned some things from him."

"Dumbledore? What...did you say to him?"

"You need to stay at Hogwarts."

"Why? Didn't we have an agreement?"

"Yes, but it needs the right time, and now is clearly not the right time."

"What is the right time?"

"When you personally defeat one of my colleagues."

"Okay, just wait, I'll do it..."

Hermione unfastened her hand from the necklace, sat on the bed staring blankly ahead, suddenly shook her head, tidied her messy hair, took a deep breath, and her heart was filled with determination.

She made great progress this semester. Thanks to the books and notes in the box left by Ike, and her own hard work, she was able to successfully cast spells that many adult wizards had not yet learned, though she was still a little unskilled at them.

In fact, she knew in her heart that her current level was still not enough, but at least she had a goal, which could be considered a small success.

After washing up and quickly making her bed, Hermione left the dormitory and headed to the Great Hall on the first floor. Along the way, people who saw her gave her strange looks, filled with fear, disgust, and many other indescribable emotions.

What happened in the headmaster's office that night didn't get out, but many people saw Marietta's terrible condition, not to mention she wasn't the only one who snitched. There was another child in the school hospital at the time, and Madam Pomfrey was helpless against the troublesome curse. In the end, it was Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape who saved the poor child.

"The Wicked Witch," many people secretly called her that behind her back. Hermione knew it, but she didn't care at all. She was different now than when she was a first-year student. Even though "Wicked Witch" was a hundred times more offensive and hurtful than "Miss Know-It-All," it couldn't disturb Hermione's mind in the slightest.

When she created this curse, she had already considered the possible scenarios, and frankly, things are much better than she imagined.

At least, he wasn't fired.

Not long after, Harry and Ron arrived together. They were both in low spirits and looked a little listless, but they felt much better after drinking a large glass of milk.

"How's it like being locked up?" Hermione took a bite of bread; the strawberry jam on top was sweet and sour, which was delightful.

"It's the same old tricks, I'm used to it." Harry sighed, his fork crunching at the pancakes on the plate.

"She's furious," Ron interjected. "The Ministry of Magic made her the new headmistress, but she can't even get into the headmistress's office. Those two stone goblins refuse to open the door for her."

"Yeah, so she probably got a new quill pen because of that, and I have to say, it hurts even more." Harry subconsciously rubbed the back of his left hand, where there were still some red marks.

The three chatted idly, quickly finishing breakfast, and then headed to the History of Magic classroom with their books. As one of the few courses in Umbridge that was free of trouble, History of Magic had become a haven for many wizards.

Just as Ron said, Umbridge, now the new headmistress, was forced to remain in her office filled with cat photos, which infuriated her. And the consequence of her anger was that she became even more unruly.

Umbridge formed an investigative task force, almost entirely composed of Slytherin students, and somehow managed to get Filch to obey her every word. They kept a close watch on the members of the D.A. (Democratic Association of America) almost 24/7, and since the D.A. was predominantly composed of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, this made life difficult for students from those two houses, as they could lose points for the slightest disagreement.

Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were initially neck and neck in house points, but Hufflepuff and Slytherin quickly surpassed them. Two or three days later, even Hufflepuff lost a significant number of points, while Slytherin's points increased instead of decreasing, allowing them to take the lead.

"You've all noticed, haven't you?" the twins said during dinner, pointing to the huge hourglass on the wall of the auditorium that represented the college's scores.

"I swear, this is blatant revenge! They did it on purpose!" Ron was furious, and as he spoke, several more gems flew out of the Gryffindor hourglass.

"Yes, they did it on purpose," Fred said coldly. "No one can treat us like this, so they paid the price. Monta was trying to deduct points from our score just now..."

"Want it? What did you do?" Ron asked.

"He didn't finish his sentence, we didn't give him a chance," George replied. "Because before he could finish speaking, we had already stuffed him into the disappearing cabinet on the second floor."

"That's too impulsive! You're going to get into big trouble," Hermione said, frowning.

“Nobody saw anything, and there won’t be any trouble until Monta reappears,” Fred said. “A week, two weeks? Who knows when he’ll show up?”

"Besides, we're not afraid of trouble..."

"That's right! Honestly, we never want to stay here again!"

The twins were unusually serious, and their faces no longer held the smiles that usually made people happy.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Hermione asked softly after a long silence.

"No, we've planned everything!" Fred said, waving his hands repeatedly.

"This is our business, you must not get involved..."

(End of this chapter)