Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 311 A Sudden Turn of Events

Scrimgeour didn't learn the news until the next day, only because he had requested daily reports from the guards of Azkaban, yet he hadn't received the information when he should have. By the time he led the Aurors to Azkaban, the towering structure had been completely razed to the ground, leaving only ruins.

This news cannot be concealed, nor can it be hidden. Admittedly, he could silence those loyal to him, but one must understand that the Ministry of Magic is now like a sieve.

"The Fall of Azkaban: Death Eaters Escape Massively"

Harry stared dumbfounded at the front page of the Daily Prophet, speechless before the photograph of a scene reduced to a pile of rubble. Scrimgeour's face turned ashen.

It hasn't been many days since Hagrid let slip the last time. Even yesterday, the front page of the Daily Prophet was "Ministry of Magic wins a great victory," but today it has become "Azkaban is destroyed."

Instinctively, Harry looked toward the professors' table; Dumbledore's seat was still empty.

"With something this big happening, he must be busy," Harry thought to himself.

"This is a disaster!" Ron exclaimed at the Gryffindor table. "All those Death Eaters we painstakingly captured, just escaped like that?"

"If what the newspaper says is true, then that's certainly true." Hermione frowned, her appetite for breakfast completely gone. "But even if what it says isn't true, this photo shows that all the prisoners have escaped. And..."

"And what?" Harry asked.

“Look at this whole report, not a single word mentions the original guards. It seems they’ve all perished,” Hermione said. “Don’t forget, they just locked Greyback up there.”

"How could it have turned out like this..." Ron muttered, looking very disappointed.

Harry wanted to know the answer to this question too, so after breakfast he decided to write a letter to Sirius Black to ask him, a decision that was also agreed upon by Hermione and Ron.

Three days later, Hedway brought back Sirius's letter, and the three of them eagerly opened it. But Sirius hadn't written much; the letter only contained one name: Ike Strand.

That says it all.

"It's him again!" Ron said angrily, slamming his hand on the table, his face flushed red. "He's completely become the Dark Lord's lackey! To be honest, I hate him even more than Malfoy now."

Harry and Hermione remained silent, listening to Ron's incessant complaining and cursing. Ron's rant grew increasingly heated, his words becoming ever more offensive. Harry listened while discreetly observing Hermione's expression, but he couldn't discern any inner turmoil from her face; she remained remarkably calm throughout.

This scene left Harry feeling uneasy. He wanted to ask Hermione's opinion, but he was afraid of hurting her feelings. After pondering for a long time, he remained silent.

Having gone through so much, he has grown a lot. If it were two years ago, he would have asked immediately.

For the next few weeks, Azkaban and Ike became the only topic of conversation at Hogwarts. Even the active Professor Slughorn and his Slug Club had to temporarily avoid the spotlight, and the Daily Prophet even ran the story on its front page for a whole week.

In fact, the same thing is still being said now, but it's being used as a tool to attack Minister Scrinzer.

Time flew by and it was mid-October when Hogwarts miraculously granted permission for the students to travel to Hogsmeade, much to everyone's surprise. Given the current dire situation, everyone had thought they wouldn't be able to go to Hogsmeade this year, so they were all overjoyed to know they could.

A stifling atmosphere had been hanging over Hogwarts for quite some time; being able to get out and relax, even for just a few hours, would be wonderful. Harry was probably the most looking forward to it, because Sirius Black had written to say he would be waiting for him at Hogsmeade.

Filled with excitement, Harry got up very early. When he woke up, it was just getting light outside, and the rest of the dormitory was still fast asleep.

Without making a sound, he picked up the book "Advanced Potion Making" from the bedside and started reading.

The book looks brand new now; Harry swapped it with the one he bought from Flourish and Blotts. Anyway, Professor Slughorn won't care; he can just give him back the "old book."

After getting the book, Harry became a book-loving child, gradually behaving like Hermione, always carrying it around. He discovered that the book couldn't be considered a textbook at all; its content was incredibly rich, not only providing easier tips and shortcuts for potion-making, but also including many little curses and spells written in the margins.

Those messy, scribbled notes led Harry to conclude that they must have been invented by the "Half-Blood Prince".

He had already tried several of the spells mentioned above. One of them made people's toes grow wildly, and another made people's tongues stick to their palates. But the most useful one was the one that made people listen to the spell by plugging their ears. It filled the ears of everyone around with a buzzing sound like bees, which was very useful for talking or chatting during class.

Harry lay on his side in bed, flipping through his textbook, carefully identifying a spell. It seemed the "Half-Blood Prince" had put a lot of thought into this spell, revising it countless times before finally writing its name in the corner of that page:

Fuchsia (silent)

Harry stared at the word in parentheses, unsure if he could do it. More than a month had passed, and he still hadn't mastered the art of silent spellcasting, which Snape had used to criticize him in class quite a bit.

"Let's give it a try..." Harry thought to himself, picked up his wand, pointed it randomly at a spot, gave it a light shake, and silently chanted the spell in his mind: Upside Down!

"Ahhhhh!"

A blinding flash of light erupted, and the dormitory erupted into chaos. Ron screamed in agony, hanging upside down in mid-air as if suspended by an invisible hook. The noise woke everyone up; Dean and Seamus burst into laughter, while Neville was so startled he fell off his bed.

"I'm sorry!" Harry exclaimed, quickly looking at the page in his textbook that said "Upside-down Bell," and finally found the anti-curse in the corner.

Concentrate and silently chant in your heart: The golden bell falls to the ground!

The wand emitted another bright light, and Ron fell directly onto the bed.

"I'm sorry," Harry said again, looking at the disheveled Ron. Dean and Seamus, standing nearby, continued to laugh loudly.

Ron didn't seem to be hurt. He shook his head and replied in a muffled voice, "I'm fine, but Harry, next time you wake me up, use an alarm clock..."

(End of this chapter)