A certain broken Hogwarts

The last few days of summer vacation passed peacefully.

On the morning of the first day of school, Owen stuffed the sapphire that had caused him so much trouble into his suitcase. Since the leader of the Deathbringer Society was already determined to kill him, there was no need for him to throw the gem away to distance himself from the situation.

After carefully checking his luggage, he also took the "Book of Secrets" with him. The method the Deathbringer used to make its members keep secrets piqued his interest in this kind of spell, and he planned to study it carefully.

Melete lay obediently beside the suitcase, squinting her eyes and dozing off, her little head nodding. Nyx, however, was very unhappy. As a free phoenix, her appearance was too eye-catching, and she didn't want to be packed into a suitcase, much less transformed into an owl and stuffed into a cage.

Faced with Owen's helpless yet innocent gaze, Nyx angrily let out a series of curses, then flapped its wings and vanished into the raging black flames. It teleported directly to Hogwarts through the flames.

Owen chuckled and shook his head, straightening his collar and cuffs in front of the mirror. He glanced down at his right wrist, where a cross-shaped pattern of thorns, snakes, and bones slowly emerged on his pale skin. The original dark mark had faded to gray after the battle in the church, and when it turned white, it meant it had been filled in.

"Hmm, this feels surprisingly simple..." Owen tugged at his sleeve, thinking that this ritual was much easier than his magic fusion experiment last semester. He then smiled nonchalantly: "That's right, this is black magic. As long as you can be ruthless and ignore certain terrible side effects, it's easy to master quickly..."

He took a deep look at his reflection in the mirror, then casually picked up his suitcase and went downstairs, with Melet following at his feet, pink fluffy paws in his mouth. The Shafiq couple were already waiting for him, both dressed in dark black robes, holding wands, their expressions solemn as if they were going to war.

This time, they Apparated directly to the vicinity of King's Cross Station. As soon as they emerged from the deserted alley, several serious-looking wizards followed them, meticulously observing their surroundings. Clearly, they were bodyguards arranged by Mr. Shafik.

"Is this really necessary?" Irving glanced at them, somewhat amused and exasperated.

"Of course it's necessary! The mastermind behind those attacks hasn't been caught yet, who knows if they'll attack us again?" Albert's sharp gaze swept over the surrounding crowd. "That organization, oh, you said it's called the Extinction Society, right? It's probably not ordinary. We haven't been able to pry any information out of those prisoners..."

Owen nodded. He didn't tell the Shafiqs all the information he had obtained from Veros, but only shared what he knew about the Exile Society, so they would know which direction to investigate and guard against.

As for the fact that the Deathbringers were targeting him and wanted to kill him for some purpose, Owen felt there was no need to tell the Shafiqs. Even if they knew, it would be too late for him at Hogwarts; they couldn't be by his side all the time to protect him, and would only end up worrying unnecessarily.

In fact, making the Shafik couple unclear about the Deathbringer's objectives had its advantages; at least it would make them more vigilant about their own safety. After all, the origins of the two men who attacked Mr. Shafik were still unknown; they weren't sent by Veros, and Owen had some doubts about that. Even though the attack seemed ridiculous, they couldn't afford to be complacent.

"...It's impressive that you managed to get information from them." Albert said, then suddenly turned to Owen with a stern face. "You need to be careful too. Don't think you're safe just because you're at Hogwarts... Wait a minute! Should I take back the Hogsmeade Village permit I signed?"

"Breaking your word is no virtue, Father." Owen raised an eyebrow, turning to Mrs. Shafik. "Don't you agree, Mother?"

Adeline put her right hand, which was holding the wand, into her pocket, her bright eyes silently observing her surroundings in the shadow of her wide-brimmed hat. She smiled and said, "In the adult world, going back on your word is the norm, Owen."

"Tsk, would you really be willing to corrupt someone as innocent and naive as me?" Owen said shamelessly, blinking his clear eyes.

Then he felt a wave of nausea, coughed lightly, and changed the subject: "Speaking of which, how did you deal with those prisoners?"

"Of course we'll send them to Azkaban," Albert said casually. "We can't exactly support them."

"Although there have been escapees there this year, there's no doubt that Azkaban remains one of the most heavily guarded prisons in the wizarding world. It's much safer to keep people there than to find a place for them ourselves," he said casually. "I've taken care of everything; their sentences are long."

"Great," Owen muttered, carrying Melett through the wall leading to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

The bright red steam train was puffing out smoke, and the platform was crowded with male and female wizards who came to see their children off. The atmosphere was lively and busy.

Before getting into the car, Adeline kissed Owen's cheek and whispered in his ear, "You can go to Hogsmeade, but remember to be careful, okay?"

"I will, Mom." Owen turned his cheek, the warm breath tickling his ear.

"Don't go running around invisibly this school year," Mr. Shafik added. "Dumbledore has agreed to have those lovely guards of Azkaban stationed at the school entrance. The Dementors don't listen to reason."

"And, I know the school got you a time-changer," he suddenly leaned closer and whispered, "but you have to promise me you'll absolutely follow its instructions, or the consequences will be severe. Frankly, I don't understand why they'd agree to let a child use something so dangerous..."

"You know about this?" Owen blinked.

"Heh, do you think the Ministry of Magic wouldn't tell us about something this important?" Albert said, arms crossed. "Your mother and I signed several agreements guaranteeing that we wouldn't pursue any adverse consequences you might have caused by improper use of the Time-Turner."

Owen nodded seriously and said, "I will be careful." He was just curious about the time converter and had no intention of courting death. He was still very cautious and wary of time magic.

After waving to his parents, Irving boarded the train and walked through the compartments that were already full of people.

"Owen, over here!" Daphne waved to him from outside a compartment near the back of the train.

Owen helped her carry her luggage into the compartment and found that there were already two people inside. Draco was struggling to put a suitcase into the overhead luggage rack, and a pale-faced little girl was standing next to him.

After putting away his luggage, Owen sat by the window and heard Daphne introduce him: "This is my sister, Astoria, whom you have met before."

Astoria ran her hand through her long golden hair, her bright, clear blue eyes, identical to Daphne's, sparkling. She was petite and slender, her skin pale to the point of being sickly, making her look like fragile white porcelain.

She nodded politely and slightly shyly to them, and said in a gentle voice, "Hello." Her gaze was firmly drawn to the cats, the raccoon and the fluffy cat, in Owen's arms.

Draco glanced at her casually, nodded lazily, and said slowly to Owen sitting opposite him, "Isn't this much more spacious? I specifically sent Crabbe and Goyle to another box, otherwise this place would be too crowded for anyone to stay in."

"They'll be sad, Draco," Owen joked with a laugh.

"Come on, they only care about food." Draco rolled his eyes and said irritably, "Give them a little candy and I bet they'll forget who I am..."

Just then, the box door opened again, revealing Harry and Sirius Black standing outside, surrounded by a large pile of luggage. Harry said breathlessly, "Ah, thank goodness there's still room. How have you been lately?"

"Great, I just got back from a trip to Norway," Draco snorted, raising his chin haughtily.

Sirius helped Harry carry his luggage in and nodded to the people in the box. He didn't look as thin and haggard as before; his long, black hair was neat and shiny, and his fuller cheeks made him look much younger, revealing his former handsome appearance more and more.

Together they carried the heavy luggage inside, and Harry, panting, said, "Thanks, Sirius. Oh, I can manage the rest myself..."

Sirius helped him put his luggage away without a second thought, and then, unexpectedly, instead of getting off the train, he sat leisurely on a bench nearby.

"Uh, Sirius, is there anything else? The train is about to leave..." Harry heard a loud whistle and felt his feet begin to vibrate slightly.

"Isn't this the train to Hogwarts?" Sirius looked around in surprise, a mischievous and smug smile on his face.

"But you..." Harry paused, then realized, "You're going to Hogwarts?"

Sirius leaned back in his chair and said, "Didn't I tell you? Dumbledore was willing to take care of me, an unemployed layabout, and invited me to be the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"I didn't know! You kept it from me all summer!" Harry said, both surprised and delighted. Then he added with some worry, "But I heard this position is cursed; no Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher can stay for more than a year..."

"Is that rumor still circulating at school?" Sirius raised his eyebrows and grinned. "That's why I only agreed to teach for one year, and I even prepared my resignation letter in advance."

"You're such a clever little devil..." Owen thought to himself. He exchanged glances with the others, who all looked excited.

"But why do you take the train to school?" Harry already had the answer in his mind when he asked the question. He was touched, but also felt like he was troubling someone else: "Do you think I need you to be with me all the time to protect me?"

"Ah, oh, it was my own idea, I felt it was somewhat necessary..." Sirius said vaguely. He was indeed very glad that he had accepted Dumbledore's invitation to spend more time with Harry, which made it easier for him to protect Harry's safety now.

"What protection? Harry's in danger?" Draco interjected at this point.

Sirius glanced at him, narrowed his eyes, and tentatively asked, "You don't think Bellatrix will just do nothing after escaping from prison, do you?"

"Her?" Draco's gray eyes widened slightly. "Shouldn't she have kept her distance after escaping from Azkaban?"

He blinked, then remembered that his parents had just been telling him not to get too close to Harry this semester, lest his crazy aunt keep an eye on him. However, he always picked and chose what his parents said; at the time, he was busy greeting his classmates.

"This...she'll come to kill you?" Draco looked at Harry with some fear, then tried to remain calm while shaking his leg.

"I don't think she'd break into Hogwarts, would she?" Daphne whispered, holding her sister's hand. "Hogwarts is safe, isn't it?"

"At least the guards of Azkaban will be stationed outside the gates of Hogwarts." Owen placed Melett on the table and watched her stretch out her little paws and pat the fluffy creature like a ball.

"Dementors! There are no more ferocious creatures than them." Draco breathed a slight sigh of relief, baring his teeth to scare Astoria across from him.

Astoria paused for a moment, tilted her head to look at him with great interest, then covered her mouth and laughed, her eyes curving into crescents.

Draco glared at her fiercely, feeling looked down upon.

The train emitted steam and slowly began to move. The sky darkened; it looked like it was about to rain.

The passengers skipped the heavy topics and began chatting about their summer vacation experiences.

"...We visited the ruins of the royal palace on the Greek island of Crete, where Muggles unearthed some clay tablets inscribed with ancient magical runes and are trying to decipher them..." Daphne said enthusiastically. "But it was so hot there, I got a tan."

"Norway is so cool," Draco said slowly, then complained, "but it's so boring."

Harry listened to their travel stories with a touch of envy. He had never traveled before, and this month he had barely left the house. Everyone around him seemed worried that he would be caught and killed by Bellatrix the moment he stepped outside. Of course, his aunt and uncle were exceptions; they wished he would never come back once he left.

"I've been staying at home the whole time," Irving said casually.

Harry gave him a look of sympathy. But then he thought, Owen must have been too lazy and accidentally slept through the entire holiday.

Sensing that Harry was probably thinking something rude, Owen pursed his lips. Noticing Astoria's gaze kept drifting towards Melett and Puffy, he said to her gently, "You can play with them."

"Thank you." Astoria smiled at him, extending her pale right hand, which revealed bluish veins, and carefully stroked the soft, long fur of the fluffy catkins.

"Owen, you actually keep a Puffy?" Daphne said with a smile. Generally speaking, these little animals are very popular with girls, especially the pink-furred Puffy, while boys often avoid them.

Harry glanced at the adorable pink woolen bun, then at the exquisitely handsome Owen, and thought that the two of them were actually... quite a good match.

“No, this is Melete’s pet.” Owen glared at Harry. “Melete named it Tuan.”

"A pet's pet..." Astoria stared blankly at the buzzing fluffy creature, feeling a little sorry for it.

Around three or four in the afternoon, it started to rain. The rolling mountains outside the window became blurry.

Daphne became somewhat anxious and said softly, "Astoria, please don't be assigned to another academy, so I can take better care of you."

"I'll try my best, Daphne. It's just that I haven't practiced spells, and I'm not very fast..." Astoria also sounded worried. "Could you tell me how Hogwarts sorts houses?"

"Oh, it's different every year," Draco drawled. "Our sorting test was to fight a dragon, and only the best performers got into Slytherin. Last year it was a bunch of trolls, and a lot of people were knocked out by the fumes."

Astoria listened intently, her eyes wide, her expression growing increasingly desperate.

"Ahem, it's not as exaggerated as Draco makes it out to be," Harry coughed lightly. "You just need to jump into the lake in time, and the dragon won't burn you. Really!"

"You two!" Daphne glared at the two troublemakers, then tried to calm the increasingly worried girl, "Astoria, don't listen to their lies, there's really no danger..."

She hesitated, unsure whether to tell Astoria the truth about the Sorting House. In the end, she didn't break their long-standing agreement and looked at Owen with pleading eyes.

Irving leaned against the window, one hand supporting his chin, his face appearing mysterious and elegant in the dim light. He said leisurely, "You can also use your cleverness, for example, by throwing a string of firecrackers at the dragon to distract it."

He then abruptly changed the subject: "However, this method has a 50% chance of failing and incurring the dragon's wrath, which will test your courage. This is a quality that Gryffindor cherishes..."

"Owen!" Daphne called out angrily, much more lively than before.

She took Astoria's trembling hand in hers and found it was icy cold. As the sky outside the car window grew darker and the air became increasingly damp and chilly, she took a thick cloak from her suitcase and draped it over her sister, whispering words of comfort.

Just then, a loud "boom" came from in front of the train.

The high-speed train suddenly stopped. No, the carriages tilted to the right, the front half of them sticking up high, as if the entire train had crashed into a mountain and was about to fly off the ground.

Their carriage came to an abrupt stop, the front of which tilted sharply upwards, throwing those sitting on the benches into the air. Then, it lurched violently to the right, the powerful inertia sending everyone in the compartment tumbling about, their luggage floating in the air. The sudden turn of events left most people completely bewildered.

Wisps of chilling black mist instantly surged from Owen's body, threatening to coalesce into a faint shadow. A cold, sinister malice jolted his brain, making him react first. He suppressed his emotions, preventing the Dark Guardian from taking shape, and instead brandished his wand, shouting, "Protect them all!"

An invisible barrier enveloped everyone, pushing aside the flying luggage. The side of the carriage slammed into the ground with a loud crash, but those who had hit the carriage wall were protected by the barrier and escaped the impact.

At the same time, a faint glow appeared on the inside of the enchanted carriage, and a gentle force pushed away those who were about to collide with it, protecting the people on the train from harm.

In the blink of an eye, Sirius Black reacted just as quickly. He drew his wand, pointed it at the carriage, and roared, "Stop the shock absorbers!"

After overturning to the ground, the carriages began to tumble and crash, making those inside feel as if they had been thrown into a washing machine. Sirius's incantation slowed the tumbling, making it a more visibly slower motion, allowing people to clearly see the carriages rolling, twisting and deforming under the violent impact.

"Yugadimur Leviosa!" Owen seized the opportunity to point at the carriage and cast a levitation spell. Because the target of the spell was somewhat heavy, he felt some pressure, but he still managed to release it successfully.

The carriage, which had already slowed down, gently lifted off the ground, finally stopping its rolling and impacts. Then Owen released the spell's control, and the deformed carriage crashed to the ground with a "thud," coming to a complete stop.

The young wizards in the cubicle lay sprawled on the floor, completely disoriented and unable to tell which way was which.

Sirius Black jumped up with a grim face, his legs wobbling slightly. He shook his head to clear his mind, brushed aside the messy hair covering his face, nodded to Owen, and said, "Please keep an eye on them."

After Irving responded, he hurriedly flung open the badly damaged carriage door and strode into the gloomy rain outside. (End of Chapter)