A certain broken Hogwarts

Owen was woken up early in the morning by Draco, who was up early too. Since Harry hadn't returned all night, Draco was alarmed and guessed that he had been killed, and that his body might have been buried in the Forbidden Forest as fertilizer.

When an impatient Owen casually mentioned that Harry had been admitted to the university hospital, Draco began to suspect that Harry was under a terrible curse, or had been bitten by a werewolf...

Rumors always get more and more outrageous as they spread, and the next morning, the young Slytherin wizards were all saying that Harry Potter was about to die.

As soon as the sun peeked over the mountains, the students hurried to the school hospital, trudging through the dew-covered grass, and lined up to walk past Harry's room, hoping to see him one last time.

A sleepy-eyed Ms. Pomfrey flew into a rage, waving her hands around like she was shooing away flies, because they were making a racket in the school hospital like a thousand quacking ducks.

"We are Harry's friends, ma'am," Daphne quickly said before being ushered away. "We've come to visit him."

"Oh, go ahead, but don't make a scene," Ms. Pomfrey waved her hand impatiently. "Although he'll be discharged this morning..."

After Madam Pomfrey had walked away, Draco pursed his lips, his expression relaxing slightly. He resumed his usual listless demeanor and drawled, "That unlucky Harry's got some nerve, doesn't he?"

Owen, dragged over by his friends, nodded listlessly, his eyes half-closed as he held Melete tightly in his arms, as if hugging a warm hot water bottle. Melete, too, drooped her little head listlessly, resting her chin on the fluffy pink fur.

"Attacked twice in one day... I think he needs a bit of sunshine in his life. This thing is pretty good." Blaise pulled out the gaudy round box he'd found in Diagon Alley. The lid popped open in his hand, revealing a doll inside that looked like an Easter Island statue, praising him in various ways.

The group arrived outside Harry's ward, and as soon as they opened the door, they saw that Harry was already dressed and ready to go out.

"How did you get here?" Harry yawned, looking rather listless, with faint bluish tinges under his eyes.

Draco scrutinized him for a moment with a critical look, then crossed his arms and said, "Come see if you're dead."

"I'm fine." Harry scratched his head, making his already messy black hair even more tangled. "I just didn't sleep well last night..." As he spoke, he secretly glanced at Owen with a look of melancholy and frustration in his eyes.

Owen's gaze lingered on Harry's messy hair. After noticing Harry's furtive glances, he tilted his head in confusion and stroked Melete's large ears with his palm.

Harry briefly recounted his experience from the previous evening, concealing the fact that he had fainted again in front of the Dementors, and sighed, "But Peter Pettigrew still escaped. Last night, before I fell asleep, I heard Sirius and the others say that they couldn't find any trace of that guy."

"Nagini's venom is so potent, he might have died somewhere without anyone noticing," Owen said casually, his voice slightly low and hoarse.

Harry glanced at him hesitantly, but ultimately decided against revealing what the centaur Ferenze had told him in front of so many people—the prophecy about the approaching darkness.

They walked out of the ward together, heading down the corridor towards the outside of the school hospital. Blaise handed Harry his precious box, saying it would brighten his mood, but Harry was instead subjected to a torrent of insults—a variety of curses he'd never heard before—leaving the young wizards speechless.

Blaise nimbly snatched the box, saying calmly, "It must be malfunctioning. I thought it was fixed..." A blush crept onto his cheeks.

Harry looked at Blaise, then at the box, and grinned, looking much more energetic: "I think it's quite interesting."

As they arrived at the school hospital entrance, they heard a commotion and a chaotic crowd. They exchanged surprised glances; who dared to cause such a disturbance on Ms. Pomfrey's turf?

A few curious people squeezed to the doorway and saw Sirius Black and Snape standing there, along with the Weasley twins and their friends, as well as several Hufflepuff students. Madam Pomfrey stared wide-eyed in disbelief, momentarily forgetting to stop the cacophony of noise.

At this moment, Sirius and Snape's expressions grew increasingly gloomy, their looks filled with disgust and hatred. They stood far apart from each other, occasionally glaring at each other through gritted teeth, only to avert their gazes with complex emotions as if struck by lightning. A suffocatingly low atmosphere hung in the air around them.

Amidst the oppressive atmosphere between the two, the young wizards nearby continued their inappropriate chatter.

The atmosphere between the Weasley twins was incredibly awkward. They stood far apart; one clutched his stomach, nearly choking with laughter, while the other stood with his arms crossed, watching Angelina Jensen warily. Their friend Lee Jordan was also struggling to hold back his laughter, Angelina looked completely innocent, and her two girlfriends wore expressions of bewildered amusement.

The Hufflepuff students were also pulling and tugging at each other. Madam Pomfrey covered her mouth with her hand, watching Sirius and Snape, a smile involuntarily creeping onto her lips.

"Sirius, what happened?" Harry asked, bewildered.

Sirius and Snape turned to look at him simultaneously. Sirius's face was gloomy, his brows were tightly furrowed, his lips twitched in disgust, and he glared at Harry as if he wanted to devour him.

Harry was stunned. It was the first time he had seen such a gloomy and terrifying expression on Sirius's face. His gaze was completely devoid of its usual warmth and gentleness, and it also lacked that boyish mischief.

Snape, standing on the other side, raised his hand to cover his face, then shook it off in disgust, as if it were covered in snot. He frowned, unable to contain himself any longer, and looked at Madam Pomfrey, asking in a deep, impassioned voice, "Madam, do you have any ideas...?"

"Ah, you'll have to let me figure out what happened first," Ms. Pomfrey said, unable to suppress a laugh. "Severus, oh no, you are..."

"I am Sirius Black." These words came from Snape's mouth.

Sirius Black, standing to the side, raised his empty, indifferent eyes and said somberly, "I am Snape."

Upon hearing their words, Harry's mouth gaped open as wide as a goose egg. He looked left and right, feeling as if he were still dreaming; reality couldn't possibly be this magical. Draco and Blaise beside him had the exact same expression, while Daphne's lips were slightly parted, her bright blue eyes wide open.

Owen stared in astonishment, his morning sleepiness vanishing instantly. He glanced at his two arch-rival professors, whose expressions were identically gloomy, and suddenly raised his hand to cover his mouth to prevent himself from bursting out laughing, though his shoulders twitched uncontrollably.

"I know. So, you've... become like each other?" Ms. Pomfrey asked with a smile.

"No, I'm pretty sure it was a body swap." Sirius brushed the greasy hair from his cheek with disgust, a smirk playing on his lips. "In the blink of an eye, I found myself standing in the Potions Department office, transformed into Snape..."

"I've tried everything, but there's no way to switch back," he added, a hint of frustration in his expression.

Sirius Black's avatar, Snape, nodded slightly without saying a word, his upper lip curling up as if he couldn't bear to utter even a few more words in this body.

"Let me check..." Madam Pomfrey drew her wand, then gave the still-noisy young wizards a stern look. "Please be quiet. This is the school hospital! Are you all in the same situation?"

“Yes, madam,” the Weasley twin said, rubbing his stomach as he chuckled. He glanced at his twin brother, then raised an eyebrow at Angelina. “I think you look much better than before, Fred.”

Angelina—no, Fred—fiddled with her braids, blinked seductively, and raised her pinky finger, saying, "I think so too, don't you agree, Lee?"

Lee Jordan burst out laughing again. Angelina, who had the same face as George, stood beside him, hugging her shoulders tightly and glaring at him, her cheeks flushed red.

"But the most important thing right now is that I want to go to the restroom," Fred said, scratching his head, slightly embarrassed.

"You dare!" Angelina's eyebrows shot up instantly. "If you dare go, I'll chop you off... you know what I mean."

Fred hissed softly and crossed his arms, saying, "But I don't understand how you can endure this much?" He squeezed his legs together tightly.

"It's none of your business... Where are your hands!" Angelina screamed, lunging at him with an aggressive air as if she were about to chop off his hands.

"I didn't do anything!" Fred shouted, raising his hands as he was chased around. Chaos erupted around him.

The remaining Hufflepuff students quieted down. The ones who had swapped bodies seemed to be a couple; they sat flushed, their eyes darting around in panic.

Ms. Pomfrey had examined the two professors, her brow furrowed in bewilderment. She cast several spells on them, but to no avail.

"I don't know, this has never happened before," she said. "Your bodies are perfectly healthy, there's nothing wrong with them, it's just how it is. Finding a solution will probably take some time..."

Sirius and Snape's expressions darkened further. They exchanged a hateful glare, looking ready to draw their wands and fight to the death at the slightest provocation.

"I need to know, when this happened, did you notice anything unusual?" Ms. Pomfrey stood between the two of them, asking meticulously.

"A thread." Snape paused for a moment, then said in a hoarse voice, "In that instant, I saw a thin red thread, one end connected to my finger, the other leading into the distance."

Sirius squinted and pondered for a moment, then nodded: "I did notice a red line running through the wall, but it didn't seem like something that existed in reality; it seemed more like an illusion."

"Have you noticed?" Ms. Pomfrey asked several students.

"I didn't notice anything," Fred said, squirming uncomfortably. "George and I were thinking of surprising Angelina." He then winked and grinned at his twin brother.

"Come on, can't you find someone else to mess with? We haven't even gotten over yesterday's prank yet!" Angelina gritted her teeth, her chest heaving.

"It's because I scared you yesterday that I'm making it up to you today." Fred looked aggrieved, and Angelina glared at him angrily at his all-too-familiar face. Then Fred made a funny face with that face, making her burst out laughing.

"That's right, madam. I was just telling my friend about Fred and his friends' prank yesterday," Angelina said, turning her back on Fred to Mrs. Pomfrey.

"I was washing up and putting on the headband he gave me..." the Hufflepuff boy said softly, burying his flushed cheeks.

"I was just about to go have breakfast with Emily," the girl next to me said casually, raising her arm to wrap around the boy beside her.

"So, there's one thing in common," Ms. Pomfrey concluded. "You both thought of each other at the same moment, and then you switched bodies." She looked at the two professors.

Sirius and Snape exchanged a glance, both nodding their chins with cold expressions.

"So, it seems that this is one of the triggering conditions," Ms. Pomfrey said. "You were all in different locations at the time, with no interaction whatsoever, yet the same thing happened for no apparent reason... This reminds me of the emotional contagion incident last year, which also came on suddenly without any warning."

Owen blinked without a hint of guilt, stroking Melete's soft fur as he thought to himself that this whole strange incident... was really quite bizarre.

But it's also very interesting... He looked at the two professors who were like oil and water with sparkling eyes, secretly looking forward to what kind of sparks they would create.

"Is it possible to switch bodies if we both think of each other at the same time?" Owen wondered curiously. "Is this what they call a meeting of minds? A mutual understanding that will surely resonate?"

"We still need to explore the more specific conditions for the body swap..." Ms. Pomfrey looked at the two pairs of boys and girls who had swapped bodies with a headache. This was not easy to handle. "In the meantime, you can stay here. I have a way to protect your privacy."

"Of course, madam, I'm counting on you!" Angelina patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief, as if she had seen a savior.

"Hey, where are you putting your hands?" Fred winked at her, then said to Mrs. Pomfrey with a serious expression, "Madam, I need to go to the restroom! Nothing in the world is more important than that."

Without a word, Ms. Pomfrey waved her wand at him, and Fred let out a relieved sigh, then said to Angelina with a stern face, "I'm sorry, Angelina, I took care of it on the spot..."

Unable to bear it any longer, Angelina punched the guy on the head.

Irving and his group, who had been watching the spectacle with great interest, were chased away by Ms. Pomfrey. They walked across the lawn, its edges gilded by the sunlight, and discussed their recent experiences with great enthusiasm.

"I didn't know, the headmaster and Sirius don't get along very well..." Harry said, both worried and amused.

"Maybe after today, they'll be able to get along a little better?" Daphne said absentmindedly, twirling her long blonde hair with her fingers. "Do you think this kind of thing will happen again?"

"If it's really as Mrs. Pomfrey says, and it's similar to an emotional contagion event, then it probably won't just happen once," Owen said with a smile.

"Oh, I see..." Daphne glanced at him, then suddenly covered her ears like a startled fawn, squeezing her eyes shut. She cried out in alarm, "Don't talk to me! Don't think about me... Ouch!"

She almost tripped over a pebble, but Owen quickly pulled her back.

Daphne blushed and thanked him, stiffening her body as she moved further away from him. She followed a few boys at a distance, quickly reciting spell theories, trying to distract herself.

"This is good, isn't it? I don't want to become a girl," Draco muttered.

Bathed in the bright morning light, the group entered the auditorium. (End of Chapter)