Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts

by Little Merger

Three years after graduating from Hogwarts, Felix enters the school again. What will happen when Muggle wisdom, innovation and magic come together?

18. 541 - 572

Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts #Chapter 541: Challenge - Read Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts Chapter 541: Challenge Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

The speech continued on the Hogsmeade star-shaped platform.

Felix chuckled, "Many people have fantasies about that era, but if you wake up one day and find yourself in ancient times, it won't be two days before you will regret it ..."

A low chuckle rang out from the crowd in the square.

Felix then spent some time systematically explaining the ancient runes, which were, of course, rather general in nature. They could basically all be found in the corresponding entries in the rune booklets available in Diagon Alley, but with Felix personally demonstrating them, the printed texts become more convincing.

"Starting with individual ancient runes, there are many branches that extend further down: runic circuits related to ancient alchemy, runic sequences related to ancient magic, and runic spells that are created with the combination of modern magic spells ... Although I have organized the boundaries of the ancient runes field, I have yet to touch on the finer points, like I said, perfecting a discipline is never a work done by a single person."

Many wizards nodded in agreement, they ranged from ministers of magic and senior officials from different countries, headmasters of magic schools, experts who are researching ancient runes, and officials of the International Confederation of Wizards. They are the very people who will decide whether to promote the ancient rune discipline or not.

"Next I would like to invite the de facto administrator of the 'Future World' Company - Remus Lupin - to give a presentation on the products created using ancient runes, an area he knows much more than I do." Felix gave up his place, " By the way, wizards who are ready to participate in the magic exchange session can sign up now."

Lupin straightened his clothes, a little wobbly on his feet. He secretly cheered himself up and walked to the one corner of the star design. When he looked over he saw several thousand pairs of eyes staring at him.

"Ahem. I am not going to use ancient runes for demonstration, I am going to show you some of Future World's work in the process, in other words, theories ..."

By the time Felix stood in the middle of the stage again, it is close to noon.

"The rumours about the Elder Wand are false, there's no doubt about that, and I've included it at this time because you will understand my reasoning better with the preceding elaboration - for me, the Elder Wand, even if it is real, is not something essential for me, because, I am trying to get rid of the limitations of the Wand little by little. "

Felix, who had taken the stage again, spoke exceptionally short, and waved his hand, as his ebony wand hovered in midair, and a crowd of eager eyes examined it.

"The wand is the most important thing a wizard owns, and there's no way I'm going to let just anyone pop up to inspect it, so I've come up with a solution: speak with strength. As long as you beat me, you can take it from me, not to mention examining it, so are you ready?"

A cloaked wizard in the crowd murmured.

"The statement in the challenge states that you won't use your wand-"

"Exactly."

A few wizards moved.

"I'll go first." A blushing wizard shouted, tossing the challenge letter he clenched in his hand into the air, where it burned violently and coalesced into a magic symbol.

"The pact is established, life and death battle." Amelia Bones said solemnly.

Many of the wizards whose hearts burst with fervour and eagerness looked like they had been doused with a tub of ice water.

"My name is David Elliott," the red-faced wizard said, carefully drawing his wand and circling the edge of the stage. When he found Felix standing motionless in the centre, he cursed under his breath and stood opposite to Felix.

"I'm going to start." He stated in annoyance.

Ads by Pubfuture

Felix smiled and nodded.

"Stupefy!"

A red light flew from the tip of his wand, which was brushed aside by Felix's outstretched hand, as the spell grazed his finger.

The red-faced wizard was somewhat dumbfounded, and it was followed by an uproar from the many onlookers who did not know about the existence of the Humanoid Shield Charm. Only a wizard with extremely good eyesight could see a flash of bright light from the spell.

"He wrapped the defensive spell around his hand ..."

The red-faced wizard tried several times, but he simply couldn't break through Felix's defences, so he had to leave the scene unhappy and stand with his family.

After a moment of silence, another wizard stepped forward, his whole body hidden in bandages, showing only one pair of eyes.

"Who is that man?" Bones asked in a low voice.

"Too late to figure out, he probably hid well before and only appeared today." Kingsley replied.

Felix and the bandaged wizard didn't say a word to each other, the bandaged wizard raised his hand and shot a black light from his wand, the humanoid shield charm that attached to Felix's body swelled into a ball, and the black light hit the magical barrier and burst into pitch-black flames with a "teng" sound.

Felix waved his hand, moving the burning barrier aside to avoid the equally swift spell. He reached out and let a ball of black lightning leap from his fingertips, then the next moment he appeared in front of the bandaged wizard and pressed his palm directly against his face - and

Black arcs of lightning flashed with relish.

A few seconds later, the bandaged wizard slowly collapsed.

The cheerful atmosphere of the morning is gone.

"Healers go up." Bones said aloud, at the same time she whispered to Kingsley, "Find out who he is - if he's still alive."

The red-faced wizard in the crowd who had just taken the stage touched his face, "Taking a hit like that, hiss~ this is going to hurt."

Felix returned to the centre of the stage and waited for the next challenger, everyone who signed up have to meet him under a magical contract.

The third wizard came up warily, "We're just sparring, right?"

Felix grinned, "Of course."

The wizard conceded defeat voluntarily after a few spells, and Felix didn't give him a hard time.

The onlookers gradually concluded that if they followed the international dueling rules, the challenger could walk off the stage unscathed, at best hit by a stunning spell, and the unluckiest of the bunch struck in the face with a Stinging Jinx that swelled his nose to the size of a tomato.

But if the rules are not followed, or if a lethal spell is used, the result is often not good. One guy who had agreed to duel and ended up using a curse in the middle of a challenge had his spell rebound and part of his body turned into wood.

Ads by Pubfuture

Felix stood in the middle of the stage, somewhat bored, as the next challenger seemed to lose his nerve and refused to come up. Suddenly he caught a strong whiff of malice, and it is not from a single person. Felix narrowed his eyes.

A dozen shadows suddenly appeared, uniformly dressed and hiding their heads, uttering a single spell as they appeared, working in perfect harmony with each other, and deliberately separating one from the other to fly into midair and reach for a wand floating in the air.

A shout of surprise rang out from the crowd.

The spells came from all directions but stopped eerily in mid-air, and the dark wizard in mid-air could not resist the temptation to look back as a dozen bright lights of spells hung in mid-air like fireworks.

Circled in the middle, Felix held a ball of golden flame-like liquid in one hand and poured it down indifferently.

The flames rushed and instantly filled an empty space hundreds of feet in circumference.

By the time the flames died down, a dozen men had completely disappeared, with only a black wand floating in the air as if nothing had happened.

"Where are they?" Someone asked in a low voice.

"Probably saw the situation is bad and apparited." The man next to him said uncertainly, having a more frightening answer in mind.

In the corner, Dumbledore looked uncomfortable, he didn't approve of killing, especially in such a violent way, but he couldn't accuse him, just as he couldn't come forward and admit that the Elder Wand is in his possession.

The implications of that would be far more serious.

The bloody trail of the Elder Wand was littered throughout the History of Magic, not just referring to the history of its bloody legacy; there had been no shortage of ambitious men and dark wizards in every age, as far more people had died in the process trying to find the Elder Wand than all the previous owners of the Elder Wand combined.

The best thing to do is to let the legend of the Elder Wand disappear for good and turn it into a fairy tale again.

And all he had to do is take one step out of line, and thousands more innocent lives will be lost.

Felix looked around him, a pair of malevolent eyes lowered not daring to look at him, his purpose seemed to have been achieved, but he couldn't help but sigh inwardly as he looked at Dumbledore's departing back.

He suppressed the irritation in his heart and erased the knowledge about the Horcruxes little by little. Just now, something suddenly dawned on him: he could make a prototype of a Horcrux right now if he wanted to, his soul wavering as if a piece of it would fall off at any moment.

Had I made a mistake?

Felix looked up at the sky, which is overcast and clouded with darkness, but his thoughts grew clearer and firmer.

I am Felix Hap, not some crazy loon, and I can't possibly follow the path of others in order to live long.

I will find my own path and there's nothing wrong with me.

He opened his hand and a milky white light converged, forming a huge pillar of white light that shot high into the sky. Everyone stared in awe at the sight, as the black clouds drowned with the white light, followed by a tiny pillar of light that broke through the clouds and showered them with soothing light.

Felix let out a breath, withdrew his distant gaze, and spoke calmly, "The challenge continues."

--

#Fiendsjoke, Thanks for all your love and support.

There are 608 chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

Ads by Pubfuture

Outside Hogwarts Castle, many people wandered aimlessly around the stone steps path, occasionally glancing at the school gates in the distance.

They are curious about the ancient rune international exchange happening in Hogsmeade, but unfortunately, the school won't let them out at all. "This is obviously pre-planned." One student pointed out angrily, "They even postponed the first Hogsmeade weekend for this!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat on the steps near the entrance hall, they had come over here for the third time, but still, there were no familiar figures in sight. Harry looked at the dark clouds overhead, expecting a rain shower that would fall at some point.

"What's in the clouds?" Ron suddenly asked.

Harry stared at the dark clouds looming high in the sky, and just as Ron had said, something is glowing in the clouds. More and more students noticed the difference overhead as countless tiny pillars of light pierced out of the thick clouds, then turned into a gentle light that illuminated the entire castle.

"Is this ... illumination?" Harry's mouth opened wide.

It is at this point that he suddenly felt a stinging pain in his scar and covered his forehead, suspecting that his head is about to split open as a blurred image appeared out of thin air in his mind.

"Harry? What's wrong with you?" Hermione was the first to notice that something is wrong.

"It's, it's Voldemort ..." Harry said, fighting through the excruciating pain, "he's somewhere, and he's happy!" Harry gasped and stumbled a few steps out, almost falling down from the steps.

Ron rushed to pull Harry to his feet, Harry's hand gripping his arm like a clamp and leaning most of his weight on him, causing Ron to suck his breath in pain.

"Hiss~ You saw him again?"

Their strange behaviour drew the attention of the others and a couple of members of the Frontline Lookout approached them hurriedly, "What's going on?" Seamus asked in shock as he shouted into the distance, "Call the Professor over, whoever it is! Harry's ill, his scar-"

"Don't!" Harry whimpered, covering his head, his face contorted with pain, Seamus freaked out as Neville squeezed over forcefully, "Harry, do you want me to go get Professor McGonagall? Or Professor Black or ... Professor Snape?" There was a glum look on his face as he said the last name, as he would usually try to avoid Snape.

Hermione gave him a deep look, knowing that the people Neville mentioned are all members of the Order of the Phoenix, so she said decisively, "All three of them, hurry up!"

Just as Neville spoke, Harry's scar felt like it is on fire, and he felt his skin melt as a picture appeared before his eyes: a looming complex of buildings standing on top of a hill, surrounded by a somewhat similar environment to Hogwarts, covered in a cold, wet mist and dense forest. Two tall humanoid stone statues stood at the two sides of the main entrance, but they appeared in the corner of his view, making it impossible for Harry to see them clearly. A strange and unfamiliar feeling became clear: he sensed its presence, connected to him by blood ...

The legends are true ...

Harry stumbled and sat on the steps, the gentle white light shattered the dark clouds overhead and spilled onto his face, making him a little more comfortable. He closed his eyes when a sudden cold touch met his lips, "Harry, drink it." He heard Hermione nervously say.

Harry barely opened his eyes to see a small vial with a potion floating in front of him, "No, I don't want it." He grunted in a small voice, "It's too loud." The noises around him are chaotic, with students shouting everywhere, making it hard for him to get back into Voldemort's head.

"Quiet! Everybody be quiet!" Ron's voice exclaimed, and Harry caught a glimpse of him waving his arms in the corner to disperse the ever-approaching crowd.

Harry tried his best to resist the self-operating Occlumency, I need to see more, I don't need you for now ... Two images overlapped, on one side there is the sound of footsteps, "A professor is coming!" On the other side is a sight of huge, lush trees that suddenly come into view, the leaves swaying and rustling without wind, and he felt two overlapping emotions of joy.

One from Voldemort and the other from the tall Snakewood tree.

"What's happening ... Potter?" Snape appeared with an expressionless face, followed by Draco Malfoy and a pale Neville.

'He was the first one I saw.' Neville's eyes helplessly intoned.

"Harry's scar has begun to hurt again!" Hermione anxiously said.

"Fragile people are like that, easily overwhelmed by a tiny dose of reality, and if he's still not doing as well as he should in Potions class, all I can say is-"

"You know what I'm talking about!" Hermione yelled at him as hard as she could.

"Gryffindor ten points off for talking back to the professor." Snape said subconsciously, then he saw the twisted snake shadow on Harry's face, he maintained the mocking expression on his face, and slowly said after a few seconds of hesitation, "I can't help you, better take him to the hospital wing."

"Old bat...*"

Ron's voice mingled with the footsteps and loud enquiries of Sirius and Professor McGonagall, who had arrived upon hearing the news, which allowed Snape to hear only the first sentence, and he looked menacingly at Ron, but Sirius had already squeezed him aside, so he simply said nothing and stood coldly in place.

"What's happening, Harry? Harry! Is your scar is starting to hurt again?" Sirius shouted anxiously.

Harry didn't reply, his voice became low and hoarse, and a creepy 'hiss' sounded from his mouth. Sirius' eyes widened, and he reached out his hand-

"Don't touch him." Hermione grabbed him, her expression is one of fear, but then the firmness returned, as she said with a shudder, "It's Parseltongue, Harry's connected to that man."

Sirius' outstretched hand froze, his heart tormented, debating whether or not to stop this dangerous act.

Luckily the Parseltongue soon subsided and Harry slumped down on the cold steps breathing heavily. At that moment a stone in front of them turned into a stretcher, "I'll take you to the hospital wing first, Harry." Professor McGonagall said, with some composure, "And then I will notify Headmaster Dumbledore."

Harry didn't say a word, an incredible image surfaced in his mind, the huge snakewood tree is withering rapidly, its bright leaves becoming dull, grey and yellow and crumbled, its trunk shaking as if it had gone through thousands of years in just a few seconds.

" CRACK!"

The trunk cracked down from the middle, revealing a large hole.

A wand floated out of the pitch-black deep hole.

A few tender buds remained on top of the wand, but they lost their lustre and fell off in an instant, and the surface of the wand became lustrous as if the wand had absorbed the entire life force of the giant snakewood tree. The tidal wave of joy came in waves, making it impossible for Harry to distinguish reality from illusion, and the last image he had in his mind was of a pair of thin, pale hands holding it.

Harry sobered up instantly as if he had plunged into ice water.

--

#Pasang Sherpa, Thanks for all your love and support.

There are 609 chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

"He made it." Harry muttered.

"Potter, come with me to the hospital wing, you need a long sleep." Professor McGonagall said.

"No, Wait, Professor McGonagall. I know what Voldemort has done, what he's been plotting all this time! It's a wand, he got a wand using this commotion as a distraction."

Professor McGonagall stared at him, her mouth pursed tightly for a few seconds before she said, "If you're talking about the 'Elder Wand', Professor Hap has dismissed the rumour ..."

"Not the one the professor is holding." Harry said aloud, "It's too late, he got a wand from under a snakewood tree, and it looked extraordinary, like a legendary wand ..." His voice slowed and his mind spun frantically, "It's a snakewood wand! He's got Salazar Slytherin's snakewood wand!"

A few people drew in a breath.

"The one ranked seventh in the top ten wands?" Ron asked.

"What? Oh." Harry said blankly, still lost in his own thoughts, "Exactly, that's what Voldemort is after, he doesn't care about the Elder Wand ... No, not really, of course, he wants it, but it's too difficult to get it from Professor Hap, and he's not sure if it's genuine or not... So he deliberately stirred up a dispute and gave the Professor trouble in order to mask his investigation about the other wands ..."

Snape looked at Harry with a complicated look.

"But how did he know where the snakewood wand is?" Professor McGonagall asked dryly.

"He's been on the hunt for similar rumours, and quite a few people have gone missing." Sirius said, "Like the owner of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, I suspect he was taken because of this. He--"

"He's a descendant of Dexter Fortescue, the former headmaster of Hogwarts, and has legends of possessing a powerful wand from his ancestry." Hermione said pointedly, then gave Sirius a cautious look, "I only learned that recently, is it correct?"

Sirius smiled at her.

" It all matched up," Harry hammered his palm with his fist, "He went through all the trouble to finally get the best wand that matched him."

" Do you know where the Dark Lord has gone?" Snape asked coldly.

"I don't know," Harry shook his head, "I only saw a complex of buildings on a hill that looked a bit like Hogwarts ... By the way, there are two huge statues on either side of the main entrance."

"The top of a hill, resembling Hogwarts, and two statues at the entrance ..." Hermione racked her brain to remember where she had heard that before.

"Yes, the two statues of a man and a woman, but I really didn't notice, no, I think it was Voldemort who didn't care ..." Harry looked at Hermione with an expectant look, hoping for an immediate answer. A few seconds later-

"Ilvermorny!"

"Ilvermorny."

Hermione and Neville said at the same time.

The crowd looked at Neville, who scratched his head, " Byers and I have talked quite a bit about his school, including the tree you mentioned. As you know, I am very interested in the herbology subject, so I asked more questions about it... And I heard something different, Byers told me that the two founders of the school planted an unknown snakewood tree outside the school that could not be cut down or destroyed. It was later discovered that the leaves of the tree had powerful medical effects."

"I will inform Dumbledore immediately." Professor McGonagall said decisively. She drew her wand and a silver Patronus flew out of the tip and flew towards the outside of the school, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Harry relaxed slightly.

"So, Potter-" said Professor McGonagall, looking over at Harry.

"I don't need to go to the hospital wing," Harry said hurriedly, "I'm fine, something similar to this has happened before ... Just need to rest or get some air." He made an excuse for himself.

Sirius cleared his throat, "Well - I'll take him out for a walk, just around the corner."

"Alright then, I'll tell Dumbledore all about it as it is." Professor McGonagall said, rather reluctantly, as she hurried away.

The others were prepared to leave as well, when they suddenly realized that there is someone else on the scene - not Snape, whose presence is so strong that he unconsciously radiates cold air just by standing there, scaring the other students away - it is another person hiding behind Snape.

"Draco Malfoy! What are you doing here?" Ron nearly dropped his jaw in shock.

Harry and Hermione's breath stopped, Malfoy knows! He knows that I (Harry) can see into Voldemort's mind! He knows it, that means Lucius Malfoy knows it, then what about Voldemort ...

The five remaining men figured this out at the same time. An unnerving silence followed.

Sirius drew his wand in silence as Snape said slowly, "Leave him to me, Black--"

"Fuck off if you don't want to get hurt, I'm not joking." Sirius said.

" Really?" Snape's hand went to his pocket, where his wand is, as he said with a scowl, "You are as impulsive and arrogant as ever, with absolutely no regard for the consequences."

"I know what I'm doing." Sirius said coldly.

Draco took a step back from his glare, his face turned pale.

Snape gazed at Sirius and whispered, "Oh? You know what you're doing ... as you did at the Shrieking Shack when you were at school?"

The muscles in Sirius's face suddenly quivered with agitation. He knew what Snape was talking about; they had been mortal enemies at school, and they would never hesitate if they had the chance to get the other one expelled. Snape had spent a lot of time stalking him and James back then, even closing in on the truth that Remus is a werewolf at one point. Fed up with being stalked, Sirius had impulsively told him where Remus had transformed, and who knows what would have happened if James had not stopped Snape from entering the Shrieking Shack when he learned of it.

There was a chance that Snape could successfully escape with their secrets and then spread them around to force Remus to drop out, or there was a chance that Snape could simply be torn to pieces by werewolves who caught the scent of humans...

Sirius hesitated for a moment, but then he looked at Harry and his expression firmed with determination.

He had already made one mistake, a terrible mistake when dealing with Peter Pettigrew, and he couldn't leave any more hidden ends.

"Just one Obliviate ... Snape, Harry ... I can't take any chances." He whispered with his teeth flaring, his eyes gradually becoming frantic.

"Better wait till Dumbledore returns," Snape said, as he clutched his wand in his pocket with a death grip, "if our Headmaster finds out you attacked a student ..."

"I don't care!" Sirius said frantically, a few fiery sparks erupting from his wand.

Snape immediately drew his wand and the two pointed at each other, just like they had done in the Shrieking Shack over years ago.

"But I care, Sirius." Harry said.

Sirius immediately turned his head to look at him, and Harry met his eyes with determination, after holding his gaze for a long while, Sirius voluntarily averted his eyes.

James ...

"I won't say anything." Draco suddenly said.

Everyone looked at him.

Draco's face paled even more and a few drops of sweat permeated the tip of his slender nose.

"You're lying!" Ron said, "If we just let you go, you'll turn around and tattle! He's got a record, remember? Buckbeak-"

Draco gave him a vicious glare as he said to Harry, "Potter, I have something to tell you, something important ... that only you can know." He added.

Harry looked back at him and saw that Draco's expression quivered with fear.

"Good." He said.

"Harry?"

"Harry!"

"It's okay, let's hear what he has to say first." Harry said, looking deeply at Draco, "Malfoy, even if you did nothing, I wouldn't let Sirius cast the Obliviate on you, not because I believe you, I saw what happened that night with my own eyes ... I just don't want Sirius to leave the school because of you, because ... it isn't worth it."

A faint blush spread across Draco's pale face, Harry had practically pointed his finger at him and said, I know your dad is a Death Eater, so I don't trust you to keep this a secret at all.

"We'll come over too," Ron said, "me, Hermione, and Neville."

Draco turned his face to glare at him.

"We'll stand far back, where we can't eavesdrop." Ron tilted his head and muttered in a small voice, "Who knows if you'll take the opportunity to hex Harry."

Draco returned a mocking sneer, "Could be."

They walked down the steps, Ron, Hermione, and Neville following them from a distance, Harry looked back and could even see Hermione clutching her wand as Ron said something to Neville, his fingers gesturing. Further away, Sirius and Snape stood on the stone steps, neither of them looking at the other.

They walked a good distance away, leaving the greenhouse and Hagrid's hut behind them, and they could see that they are almost close to the main entrance of Hogwarts, the boar's wings visible on the castle' iron gate. Harry finally grew impatient, feeling like he had made a mistake by showing up here.

"How much longer are you going to hesitate?" Harry asked.

Draco finally paused, glancing at the three figures stalking them in the distance to make sure they wouldn't hear what he would say next. His lips moved slightly, and he said in a faintly audible voice, "I'm supporting Professor Hap."

"What?"

"I said, between that man and Professor Hap, I'm with Professor Hap." Draco tried to keep his tone as calm as possible, but when he saw Potter's face, which looked astonished to the core as if he had spouted nonsense out of his arse, he burst into a fit of anger and badly wanted to slam his fist on his face.

But he didn't dare do that, they were followed by three other heels.

"Don't think I believe everything you say, Malfoy." Harry said.

"Well, I can tell you a secret. But I want you to swear that you won't tell anyone." Draco said reluctantly, as his mind squirmed.

Harry blinked, "Okay, I swear."

"You answered too quickly! You're not sincere at all." Draco snapped irritably.

"I don't have time to waste." Harry shot back, "You can choose to believe it or not, at least my credibility is much better than yours."

Draco's grey eyes filled with disgust as he sized up Harry, this is the first time he had ever been in this situation. He forced himself to think about one question: is it worth it to give Harry Potter his secret or not?

Draco took a deep breath, "Well, do you remember what happened in the second year, with the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk?"

"Of course I do." Harry said with an odd look on his face, Malfoy isn't going to try and say that he knows how he and Ron used a polyjuice potion to trick him, is he? That would indeed get them in trouble, they had broken quite a few school rules and Hermione had even sneaked into Snape's private storeroom to take the horn of a bicorn and the skin of a boomslang snake.

"That diary, I once had in my possession."

"What?" Harry froze, not because of what Draco had said - he had already known that, Dobby had told him. What he is puzzled about is why Draco Malfoy is telling him this; shouldn't he keep this to himself?

Draco's expression turned odd as well.

"I followed you to an abandoned girls' lavatory and later got spotted by you... Then later I returned to investigate when you were gone. There was only a diary there, which I picked up from the floor ..."

"And then what?" Harry asked, this is something he had discussed with Ron and Hermione.

"Something happened in between ..." Draco said vaguely, "Then I gave it to Professor Hap who destroyed it."

"You handed it to the professor personally?"

"Yes. I asked him to help me keep it a secret, I don't want to get involved with this."

Harry stood stunned in place, he had always thought that the Professor had noticed the anomaly and confiscated the diary (Horcrux) from Malfoy's hands, and they had laughed at Lucius Malfoy for creating a trap and almost harming his own son with it... but the truth is Draco Malfoy had handed the diary (Horcrux) to Professor Hap with his own hands, which had led to the first Horcrux's destruction.

This is just too ridiculous.

He felt the sky spinning, the scene around him blurred as his consciousness continued to plummet downwards. His scar started to hurt again.

--

#Pasang Sherpa, Thanks for all your love and support.

There are 609 chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

Ten minutes ago.

In the Hogsmeade village, the challenge continued.

According to the procedure, Felix would explain the ancient runes in the morning, and take some time for the challenge at noon (to demonstrate his strength), while the rest of the afternoon would be reserved for the experts in ancient runes, the professors of the magic school and the headmasters, to ask questions to which Felix would answer.

But because they had just experienced the 'mysterious disappearance of a dozen dark wizards' and the 'dispersal of dark clouds using illumination by Felix', the crowd of wizards is now obviously dazed, and no matter what Felix said, they all looked at him robotically, not quite recovered from the shock they had just experienced.

None of them dared to step up to the challenge either, and many of the wizards who had signed magical contracts cried out in frustration.

Felix simply announced that the challenge session would be moved to tomorrow, and asked the crowd to take a break before starting the questioning session in two hours. The wizards dispersed, needing to digest everything they had seen in the morning, and specifically to mentally redefine the importance of ancient rune discipline.

A handful of wizards and all the journalists stayed behind, and they surrounded Felix with all sorts of questions.

"Mr. Hap, that lava-like flame you just used is also a form of ancient magic?"

"That's right."

"It's so powerful! So all those people died?"

Felix glanced at the journalist, "You could think so." The journalist's breath choked, and he gave a wry smile.

"Mr. Hap, I've seen illumination in an ancient rune booklet, but its description is nowhere near as outrageous as you've shown it to be ...?"

"Ancient magic's power varies from person to person." Felix explained patiently, "It is difficult to control, but it is also less constrained ..."

"Mr. Hap! Ouch, don't squeeze! I'm a senior official of the French Ministry of Magic, and I've spoken to you through correspondence-" said a short, chubby man, his hat shoved off to reveal a few strands of flowing, thinning hair.

Felix shot him a double glance, "Giles Fitzgerald?"

"It's me, Maxwell asked me to say hello on his behalf." The man yawned slightly, revealing the top of his bare head, and said, "The French Ministry of Magic is interested in adding a new subject in the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, can we talk about it?"

Felix's eyes lit up, and he looked around for the impressive tall figure, "Is Madame Maxime not here?"

"She got caught up in something tedious and will probably arrive tomorrow, but the deputy headmaster of Beauxbatons is here ..." The man got so squeezed that he looked like he would throw up at any moment. He had one hand over his head while a short, stubby finger of the other hand pointed at a man a dozen feet away.

"No problem." Felix said.

At the edge of Hogsmeade Square, Amelia Bones breathed a long sigh of relief, "Not too much trouble after all, what was the origin of those dozen dark wizards? Is there a record of them in our files?"

Kingsley replied, "There is too little information available, and they entered using the Apparition, these dark wizards aren't stupid-"

"As it turns out, they were stupid." Ms. Bones said snarkily.

After a moment she asked in a low voice, "Has there been any news from Mad-Eye Moody's side?"

"No word has come through yet." Kingsley said.

"That's odd," Ms. Bones said suspiciously, "we've purposely scheduled a day off and now the Ministry's defence is as empty as it has ever been, it's the best chance to take the Prophecy Orb ... "

Kingsley shrugged.

"Leave him be, there must be no disorder on his side, have Aurors and the Hit Wizards broaden their surveillance around Hogwarts."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I don't think Voldemort will show his face on this occasion either, lets's just try to remove as many hidden dangers as possible." Ms. Bones said with a smile, "Even not counting the Aurors and Hit Wizards, there are close to two or three thousand wizards in Hogsmeade village at the moment, many of whom are considered the elite among the wizards."

The expression on her face froze at the sight of an Agilbert Fontaine, Headmaster of the Ilvermorny School, whose face had suddenly changed dramatically as he left with a grave expression.

"Let's follow him and check-up." With a slight hesitation, Ms. Bones said.

They watched as the Headmaster of Ilvermorny School went into a nearby makeshift tent, where Ms. Bones and Kingsley stood a few seconds later and called out twice without receiving any response, and instantly realized that something had gone wrong.

Ms. Bones cautiously lifted the curtain and Kingsley readied a magic spell in his hand, but there was no one inside.

The two looked at each other.

"Is it an Apparition? Or is it a Portkey? Kingsley, notify the Portkey office and the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad to come over and determine the approximate distance of travel at least ..." Ms. Bones said seriously.

...

Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Headmaster's office.

A figure suddenly appeared in the room, and Agilbert Fontaine rushed through the window with blinding speed as soon as he appeared.

"Headmaster Fontaine?" Jura Edmund, who had been walking Bethany in the garden, looked surprised and asked, "Didn't you go to England? Why are you back so soon?"

Headmaster Fontaine hastily left with a simple statement, "The Snakewood Tree prohibitions have been triggered, I'm going over to check out." And with that, he disappeared from their sight.

Jura's expression became serious as he turned to Bethany and said, " It must not be a trivial matter if Headmaster Fontaine has been alerted, I'll follow him and check."

"In case there is any danger -"

Jura hesitated and raised his arm, as a line of tiny runes started to emerge from the back of his wrist before a wand appeared out of thin air.

"Jura, this is what Mr. Hap told you to use in a pinch." Bethany persuaded, "I'll look for the other professors-"

"Now is a critical moment." Jura said, gripping the wand, "Don't worry, I'll protect myself."

On the other side, Headmaster Fontaine had appeared at the entrance of the school, where he paused briefly before running in the direction of the Snakewood Tree. He thought fast, every past headmaster had left protective magic on the Snakewood Tree, making it impossible for an ordinary student to destroy it, especially since it concerned a hidden secret that dated to more than three hundred years ago.

The students of Ilvermorny only knew that the leaves of the Snakewood Tree had powerful medical effects, but as a Headmaster and descendant of the original twelve Aurors, he knew much more inside news: one of the founders of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the witch Isolt Sayre, had once wielded the wand of Salazar Slytherin.

Headmaster Fontaine hurried on his feet, the hidden history of the past slowly flowed through his mind.

Isolt Sayre's mother had been born into the Ancient House of Gaunt, a pure-blood family that descended from Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, her mother did not support the idea of pure blood like most of her family and moved out of the house at an early age.

She married her husband and had a lovely daughter, known as Isolt. The early years of Isolt's childhood were peaceful and happy, with loving parents by her side, who were kind enough to quietly help their No-Maj neighbours, but all that was destroyed by a fire in which both of Isolt's parents were killed.

The culprit was Isolt's aunt, Gormlaith Gaunt, a cruel witch with a violent nature. She adopted Isolt at the age of five to raise her as a "proper" pure-blood witch. As Isolt grows up, she realizes the true nature of her aunt, and then finds an opportunity to steal her wand (she is not allowed to have one personally), and after some trouble, she travelled to New World (North America) on the Mayflower ship.

That wand is the heirloom of the Gaunt family - the snakewood wand of Salazar Slytherin.

Isolt then married her No-Maj husband in the New World and lived in peace for over a decade, and during that time she had founded the prototype of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but at that time her Aunt Gormlaith had finally found out about the residence of the increasingly famous Isolt, and Gormlaith Gaunt was enraged; she used the rules that had been designed in the Snakewood Wand when it was first made to order it into a dormant state using the Parseltongue, and then tried to kill Isolt and her family.

But she ultimately failed.

Isolt later buried the dormant wand in the ground outside the school and attempted to make her own wand. The following year, the spot where the snakewood wand was buried began to sprout into what later became the iconic 'medical' snakewood tree of Ilvermorny...

Headmaster Fontaine finally arrived at the location of the snakewood tree but was stunned by what he saw: it was completely destroyed and reduced to ashes.

A black-robed wizard with pale skin and blurred facial features gently stroked a glowing wand.

The Snakewood Wand!

A wand hand-crafted by Salazar Slytherin himself, a wand that had served as his companion and ranked only seventh in the previous sensational news, but Headmaster Fontaine had scoffed at it, for he had known from the start that the other wands might be fictional, but this one is certainly genuine. And it is plenty miraculous to rank first.

Voldemort's heart is contented with the fact that he is currently holding the wand of the greatest of the four founders in his hand, and there is no hint of rejection from it. He could feel the wand of his ancestors cheering, the power of the wand echoing with his own magic as if urging him to use it as he saw fit.

There is no better wand for me than this one, and there is no one more worthy to use it than me ... Voldemort thought, right now it is time to find a sacrifice worthy of it ... He looked up at the sky, should Felix Hap be in Hogsmeade at this hour?

Voldemort gave a cold smile as he turned to leave -

"Stop!" Headmaster Fontaine shouted, and Voldemort's red eyes fixed on him. Fontaine frowned, the man in front of him looked tall and thin, like a skeleton, his face oddly contorted, and the more he looked at him the more familiar he became ...

"You are the dark wizard Voldemort?" He asked coldly.

"You may address me as the Dark Lord Voldemort-" Voldemort said politely.

"Whoever you are, leave the wand behind! It's not yours." Headmaster Fontaine shouted.

"It doesn't belong to me? There could not be a more rightful owner for it than me." Voldemort said contemptuously, "And if I say no?" He spread his hands lazily, the snakewood wand gleamed in his hands.

Headmaster Fontaine felt uneasy, but nonetheless, he withdrew his own wand out.

" Hehe!" Voldemort sneered, his red eyes glowed vividly as if they could ooze out blood, as he softly muttered, "It isn't a disgrace to take you as a first sacrifice ..."

"What did you say?"

"Avada Kedavra!"

Green light filled his entire field of vision.

"No!"

...

"No!"

Harry shouted out. His mind was in turmoil like someone had churned it with a knife. His vision flooded with green light, the colour of death, and he cried out at the same time as the other young man he saw in his mind, the one who looked familiar ...

"Harry, wake up!"

Hermione shook him, and he barely opened his eyes to find himself on the floor, resting on the cold ground, a large shadow enveloping him above his head. It is Ron, who is arguing with Malfoy.

"What have you done to him, Malfoy? I knew you couldn't be trusted!"

"I didn't do anything!"

"It's not him, Ron, it's Harry's scar." Hermione said.

Harry blinked a few times, unable to take interest in their argument. His heart felt very heavy with the death of a man, the Headmaster of Ilvermorny. A bright green light still lingered in his mind, Ron, Hermione, and Malfoy's faces were all strangely contorted, he looked around, Neville also had his wand in his grip and remained silent as a rock.

He tilted his head as Sirius and Snape ran over to him from a distance, the expression on Snape's face seemed as anxious as Sirius' ...

Harry rubbed his forehead hard, the scar stung like a pinprick.

"Harry," Hermione mumbled, "You can't do this anymore." She took a deep breath, " You can't afford to allow your mind to be invaded anymore-"

"Invade? Hermione, I can't let the vital information slip out of my sight, and it's not me being invaded, it's me invading Voldemort's mind!" Harry retorted irritably.

"But both are the same, your mind's defences are already riddled with holes, and it will ruin the occlumency you've worked so hard on." Hermione advised patiently.

"I can't worry about that for now Hermione, we can talk about that later, we have more important things to do now." Harry said, propping himself up, his hands touching the cold dirt, which lifted his spirits a little. He grabbed another handful and pressed it to his forehead, the ice-like touch eased the pain in his scar.

He lifted his head and looked at the castle iron gate in front of him.

"Harry, what did you see? Did he do something else?" Hermione asked in a low voice as she approached him.

"He killed the Headmaster of Ilvermorny." Harry said woodenly.

Hermione covered her mouth in surprise, Ron and Malfoy lost their voices in unison, Neville's eyes went wide, and Sirius and Snape, who had just arrived, were stunned in place. They stared at Harry in disbelief, as if they had heard the most ridiculous thing in the world.

It was Harry who had managed to snap out of it first, as he said urgently, "There's something more important, Voldemort is coming."

"What?"

"Voldemort is coming, he's going to Hogsmeade to find Professor Hap!"

--

#Pasang Sherpa, Thanks for all your love and support.

There are 610 chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

In the Hogsmeade Village, Felix is talking to a representative of the French Ministry of Magic.

The man, "Giles Fitzgerald", is very talkative, and if you ignore his regular attempts to smooth out his pathetically thinning hair, the whole conversation was quite pleasant with all the arse kissing.

"I heard that Mr. Hap is also a school board member of Beauxbatons, a talent that Mr. Nicolas Flamel personally identified ... He's picked the right man, Mr. Flamel was always generous, I received a sizeable scholarship when I was at school, he was a really nice guy wasn't he Myron? "

Giles turned his head to look at the middle-aged wizard next to him, who is the deputy headmaster of Beauxbatons.

"You're right." Myron said firmly, "The loss of Monsieur Flamel is a major loss to the French magical community."

Giles cleared his throat, "It is, but now we have Mr. Hap, and history always goes around ..."

"Yeah." Deputy Headmaster Myron said briefly.

Felix smiled without saying anything, this conversation took place after Giles cornered him to enquire about his arrangements for the Beauxbatons Scholarship, and when he told them to continue everything, as usual, Giles spent a full ten minutes touting him in a greasy tone, but once Giles realized that Felix had no interest in being touted, he turned his tongue to praise the contribution of Nicolas Flamel in a high note.

Nicolas Flamel left a lot of legacies, but Felix only took the parts that are most useful to him, leaving the rest intact. Including Nicolas's vault in the Gringotts France branch, which he had only visited once, and it did not contain many alchemical items that deserved his attention.

So when the Gringotts Goblin brought out a thick stack of contracts, he did not choose to annul any of them.

Felix thought it would make him feel good to do so.

"It's a bit windy today." Giles muttered, reaching out to brush aside the lock of hair that kept ruffling his nose in front of him.

But soon there is a loud clamour and Felix peered into the distance, and his expression turned serious.

He held out his hand and a small black dot appeared in his palm area, the dot rapidly smudged away like a drop of ink in water, and in the blink of an eye, a book appeared in his hand.

"Mr. Hap?" Giles asked in surprise, looking curiously at the Book of Rune in his hand at the same time.

" We got some trouble, Mr. Giles. Inform the rest of the group to hide for now." Felix said calmly, as his figure suddenly disappeared and reappeared near the edge of Hogsmeade.

An exaggerated-sized black tornado headed towards the Hogsmeade village, the black tornado uprooted rocks, grass, trees, and everything along its path as the wizards rushed around in disarray.

"Silence."

Felix heard Amelia Bones' booming voice say, but it had very little effect; everyone was stunned by the sudden onslaught of the natural disaster, and although the tornado is still some distance away, the howling winds, as well as the raining droplets, have arrived first and splattering down.

"Ministry of Magic Aurors, Hit Wizards, follow me to ward off the storm." Ms. Bones shouted as the Ministry of Magic crew emerged from one hidden corner or another.

Felix pressed his hand on the Book of Rune and the pages flipped, a dozen milky white balls of light flew out of it and headed straight towards the loud behemoth.

"It's illumination!"

"Professor Hap is here."

The black tornado swallowed the balls of light in one gulp, and seconds later, the tornado swelled very rapidly in size that it seemed to roll down the clouds in the sky, as a dazzling pillar of lights stabbed out of the whirling vortex, managing to break it up before it could breach the village.

The black tornado was forced to disperse as a dozen smaller whirlwinds formed from the air pressure and rushed into the village to wreak havoc, followed by rocks and branches falling from high above, and Felix watched as a rock the size of a man's head smashed a hole in the roof of a shop, and the subsequent mini whirlwind blew the furniture and ornaments inside all over the place, as it looked like some kind of vomiting monster.

Felix was forced to pause after breaking up a few mini whirlwinds. He stood in the scattered air currents and gazed high into the sky as a black-robed wizard appeared in the air, his features blurred and his skin looked pale-white.

His red eyes looked down at the wreckage below as he grinned silently, would a few thousand wizards be useful? I just need to create a little chaos to make them disorganized.

"Come up." He said with a gesture.

Felix remained motionless, his silver eyes fixed on Voldemort. In Thestral's perspective, that man's soul radiated a shiny black light from the inside out and had more than one piece missing, like a rotting pumpkin that had been haphazardly gnawed on and discarded by wild animals.

A thought flashed through Felix's mind: Voldemort's soul looked even uglier than his appearance.

He counted several times over and found seven gaps in total.

That meant that Voldemort had made seven Horcruxes ... counting the body, and he had split his soul into eight parts.

They had destroyed four of the Horcruxes, the diary, the diadem, the Gaunt ring, and the snake. Three remained: the Slytherin locket in Dumbledore's possession; Harry, who is half a Horcrux, which is currently impossible to strip; and the last one - the unknown.

Felix's lips quirked as he relayed this information to Dumbledore who stood somewhere in Hogsmeade. Once this was done, he kicked the stone beneath his feet and leaped into the air, facing Voldemort who stood at a distance.

"I thought a little highly of you, Voldemort," Felix said, " Your killing quite indiscriminately for someone who calls himself a ruler."

" It was just a greeting, would you care if you accidentally hurt an ant or two?" Voldemort said lazily, twirling his snakewood wand in his hand and examining Felix's silver-gray eyes, his snake-like nostrils flared out excitedly, " Indeed ... you have transformed yourself too, have you chosen the Thestral?"

"Ah," Felix stated without moving, "it's a creature with a touch of death after all."

"But they are too tame, I prefer Basilisk more," Voldemort commented in a condescending tone, "I had bred a few, but unfortunately none of them grew, probably due to the lack of certain key steps. Then I found I preferred dark magic, and I did some experiments on myself, some successful, some not ... This is the price of being at the forefront of the whole magical community, you have to do some trial and error."

Voldemort enjoyed this pre-battle communication, it is one of his few interests. But there are very few people left in the world with whom he can discuss magic, especially since he has little in common with Dumbledore - who keeps using Transfiguration to greet him and always keeps talking about "the power of love".

"Why haven't I seen Dumbledore, have you guys fallen out?" Voldemort said mischievously, his snake-like pupils peering down.

"Isn't that what you expected? I killed a dozen dark wizards before you showed up, and he probably couldn't bear to see it and left early." Felix said.

Voldemort scrutinized his face as if examining the truth of the statement.

"Doesn't matter," he said, "he's no longer a match for me."

"Tch." Felix smacked his lips.

"You think I'm bluffing?" Voldemort narrowed his eyes.

"I don't. But it looks like you've finally found yourself a proper wand, which is why you dared to show up in the open." Felix said, and from the beginning, Voldemort kept his wand in the most conspicuous position like he was showing off.

"A wand made by Salazar Slytherin's own hand and inherited by his most talented descendant." Voldemort stretched out his hand, the wand in his hand blossomed with a bright emerald green light that hummed and buzzed.

" Well, it certainly suits you perfectly." Felix said slowly.

After a short exchange, a fierce battle broke out.

...

The Hogsmeade village had fallen into disarray.

Madam Puddifoot ran out of her tattered shop, it looked like a terrible mess, her shop door had been lifted off the ground and at the moment she didn't know where she could go. Upon seeing Voldemort in midair, she sat down at once, lost in thought, as she said, "It's true ... he's really back ..."

The still calm wizards gathered and worked together to fight the mini whirlwinds that had just been broken up by Felix.

The crew placed in advance by the Ministry of Magic came in handy, and midway through some of the wizards with decent combat skills volunteered to join in, the owner of the Hog's Head Inn cursed as he smashed a mini whirlwind and looked up to see an old man with the white beard who bore a striking resemblance to him not far away.

"You're useless." Aberforth said bluntly.

Dumbledore swung his hand to dispel a whirlwind and listened with his side ear, after a few seconds a complex expression passed through his eyes, surprise, regret, and a mixture of indecision. When he looked up, he found his brother glaring at him with a fierce expression, as if debating whether or not to punch him in the nose.

"Ah, sorry, what did you just say?"

Dumbledore glanced briskly into the distance, the battle had already started, Felix had guided Voldemort outside the village, the sound of the two fighting resonated through the village, black thunder accompanied by dazzling golden flames ploughed the earth over and over again, then the sky showered with spears, gold coins and ... is that a cork of butterbeer?

In the corner, a chubby, walrus-mustached wizard probed and peered, smiling awkwardly when he met Dumbledore's gaze.

...

A large golden-red bird descended from the sky, with a shiny golden tail and a pair of sharp claws of the same colour, a bunch of people dangled on its legs, notably the one towing on its tail, and Fawkes chirped in displeasure, shaking off the guy who had been tugging on its tail feathers all the way.

"Oh my god-"

"Ouch! Don't squeeze me."

"Everyone keep quiet and stay alert!"

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville got up from the ground to see Sirius looking around warily with his wand up, "Get your wands out, kids." The four of them complied, before them there is a mess, debris all over the place, the showcase windows that display the merchandise are broken, as far as the eye can see none of the windows are intact, and the shop sign has been smashed all over by something and a thick layer of dust has been laid on them.

"That's Gladrags Wizardwear, where's the door gone?" Ron said, pointing towards the dress shop with an open entrance.

A figure stumbled into the shop, it was Draco Malfoy. He practically rolled and ran into Gladrags Wizardwear.

"What's wrong with him?" Neville asked in disbelief.

"Probably scared," Ron said scornfully, "It's not like anyone begged him to come, he's the one who grabbed Fawkes's tail."

Harry looked at the Gladrags Wizardwear in silence, he suddenly felt cheated.

Malfoy said he supported Professor Hap, but he kept his mouth shut about how, let alone admitting that his father is a Death Eater, and the only valuable information Malfoy had uttered the whole time was his admission that he had handed Professor Hap the diary (Horcrux) personally.

But the thing is, it's not like Malfoy knew that the diary is a Horcrux.

Now that I think about it, that doesn't signify anything at all. Maybe he was afraid of being controlled by the diary again and that's why he voluntarily handed it over, and the choice of the professor was Professor Hap who was also from Slytherin house, and as he said on his own, he didn't want to get involved in the Chamber of Secrets trouble...

As for whether or not he had considered the safety of the young wizard from a Muggle family in between, only God knows.

"We're late?" Neville asked, the tension and excitement still lingering on his face, as he regarded this as a formal operation against Voldemort. "The You-Know-Who attacked the place by surprise? But where's the Professor? Where's Headmaster Dumbledore? Where is the Ministry of Magic crew?"

There is no one around.

The phoenix tilted its head and cried out, flying straight in one direction.

They glanced at each other.

"Let's follow!" Sirius stated in a low voice, "Remember, we're not here to fight, I've fought Voldemort and know how terrifying his strength is ... We have to regroup with either the Headmaster, Felix, or the Ministry of Magic first and tell them what Harry knows." He paused briefly for a moment as he continued, "You are all students, but also the most determined warriors, so I want you to grow, and no amount of teaching from me in class is as good as one practice session. So, don't die."

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville nodded silently, this truly felt different from the usual dueling lessons.

"Rumble!"

There was a loud noise in the distance as if a mountain had collapsed.

"It's the direction Fawkes left, the Professor and Headmaster Dumbledore are probably over there too." Harry said.

They ran quickly, the street littered with debris from buildings and furnishing ornaments from who knows what, books, cages, clothes ... They ran over the path of a debris road with alarm, luckily, they didn't find any bodies.

"There it is!"

In the distance there are dense, hundreds of wizards, it seems everyone in the Hogsmeade village has converged there, and Phoenix Fawkes flew all the way forward, spilling light in the form of tiny stars, and it finally settled on a rusty stand with a tattered wooden sign underneath.

"Hog's Head Inn."

They exchanged glances, curious about the place where Fawkes had stopped, as Harry stepped forward and peered through the large broken window, almost choking on the sudden smell of goat, the tables near the door covered in dust, and the floor smeared with greasy stains.

The Hog's Head Inn is dimly lit and a man can faintly be seen sitting inside, Harry's mouth dropped open, it's Headmaster Dumbledore!

What is he doing here? Shouldn't he be fighting outside? Could it be that Voldemort and Professor Hap are now fighting one-on-one? Headmaster Dumbledore wouldn't be advocating the idea of a fair fight, would he? Harry's mind was so jumbled that he didn't even hear Sirius greet him as he pushed the door open in confusion.

Fawkes, which was standing on a stand, took the opportunity to fly in, circling the room twice, seemingly unable to find a place to land, before eventually landing on Dumbledore's shoulder.

"Harry? What did you see?" Sirius and the others walked carefully behind, with the help of the faint glow of a few small candle heads, then they saw the only person in the room, "Headmaster Dumbledore?" They shouted incredulously.

"Ah, it's you all," Dumbledore said quietly, turning his head to look over his shoulder at Fawkes and saying reproachfully, "You shouldn't have brought them here."

Fawkes gave a low chirp.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, we have important information for you," Harry said eagerly, "Voldemort has acquired the Snakewood Wand of Salazar Slytherin-"

"I know, Minerva told me through the Patronus." Dumbledore said calmly as he fiddled with his teacup.

"Also - the Headmaster of Ilvermorny was killed by Voldemort."

"I know that too," Dumbledore said softly, "Professor Fontaine ... he was not supposed to die."

"I also know how to put the Snakewood Wand back into hibernation using the Parseltongue, I can help with that." Harry said.

"It might not work, Harry." Dumbledore interrupted him, his azure eyes examined Harry through the clear lenses, "No." He repeated, "You don't own that wand, so it won't listen to you, especially when it's held in the hands of its true owner. And it would be too dangerous for you to rush into battle for me to agree."

Harry stuttered, unable to speak, his initial excitement of seeing Headmaster Dumbledore vanishing all at once.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, you have not joined the battle? Is Professor Hap fighting all alone now then?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"That's right, Miss Granger." Dumbledore said calmly, seemingly unaware of the hidden implications of her words.

"But why - allow the Professor to fight alone - the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic - " Hermione stammered.

"That's a long story," Dumbledore's tone remained calm as he looked down at his empty teacup, "such as the fact that Voldemort did not choose our predetermined battlefield, and the fact that I had previously left ... making my reaction probably half a beat slower than usual, as well as the fact that I had to take time out to protect the others after it happened ... but what really made me sit here and drink my tea because Felix stopped me."

"What?" Everyone looked at him in surprise.

"Three people brought me messages today, but only Felix's message cheered me up the most." Dumbledore said, "I had to restrain myself ... because I knew that we are not ready and the conditions are far from ripe."

"But if you team up with Professor Hap-" said Harry eagerly.

"That's the point, defeating or driving Voldemort away isn't what we want, keeping him around is." Dumbledore looked at them with a bitter smile, "Felix is out there fighting while I am thinking about countermeasures, about the best time to go out ... I know very well that even if Felix and I team up we won't be able to capture him, we'll just scare him away. Unless he became more conceited and felt he had the victory in his hands, or-" He hesitated, thinking of the information Felix had told him.

Felix could see the broken soul ...

"-or make him become frightened, terrified, and let him reveal his vulnerabilities himself." He said softly.

The crowd looked at him uncertainly, but Dumbledore had no intention of explaining, and lifted his head as if he suddenly became interested in the ceiling above his head.

After a long while.

Dumbledore made a sudden movement, removing the gloves he had been wearing for nearly two months to reveal his right hand, which immediately changed - losing a little of its moisture, as if an invisible fire had burned the flesh and blood, leaving it both dry and charred, finally resembling a charcoal bar just taken out of a blazing fireplace.

Dumbledore raised his hand and came closer to examine his hand before pulling a black jewelled ring from his pocket with his intact left hand and wearing it.

"Headmaster Dumbledore." Harry held his breath, "Your hand-"

Is it a disguise? Or is it really injured? Was that why he always wore gloves? His memory became clear; the few times he had shown up since the start of the term, Headmaster Dumbledore had always seemed to be wearing white gloves.

"Now is not the time to talk about it." Dumbledore shook his head, "Come on, let's go finish the fight."

He stood up and his body began to radiate a powerful aura.

Harry didn't understand what Headmaster Dumbledore meant but at least he knew that the Headmaster had decided to join the fight, the message was encouraging enough, and he could already picture Voldemort fleeing in his head as they pushed open the broken door and walked out.

A slim figure draped in a robe stepped off the corner and ran in the direction of the crowd.

Harry stared to identify the figure, "It might be Malfoy." He said in surprise, wasn't he hiding in Gladrags Wizardwear.

"Draco Malfoy? He's here with you guys?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"Yeah." Harry vaguely said, not wanting the Headmaster to pursue the matter as it involved Sirius's plan to cast Obliviate on the student, and even though he knew Snape would not miss the opportunity to tell on him, he wanted Headmaster Dumbledore to know about it as late as possible.

Luckily for him, Headmaster Dumbledore didn't ask much as he nodded lightly.

"You will stand at the back of the crowd and not come forward or move around," Dumbledore said solemnly from the entrance, the Hog's head painted sign above their heads creaked. " Sirius, you keep an eye on them."

"Yes, Headmaster Dumbledore." Sirius whispered, not quite daring to look Dumbledore in the eye from the moment he had entered until now, even though he thought he was right.

The battle in the distance had reached its peak, the earth riddled with scars and all sorts of magical trails could be seen as they approached silently, not a single person noticing them, the crowd of wizards watching the battle with an expression of fascination.

The two men fighting went far beyond what they could comprehend, let alone intervene, and the dozen or so shattered golem guards that littered around were the price of their rash approach.

"Keep your distance, you don't want to get burned by the Fiendfyre, do you?" Ms. Bones shouted. A crowd of Aurors and Hit Wizards stepped in front of the crowd, dividing the battlefield. But at the forefront stood a row of tall, lanky golem guards - a third of the Ministry of Magic's large purchases are here.

The golem guards held up a magical barrier in a neat and tidy manner, taking the fallout from the battle.

In the distance, Voldemort's Fiendfyre Serpent and Felix's fire dragon, moulded by the Bright Fire-making spell, clashed fiercely, as if they were incompatible, each clash shedding large shards of red and white flame, which fell to the ground and scorched it black.

Stones continued to crumble under the cold air and the burning flames.

Harry looked around and finally spotted Malfoy in a corner, draped in a wide cloak that covered him so tightly that Harry could only barely make him out by the grey eyes and the sharp, thin chin.

At the moment the eyes belonging to Draco Malfoy stared intently at the battlefield, and he truly felt the fighting and oppressive power of the world's best wizards - a world away from what he had seen from his father.

Harry couldn't guess what is going through Malfoy's mind at the moment, but at least it is clear that he is thrilled right now, much more thrilled than the house-elf standing on the trash bin next to him watching the battle ... Huh, where did that house-elf come from?

Did a certain wizard bring it from their home? Harry thought dumbly.

--

#Pasang Sherpa, Thanks for all your love and support.

There are 610 chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

The eyes of the surrounding wizards burst with intense hope at the sight of the old man with the white beard who had suddenly stepped out, and they murmured in unison, "Dumbledore." The voices of thousands of people mingled together like a muffled thunderclap that exploded in Voldemort's ears.

He jerked back, "Dumbledore?"

At that moment, an invisible blade sliced towards Voldemort, the air was sliced and the Serpent made of Fiendfyre split in two from the middle.

Voldemort turned his head and raised his snakewood wand, and from its tip a lush, tangled mass of snakewood tree branches twisted around each other to form a sharp spear of incredible length, cutting straight through the bright white flames and sending sparks straight at Felix.

Felix flickered through the air like a fish and reappeared on the ground. He held a short sword in his hand - the ebony wand morphed into it, the front end of which featured a transparent blade extended by magic - and a Severing Charm flew swiftly towards Voldemort, shredding the snake-like branches.

"Headmaster Dumbledore?" Felix paused and showed a puzzled expression as well.

Dumbledore shook his head slightly and walked calmly towards Voldemort, "You are destined to be disappointed today, Tom."

Voldemort returned a cold smile, "Dumbledore, you are talking down to me again without knowing what I have done and gained?" He took two steps back to keep Dumbledore and Felix in his field of vision at the same time and smiled crookedly, "Two against one?"

Felix waved his hand at him, "I'll take a break." He narrowed his silvery grey eyes and walked away.

Voldemort turned his attention to Dumbledore and raised his hand to release a deadly green light, and Dumbledore flicked his wrist as the stone on the ground turned into a golden shield, there was a loud bang in the air and the killing curse was deflected.

"Transfiguration." Voldemort said in disgust.

Bondi, the house-elf within the crowd, nodded its head dramatically, "Nasty magic." Draco Malfoy glanced at it, only to be met with a pair of intimidating eyes that he subconsciously avoided it, then became annoyed at himself for flinching.

But the house-elf was completely unconcerned and just stared at the battlefield, as it whispered, "I hate Transfiguration, like candy."

"Of course, I know what you've done, Tom. You had just committed a terrible murder and another innocent life was lost because of you." Dumbledore said, taking a step closer to Voldemort. The Phoenix Fawkes which hovered above his head, chirped softly.

"You know that? Then you should know exactly whose wand I'm holding right now, and you're no longer my match, Dumbledore. Try this!"

Voldemort raised his snakewood wand and leaned back slightly, his magic pouring into it with unrestrained vigour as he and the wand simultaneously emitted a haunting hissing sound, as if thousands of snakes are hissing, and the surrounding air twisted grotesquely with light and darkness.

"Parseltongue!" Harry shouted out nervously from the crowd.

"What did he say?" Ron shouted, covering his ears. The wizards gathered around either mirrored him or fought it off with a Quietening Charm or Shield Charm, but the sickening, vomit-inducing feeling lingered in their stomachs like a worm.

Fawkes flew over and let out a sharp chirp, singing a song. Then the discomfort disappeared.

People looked up one by one -

"Avada Kedavra! (Parseltongue)" the evil hoarse voice continued to vibrate through the air as countless solid strings sprang out of the snakewood wand with great speed, as the green light around them converged into a cloud emanating an unearthly aura and poured down in Dumbledore's direction.

Dumbledore paused as the ground rippled beneath his feet, an earthquake tumbled the ground around him, forming constantly rising clumps in the centre that resembled a fast-growing ancient tree. Powerful vines then extended from the top of the ancient tree and lashed out in unison toward Voldemort.

The vines and green cloud swept away everything in their path, and Felix's heart sank as he created an invincible barrier around the crowd.

The earth vines broke into large parts, and crashed from hundreds of feet above, shattering like old crumbling pillars, but the thing about Transfiguration is that it can be sustained as long as the magic keeps up, and the shattered pillars started to reassembled under Dumbledore's control.

Voldemort had difficulty holding out the curse, so he paused and disappeared from his original position.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang!" The continuous attack of countless earth vines shattered the remaining twisted strings and green clouds completely.

Dumbledore gasped slightly, as the wrinkles on his forehead eerily started to smooth out, and he instantly looked several years younger. The scene fell silent and Voldemort looked at Dumbledore in disbelief, he had tried to overestimate this old man as much as he can, but once again the strength Dumbledore had shown shattered his perceptions.

Could it be that he didn't use his full strength a decade ago?

Voldemort felt a strong sense of humiliation, and with it, a sense of fear rose. But immediately afterward, his gaze froze, "Your hand!"

Dumbledore looked at him with a calm gaze, a few more wrinkles disappearing from his forehead, a change that became more obvious, even to Harry and the crowd. "How did Headmaster Dumbledore's face become younger ..." Ron muttered in a small voice. Harry's heart elevated, he intuitively believed this is not normal.

Hermione's eyes went wide, and she drew in a short audible breath.

Felix also felt shocked that Dumbledore's magic had permanently altered a large terrain, such a powerful transfiguration ... but he suddenly remembered about the 'special method' Dumbledore had mentioned earlier, the one he had many times used to defeat Voldemort.

He gazed at the smoothened wrinkles on Dumbledore's face and wondered what it would cost.

Voldemort didn't notice these subtle changes, his full attention fixed on Dumbledore's dry, charred hand, or to be precise, on the inconspicuous black jewelled ring on his hand.

His face instantly contorted with anger.

"Tom, you are too arrogant to believe that no one can find out your secret." Dumbledore said calmly, waving the Elder Wand as the earth suddenly sunk downwards and Voldemort got sucked in by a powerful suction, but he still stared intently at the ring in Dumbledore's hand before he disappeared, his snake-like pupils trembling in disbelief.

The Horcrux, his Horcrux.

Dumbledore had found it! He then turned his head to look at Felix, who had a solemn look on his face.

In the next second, Voldemort was pulled into the vortex.

For a split second, the battle seemed like it was over. Everyone remained silent for a few seconds -

"He's dead?" A wizard asked with a shudder.

"No." A voice said without thinking. The nearby wizards stared in unison at the person who had spoken, it was Harry, who is now clutching his forehead with a pained expression.

Voldemort's mood swings are too violent for him to turn a blind eye to. A picture appeared in Harry's mind that showed Voldemort of different ages, all of them shared the common trait of committing appalling murders without a moment's hesitation for a ritual ...

Then the scene abruptly changed: a Voldemort with blurred, wax-like features handed a diary to a young blond man, who took it obediently.

Voldemort, who had failed his job interview for the professor position, appeared in the Room of Requirement and placed a diadem on a mountain of rubbish with a smug smile on his face.

A pale hand dropped a black jewel ring in an old abandoned shack.

The Slytherin locket was thrown into a glowing green liquid.

A baby hand stroking a huge python, as a cold voice called it " Nagini ... ".

And the sight of a familiar woman, excitedly holding up a golden cup, the reflection of her in his pupils confirmed that this scene had happened not so long ago ...

Dumbledore struggled to control the magic. The earth continued to crumble, thorn after thorn pricked out of the ground, and a chilling muffled sound came from the tightening vortex, followed by the reappearance of Voldemort, looking slightly ragged, with a dozen cuts on his face.

The snakewood wand in his hand emitted a soft chant as a glowing green light spread from his pale hand and covered his entire body, as every cut and wounds on his body and face were smoothed out. He stared at Dumbledore, a hissing sound escaping his lips as the sensation everyone had felt earlier returned, the snakewood wand twitched as if thousands of snakes echoed him.

"a-VAH-dah ke-DAH-vraaisss..."

"Headmaster Dumbledore, Watch out! He is going to curse using the Parseltongue-"

"Keep quiet, Harry!" Dumbledore blurted out.

In the next second, Voldemort suddenly disappeared and Harry found himself firmly trapped in a circle entangled by a monster with red eyes.

The monster looked like some kind of slimy glue or a parasite, and it entangled with him so tightly that Harry didn't know which is his body and which is the monster's. Harry got trapped inside, falling deeper and deeper into the swamp-like body, just like Voldemort had fallen before, but unlike Voldemort, he didn't have the ability to escape on his own.

The scar on his forehead ached with greater intensity than ever before and Harry felt like he would die anytime soon, which is fine, at least it would bring him a relief from this pain. Everything is out of his control, the monster tried to speak, using his own mouth, so Harry felt his mouth opening and closing in excruciating pain.

The people outside got taken aback, "Invisible? Or did he use the apparition to escape?" The Ministry of Magic's Aurors and Hit Wizards looked around, when Harry suddenly fell to the ground, as his body twisted stiffly, his neck raised like a snake, his pupils somehow turning into the vertical eyes of a snake.

"Harry?" Sirius called out.

"Can you kill me now, Dumbledore?" From Harry's mouth came a hoarse voice that sounded almost identical to Voldemort's.

The onlookers backed away in panic.

"What's going on, that boy ..."

"What's wrong with him?"

"No, that voice--"

People subconsciously formed a circle around Harry, and Dumbledore leaned down to meet Harry's snake-like eyes as he said sharply, "Harry, pull yourself together and never forget who you are!"

"Who am I?" 'Harry's' eyes turned blood-red abruptly as a hissing sound escaped his mouth, "I am, of course, the greatest Dark Lord in the history-"

"Oh my God! The boy is possessed!"

Dumbledore took Harry by the shoulders and said in a deep voice, "You're Harry Potter, the son of James and Lily, think of them Harry, they would be proud of you if they are still alive! And remember all those friends you made at school, Harry! Remember who you are!"

Harry found himself trapped in endless darkness, his consciousness blurred from the pain, and he felt himself constantly falling down ... Then he heard a blurred voice, it was Dumbledore, he was calling his name.

What's my name again?

Harry's memory blurred little by little as he sank into the darkness, is he Tom Riddle, or is he Harry Potter?

"Harry, snap out of it!" Hermione said anxiously, "Think about Sirius, think about Remus, think about Hagrid ..." She recited one name after another, all of the people Harry knew best, and in the endless darkness, Harry's consciousness cleared a bit.

"I am Harry Potter." Harry muttered to himself, as he stared up at the red-eyed monster that had a death grip on him, "and you're Voldemort."

Outside, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Sirius, and Dumbledore tightly surrounded Harry, calling out his name over and over again. Amelia Bones looked worried, but then she turned her head and shouted, "All Aurors, isolate the perimeter and stay alert, healers take your positions."

Bondi, the house-elf, watched the scene, as he appeared a little too calm compared to the panicking crowd, "It's kinda scary ..." when a figure suddenly stumbled and leaned towards him, Bondi looked up indifferently and found it is the same young man that had wrapped himself tightly before, with only half a sharp, thin chin showing.

"A student?" He muttered, as he snapped his fingers, and disappeared from that place.

Draco Malfoy fell to the ground, as he was pushed and shoved by the crowd, and saw Harry's face, contorted by pain, through the messy gap between the legs. He climbed to his feet in complete shock, unable to imagine what kind of pain a person his own age is suffering.

He saw Harry's mouth widen and his eyes turn back to emerald green again.

"Get out of my head, Voldemort!"

Harry's roar carried far and wide, his fist slammed into the ground and the ground shuddered strangely as small stones jumped up from the ground.

"Hiss ... I'm you, Harry Potter is the name we share ..."

"No - not at all -" Harry said through clenched teeth, fighting a little bit to break free from the red-eyed monster's arms.

"Get - out - of - my - head -"

He hammered his fist into the ground, his arm slamming into the ground with a loud thud like a drum, the sound seemed to hit people in the heart.

"Oh my God, look at that boy, what is he going throu-"

"Unbelievable!"

"Who is he?"

"It's working, keep waking Harry up, it's a battle of wills." Felix stood at the back of the group, his eyes changing colour like a torch, with astral rings circling around his pupils, and silvery grey wisps gathered at his fingertips.

Ron, Hermione, and Neville shouted eagerly which echoed through Harry's mind as each of the words filled with intense emotions-

"I'm Neville, Neville Longbottom, Harry, you taught me magic, remember?"

"Think of Ginny, Harry! Don't you want to see her again?" Hermione called out.

"We flew halfway across England in a car together Harr-" Ron suddenly froze and stared at Harry with disbelief, losing his words, "Merlin's socks, ah, you and Ginny? When was that happened?"

Eventually, a black mist rushed out of Harry, Felix reached to grab it, but he grasped it in vain, then he threw a ball of silvery wisps at it, as a scream came from the black mist, and it floated far up in the air, where it reverted into Voldemort's body.

His snake-like face looked like a grotesque mask, holding too many emotions at once, joy, anger, sadness, and happiness ...

He gave Felix a vicious glare and disappeared without a warning.

Unfazed by Voldemort's vicious glare, Felix continued to ponder silently, 'It seems to have some effect, but it's not that obvious ... Did I choose the wrong emotion? What could it be correct then? A Horcrux ... complete soul ... killing ... incomplete soul ... repentance? Repentance!"

He had originally wanted to try to see if emotions could have an effect on Voldemort's soul like state, and if they worked, he could research them in a more targeted way. But now, he suddenly got a new train of thought.

The Horcrux is a way of splitting the soul and gaining immortality by doing so. Of course, There's a cost, like the intense suffering and pain caused during soul splitting, becoming less and less human, insanity as the split increase, and the ensuing problems caused by soul instability. Harry became a Half-Horcrux because of Voldemort's soul instability - when Voldemort was hit by a rebounded killing curse in the Potter's house in Godric's Hollow, a fragment of Voldemort's soul was blasted away and attached to the only living soul in the collapsed house for survival.

And Voldemort didn't even notice the missing soul fragment after that.

Of course, it's not impossible to make one's soul whole again after creating the Horcrux, Felix thought. According to the notes in the Advanced Dark Magic Uncovered book, "true repentance" would allow the split soul to return to its original source if it remained intact, but the pain that would follow would be devastating.

Presumably, Voldemort had no intention of trying this. But even if he didn't want to, others could help.

This can be accomplished by capturing Voldemort alive and leaving him defenceless. Then brainwash him at every opportunity to make him repent. ... But it is No easier than killing Voldemort's main soul directly.

Harry panted and shivered as he slumped on the freezing ground, then he found himself floating, lying on a stretcher, footsteps heard everywhere around him, and Harry tried to say something, followed by a spinning sensation in his head.

He heard someone talking overhead, but he couldn't tell who it is, it could be Headmaster Dumbledore or Professor Hap, or it could be Ron and Hermione. He opened his eyes and his vision became blurry. A hand reached towards him and placed his glasses on his ear, and the environment became clear all of a sudden.

Dumbledore's nose looked close at hand, and he could see the concern in his azure eyes as he looked up.

"Are you all right, Harry?"

"Quite well." Harry said, slightly embarrassed. "Drink it up, boy, it'll make you feel better." Harry looked up, and it was Mr. Slughorn who spoke now, holding a thumb-sized vial in his hand and looking at him with very mixed emotion, his gaze tinged with a mixture of chagrin and admiration.

"Thanks." Harry grunted and drank the potion.

He found himself lying in a makeshift tent with a school crest printed on the wall, and he stared at it for several moments before realizing that it isn't Hogwarts' crest - despite the resemblance, it is the crest of Ilvermorny.

Harry suddenly realized that this was Ilvermorny Headmaster's tent. The thought that this headmaster had been killed by Voldemort gave him a heavy pang, and this increased his hatred for Voldemort who had done this. His consciousness became increasingly fuzzy and in a trance, a light flashed, and he suddenly remembered the memories of Voldemort he had seen earlier.

Harry grabbed Dumbledore's arm and stammered, "Crup - Beltriaxss."

"What? Harry, what did you say?" Dumbledore lowered his head.

"Bellatrix! He gave Bellatrix Lestrange a golden cup!" Harry shouted, then passed out completely.

--

#Pasang Sherpa, Thanks for all your love and support.

There are 612 chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

Harry hadn't slept that long in the makeshift tent before waking up from the noise outside, he fumbled around next to his pillow for his glasses, and put them on before sitting up from his bed. The tent is empty, with only Professor Hap sitting by the entrance, albeit looking a little distracted.

"You're awake, Harry." Felix said.

"Professor? How long was I asleep?" Harry asked in a daze.

"About an hour or so."

"What about the others?"

"They all had something to do, it's a long day for some ... as if a lifetime passed," Felix said, still looking outside. He had the Book of Rune in his lap, but didn't glance at it, "Don't worry, Ron and the group were sent back to school."

Harry was slightly relieved to hear that, and then a question came to his mind, "Where is Headmaster Dumbledore? He, I, Bellatrix-"

"Oh, I know what you're trying to ask, Dumbledore left for that very thing."

"He went off to look for the Horcrux?" Harry asked hopefully.

"That's right, he thought of some clues and rushed off to confirm them." Felix glanced at Harry, who couldn't hide the joy on his face, so he poured cold water over it, "Don't be too optimistic, the odds of Dumbledore gaining something are very slim."

"Why do you say that?" Harry asked, holding his breath.

He knew one thing, something he, Ron, and Hermione had speculated privately combining what Sirius and Neville had said.

Sirius had told him that the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix had secretly assigned people to monitor Death Eaters whose names had been revealed, but they had no solid evidence against them; while Neville had inadvertently mentioned that the Longbottoms had monitored the Malfoy Manor and had sighted Bellatrix.

'And then Longbottoms foiled the You-Know-Who' plot and almost caught her!'

Bellatrix, Harry mused that name.

He knew that woman, had even seen her face many times on different occurrences- on wanted notices, in newspapers, and in Headmaster Dumbledore's Pensieve near the end of the previous school year; Oh, he had also seen her old photographs in Black's ancestral house before.

It was hard for Harry to connect the young woman in the photo with the insane look she had during her trial inside the Pensieve.

"Even if Voldemort had given Bellatrix Horcrux for safekeeping, there's no way he'd be comfortable giving it to someone else after today; he'd definitely retrieve it. That was one of Dumbledore's purposes, to scare the snake out of the grass."

" So the Headmaster wore the ring to actively reveal that he knew about the Horcruxes?" Harry asked as he knew all the Horcruxes now. "Couldn't we just quietly collect the Horcruxes and destroy them one by one?" He muttered unhappily.

"It's hard when you get to this point." Felix said, "If you see this from the perspective of both Dumbledore and Voldemort, you can understand it more easily. In the case of Dumbledore, he has two primary aims, first, he wants to keep Voldemort under considerable pressure so that he won't start a full-scale war and keep it at a low intensity; in fact, there have been some conflicts before, but they were just that, the death rate was nothing compared to the war."

"Secondly he wanted to identify the last Horcrux as soon as possible, and yes, we didn't expect much, but thanks to you, it went off without a hitch too." Felix said with a tilt of his head in Harry's direction, "But back then Dumbledore didn't factor you in the plan."

Or maybe he did consider it, Felix thought.

Dumbledore's thoughts should have been extremely conflicted; because both he and Felix knew one of the easiest ways to destroy the piece of Voldemort's soul in Harry's body, but neither of them had mentioned it, and looked for other solutions separately.

But there was no way someone as wise as Dumbledore hadn't considered the worst-case scenario, and the fact that he had been consciously grooming Harry, including the fact that he had allowed him to stay and watch the battle today, could have been a reflection of that conflicting thought.

"Both of those aims have already met with challenges." Harry mused as he looked down, "Voldemort has gained the snakewood wand and gained more strength, so even if he doesn't show up today, there will be other plots. And the Horcrux ... Horcrux investigation has reached a deadlock?"

"Before? Yes." Felix said.

" Well, is it possible that Voldemort would just throw the last Horcrux somewhere," Harry asked sharply, as he tried to find the flaw in the plan, "in case he threw it into the ocean or buried it in the earth ..."

" Not possible." Felix said curtly.

"Why-"

"Because of you." Felix gave Harry a deep look, "Voldemort didn't know about your connection in the past, but you don't honestly believe that he didn't notice anything after he possessed you, right?"

Harry's expression went blank for a moment.

"He knew? Knew I could look into his mind?"

Certainly, Felix thought. The only thing that is unclear is how much Voldemort knows; Voldemort might even know Harry's Horcrux identity, the odds are somewhere in the middle. But one thing is certain, he must have noticed the connection between him and Harry.

Some things could never be hidden if they were seriously investigated, like Harry's scar and Parseltongue, both of which are not exactly a secret at school.

And as the sole, no, the only two people who are still alive after being hit by the killing curse, it's hard to figure out what kind of connection they have, not to mention the protection magic Harry's mother had cast. It made things even more complicated.

Voldemort might not necessarily be able to make the connection with the Horcrux, as he had never actively split his soul.

But it would be extremely unwise to let the Horcrux out of his sight without knowing exactly how strong the connection is, in case Harry could track the Horcrux, which is highly unlikely, but for Voldemort, it would be a huge risk.

For Voldemort, who is left with only one Horcrux, who is on edge, and who had just suffered a major defeat, would he dare to gamble?

So it is not an exaggeration to say that Harry is Voldemort's nemesis.

Silence fell over the tent.

After an unknown period of time, Dumbledore's figure appeared in the tent when both Harry and Felix looked up at the same time, Dumbledore looked exhausted and Harry noticed his wrinkles have returned and, he didn't know whether it was an illusion or not, there are more wrinkles on his face than before.

Dumbledore shook his head silently and Harry's heart sank.

"Harry, I'm taking you back to school." Dumbledore said.

"What about Professor Hap?" Harry asked as he stood up.

"He has his own things to do." Dumbledore said briefly, Harry was unsure, if 'this thing' referred to sitting in his chair at the entrance to the tent and chilling out? But before he could ask, Dumbledore took Harry by the shoulders and Harry spoke with a stutter as he struggled for a moment.

"I-I'm sorry ... I got you all in trouble."

"It's not your fault." Dumbledore calmly said.

"But I didn't listen to you and brought Voldemort's attention towards me." Harry blamed himself, "I should have figured you could handle it ... but I couldn't hold back."

He realized it was because of his impulsiveness that Voldemort had found out about their connection. It would probably be difficult to scoop information out of Voldemort's mind in the future, and Voldemort would certainly defend against it with extra care ...

To Harry's surprise, Dumbledore smiled for the first time since he had appeared, and so did Professor Hap at the entrance.

"Harry," Dumbledore said patiently, "of course I want you to become mature and prudent, but I would prefer if your growth didn't come at the cost of losing all your shining points, like kindness, bravery, and righteousness ... which is something many people can't possess in a lifetime. You have a clear conscience, Harry, and you don't even know how much I envy you."

He sighed softly and stroked the black jeweled ring on his hand.

For a long time, neither of them spoke until Fawkes flew in from outside, circled low in the tent twice, and landed on Dumbledore's shoulder. And with a burst of flame, they disappeared from the tent.

Felix looked out leisurely, and wondered for a moment, Kindness, Righteousness, Bravery, and a Clear Conscience ... How many of these qualities does he possess?

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

There are 613 chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

Late at night, when the Hogsmeade village became quiet, Felix suddenly moved.

He rose from his chair and took a step out, and appeared on a huge rock high in the mountain behind Hogwarts, at night the mountains and the forest echoed with the howling of unknown beasts. Felix turned and looked at the large hollow space in the rock wall, there is already a man inside, he is wearing a hood and blended with the darkness.

The wizard lifted the hood to reveal the pale, lean face of Lucius Malfoy.

Felix watched Malfoy's expression carefully, and after a short while, he asked softly, "Voldemort lost his temper?"

"Got hit by a few Cruciatus Curses." Lucius tried his best to sound unconcerned, " It was the best possible outcome, I barely managed to hold myself from blowing my cover. That would have been the end of everything."

"What excuse did you use to fool him?" Felix asked curiously, "To be honest, you turned out to be much tougher than I thought. A full ten hours have passed since I delivered the message to you. I've been waiting for you to summon me to your rescue or to receive your request to move your family."

Lucius Malfoy gave him a sharp look.

"I knew that diary is very important to him and when he handed it to me, he instructed me to keep it safe and wait for him to give a word before acting as he ordered ... tonight I told him that I remained loyal to him and three years ago I received an information about his suspectable return in Hogwarts, but he never showed up, so I bit the bullet and sent the diary to Hogwarts, hoping that the news of the Chamber of Secrets being opened would draw his attention ..."

Felix speculated on Voldemort's psychology.

At that time, Voldemort had already made several Horcruxes and did not think too highly of the diary, he actually saw it more as a weapon than the Horcrux with a life preservation function.

So judging from what Lucius has revealed, this would be one of his unfulfilled plans. Perhaps Voldemort wanted to use the diary to open the chamber, kill a few students and take down Dumbledore from his Headmaster position, thus allowing him to infiltrate the ancient wizarding school.

The task was most appropriate to hand it to Lucius Malfoy, who was a school board member of Hogwarts at that time, but the timing had to be subtle enough, so Voldemort handed the diary to Malfoy and told him to go home and wait for news in peace. Then ... er, it didn't take long for Voldemort to die without peace.

"Voldemort summoned you alone?"

"Yes ..."

" Did he also summon Bellatrix?"

Lucius was taken aback, " Yes that's right, we were called in no particular order." After a few moments of reflection, he said, "I didn't realize the anomaly until you mentioned it, because he has always been secretive in his movements these days, summoning us individually. It is rare to have other people present ..."

Felix nodded, "You would be first, Bellatrix second, and after that ... it looks like Voldemort will be busy tonight, and of course, his temper will grow even worse ... Lucius? "

Lucius looked at him.

"If Voldemort suddenly summons you again in the next couple of days, grab your bags and run. But if he tolerates further, it's fine to stay on."

"Why?"

"Because I can't guarantee he won't vent his anger on you." Felix said in a spooky voice.

In the next two days, some of the wizards who had attended the ancient rune exchange left early. Most of them were tourists who had simply come to see the birth and development of a new discipline, but the events that took place at the venue were simply too much for them to handle, and they chose to leave with their hearts in their throats.

When the Ministry of Magic re-registered the participants, there were about two hundred tents left vacant.

But many more people chose to stay.

These people simply assumed that they had seen a thrilling battle as an extra for free. To be honest, they had actually long-anticipated Dumbledore's strength - after all, there is more than half a century of fame stacked up. From the looks of the scene, Dumbledore lived up to his title " The Greatest White Wizard".

The surprise was Felix Hap.

He had already been well-known in many countries, but of course, people knew him for different reasons. Some knew him through the books he wrote, some through Future World, and some knew Felix's name because they had experienced the Quidditch World Cup final camp riots personally.

But if they were asked to give him a precise identification, they would be at a loss for words. Is he a Muggle researcher? A brilliant businessman? A professor of ancient runes? Or an expert in memory healing? Probably they would argue among themselves.

Only when this Ancient Rune Exchange was over did wizards around the world gain a unified view about the person named Felix Hap: he is a Legendary Warlock who stands on the same level as Dumbledore.

When the journalists who attended the event sent the news back to their countries, everyone was stunned, and a steady stream of people came over afterward, trying to gather first-hand information.

Historians, Ministry of Magic officials, Journalists from newspapers and magazines, Members of the Dark Force Defence League and the Alchemy Society applied for entry and then rushed to Hogsmeade, eager to see and photograph the scorched earth outside the village, then listen to Felix Hap himself explaining his understanding of the runes, and interview random people at their leisure to learn about the two thrilling battles from those who had witnessed them.

And long before that, the newspapers in the British wizarding community first had exploded.

The journalists and photographers who had rushed over on the first day were incredibly busy, each with ten articles to catch up on at the same time, in addition to developing photographs. Once again, Rita Skeeter showed an extremely professional ability to make up nonsense, with a vividly graphic article that only took her about ten minutes to write, without losing her usual style of writing, which increasingly moved in the direction of sensationalism.

The new editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet was left with a headache.

" Look, 'the three men who stand at the top of the world' - how can they include Voldemort?" In the library, Hermione read the title of the article with a disgusted look on her face.

"In a way, she's right." Ron said with an odd expression, "I remember another article titled - 'The Power of Love Awakens The Boy Who Lived', sheesh."

Harry turned his head in embarrassment, he didn't know how to explain his relationship with Ginny to Ron, he can't say they are close, as they haven't spoken much since the start of the school year except at the Frontline Lookout Club, but he can't also say they are far ... Harry's heart raced as he remembered that kiss in the underground training room at Black's ancestral house once again.

"Is Mafalda pestering you again?" Ron asked.

"What?" Harry followed the direction of his eyes and was surprised to find Mafalda, hiding behind a thick stack of books, looking like a replica of Hermione in her first year, but Harry could guarantee that Hermione only shared her in her desire to win at schoolwork, and in other areas - such as her sickly snooping and vindictiveness - Mafalda would be superior.

"Another Rita Skeeter." Ron said.

"You said she would be another Gilderoy Lockhart a while back." Hermione threw a jab at him.

"Is there a difference between the two of them?" Ron muttered.

At that moment, Harry saw Draco Malfoy come into the library looking weak, sitting alone at a table and looking dazed.

"What's wrong with him?" Harry asked, he hadn't seen Malfoy for the past two days.

" I suppose he is sick, I saw him when Lee Jordan went to the hospital wing to stop his nosebleed." Ron said vaguely and Harry instantly understood that Lee Jordan must have tried out the Skiving Snackbox that Fred and George had developed, he remembered one of the candies being named as Nosebleed Nougat.

Ron at this point seemed to have forgotten about Harry's love case as he came over and whispered in a hushed tone, " It is probably to cover up the fact that he had left the school," he gave a meaningful look, "Professor Hap forced us to swear not to tell anyone that he was there, or he would use magic to seal our lips."

"The Professor didn't say that!" Hermione yelled in annoyance.

"Well, I assumed," Ron shrugged, "he had a pretty serious look on his face at the time anyway."

This time Hermione didn't retort.

Harry looked at the distraught Draco with mixed emotions. He had kept his agreement and didn't tell Ron and Hermione the truth about the Diary Horcrux, which made Harry feel that his relationship with Malfoy had changed subtly, whether it's for the better or the worse Harry couldn't say, but it seemed that Malfoy had once again gone invisible on important matters.

Once when he had voluntarily handed in his diary Horcrux; once when he had personally visited the Hogsmeade battlefield.

Both times it involved Professor Hap ...

Draco looked up from the table, revealing two distinct dark circles under his eyes, and turned his head away quickly when his eyes met with Harry.

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

On the other side, Felix is also sitting on the sofa in his office looking through the newspapers of the past few days.

The articles gave him a sense of time and space dislocation. The first page shows Amelia Bones being questioned by journalists and announcing the end of the Ancient Runes exchange, where Felix wasn't present, still, the journalists made sure to use his picture alongside it, so you could see him going to the next building in the picture to check out...

The other page, for example, showed the remains of the battle outside the Hogsmeade village: the earth had been ploughed up and cut into pieces, like a poorly regulated field, and there were also mounds of earth, charred stones, large pitch-black holes, and deep pits.

Felix wondered why they didn't bother to fill in the holes and pits.

At that moment Valen jumped onto the small square table with a twist and held out her tiny finger to point at him in a condescending manner.

"Kee!"

"You want to duel me?" Felix looked at Valen with amusement.

Valen nodded seriously.

She pulled out a wand from her small pocket and Felix looked at her with a surprise for a few seconds before realizing that thing wasn't really a wand but an alchemical item.

Valen waved it with a great swagger and the wooden stick in her hand made a swishing sound, followed by a whirlwind that swept through the room and lifted Felix off the couch.

Felix sat cross-legged on the whirlwind, "Huh? Kind of interesting, an improved piece of work by Fred and George from the 'fake wand'?"

Valen stood with her neck held high, no, Valen cast the spell herself!

Felix hovered over the couch, reached out and picked her up by the back of her neck, and shook her hard, and she hastily covered her little pocket, as the fake wand fell from her hand into Felix's.

"Let's alter it," Felix took it and looked at it for a while with sudden interest, he had been occupied lately with changing the magical creatures' magical gifts into runes and rune sequences for ancient magic, followed by the interaction with the representatives of various countries, and now it seemed to be time for him to relax his mind.

"I suddenly realized that some of Miss Granger's ideas are very suitable for use here, the magic frequency ... is another treasure."

Magical creatures also have magic in them, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to use their magical gifts. But Niffler is rather a weak creature compared to others, with nothing too exaggerated or bizarre about their abilities, other than a keen sense of smell and a knack for burrowing and treasure hunting; Oh, they also have a small spatial pocket to store their treasures.

But the fact that they do have magic in them is enough.

"I need to test the frequency of your magic to create an exclusive wand for you ... What kind of magic do you want to add?" Felix turned his head to look at Valen.

Her eyes gradually glowed.

"Kee!!!"

That night she got her new baby(treasure) with glee and after a few tries it worked surprisingly well, and Valen loved it so much that she even cuddled it in her arms when she slept. She can't wait to go out tomorrow to show it off, from now on she is not just a travelling merchant Valen, she is also a Niffler Wizard.

She no longer can be hugged by anyone as they wish.

Muhahaha!

The next day, Halloween finally came.

Harry walked into the great hall and was surprised to see a tall, burly figure at the entrance.

Hagrid is back.

Harry ran over excitedly; Hagrid had several bruises all over his face, but thankfully no new wounds. That seemed to indicate that Grawp had made good progress with his studies, I wonder how he's progressing compared to Valen? Harry couldn't help but think.

"Thank goodness, Hagrid, are you finally going to come out and meet with people?" Harry asked enthusiastically.

"Shhh, keep your voice down." Hagrid bent down timidly and tried to hide, but he simply couldn't, as he looks too conspicuous, and it made his behaviour look a little comical. "I've just come back to school, ok? Before there was something ..."

"Anyway, you finally remembered to show up to teach our class." Harry said.

"Yeah, I think it's a perfect opportunity." Hagrid scratched his chin and smiled back.

"What's that?" Harry noticed a large wooden box placed next to Hagrid's feet.

Hagrid was about to open his mouth to explain when Luna and Ginny walked in together, so he hurriedly changed his words, "Oh, you mean this... it's a toolbox."

"Hi Hagrid," Luna greeted warmly, "Are you finally planning on coming back to class?"

Harry poofed out a laugh as Luna asked the same question that he had just asked.

Looking a little flustered, Hagrid brought up his previous excuse and said it again, "I just got back to school, I took a leave of absence for something earlier."

"Firenze said-"

"He was mistaken." Hagrid said without thinking.

"Oh," Luna didn't press the issue, as if she'd accepted the reason, and voluntarily changed the subject, "You'd better check out the Forbidden Forest, Thestrals got themselves a king."

"Really?" Hagrid stared at her, looking doubtful.

Luna nodded solemnly.

"Then I'll ask Uwu," Hagrid said half-heartedly, "if any strange Thestral has come to settle in the Forbidden Forest, I need to know if it's aggressive ..."

"Is Uwu the liveliest one? The one with the brightest eyes?" Luna asked cheerfully, "I call it Woo-woo, that sounds similar."

"I'll go in first, Hagrid." Harry said, glancing at Ginny who smiled at him, he hurriedly slipped into the great hall and walked a dozen steps to see Hagrid and Luna still chattering passionately.

The Halloween dinner had begun.

Harry saw Hagrid sitting next to Professor Hap, the fork in his hand swishing back and forth over the dinner cloth tied to his chest as he spoke as if twirling an embroidery needle for sewing. Then Hagrid picked up a plate of fried fish, glanced around like a thief, and tucked it under the table.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked vaguely as he took a bite off half a sausage.

"I probably know exactly what is inside the box that Hagrid brought along." Harry said, thinking it must be the giant Grawp.

"Look at that, they're beautiful." Hagrid said gruffly, pointing to the bats on the ceiling that were used as decoration, "Reminds me of Thestrals, their wings are practically identical, I mean, just in shape ..."

"Oh, it's really amazing." Felix said.

He held out his hand and pointed toward a huge roasted pumpkin on the table, which quickly shrank to the size of a small lantern.

"You can take it back." He said with a wink.

"Oh, uh, thanks." Hagrid said, as he leaned over and explained in a low voice, "Little Grawp will like it."

"Who's little Grawp?" Professor Flitwick interjected and asked, the fork in his hand seemed to be under a spell, not only its length far exceeding normal standards, but the other end had taken the shape of a hook, pulling the plate over at the far end.

Hagrid looked envious as he spoke vaguely, "I know it from the Forbidden Forest. Need a hand?"

"What?" Flitwick asked.

Hagrid snatched the fork from his hand and hooked all the food around him to the side as Professor Flitwick shouted agitatedly, "That's enough." Hagrid took a few more before stopping, as he muttered, "It's okay, I can help you eat."

Felix looked around the professor's table, Snape remained silent as always, not engaging in conversation with his colleagues, Felix could guess that he might not be having a very good time these days and wondered if Voldemort had summoned him privately.

Professor McGonagall and Sirius were discussing something in whispers.

"Oh no, Probation is the least possible punishment." Professor McGonagall said with a serious expression as she put down her fork.

Finally, Felix set his eyes on the middle seat, the seat that belonged to Dumbledore.

But it is now empty.

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

Towards the end of the dinner, the students who were well-fed and contented started to noisily murmur in the great hall.

An uneasy restlessness filled the air as more and more people realized the fact that Headmaster Dumbledore is not present tonight, and they all darted their eyes toward the professor's table and debated it with each other.

Felix watched the scene in silence as Professor Flitwick's shrill voice reached his ears from two seats away.

"Minerva, did Headmaster Dumbledore got caught up with something?"

"I'm not sure," Professor McGonagall pursed her lips tightly, her hands folded together as she looked torn. She looked around the great hall at the gesturing students and suddenly stood up.

"Students-"

Her voice travelled far and wide, and the great hall gradually fell silent. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and was about to open her mouth to explain when there was a sudden creaking sound heard from the direction of the entrance to the great hall.

Professor McGonagall was relieved that Dumbledore had shown up.

He stood in the doorway of the great hall with the dimly lit entrance hall behind him, and his silvery-white hair and beard glowed in the light of the pumpkin lamps.

The uneasy atmosphere that had built up in the surroundings vanished at once.

With a smile on his face, Dumbledore strides through the gap between the great hall tables, and students once again started to chatter eagerly, only this time the mood in the atmosphere is relaxed and jovial. Dumbledore made his way to the armchair in the middle that belonged to him, and Harry was keenly aware that he had once again worn those white gloves and that black jewelled ring must have been put away.

"The colour of his beard is back to normal." Hermione whispered.

Harry was simply focused on staring at the conspicuous purple robe and white gloves on Dumbledore, guessing if the hands inside the gloves are intact, without paying any attention to the beard, "What did you say?" He asked subconsciously.

"Headmaster Dumbledore's beard colour was quite different when he was fighting." Hermione whispered, stretching her neck as she glanced at the beard, " But now it's back to normal."

"There is such a thing?" Ron poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice and patted his well-stuffed stomach contentedly.

"I noticed that too," Neville whispered. "The headmaster's beard turned some shades darker during the fight, an iron-grey colour, kind of like, like ..."

"The owner of the Hog's Head Inn!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione brought their eyes back from the professor's table and looked at Neville, who nodded at them with a serious look on his face.

"It could be a secret magic." Ron said with a confident look.

"I really hope so," Hermione said, "but I haven't read anything like that in any of the books ... ugh unless the Headmaster had used an advanced human transfiguration."

"It's definitely the case." Ron said with conviction.

"But why would Headmaster Dumbledore do that?" Harry asked in confusion, one of the important lessons he had learned in the Dueling Club was not to make extra moves while fighting. He looked over at the professor's table again.

Dumbledore didn't sit down directly, he stood in front of his chair and looked out at the students in the great hall as the voices subsided once more and people looked at him with rapt attention.

"Ah, forgive me, there were too many newspapers that have mentioned my name recently, and I was planning to cut out all the parts that mentioned my name," Dumbledore said with a wink, "and owls from all over the world have stuffed my office, and those little guys have always had a thing for things that move, and I had to gather up the silverware on my table ... I only abruptly realized that the dinner party had begun when I was done with everything."

"I hope you can understand that for an old man, time can be both the most precious and the most negligible thing at the same time. I have experienced this particularly well when playing the ten-pin bowling game ..."

He sat down, without eating anything, as he looked around the great hall with a smile on his face. After another ten minutes or so, the dinner ended when the last round of desserts disappeared from the table.

The students stood up sparingly. They moved sluggishly and lazily towards the door, like a group of sloths heading out for food. The professors stood up as well, "Severus." Dumbledore politely called out, "Can I have your company for a moment? I have something to discuss with you."

The two men left in a pair.

When everyone else was almost gone, Hagrid also pulled his wooden box out from under the table, and greeted Felix and Sirius, as he quickly slipped away.

"Everyone's acting weird." Sirius muttered.

"Are you alright?" Felix asked.

"Fine," Sirius said vaguely, "It's just a punishment ... I don't care, I'm used to it."

A muffled, distant voice drifted up from behind them.

"I'm sure I couldn't bear it if I was on probation - that would be too humiliating."

Sirius glared at Trelawney, "Sorry? I don't think I've seen you before, are you also a professor in the school?"

As if she was greatly offended, Trelawney threw her shawl violently over her body and stomped away.

"She is Sybill Trelawney, Professor of Divination, you have met her several times ..." Felix's tone was elusive, in fact, he held mixed feelings about this Professor -- the both of the significant prophecies he knew that had been made by Trelawney were somewhat fulfilled.

"I know," Sirius said without thinking, "I even helped Harry with his Divination class assignments, you know, coming up with ideas and stuff. Kids' imaginations are kinda lacking these days ..."

Gryffindor common room.

Harry slumped drowsily in the soft armchair, glancing at the old clock at the entrance of the common room; it is barely nine o'clock. There is still time before he usually goes to bed, but he doesn't want to do anything, Harry looks up at the ceiling of the common room, and his hand fumbles through the gaps between the seats to find a rolled-up newspaper.

He picked it up and looked at it; the picture on it showed Dumbledore leaning down and grabbing him by the shoulders. He stared at himself lying on the floor twisting and squirming around like a snake, as he subconsciously stroked his scar.

Ron sat on his butt next to him and the armchair shuddered twice as he stuck his head over to look at it, "Mate, you did look pretty scary back then."

Harry didn't say anything as he flipped to the page that reads "Getting to know Felix Hap again", another page that reads "The only man he is afraid of: the greatest of all white wizards, Dumbledore" and the fourth page that reads " The Dark Mark reappears again above the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

He sat up and read the article carefully.

"After the conclusion of the thrilling duel, a lot of lagging news from abroad has reached our country. For example, the mighty wand that You-Know-Who had used during the battle has been firmly proven to be the snakewood wand of Salazar Slytherin, and this wand had been lying dormant in front of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for over three hundred years, and to be honest, it is quite surreal.

It is suspected that the wand was brought to America by a descendant of Salazar Slytherin and used by the founder of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during her youth and buried by her in her later years.

It can be concluded that the You-Know-Who had long coveted this wand, and after acquiring it he murdered the Headmaster of Ilvermorny, Professor Agilbert Fontaine, who had hurried there to stop him. Agilbert Fontaine, a descendant of the Theodard Fontaine one of the original twelve Aurors of the United States, had a good reputation during his tenure and led a delegation representing the Ilvermorny School in the first-ever Tournament of Champions of the Big Five School last year.

The people of the United States of America expressed their anger and demanded that the murderer of Headmaster Fontaine should be captured and brought over.

...

A new Headmaster has yet to be elected in Ilvermorny, and the only person who witnessed the death of Headmaster Fontaine at the time of the incident is a young Muggle professor, Jura Edmund, who was very lucky to survive from being killed.

When questioned, Edmund had stated that 'the battle was over too swiftly, and despite Headmaster Fontaine's persistent resistance, the opponent's attacks were so evil and bizarre that all defences collapsed in a flash ...'

As of today, the Magical Congress of the United States of America has not made any public statements, and there are rumours that they had sent Aurors to intercept the You-Know-Who which resulted in heavy losses. Headmaster Dumbledore and Ms. Bones have called for all wizards to unite against the You-Know-Who and his Death Eater force.

This piece of information has not been confirmed."

Harry put the paper down, and his heart felt heavy.

Ron said optimistically, "Don't worry, Hogwarts is the safest place in the whole world, so it's safe to say the You-Know-Who would never dare to come over here."

"You're right." Harry said, as his mood improved a little.

Ron glanced once more at Hermione, who had been writing and drawing on her note for a long while, and whispered, " There is nothing for us to worry about in school, so instead of worrying so much about this, we should be concerned about the trouble that is close at hand."

"What kind of trouble?"

"The Quidditch match is coming up, I asked Angelina about it and the first match is scheduled at the weekend, we are up against Slytherin. Professor McGonagall has purposely exempted our homework for this week, and we finished the assignments given by Snape in advance. Every team had booked the training ground to train this week a month in advance, Harry; everyone wants to win!"

...

On the first weekend of November, Valen went out joyfully, draped in a small scarf, and swaggered the whole way.

The ground in the yard was covered in a thin layer of snow, but it was nothing to her as Valen stamped out a trail of tiny footprints, looking around for a target.

"Whoa! Look, it's the little rich girl."

A clamouring crowd gathered around.

Valen nodded graciously and brushed aside a finger that tried to scratch her chin. She jumped over on the bench in the yard, and then the little wizards pulled out the 'treasures' they had collected.

"I found a glowing pebble near the black lake!" One boy said proudly.

Valen shook her head as the others joined in as well.

"Valen already has so many glowing stones, look at mine!" A little witch mysteriously pulled a small hat out of her pocket with little shiny round shards attached to it and Valen's eyes lit up.

"Kee!"

She fished through her pocket and pulled out a few things: a set of thousand paper cranes that could fly, a ghost food, a small bottle of super bubble blowing liquid, and a feather quill that floated in the air. The little witch looked very hesitant.

" Super Bubble Blowing Liquid is the best, pick that one!" A little witch next to her gave a tip.

"What does this quill do?" The first little witch asked curiously.

Valen picked up the quill and wrote a crooked word in the air, "This." The people around them gasped in surprise once again, "There is really a Niffler that can write!" Valen waved her hand in smug triumph at first, but as soon as she thought of the Great Demon King, she sheepishly wiped the word out of the air.

"I'll take that." Mafalda said as a gleam twinkled in her eyes.

The first trade went off without a hitch, and Valen wore that small goose yellow hat along with her scarf with joy and happiness.

"Hi Valen, do you need me to take your picture?" Colin Creevey, who was passing by, asked.

Valen nodded repeatedly.

Colin pulled the camera from his robe like a muggle magic trick and opened the lid when Valen called out. "What's wrong?" Colin asked as he paused and Valen reached into her small pocket, as she pulled out a small wooden wand and struck a handsome pose.

Then she nodded at Colin to show she was ready, and Colin took a picture of her.

"I'll send you the developed picture in a couple of days." He waved his hand as he walked away, "I'm going to the Quidditch field to watch the match, it's been a year since the last one, and I can't miss it."

Valen's eyes lit up, and she quickly completed the remaining few transactions, even the boy with the smooth pebbles got a card that would emit twelve kinds of laughter and left contentedly.

Valen returned to the castle and made her way down the entrance hall by the stone steps at the front of the castle. She looked out at the distance Quidditch pitch in the distance with a little binocular made on her hand and began to worry that it is too far to walk.

She wanted to go to the Quidditch pitch to watch the match, but it would be too tiring to walk there by herself, Valen stood at the edge of the steps glancing from side to side when she keenly heard a voice, "... Astoria, can you please stop your mischiefs... "

"What I have done wrong?" An indignant voice asked.

"Professor Binns may be a ghost, but he's also a professor at the school, you can't just use ghost food to tease him in class ..."

Astoria was just about to retort when she saw a Niffler suddenly rush in front of her, with arms spread wide to stop them.

"It's you, little one?"

Astoria jumped happily in front of her and reached out to pet Niffler on the head, Valen jumped away agilely, as she angrily pulled out a small wooden wand and pointed it at her.

"Oops, where did you get that wand?" Astoria asked with a look of surprise.

Daphne also glanced at it carefully, "It doesn't look like the one shown in the paper, so it's not Professor Hap's wand. It can't be one of the students', can it?"

Valen shook her head repeatedly, and retrieved a quill from her pocket, scribbling a word crookedly in the air, "Mine." She then patted her chest.

Astoria tried to tease her, "Even if it's yours, can you use it?"

Valen almost jumped up and down in excitement, this is the words she had been waiting for, she waved her hand at Astoria and struck a provocative gesture.

The expression on Astoria's face froze.

"Is she challenging me to a duel?" She looked at her sister blankly and Daphne shrugged.

Astoria turned back to find Valen constantly nodding her head, and kept giving her a look that said, yes, exactly what you think. She froze for a couple of seconds and then burst out laughing, as she winked at her sister Daphne.

"Daphne, look at that, haha, so funny ..."

Two seconds later, Astoria drew her wand in a serious manner and said, "Since you are the one who requested it, I can't refuse ... snicker ... I forgot to tell you that I won the dueling tournament in my first year, and it was in my first term."

Daphne covered her face not wanting to look at her childish sister, "Are you serious?"

"Geez, I'll be lenient then." Astoria said as she waved her hand and looked at Valen out of the corner of her eye as she finished, "Don't say I am bullying you, I'll let you make the first move."

Valen spun around twice in place with her small hands behind her back, then raised her small wooden wand.

A sharp whirlwind appeared out of nowhere and lifted Astoria up, and she was swept ten feet into the air, whirling with the whirlwind. Astoria stretched out her hands helplessly - and with a little bewilderment - but found herself unable to do anything. A few passers-by pointed and giggled at her, almost making her want to dig into the ground.

To add insult to injury, Valen stood with Daphne throughout this process, sizing her up with interest as Daphne laughed her head off.

It took nearly a minute of spinning in the air before the whirlwind that had entangled her subsided and Astoria landed on the ground with stars in her eyes and dizziness, unable to even stand up, "Valen!" She shouted in annoyance and lunged at Valen with her teeth and claws wide open, only to stumble after a few short steps and land on top of Daphne instead.

Distressed, Astoria looked up from her sister's arms to find Valen's dark eyes staring hard at her, the little yellow hat and glowing shards on the top of it sparkled in the sunlight.

Ten minutes later, Valen sat on Daphne's shoulders and followed them to the Quidditch pitch.

Astoria puffed out her cheeks the whole way.

"Valen, how did you suddenly learn to use magic?" Daphne asked curiously.

"Kee!"

"Did Professor Hap help you?"

Niffler shook her head.

"Strange ... Now I think about it, I noticed your wand has a few little gems embedded in it? Is there some kind of secret within it?" Daphne spotted a hint of a clue.

Valen's body twitched, and she hurriedly hid her treasure wand inside her pocket. To make sure she will discern nothing further from it.

The Quidditch pitch was packed up to the brim, the lack of tournaments for the whole school year had increased the interest and enthusiasm for the first match of this new school year, almost everyone who could come showed up, students braving the cold and chattered with excitement.

Valen waved and bid farewell to the Greengrass sisters as he caught the scent of the Great Demon King.

He jumped off Daphne's shoulder and fished two small jars out of her pocket and handed it to them, well, as a fare for the ride.

"Ghost food? I have a share too?" Astoria asked in surprise.

Valen nodded her head cheerfully. After all, you're the first person I've ever defeated, and a 'dueling champion' at that, this is the first step of the great Niffler Wizard Valen towards the stage of history, and she already planned to write an autobiography once she triumphed over the Great Demon King, in which she will certainly describe the first battle in great detail... ...

When Valen disappeared, Daphne held out her hand with a poker face as she said, "Confiscated!" Astoria saw the situation taking a bad turn and disappeared in a flash, blending into the crowd.

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

Hermione stood in front of the entrance to the locker room, constantly glancing around as the snowflakes from the sky accumulated in a thick layer on her hat.

She let out a breath of cold air and stomped her feet as she felt like freezing.

"I forgot my thermostatic locket ... oh yes, Focillo!" She pulled out her wand and pointed it at herself, and in an instant a wave of warmth spread through her body as if she was sitting next to a roaring fireplace in the common room, and she couldn't help but yawn.

The door to the locker room opened.

Katie was the first to come out, looking listless, followed by Fred and George, their shoulders slumped as if they are about to head to a doomed battlefield, and Angelina's vexed voice came from the doorway of the locker room, "Well Harry, you talk him through it and I hope for the best ... "

Harry responded vaguely after which Angelina came out with a numb face and her expression grew even more bizarre, Hermione thought. Angelina looked dead, just a husk wandering around.

When Hermione walked in, Ron was sitting in the corner of the locker room. Harry stared at him.

"What's the matter, everyone's not in a particularly positive spirit for the upcoming match? Oh, ah, uh-"

Hermione stepped past Harry to see Ron leaning back on the bench, his eyes dull with gloom, his face ashen as he stared at the ceiling with lost eyes.

Harry passed Hermione a look.

At that moment, Ron suddenly moved, so deftly that Harry and Hermione were taken aback.

"Harry quickly cast the Cheering Charm on me." He asked in an eager tone.

"What?" Harry looked at him with a bewildered expression.

"The Cheering Charm," Ron said, his lips slightly purple from the cold, "it's the only way out, it's what I've been thinking about all morning."

"What's going on?"

Ron sat back slowly, "I admit I got a little nervous, just a little ... well, a lot. Harry, I boasted a lot and also praised by many, Angelina said I am no worse than Wood and Professor McGonagall exempted me from my Transfiguration class assignment ..."

"Can't you sum it up in one sentence?" Hermione snapped impatiently.

"I'm afraid I can't defend a single goal." Ron stammered, "It's weird, this thought didn't cross my mind in the slightest before, but when I woke up this morning it hit me all of a sudden, I tried to cheer myself up by walking around the Black Lake twice, but things got worse and worse, I now have cold hands and feet, dizziness, panic attacks, and nausea ... "

"That's because you haven't eaten a single thing this morning!" Harry snapped irritably.

"Yeah, but I don't think it would have made any difference even if I had eaten ... " Ron said in a hoarse voice.

"I don't think so. If you're worried about underperforming, there's absolutely no need for that, it's your opponent who should be more worried." Hermione encouraged him, "The Slytherin keeper is a fool, what's his name again?"

"Miles Bletchley. " Harry chipped in.

To be fair, he would say that Bletchley would play well, but when Bletchley had attempted to hex ball-chaser Alicia in the corridor two days ago without success, Fred and George had let it slip that they wouldn't let him walk off the Quidditch pitch in one piece. Well, Harry of course sided with them in this.

Harry went along with Hermione's words of comfort, "Yeah, think about it, Slytherin's team sucks this year, Flint's gone and their new captain is Montague, you know what he's like -"

"I saw him shouting at the players when I came over, with his sleeves rolled up high, showing a pair of hairy arms, and I thought he was carrying two hairy hams." Hermione said meanly.

Ron grinned with a stiff expression.

"Their beaters are new too - Montague recruited Crabbe and Goyle into the mix, and I don't know why he did, since they're so stupid that they can't even tell the difference between the front and back of a broomstick." Harry continued.

Ron rolled his eyes.

"Honestly, I don't know what you have to worry about," Hermione said with annoyance, "A quidditch game is nothing more than a child's play, a, well, just a game, compared to all the adventures you've been through."

Harry and Ron both glared at Hermione at the same time, angry at her slip of the tongue. Hermione waved her hands in some embarrassment, "I didn't mean to look down on Quidditch-"

" Yes, you are!" Ron suddenly snapped out, "You just don't like Quidditch."

It was Hermione's turn to glare at him.

Ron ducked his head.

Hermione continued, "Think of all the adventures you've been through, trolls, three-headed dog, basilisk, dark wizards, dragon, merpeople, Death Eaters, Voldemort ..." she made a long list and finally concluded, "Compared to those, one Quidditch defeat is really not worth mentioning."

Harry felt that they couldn't compare it that way, some things are not dangerous, but they are equally difficult, but he wasn't going to upset Hermione, that would be purely asking for trouble and would do no good except triggering it further. So he said against his will, "Yeah."

Ron stood up as if he had come to life again, "Good point ... Hermione, do you have any food on you?"

"No." Hermione said dully.

"Don't lie to me," Ron said with certainty, "you certainly have a bunch of food in your little beaded pouch."

Hermione reluctantly pulled out a bag of compressed crisps and tossed it to him.

Ron tore open the packet and gobbled it up, Harry gulped, he had eaten very little this morning too, not because he was nervous but because he didn't want to eat too much to affect his form.

"Boys, how did your talk go?" Angelina poked her head in through the locker room door.

Harry gestured no problem and fought with Ron for the last bit of crisps.

Angelina's expression froze a little, "Looks like you guys are really okay, then hurry up and come out, it's time to start with your preparations. Can you guys bear to let three girls face seven gorillas?"

"Fred and George are also here." Ron said vaguely, as crisp crumbs splattered.

"I don't know if I can count on them, they're both posing for pictures with the Professor's Niffler. You have one more minute." She disappeared.

"Come on." Harry said.

"Wait." Hermione took out her wand and pointed it toward both of them and their bodies immediately became warm as if they had been surrounded by a burning cauldron.

"What spell did you use?" Harry asked.

"The Warming Charm." Hermione said.

It dawned on Harry. Familiar memories suddenly flooded his mind as he remembered that it was also a winter day when they had trudged through thick snow to Hagrid's hut, and on the way, Professor Hap had explained the Warming Charm to them, and only Hermione was in the mood to ask questions even as she was freezing and shivering, while he was more focused on the gossip of Sirius' school days at that time.

The story was titled 'The Gryffindor Freshman and the Hufflepuff Prefect'.

Now one of the protagonists of the story had become a professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts class at Hogwarts, and the other one had become a Minister of Magic. Harry was in a bit of a trance, even if he hadn't been there, he still felt fantastic, and understood Mafalda's thoughts somewhat. At that moment someone nudged him from the side.

"Stop dazing and be an example to next year's new players." Hermione said.

Harry grinned.

Snowflakes drifted from the sky, condensing into a single ice crystalline as they fell to the ground, and the icy wind gusted against them as Felix sat in the grandstand, enjoying the warm atmosphere in contrast to the weather. Valen sat on his shoulder, clutching her precious wand. Her two little feet flopped around.

"Nice hat, you're fashion sense improved."

Valen's mood got even better.

Felix quietly opened his palm and a suction came out of it, and for a moment a little wizard on the stand felt a chill run down his spine.

"Why it has become a little cold?" A student asked in frustration.

"Isn't it always cold," the boy next to him said, "Look, the two teams are starting to shake hands. The match is about to start!"

The two teams are greeted with thunderous cheers as the emotions that have been building up all year spill out at this moment, and Felix quietly increases the suction as the full, rousing, enthusiastic, joyous emotions converge in his hands and he looked like a dementor hiding in the crowd.

Only the emotions he took in were few compared to them, and the students shivered at best, then became more enthusiastic and applauded immediately afterward. As Felix's study into the magical gifts of magical creatures deepened, it is only natural for him to gain an understanding of the properties of the magic within them.

It is a type of magic that distinctly differs from the magic within a wizard.

To be precise, the properties of the magic within each magical creature varied, and Felix guessed that the magic is clearly influenced by the structure of their own bodies.

'The magical creatures' gifts come from their bodies, while the wizards' originates from their souls, or rather, it is the wizards' souls that are the most special - the ghosts are inherently endowed with a certain amount of magic power and can manipulate water and fire slightly - when the soul and the body combine, a constant source of magical power is created ...'

"That's just a guess." Felix raised his head and looked at the centre of the venue.

The captains of both teams stepped forward to shake hands, Valen shouted and gestured with a small wooden wand as the whistle blew and the match was officially begun.

Fourteen players soared into the air, so fast that they were soon transformed into a blur of shadows in the snowy sky. As usual, it is Lee Jordan who stands on the raised platform and provides commentary for the crowd.

"The match begins. Johnson was the first to grab the ball, but of course, she only weighed barely one-half, or maybe one-third, of the opposite player. After a year, there are new faces on both sides, Gryffindor has added a new keeper, a rather crucial position; Slytherin has added two new beaters on their side. ... Look! Johnson passed the two, is she about to charge? Oops, what a shame, it was so close."

"The Quaffle is now in Slytherin's hands, Warrington is charging towards the goal, there's no one in front of Warrington and the Bludgers are nowhere to be seen near, it's just the Gryffindor keeper! He's new to the team - oops!"

Harry rushed to look at the goal as Ron pounced actively, his fingers brushed against the Quaffle, but he failed to catch it. Harry thought he heard an audible gasp as he closed his eyes in despair.

"Awesome! The ball is intercepted! Good job, I must say, a great start-" Lee Jordan said excitedly.

"Jordan!" Professor McGonagall shouted from the side wing.

"Noted for the next time Professor, let's get back to the match, Ron defended, good start, now it's Gryffindor's turn to attack, Fred and George are both near the Slytherin goal, I know it's not much of a tactic, as they told me privately, ahem ..."

Harry didn't listen any further, he looked at the goal with wide eyes, Ron is swinging his fist excitedly and from the trajectory of the Quaffle, it looked like his hand should have changed the direction of the Quaffle and made it miss as it grazed the goal.

Harry's heart burst with excitement, as he knew that for Ron, the first goal would be the riskiest. Ron's biggest weakness is that he would lose confidence when he makes a mistake, and if he didn't guard the first goal, he would get flustered and end up giving even more goals. This was the data Ginny had provided and Harry chose to believe it.

He began to direct his broom to fly, the snow getting heavier, his vision becoming unclear, and he got nearly hit by Bludger twice. Fred and George, after making sure Ron's side didn't need help, seemed ready to fulfil their pre-match promise, then the two of the three chasers aimed their ball at the Slytherin keeper, and although they missed once, Bletchley got freaked out, and gave away two goals in panic.

The match got more and more intense and by the time Harry brushed past Draco Malfoy for the third time, he had literally counted the number of blisters on Malfoy's lips and Malfoy's expression looked like he was sleepwalking, which rivalled Luna's.

Finally, the referee, Madam Hooch, blew her whistle as Harry hovered high in the air and looked down at Katie, who appeared to be wrestling with Warrington, her head caught in Warrington's thick arms, and the broomstick under her arse gone missing.

"Foul!" Madam Hooch shouted in anger.

After helping Katie get her broom back for a bit, Harry took the opportunity to fly over to Ron, "How's it going?"

"Not bad," Ron said, "I blocked five balls and missed three, I'm almost getting a hang of it." He said with a happy grin, "But the opposite side was worse, Fred and George stuck with Bletchley and made him miss the goals."

"Beware of them doing the same to you." Harry warned him.

Ron looked uneasily toward the Slytherin team as Montague spoke to Crabbe and Goyle with his arms around their shoulder, from this angle they looked identical in stature, like triplets. Crabbe and Goyle blinked stupidly in their direction.

"Can I use my wand?" Ron asked uneasily, "I'll be unable to resist hexing if they come flocking at me at once."

"Then you'll get sent off, and we'll be finished." Harry said.

The match continued.

Harry decided to end the match as soon as possible, the situation would get more complicated as time stretched on. He flew high into the air and looked down from a few hundred feet, the wind and snow growing heavier, the effect of the warming charm wearing off a little, and finding a small ball the size of a walnut was exceptionally difficult in those conditions. He circled twice in vain and saw Mafalda sketching a crooked drawing of a snake with horns in the audience, and Harry looked at it twice, deciding that he should tease her hard about it later when he had the chance.

Lee Jordan's commentary burrowed into his ears every now and then, "The score is very close - both teams seem to be playing with each other's keepers to score a goal, I don't know if this could be considered a new tactic, but in future, the keepers have to be more careful - Adrian Pucey got the Quaffle-"

Harry finally saw it: the golden snitch is hovering near the Gryffindor goal.

Crabbe and Goyle flanked Ron from both sides, followed by Adrian Pucey behind them in a triangular formation - seemingly trying to replicate the tactics used by Gryffindor in the first half - and Ron grimaced, suspecting that he would be squashed by both of them if he didn't use his magic now. That's when his eyes suddenly lit up by the sight of Harry swooping down from high above.

A warmth welled up in Ron's heart, Harry is coming to his rescue! The tempo at that moment seemed to settle into a proper rhythm, he could think of countless times when he was in a similar situation when Harry came to his rescue, he just needed to be at ease and do his own thing - but why everyone got so noisy all of a sudden? - Ron lunged forward and deflected the Quaffle. At the same time, he heard the wind whistling in his ears as Harry hovered upwards with the golden snitch in his hand.

The stadium resounded with enthusiastic cheers, and the Lion Cap that Luna wore on her head roared through the chilly air, causing Valen to flinch in surprise at the sight.

"The match is over."

Felix shook his head, the Slytherin team this term is indeed terrible and their coordination was even more problematic. Not that it mattered much to him though, he had taken the opportunity to gather one last sample of emotion and prepared to go back and study it.

It would be difficult for one man to create emotions that he hadn't experienced before, and especially he couldn't create a collective emotion as strong as this one on a Quidditch pitch.

In the evening, a coin that Felix kept close to him suddenly became piping hot.

Is it the house-elf, Bondi, after almost a week of time, has the man in Nurmengard Castle finally made up his mind?

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

In Hogsmeade, the fire in the public fireplace spun around as Felix appeared, and patted the dust off his body. The sky looked grey-orange, with a red evening sun faintly visible through the clouds.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of snow that crunched as Felix made his way through, the wizards that were returning home for the night greeted him. A skinny old wizard stopped to talk to him for a while, to discuss whether there is a lack of guts in wizards these days, before realizing that he had approached the wrong person and that his friend had gone home early for dinner because he couldn't bear his yapping anymore.

Madam Rosmerta of the Three Broomsticks was posting a discount poster, "Mr. Hap, why are you out so late, would you like to come in for a drink?"

"Oh, no, got something to take care of ..."

"Are you going to visit your branch outlet? I bought a chair to lie back in for a while before my shift every night."

Felix made the turn to enter a side street, the light dimmed, the street is near the shrieking shack, so not many people would walk near this place, he stopped where he was and traced his fingers on a coin, and after a moment the sound of bouncing footsteps appeared from behind him.

"Mr. Hap."

Bondi the house-elf jumped out and gave him a bow, his nose brushed the snow on the ground as he straightened up. He then pulled a crumpled letter from his person and respectfully handed it to Felix.

Felix took it and asked, in a seemingly casual tone, " Bondi, who is your master?"

The house elf's body stiffened for a moment, and he bowed his head and said, " Bondi was offered to Mr. Grindelwald by his master to look after his daily life."

Was it by a certain faithful acolyte?

"When did this happen?"

"Two years before."

Felix glanced at him, "Mr. Grindelwald is in poor health?"

Bondi took a deep breath and said pointedly, " The winter is heavy in Nurmengard Castle."

"And his magic?"

"Mr. Grindelwald has not been allowed to cast spells since 1945."

Certain magic is possible, Felix thought. He had seen Bondi on October 27, and it was clear that there was another man's will attached in his mind. There must have been some restriction placed on Grindelwald after the failure - not just a confiscation of a wand, which is not necessarily that much of a problem for wizards like Grindelwald - so there must be other harsher restrictions.

An Unbreakable Vow, for example.

The history is rather vague and not clearly documented, as if everyone had coincidentally and deliberately forgotten about this hidden problem, leading to the obvious holes that people like him would always find when they try to interpret it from the perspective of a spectator.

Why did Grindelwald give up everything because of just a duel? Were all his tens of thousand followers a pretence? Even if only one-tenth of them were loyal, these people could knock any Ministry of Magic in the world out of existence.

Felix didn't continue with that line of questions, and asked Bondi about other things, "Do you usually live in Nurmengard Castle?"

"Yes, sir."

"Is it possible to keep owls there?"

"Wh, what?" Bondi looked up in astonishment.

"It's too much trouble to solely rely on you to deliver the mail; From this year, Hogwarts' protection magic will repel other house-elves, but it does not place any restrictions on owls." Felix explained that it would certainly be a lot easier to send mail through an owl, saving him from having to run out every time.

Bondi the house-elf bowed his head deeply, "Oh No, it's not possible, Nurmengard Castle is sealed off by a strong spell and no one can find it ... only the International Confederation of Wizards' dedicated officers have permission to open it."

Felix was slightly surprised, Grindelwald seemed to be much more restricted than he had previously thought.

He opened the letter, which was, as usual, not very long, and in summary, it stated that he had agreed to "discuss certain issues" with him. Other than that, it was nothing more than sarcastic remarks, such as "I have read all your books, and they are very shallow", "too passive and not as courageous as Carlotta Pinkstone" or, in an instructional tone, he advised Felix " Read up the history of magic from the 14th to the 17th centuries," and so on.

At the end of the letter, he also requested some parchment, ink, and a quill.

"I've added a lot of snow to the ink bottle to write this letter. Also, those blokes will check Bondi's mind every two to three months, so you have to sort out that problem."

Felix looked at the faint ink marks and smiled broadly, he had managed to catch some inconsistencies in the letter, but he wouldn't assume Grindelwald had gone senile without a proper check-up.

Grindelwald claimed that he had read his books, so who had given them to him?

To put it politely, Felix had never mentioned his plans or expectations for the wizarding world in his book, so to some people, he is just a pro-muggle and muggle sympathizer; or, an opportunistic businessman, grabbing wealth by carrying novel ideas from muggle society. But the truly insightful person - like Dumbledore, or Grindelwald - can perfectly see his unfinished meanings reflected in those books. That is:

Felix Hap believes that the fusion of wizards and muggles is inevitable, but he is a non-aggressive mild-mannered person - or at least pretends to be so - who tries to subtly influence wizards to accept the idea and prepare them in advance.

If he showed this theory to ordinary wizards, they would probably frown at it. They are used to the existence of the Statute of Secrecy, so telling these people that the Statute of Secrecy will eventually be broken would be like telling muggles that they all would eventually walk around naked in the freezing temperature.

As for bringing his views to the radicals, they likewise would dismiss it, probably because they would find his views too soft and not sufficiently sharp and straightforward. Take, the witch Carlotta Pinkstone mentioned in the letter, as an example, she is a social campaigner, born in 1922, famous for advocating the repeal of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, and has already been imprisoned several times for the blatant and deliberate use of magic in public.

Incidentally, she is about to be released from prison next year and is expected to make another splash when she does.

Grindelwald was also a radical, but again he was different because he was a failure. Taking Felix's book to him is akin to telling Grindelwald that there is a similar but more moderate ideology like yours out there that has achieved some success, and here's the book for you to check out ...

Felix could easily discern a strong preaching flavour in this kind of approach.

He guessed that the man was Dumbledore.

If it really was Dumbledore, then the restrictions imposed by the International Confederation of Wizards would pose no trouble at all, as there are multiple ways for him to get around the restrictions of Nurmengard Castle, and the easiest one is to send a mail through Phoenix Fawkes.

Felix gave Bondi some stationery as for how it would bypass the inspection ... Felix didn't take the bait, the fact that Grindelwald could even attach himself to Bondi and watch the battle at least meant he could use some memory magic, so he figured he might be testing him.

But Felix isn't going to take the bait.

...

Over the next few days, Felix spent some time brushing through the 14th to 17th-century history. The Hogwarts library provided a wealth of information, including magical handwritten journals, travel journals from that period, and in particular, he found several books in the Restricted Section from that period - that has no curses placed on them, and merely a historical record, the sort of book that he would not normally read.

Felix read them all to the hilt with a heavy heart.

All the historical records in Restricted Section are more real, with more gory truths.

The letters he had started to receive during this time began to pile up as well, with all sorts of invitations to join raining down on him; Felix hadn't even known there were so many magical organizations before, with over thirty different alchemical and ancient runes societies alone.

There were also many letters from individuals, the most notable of which was from Jura Edmund of Ilvermorny, whose correspondence perfectly reflected the current mentality of young people in the United States magical community in his description, like.

"...

The performance of the MACUSA has been disappointing. The officials don't seem to realize the seriousness of the problem.

I spoke to some of the older people at the school, and they told me that in the 1960s there was a group of people who were attracting members under the guise of 'pure blood' and 'glory', however, there was no market for such concepts in America at the time - -Because under the standards of the British magical community, no one except the few families that had migrated here was qualified to advertise themselves as pure-bloods.

So that group didn't succeed in its objectives. I'm sure something similar may have happened in other countries, but because at that time people had just experienced the bitter lessons brought by Grindelwald, such ideas were strictly discouraged and instinctively rejected by people, to the point that no new cults developed.

Now almost another thirty years have passed, a new generation of wizards has grown up and new dissatisfactions are starting to build up, our biggest conflict is caused by the forced division between wizards and muggle society, which although has improved in the last two years, is still not as good as it should be. Sooner or later the false illusion of peace that we treasure so much will explode.

I was deeply affected by the death of Professor Agilbert Fontaine, a man who had sheltered me, but now he is no longer present.

So, Mr. Hap, I have departed from Ilvermorny.

I have decided to join the emergency squad that the Magic Congress is planning to form, which in my opinion is just for show, but I still decided to sign up. For now, I will remain active in my country, but there may be a chance for us to meet in England in the future.

I wish a smooth journey ahead of us."

Felix closed the letter, and after pondering for a while, he took out a parchment and wrote a reply.

"Dear Jura.

I see the hope of the next generation of the United States magical community in you. There are some problems that are difficult to deal with, which we will all encounter sooner or later, so it is impossible to turn a blind eye to them.

I have likewise thought deeply about the issues you mention in the letter and my thoughts are as follows.

You are faced with two problems, one because of the public upheaval, social unrest, and the potential threat of the Voldemort forces that stem from the death of Headmaster Fontaine, and the second is caused by the dissatisfaction that has erupted from this matter and the negative attitude that you, the Renovation Society and all other visionary people have towards the Magical Congress.

The former is an emergency and a major focus of everyone's attention at this time, while the latter is more distant and seemingly less urgent, but more tricky to deal with.

I couldn't agree more with your decision to join the Magical Congress, it will give you a realistic experience of the struggles and moral dilemmas faced by those in power, and if you can't be confident that you can do better than they can, the result will inevitably be negative and counterproductive, no less damaging than the devastation caused by the death of Headmaster Fontaine.

I also see that you have proposed some other solutions, such as working with Future World to replicate some of the proposals we made in our correspondence last year, but I must point out that you and I are not exactly in the same situation.

Almost three hundred years have passed since the Statute of Secrecy was created; in other words, no one alive today has ever seen what a completely non-secrecy situation would look like. The results of a rash change are bound to be both good and bad, and while people certainly will cheer for the opening of a door to a wonderful world, they will also inevitably be hurt by the thorns beyond it and thereby develop an aversion to it.

If one wanted to count the conflicts between wizards and ordinary people, they could never be summed up in a single sentence.

The Hogwarts collection contains a wealth of relevant documents and materials, starting with the witch hunts in the fourteenth century to the frosty relationship between the two in the years before the birth of the Statute of Secrecy in the seventeenth century.

During these three hundred years, wizards lived in near semi-public circles in the early days, and the best of them (or ambitious wizards) were often able to become guests of the royal nobility.

But the lower classes of wizarding families still led a double life, when public opinion was controlled by secularism and religion, when wizards and magic were still considered mysterious, cunning, and evil, when witch-hunting was considered legitimate, and when the idea of the elimination of heretics blossomed under the propaganda of some, thus creating a highly visible division between top and bottom; This period saw a concentration of thought-provoking cases, from good and dedicated wizards who were betrayed by the neighbours who they had helped, by the people who they had loved with all their existence; and from the bad and evil wizards who loved to experiment and slaughter others, and their widely spread tales of terror.

It was in this environment that the book "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" was created, where opposing views and ideologies collided violently.

If you ask me what my opinion is, I would say that any attempt to characterize a large group of people based on a handful of individuals is undoubtedly a bad idea. Especially if you have already chosen a side beforehand.

But it must be admitted that ordinary people far outnumbered wizards by a ratio of nearly 3,000 to 1. Because of this - even if only a small percentage of ordinary people had a more violent attitude towards wizards - the result would be disastrous.

Wizarding families back then were all particularly prone to losing their children, as the children were not able to control their magic and would frequently attract the attention of witch-hunting muggles, and were powerless to resist. We are accustomed to reading about mature, self-preserving wizards who saw pitchforks, hoes, and crosses as nothing, but the true history was not that rosy.

The newly formed British Ministry of Magic (formerly the Wizarding Council) had sent a special delegation to contact the Muggle monarchs, William III and Mary II, in the hope that Muggle law would recognize and protect wizards. When this attempt to gain official recognition and protection failed, it forced wizards to voluntarily move in the opposite direction - to go underground and keep their secrets.

Thus, the Statute of Secrecy was born.

This law effectively divided wizard society from muggle society and over time, some common ground was developed. For example: the fact that the parents of young wizards from Muggle families are excluded from this act of secrecy has certainly eased the conflict, especially compared to the harsh laws of the US Magical Congress.

As far as I know, the US magical community and the non-magical government have always been in a state of hostility, and there is no cooperation between the two, which is due to a dark, and bloody history, when a part of those in power had authorized attempts to crack the secrets of wizards, resulting in fierce confrontations and several moves of the headquarters of the Magical Congress of the United States of America.

These all needed to be taken into consideration in advance ..."

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

The owl flew into the blue sky with the letter, soon turning into a small black dot and finally disappearing, and Felix had a feeling that it is going to be a long journey.

During the last academic year, he had several exchanges with Jura, in which he mentioned some of his real ideas in a broad sense, such as using newspapers to gain public support, using the institutional approach to improve regulations, accumulating experience with trial projects, being strong enough to protect himself, and having enough patience.

The experience of his newly befriended pen pal warrants his caution; a moment of haste would inevitably make him an enemy of the world, and although he is confident that he will not end up in Grindelwald's position, but the very fact of not being able to realize the vision he has in mind is a failure, not to mention plunging the world into chaos.

If Felix had to describe his state of mind, the only thing he can come up with now is a philosophical paradox - the Theseus Paradox.

The ship of Theseus, which had been at sea for centuries, would have its planks replaced as soon as a piece rot, and so on until every single plank and rope on that ship was not the same as the original one. So is that ship still the original Theseus, or is it a completely different ship?

There are many more questions that arise from this, but Felix is not interested in answering them, and especially will not debate them with anyone. Because such problems have a unified feature, that is, there are no universally accepted criteria for judging them; everyone has a different interpretation of what is new and what is old, what is part, and what is whole.

His approach is a little more pragmatic. Felix is clear about one thing: if the ship had never replaced its rotten planks and had not been regularly maintained, it would never have lasted the centuries of turmoil and corrosion of the sea, and then no one would have thought about this torturous question later on because the ship would've been no more.

The same would apply even if that ship is a Ship of Wizards.

Felix is going to be the one who keeps replacing the planks, and as for who will be the philosopher who will shatter the sandbox, Felix smiles wryly, who cares! He just hoped that this person would appear as late as possible. Better to wait until he had hammered the wizard's ship from top to bottom for the people on board to find out in surprise: how is it different from the original?

"All I wanted to do was to roll a snowball to form an avalanche and save my time and effort ... but now I've become a ship repairman. And what is Voldemort? A plank-chewing rodent? A mould that rots the hull? What about Dumbledore? Grindelwald wouldn't be the last grumpy ship repairman who was forced to lay off, would he?"

"I'm a ship repairman with a knack for repairing~" Felix hummed softly under his breath as he walked towards the Ancient Rune classroom and cheerfully entered it, and stood on the podium to teach the seventh-year students.

"The professor looks like he's in a good mood." Cedric whispered.

"Any good news to share, Professor?" Lee Jordan grinned broadly and raised his hand to ask a question.

"Ah," Felix said lazily, "there's one. Professor McGonagall has invited me to be part of a student club assessment, it's an experience I haven't had before, and I think it'll be fun."

"Is there such a thing in school?" Lee Jordan asked blankly, "I remember when all I had to do to set up the 'Loud' club was fill out a form, and that was just four years ago ..."

"How many people do you have in your club?" Cedric asked in a confused tone.

"Just me." Lee Jordan said.

"So you've never applied for an activity space either?" Cedric softly sighed.

"No-"

" Got school-issued activity funds?" Cedric's deep grey eyes stared at him.

Lee Jordan's mouth dropped open, as did Fred's and George's.

"That's the key." Cedric lowered his voice to conclude.

"We seem to have missed something, George." Fred slowly came back to his senses.

"Yeah, we didn't get any word of it." George said with resignation.

"Ahem," Felix cleared his throat, "it's normal for you guys not to know, I found out after asking Professor McGonagall that the relevant information will only be sent to those student clubs who have submitted their names in the Student Body ... Well, let's get to class, today we're going to learn a set of runic circuits that can be used on various items that need to be fireproof, such as amulets, or house building materials ..."

As soon as the bell rang, the twins instantly rushed out of the classroom, turned down the stairs, and ran to the bulletin board in the entrance hall, scanning it with wide eyes.

"Sure enough, there's nothing on it." Fred said with a disappointed look on his face.

"Hi." Harry greeted, holding a form as Ron and Hermione followed him, going to eat their lunch.

Fred and George looked over maliciously, startling all three of them.

"What's that in your hand?" Fred asked.

"Er - a form that Professor McGonagall gave me, saying it has something to do with the Frontline Lookout club reviews, assessments, and stuff, though I haven't looked at it thoroughly yet." Harry said vaguely.

Fred suddenly jumped over and took Harry by the shoulders with one hand, while spreading out the parchment Harry was clutching with the other, George's movement was also perfectly in sync, and the two men pinned Harry between them left and right, causing Harry to protest constantly.

The parchment contained only a short line: "The Frontline Lookout, a student club affiliated with the Student Body is requested to participate in the Professorial Assessment, in which the successful clubs will be provided with a venue, equipment, and funding for their activities. Please prepare the relevant materials in advance."

At the bottom, there is a list of relevant records needed is mentioned, which includes the purpose of the club, the scope of its activities, the list of current members, and so on.

After reading through it, Fred let out a long sigh.

"George, we definitely can't miss this, it's our only chance to keep the 'Prank League' name in the Trophy Room."

"The Prank League?" Harry asked in surprise, "How come I've never heard of it?"

" It was just established." Fred immediately replied.

"Since when did you guys become Model Percy?" Ron deliberately put on an expression of surprise and circled around them.

Fred wagged his finger, "Oh, little Ronnie, we're not like Percy, this is just a single step in our grand plan," he lowered his voice, "George and I are doing everything we can to leave our mark more in the school- -"

"Yeah," George squinted at them, "we've mapped Black Lake, buried 72 secret treasures, and sneaked into Filch's office to make a copy of our years of rule-breaking list... "

Ron swallowed hard and looked at him in awe.

"... to give it to Mafalda." George said under his breath.

"To who?!" Harry exclaimed, almost shoving Fred and George aside.

"Mafalda." Fred said as he rubbed his shoulders, "I have to admit, this relative of ours is a genius, she's recently opened up a new business that focuses on helping people write their biographies."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione's expressions froze as if they were petrified.

"Think about it," George slapped Ron on the shoulder in the end, " slipping a biography with our glorious history into the library and waiting quietly for someone to discover it ..."

Hermione grunted lightly, "I see you're trying to train a few more students to follow your pranking career."

"You got me." Fred beamed.

"That's exactly what we hoped for." George nodded profusely.

Then they left with a bounce in their step.

"You know what I thought of?" Harry said through clenched teeth.

Ron and Hermione looked at him, "Riddle's diary," Harry said grimly, "they know about the Marauder's Map, so they must have done something similar to guide the mischievous students to their buried treasure ... "

After lunch, Felix appeared in the staff common room where Professor McGonagall was not that surprisingly present, she looked very busy with a stack of documents piled on top of her work desk.

There is another person in the staff common room, Cuthbert Binns, Professor of the History of Magic. He appeared to be asleep, his ghostly body lying on a transparent couch, as he snored with a huffing and puffing sound.

Professor McGonagall looked up and pushed her glasses up, " The word is out?"

" All that needs to be known is known," Felix pulled a chair from the side and sat down, "with those loudmouthed students around, this will soon be an open secret, and it will probably be overcrowded with applicants when the time comes ... "

Professor McGonagall smiled faintly, then pursed her lips tightly, "Will it work?"

Felix shrugged.

"Some things are better done than not done. None of us want to see the students of Slytherin House isolated as a result of the Wizarding War, and this kind of foreseeable trouble should be solved when we have time. After the trial run in the Magic Rune Club, it's now time to extend it to the school."

"So you're suggesting that each club should consist of members from at least two houses?"

Felix nodded, "I do approve of Hogwarts splitting up the young wizards into different houses, it brings more than one immediate benefit: the new students will develop a sense of belonging as soon as they enrol and there will be a natural sense of competition. But there should also be cooperation after the division, in order to increase the bonding of the four houses."

Professor McGonagall broke into an unconcealed smile.

After a short while, her sharp gaze examined Professor Binns and the sleeping couch he is slumped in from behind her round glasses, and if she was not attentive she might have perceived them as one, like an oddly shaped ghost couch with legs poking out of the seat that seems to be sticking into the fireplace.

"Can we get the things out of Classroom Seven?" Professor McGonagall asked softly.

Felix thought for a moment, "The students certainly can't bring it out. But the ghosts are special, didn't they manage to bring food into the great hall last Easter? I reckon it should last for a while ..." He was not exactly concerned about the community of ghosts in the castle, there were only two ghosts that he really cared about, and they had already departed this world.

Since Classroom Seven had been opened to the students, everything inside had been handed over to a couple of memory bodies to manage.

Over the next two days, as Felix had predicted, the various clubs had become the new centre of the conversation. Students began to inquire about the details in every possible way, and after learning about the first part of the event - that you only need to find three people to register your application with the student body - they were dumbfounded; when someone got a letter of approval from the student body and an assessment sheet to show off under the students' noses, they finally took the plunge and started to act.

Especially when Ron mindlessly blurted out, "If I create a music appreciation club, will I be able to apply to buy a magic gramophone?"

The remark was a perfect fuse.

It was soon put into practice by students and, what was outrageous is, that club was approved. Thus, all sorts of clubs sprang up.

Of course, Felix knew that when this enthusiasm died down, most of the clubs would become deserted and automatically abolished in the following year. But he is also quite sure that there will be some clubs that will remain, and each one will be equivalent to a small Magic Rune Club, acting as a bridge between the four Houses.

Using the school's original system and changing it slightly to achieve his aims, Felix was quite happy with this. He, the ship repairman, replaced another plank.

What would Hogwarts end up being like if a longer period of time elapsed? Felix was sure that 'time' would brew everything.

The only ones who had a hard time were the Head boy and the Head girl, who had to review all sorts of odd clubs, although they took Professor McGonagall's hint and relaxed their review criteria slightly, but they were still startled by the strange outrageous clubs.

"A prank league? What is this?" The Head Boy looked shocked.

The Head Girl came over to take a look and said indignantly, "I am sure it was the Weasley twins! I caught them digging holes all over the school the other day!"

"What should we do then?"

" Rejected! Ugh, forget it, let's have them change the name." The Head Girl thought for a moment, "We shouldn't be the only ones to suffer, I'll get some helpers over here ..."

...

Ron and Hermione were somewhat baffled when they were called over and even more so when they saw Malfoy, then the two Heads carried over a thick stack of documents and said to the four Prefects, "Each of you will be responsible for a part, try to get it reviewed today."

Malfoy frowned at the two empty-handed Heads, "What about you guys?"

"We're responsible for the final vetting." The Head Boy said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Make sure there are no House names, no discriminatory terms, no inducement to break the rules, and don't even think about names like the Prank League or anything like that!" The Head Girl said with gnashing teeth.

Once the work had been divided up, the time taken quickly became a teeny bit less than it had been, and after almost an evening of work, all the vetting process was finally over.

By the end of the week, a huge piece of parchment was posted on a bulletin board in the entrance hall, with four sets of little magic lamps illuminating the parchment.

A crowd of students gathered at the foot of the board.

" Announcement:

The list of all clubs that have been approved by the Student Body is as follows.

Music Appreciation Club, Muggle Film Appreciation Club, Exploding Snap Club, Magic Golem Dueling Club, Chocolate Frog Card Dueling Club, Classroom Seven Exploration Squad, Crumple-Horned Snorkacks Certainly Exist Club, Frontline Lookout Club, Grilled Fish League, Read a Book a Week Society, Popping Dancers League, S.P.E.W... ...

The above clubs can recruit members on the last weekend of the month in the school great hall and will be evaluated by professors on the first weekend of December. The successful applicants will receive support in terms of activity room, professorial guidance, activity equipment, and start-up funds.

Membership requirements.

1. A minimum of three regular members.

2. A minimum of two different House students in the Club.

..."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood at the foot of the bulletin, reading the various names that looked both reliable and unreliable, trying to analyse who had founded those clubs.

"Look, the Harry Potter fan club! Dennis, our application is approved!"

Harry closed his eyes painfully, his face burning red as he tried his best to pretend he didn't care, and darted a quick glance to the side to see the Creevey brothers clutching their faces and cheering as Ron read curiously, "That's a weird name, the Swear to Defend School Rules' club, who came up with that name? If Percy hadn't graduated, I would have thought it was him ..."

Said Ron, with his mouth wide open, as Fred and George high-fived with glee.

In addition, they saw -

"S.P.E.W.?" Harry stared at Hermione blankly.

Hermione looked away sheepishly and blushed, "Well, I was thinking that if we could make S.P.E.W. a regular club in the school like the Gobstones Club, there would always be someone to keep an eye on the treatment of house-elves ... I promise it won't slow down the Frontline Lookout Club! "

Harry and Ron looked at each other.

"You know what I thought of?" Ron asked with a pale face.

Harry nodded understandingly. At the moment S.P.E.W. only consisted of Ron and Harry, apart from the founder Hermione, and the thought of their names being printed under "Spew" and displayed in public in the great hall two weeks later, with the possibility of their names being read out by the Professor in a month time, made their hearts ache.

Harry only had one thought at that moment, whether it's the Harry Potter fan club or the so-called S.P.E.W., please, don't recruit anyone!

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

"Never seen such a spectacle!" Fred said as he came closer, with a strange sense of contentment on his face.

Harry looked at the notice board and understood what he meant. The names of the student clubs posted on it added up to over a hundred, most of which had just been established during this week, and there was a lot of discussion at the foot of the board, and he heard Justin swear that he had seen a "hundred kinds of snuff bottle club", and Harry's eyes searched the parchment and found a similar club, but he was not sure whether it would be " the muggle craft" or "the goblin craft".

Two feet away from him, a Hufflepuff boy animatedly described how magical drawings work, "You could make something move if you just drew it on a piece of parchment, it's pretty simple, but that's only the basic of the basics, there are lots of advanced techniques, and you can even interact with the people in it!"

"Then, wouldn't that be the same as magical portraits? There are lots of them hanging in the castle." His friend asked.

"Of course, it's not the same!" The boy turned red and raised his voice, "Think about it, there's a little man trapped in the maze, and to avoid being eaten by hundreds of Blast-Ended Skrewt he has to rely on you to escape, you have to think up a way to offer that little man help and if he makes it out of the maze he'll express his gratitude to you from inside the canvas ... "

Harry listened for a while and found it very interesting, but he soon found that the boy began to invite the audience to join his "magic painting club" and Harry's mouth dropped open in amazement.

At that moment, Hermione strode through the crowd, beaming with joy.

"It's working!" She said gleefully, "Three people have shown interest in joining S.P.E.W., all freshmen, I didn't expect the new students this year to be so compassionate."

"Hermione, it is against the rules to abuse the power of a Prefect. That's what you told me." Ron said.

Hermione raised her eyebrows.

Ron grimaced and stopped talking, and when Hermione turned to merge into the crowd again, he lowered his voice and whispered to Harry, "If it's not an abuse of Prefect power, then it just means that the current young wizards are failing their basic pre-entry education and haven't even learned how to spell 'spew'... ..."

In the corner, Felix and Snape stood together.

"I didn't think you'd do such a trivial and irrelevant thing." Snape's lips quirked, as his voice was only heard within a small circle close to them.

"It's just a matter of raising your hand." Felix said, looking at the chaotic crowd of students.

He felt like he had developed an odd habit after studying Dementors - enjoying being in a positive, jovial atmosphere - but it was unfortunate that halfway through his research, he didn't have enough Dementors in hand. What specifically happened was that the last dementor was starved and couldn't resist stealing some of the Emotions he had worked to collect from the stadium, so Felix did a few destructive tests on that dementor ...

As he considered how to replenish his supply, he asked quietly, "Been under a lot of stress lately with your part-time job?"

Snape took a deep breath and said in an unemotional tone, "Easier than teaching a bunch of trolls."

"Oh," Felix agreed tacitly, as he counted the Gryffindor house students in the crowd. "One, two, three, four ..."

Snape turned his head to look at him expressionlessly and Felix smacked his lips, "Good thing I don't have that much of a nuisance, both Slytherin and Gryffindor students are performing well ..." He paused and said, "I was told by someone that the one Who Must Not Be Named is pretty depressed these days, the Aurors in the Ministry of Magic are more or less frustrated, you know, the pointless overtime is most frustrating."

Snape didn't say anything.

His memory went back over a month before. It hadn't been long after the battle in Hogsmeade that he had felt the Dark Mark on his arm grow hot, a call from Voldemort. Of course, he didn't immediately leave, it is a privilege Voldemort granted him: because of his undercover status, he doesn't have to respond immediately to the summoning.

So he waited calmly, as if nothing had happened, until Dumbledore returned, who showed him a dry hand and asked him vaguely how much time he had left, and Snape was tempted to punch Dumbledore in his crooked nose.

Dumbledore wasn't injured at all, at least in Snape's eyes, and it wasn't the hand that really required attention, but his suddenly younger face. But as soon as Snape had asked two questions, he was deflected.

Knowing what Dumbledore meant, Snape stared at the dry, charred, lifeless hand, and memorized the image deeply, burning it into his mind so that he could freely assemble it into a memory he wanted when he needed it.

The dark mark kept working through the day and into the evening, with two more changes, with one more urgent than the other, and by the end of the day, it had reached the point where it caused him unbearable pain.

So Snape was forced to meet Voldemort a little earlier than expected, and he had thought of a good reason before he left - Dumbledore had ordered him to keep watch over the school, and he couldn't get away. But when they met Voldemort didn't ask any questions about it at all, and he had never seen Voldemort so out of shape, those red eyes seemingly ready to pick someone to devour.

Bellatrix - the key woman, the one Dumbledore had told him to keep an eye on - was standing behind Voldemort with a tremble.

Voldemort asked him to go to a secret room on the seventh floor of the castle as soon as he returned, to retrieve a tattered diadem. "Large room full of miscellaneous items, a male wizard half statue, tattered cupboard splashed with strong acid..." He described it in great detail and specifics, fearing that Snape would not be able to find it.

Snape agreed although he reckoned Voldemort would be disappointed.

Voldemort then asked in detail about Harry Potter's scar, and Snape told him everything, after which he asked about the Parseltongue, a secret that had been revealed back in Harry's second year and which Snape hadn't held back. The questioning ended with a long, suffocating dead silence. Bellatrix was motionless like a quail, as she fidgeted throughout the conversation.

Finally, Voldemort asked for more details about Dumbledore's injuries, and Snape recounted every scene he had seen the Headmaster from the beginning of the school year until now, as per Dumbledore's instructions, and all of them had one common feature, which was the fact that Dumbledore always wore gloves.

When he heard this, Voldemort's face mingled with a complex look of annoyance and joy.

Snape was then ordered to return to the school immediately to confirm the status of the diadem. And the news had to be reported to him before dawn.

In his mind, Snape thought Voldemort was out of his mind; he didn't seem to have any concern for whether his undercover role would be exposed or not, but he agreed to do it anyway. Snape returned to the school and spookily appeared on the seventh floor, then turned a corner and entered the Headmaster's office - such was the life of a double undercover agent where it would take him more than twice as long to report the situation.

Figuring it was about time, he met with Voldemort again.

This time the meeting place was changed to the old manor of Augustus Rookwood, the 'loyal' Death Eater who is currently imprisoned in Azkaban, and thus his home is unceremoniously occupied by Voldemort. Voldemort was still accompanied by Bellatrix, and it seemed as though Voldemort intended to carry her with him all the time.

Snape calmly reported the information he had gathered, the diadem was naturally lost, and Voldemort was furious, even 'furious' seemed an understatement as he walked around the dimly lit room, the snakewood wand in his hand made a hissing sound. Voldemort cursed Dumbledore aloud, using nearly every vile word he could think of.

Contrasting instructions emerged from his mouth.

First, with a vicious look on his face, he told Snape to poison Dumbledore as he proceeded to treat his wound, "Let Dumbledore die, DIE!" Voldemort growled madly, but it didn't take him long to dismiss the idea, "Go and investigate the whereabouts of the diadem," he said through gritted teeth, "We must find out if it was destroyed or hidden ... if necessary you can break into the Headmaster's office, no, wait for word from me ..."

"I will arrange for a spy from the Ministry of Magic to cooperate with your mission."

But it had been half a month, and there was no news from Voldemort's side as if he had died, and Snape had no idea who the spy that Voldemort was talking about was, that man wouldn't be coming, would he?

The next few days were filled with an air of restlessness throughout Hogwarts.

Despite the fact that the last weekend of November is still a few days away, the students can't wait for the activity to begin, often taking the opportunity of having classes together in different houses to recruit members for their clubs.

From what Felix had observed, Gryffindor and Slytherin didn't interact with each other for the most part, and they both chose students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Houses to go after.

Even when he was walking outside, he could see students from different houses coming together and chatting.

But he had never expected that there would be students who would have their minds set on him.

"Hey, Felix." Luna looked out from behind a suit of armour and jumped out excitedly when she saw him.

Felix walked over to her, "Luna?" He looked at her with some surprise. Not far from them, a group of girls is hiding in the background looking at them.

"It's like this," Luna said with a serious look on her face, "I want to invite you to join my club."

"Your club is-"

"The 'Crumple-Horned Snorkacks Certainly Exist' Club."

"Uh-" Felix paused and asked tentatively, " Is it possible that you can't recruit anyone and want to get me to make up the numbers? Well, I can't, I mean, I am a professor, after all, but I recommend Valen ..."

"Oh, no, I've got three people." Luna said cheerfully, "But if you gather four students from all the four houses and one professor, you can engrave the club's name on the candles in the great hall, first come, first served, so I'll have to hurry."

Felix looked slightly out of breath, "How come I didn't know about this?"

"It's a hidden trail." Luna said.

It's gossip, right, Felix said to himself, he should have expected it, with the nature of the Hogwarts students, all sorts of unreliable rumours were bound to be spread, he just didn't think it would be Luna who would fall for it, he glanced at the students in the corner, they must be the one egging it up.

Felix thought about it and lowered his voice, "Now that you've found out, well, I agree. Just don't tell anyone else."

When he left, Luna got immediately surrounded by a group of chattering girls.

"How was it, did it work?"

Luna nodded.

"Is the information true?" One girl asked.

"The professor forbid me to say." Luna replied dully.

"Oh ..." The girls looked at each other meaningfully, it seemed to be true, and they dispersed in a huff with long-drawn-out murmurs, not knowing which professor to find.

Felix returned to his office, thinking about making a portable dementor capture cage that he would sell to the Ministry of Magic when the time came and just use the captured dementors to offset the bill. He sat on the sofa, half lost in thought, and when he looked back for a moment, he saw Valen sitting across from him with the New Solutions to Rune magazine copy, and leafing through the pages rapidly.

This academic magazine was printed on his behalf by Luna's father, Xenophilius Lovegood, who sent Felix a sample issue each month, with a complete set of that month's Quibbler edition.

A typical wizard's tabloid, Quibbler is not a popular magazine, but it does not lack readers either. As Felix understood it - despite Luna's denials - its niche magazine offered something akin to entertainment news, containing a hilarious variety of conspiracy theories and discussions about virtual creatures.

Of course, sometimes serious topics are discussed in a serious manner, only the conclusions reached are often unbelievable. Felix, for example, has anonymously published a couple of small articles on it, speculating about a future society of wizards. One of them was about the exploration of Mars.

"A wizard is about to travel to Mars in a Muggle-built spacecraft to grow vegetables when he got intercepted for smuggling three hundred Muggles with him using an Undetectable Extension Charm, as a result, the Ministry of Magic and the Muggle government stated that the law would be amended to ban all non-transparent containers to be carried to mars and as a result, hot water bottles on Mars became a rare resource ... "

The response was, well, lukewarm.

Then, Luna's father wrote a short story based on a similar format: a Seer travels to Mars, where the 'aura' is too strong to make a prophecy, causing the Seer to be accidentally struck by a meteor while flying on his broomstick.

This story became the latest popular joke in the wizarding world and given the closed nature of the wizarding world, it is estimated that it will not go out of fashion even after a century of circulation ...

Valen wasn't interested in the raw theories in the New Solutions to Rune magazine, but she liked to look up the names of people she knew. As she leafed through it, she took out her precious wand and scribbled in the air, and soon the office was littered with crooked letters that made Felix dizzy from reading them, so he reached out and squeezed the words in the air together, crumpling them into a glowing, shiny ball.

Valen yelped in displeasure.

Felix threw the ball at Valen, who exasperatedly threw it back at him, and soon the two were playing this fun (and boring) little game with gusto.

Before going to bed, Felix suddenly remembered to write to his new pen pal who lives in Nurmengard Castle -

"...

It's not a matter of courage, and it's not about proactiveness, it's a matter of brains. Even if I had been born in your time, I would not choose to make an enemy of hundreds of thousand wizards and billions of ordinary people - in my opinion, enslavement is the most time-consuming and laborious way to go - not to mention the fact that the population on both sides has now almost tripled.

Speaking of tripling, I suddenly remembered a question about the Engorgement Charm. I have a colleague who grows very special, extra-large pumpkins ... Do you think eating such a charmed pumpkin over a long period of time would cause malnutrition? Or will it harm the soil?

I think this subject is more valuable and could be classified as muggle research. Or name it something new?

...

Enclosed with the letter are two political books and an excellent magazine that I strongly recommend - "Quibbler," which sells over five hundred copies a day and is worth reading."

Finishing his letter, Felix lifted his head and straightened his back, and Valen, who was lying across the desk, immediately closed her diary and looked at him with a wary expression.

Felix looked away, wondering which unlucky person in the school had been defeated by Valen this time. Unfortunately, he only managed to glimpse two names, one is Astoria and the other is Mafalda ...

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

When he woke up, Felix was startled by the immense emotions throughout the castle.

He shook his head as the castle in front of him seemed to possess an emotion of its own. He knew it was an illusion, but it was quite a fascinating feeling; Felix thought as he washed up, it was like every brick in the school had come to life, and couldn't wait to be part of today's occasion.

It is the last weekend of November and the day the school has promised to let student clubs that have been vetted by the student body to recruit new students. Although Felix didn't think there is much need for it - many clubs had already started grabbing people a few days in advance and had probably recruited enough by now - the emotions he felt when he first woke up seemed to indicate that he had guessed it wrong before.

As Felix packed up and led Valen to the great hall, he realized that he had underestimated the enthusiasm of these students.

The great hall was packed and already full of students. Felix subconsciously switched to a dementor's point of view to observe, and as far as he could see, he felt as if he is in a sea of joy. Four long tables were stacked up against the wall, and in their place were booths that looked like reefs, with waves of water carrying strong emotions stirred up around them. Everyone seemed to be filled with multicoloured flares as they raised their voice in jubilant emotion.

Felix paced to the corner of the great hall where Professors McGonagall and Flitwick stood together, Professor McGonagall's face looking a little stiff, she could hardly ignore the violations that were happening all around her.

"Oh, Minerva, don't be too strict." The good-humoured Professor Flitwick said, taking out his wand and waving it through the air a few times like a conductor, and from the tip flew a colourful silk ribbon, and flocks of chirping birds flew out as they glid through the air in a neat formation, and occasionally would find a fallen student and hover around that student to help him.

Felix narrowed his eyes; did they appear to be a flock of eaglets? Beneath the soft golden plumage, there is a fine layer of bronze feathers.

He was dazed, as he suddenly remembered a similar modification he had made in the great hall at the start of his first year, when he had conjured up a large emerald green snake on the ceiling, with Severus in it... Felix grinned and pointed his finger out as a huge Occamy coalesced in the air.

Bird head, thin neck, blue-green feathers, with freely stretched wings and shimmering plumes, and as it bent down it revealed a pair of serene amber eyes.

The students in the great hall went quiet for a moment, then burst into even greater murmurs, and chattered noisily.

"An Occamy! I've only seen it in pictures, I never thought it would be so beautiful in real life." Justin Finch-Fletchley said with a look of awe.

"I've seen them in classroom seven," Susan Bones said, but she too was staring up at the ceiling in fascination, "They're hidden in the bamboo grove, beside the ceramic town."

"What's that?" Justine asked.

"A town entirely made of porcelain, and Professor Hap's memory body invited me in to play around a little, saying it was -" Susan Bones thought for a moment, "a beta test. Yes, that's the word."

" A beta test?" Justin more or less understood the meaning of the word, "Sounds interesting, I wonder when it's going to open."

On the other side, Professor McGonagall gave Felix a stern look, and felt quite uncomfortable with his polite yet provocative glance, her chest puffed out and with a sudden swipe of her wand, the chairs in the corner magically flipped on their heels and burst out, transforming into large and small golden-furred lions.

When Dumbledore appeared, the great hall looked like a chaotic mess: golden eaglets soaring around, occamy with blue-green feathers carrying a few students overhead, and a group of badgers hunkered down beside the wall, staring unblinkingly at the Peeves Ghost above.

Peeves floated around in midair, fully dressed in his usual silly costume, and he miraculously did nothing to spoil the occasion.

This could only mean one thing, the emotions of the students in the great hall were causing Peeves to feel happy.

Dumbledore's feet were met with a brushing sensation, and he lowered his head to see, as a small fluffy lion tilted its head up to meet his gaze.

Dumbledore smiled and took out his wand and pointed it downwards, turning the dark, cold floor into a grass-green carpet with him at its centre. Amidst a roar of cheers, Dumbledore courteously walked away, looking through the crowd as he went, and he soon found the very conspicuous figure.

"Severus," Dumbledore said as he stood side by side with Snape, taking in the bustling scene in the great hall, and shook his head as he did so, "I would never wear a black robe if I had planned to attend a fête."

" Unfortunately, this is the only colour I have to wear." Snape said coldly.

"Sometimes it's nice to change things up, what do you think of silver? Or green?" Dumbledore concluded and gazed at the students walking around the great hall, and after a while, he softly whispered, "Keep an eye on Felix."

"Who?"

"Felix, Felix Hap." Dumbledore said in a near whisper.

"Are you mad, Dumbledore?" Snape bellowed. A dozen feet away, a student holding up a muggle film poster shook his hand in shock and the poster fluttered and landed at his feet, Snape stared at the name of the film on it with a disgusted look on his face, "Lion King?... The Lion King?"

The student picked up the poster with trepidation and ran away in a huff.

Snape calmed down, but his tone became even snarkier as he lowered his voice and said, " Have you grown old and senile?"

Dumbledore showed a helpless expression, "I am indeed old, but not quite senile." But Snape still peered at him as if to see, if he is someone else in disguise, there was nothing wrong with that hawkish nose any way he looked at it.

Knowing he had to give an explanation, Dumbledore looked at the Weasley twins waving a huge banner in the distance and said with a sigh, "Felix is doing something very dangerous."

"What is it?" Snape asked subconsciously, "Breaking the laws of the Ministry of Magic? Has he been doing something more illegal than that?"

"No, Severus, it's much more serious than that," Dumbledore said, " It involves a very dangerous man, that's all you need to know: in a way, he's more dangerous than Voldemort ... In short, I can't make an accurate judgement. You were his teacher, you're the only one who knows him best."

"No one will ever understand Felix Hap." Snape said spitefully, "I wouldn't be surprised if he suddenly cast a Killing Curse on you one day."

"To be honest, I don't really care about that." Dumbledore said with a grin on his face, " Well, just keep an extra eye on him, will you?"

...

Fred and George stood on a wooden trunk with a row of empty butterbeer bottles in front of them, and seven or eight young lower grade wizards crouched in front of the bottles, looking at the clusters of fireworks that continued to explode in them with envious expressions.

"Fireworks in a bottle!" Fred said cheerfully, "Just sign up, and you can get one for free." He reached out and pointed to a poster that dangled at one side with big colourful letters flashing on it - "Swear to Defend School Rules Club!"

A student reads carefully the introductory section below the big letters: still struggling to understand the cumbersome school rules? Or have you been deducted of your house points and detained for breaking school rules and been too ashamed to see anyone since then? Have you ever been teased by your classmates for your lousy rule-breaking attempts? If you're wondering the exact same thing, the answers can be found in the 'Swear to Defend School Rules Club', where you can learn all about school rules and the authoritative analysis of the new rules added each year! It will make your seven years at school much easier!

The student had a feeling that something was wrong and when he looked up, he saw a face with a big smile. "Well?" George squeezed his eyes and said, "Are you intrigued? Still on the fence? It's a rare opportunity my friend, you can sign up first, we offer three training sessions for free and if you have the talent you will soon be able to comprehend the key points ..."

Two minutes later, the boy left in a daze, clutching a butterbeer bottle.

"Be careful not to break the bottle!" George warned kindly behind him, then sighed contentedly. A deliberately low voice suddenly heard in his ear, "What are the consequences of breaking the bottle?" Startled, George turned his head to look at the two students who were keeping themselves tightly cloaked.

"Harry? Ron?" George muttered in surprise.

" Yeah, it's us." Harry muttered.

George looked them up and down for a good while before he suddenly burst out laughing, "Hermione's been looking for you guys ..."

"Yeah, we know," Ron said vaguely, "we've avoided her twice."

Harry's gaze went over his shoulder and he could see 'The Frontline Lookout', 'S.P.E.W.', 'Crumple-Horned Snorkacks Certainly Exist', and 'Harry Potter Fan Club' all four booths grouped together in a loose square where the Neville, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Creevey brothers were working feverishly.

Harry shivered, as he knew that pictures of ''Harry Potter's'' face were hanging all over a curtain in the Creevey brothers' booth. The picture of him fighting the dragon hung at the top, and he wondered how Creevey had managed to capture it, his head occupied a good one-third of the picture, while the other two-thirds consisted of hideous Hungarian Horntail, with Ron and Hermione clapping their hands in the corner like spectators who had stumbled upon the scene by mistake ...

A crowd of people gathered around and pointed. To Harry's horror - Draco Malfoy was staring and sizing up his picture with undisguised contempt on his face, and not far from him, Mafalda excitedly pulled Dennis Creevey in to ask questions, and Dennis enthusiastically introduced it to her, as she pulled out a small green notebook and quill afterward.

"Do you mind if I take notes?"

"Oh, of course not."

Two sharp voices bore through the bustling great hall and reached Harry's ears.

If he had to choose, between Malfoy and Mafalda, Harry wasn't sure who he wouldn't want to see more here, if it was before this school year, that person would definitely be Draco Malfoy since he would surely make up a bunch of nonsense to taunt him, but now Harry hesitated, he had absolutely no idea what story Mafalda would make up.

He then noticed something even more alarming as Professor Hap and Sirius walked over in pairs, stopping in front of the 'Harry Potter Fan Club' and surveying the pictures on the curtain with interest, Sirius's eyes seemed to glow ...

"Hi, Harry." Harry was jolted by the sudden tap on his shoulder. He looked back to see it was Luna.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked in a lowered voice. Mentally regretting for the millionth time that he hadn't taken a small sip of Felix Felicis before coming here.

"Hermione has been looking for you." Luna said, "I saw she was too busy and volunteered to help."

"A lot of people signed up?" Ron asked in surprise. Is S. P. E. W. that popular?

"Yeah, they can barely keep up with it." Luna said with a big smile.

Even though he couldn't hear the accusation in Luna's tone, Harry was flooded with a faint sense of guilt towards both Hermione and Neville. After all, he was the one who had founded 'The Frontline Lookout Club', but he now had dumped all the responsibilities on someone else.

There was a slight hesitation in Harry's mind, but it was immediately thrown out of the window when he saw Professor Hap walking past, he would die of absolute shame if the professor asked him about the 'Harry Potter Fan Club'.

...

"Can I interview you?" Mafalda asked.

"What? Me?" Dennis Creevey looked at her with a confused expression on his face and Mafalda nodded, "Oh, okay."

"What grade are you in?"

"Second year."

"So you enrolled last year?" Mafalda asked with great interest.

"Yeah, and I was the one who took that picture." Dennis pointed proudly at the picture featuring the Hungarian Horntail.

On the other side, Sirius signed the enrolment form with gusto, " So is that all?"

"Of course!" Colin Creevey replied with excitement as he dug under the booth and pulled out a large box, "All the photos are in there, all of them personally hand-picked by me."

Sirius left happily with a full set of photographs of his godson.

"Dennis! I can't believe we've recruited a professor to our club!" Colin exclaimed sharply, he turned back to hug his brother only to find Dennis was missing, he looked around twice and found Dennis being led by a girl towards the deserted S.P.E.W. booth as they chatted.

Hermione was handing out 'Frontline Lookout Club' leaflets with Neville and Ginny, occasionally answering the question "What is the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks beast?" or something like that. Hermione's face looked exasperated, she had decided to put the two club booths together in order not to delay things, but her booth was completely deserted, none of the three freshmen who had previously agreed to come today didn't show up! On the contrary, the 'Frontline Lookout Club' was very popular, with a steady stream of people inquiring about it, and the registration forms soon filled up to the brim.

Hermione looked around the chaotic great hall and thought sadly to herself that the music, films, magical drawings, and violent duelling were more appealing than a society that promotes the rights of elves.

At that moment, a small, black, round creature suddenly jumped up onto the table.

"Kee?"

"Valen?" Hermione looked back to see Valen holding a custom-made wand and waving it around in one hand, the tip of which glowed with Lumos glow brightly and looked like she was waving a glow stick around to cheer her up. "Wow." Hermione's heart warmed, and she picked up Valen and rubbed her cheek against her face, " Smack-" a small palm-sized book fell out of her Niffler pocket and spread out on the table.

"A Diary of a Grandmaster?" Hermione could barely make out the crooked letters on the book, and she looked at Valen in confusion as Valen struggled out of her grasp in embarrassment and picked up the small book she had dropped. She then turned her head and slipped away. Hermione pondered where she stood for a few seconds, then pursed her lips with a smile.

"What's this about?" A voice asked.

"Frontline Lookout Club, you can think of it as the Auror training club, it's self-driven in nature, but we do provide professional training as well as ..." Hermione subconsciously recited the lines, "Er, Professor? "

Felix smiled and nodded at her.

"No one asked for it?" He asked, surveying the stack of blank registration forms on the table.

"It most likely does not match the current trend." Hermione said, hanging her head in sadness.

"If you just want to attract some members, you could try what the Weasley twins did," Felix said. He and Hermione looked together in the direction of the 'Swear to Defend School Rules' club, which looked packed, in stark contrast to this side of the room.

"But I don't want to-" Hermione said, biting her lip, looking stumped.

"Hello?" A voice interjected, and Mafalda probed at them; she had just made an appointment with Dennis for an interview and then proceeded to carry out her scheduled plans without stopping. "Can I get a sign up a form?"

Hermione looked at her with wide eyes, "You're joining S.P.E.W.?"

Mafalda shrugged, "If you're okay with that-"

"I do!" Hermione instantly said, "You're interested in house elves too? What were your thoughts on that? I actually think the name is a bit outdated, but it's the first objective of this organization... I mean, contrary to my original vision, now I want to bring equal rights and benefits to all creatures with human-like intelligence with a new constitution that unites them all. Now the wizards have the absolute superiority over the other creatures in terms of power, making this the right time to show our grace. ..."

Felix twirled his quill in his hand and listened in silence as his own assistant seemed to keep refining his ideas. In his opinion, equal rights and benefits are unnecessary, and he wouldn't do such a thankless chore in any way. But nevertheless, it is worthwhile to eliminate hatred and build a pan-magical alliance led by wizards.

After thinking about it for a moment, he took a registration form and filled it out.

Mafalda is not quite used to Hermione's enthusiasm, "Oh, er," she stammered, "there's something I think you should better be aware of. Counting your club, I've joined a total of twenty-seven clubs ..."

The joy on Hermione's face froze.

"Are you kidding me? Or have you joined every club you can possibly sign up for?"

"Of course not!" Mafalda said angrily, "I made sure to have a chat before I signed up, at least to make sure they didn't create it on a whim ..." Her voice grew smaller and smaller, as she sounded quite less convincing.

The two stared blankly at each other for a while before Hermione finally gave in. She said tiredly, "Okay, here's the form ... wait, someone already filled this one out ... Professor?" Hermione looked around, only to see Harry and Ron sneaking around from the other side, they had pretty much wrapped themselves up like a mummy.

"You guys - STILL - know - to come back?!" Hermione yelled at them.

"The Professor left?" Harry and Ron's eyes dodged, not daring to look at her. Harry blurted out sheepishly, "Great, er, I mean ... what are you doing here?" He turned his head to glare at Mafalda.

Mafalda raised her face up in a condescending manner.

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

"Nothing to do with you." Mafalda said with a stubborn scowl.

"Well," Harry quipped accusingly, "what story are you going to make up again? Harry Potter's secret army? Or Hermione Granger's ambitious recruitment of an army of house elves, with the determination to overthrow the Ministry of Magic?"

"Sounds great." Mafalda said, filling out the registration form as quickly as she could, "By the way, your costumes look UGLY, you look like a pair of mummies ..."

"Don't concern yourself with us." Ron said angrily. "I'm warning you, stop bossing us around and quit making up stuff about Harry or I'll deduce some points from your house, I'm telling you! Don't think I'll let you get away with it just because you're related to me-"

Hermione tapped on Ron's back wither her finger and Ron paused uneasily, as he muttered reluctantly, "I'm doing her a favour, she has certainly crossed the line ..."

At that moment a sarcastic voice interjected, "It doesn't seem like your family name is earning you that much of a brownie point, does it? It was simply a pointless attempt."

"What are you trying to say?" Mafalda clenched her fists and glared at Draco Malfoy.

"Prewett," Draco stated softly, his grey eyes fixed on Mafalda as her whole body tensed, "you claim to be from a distant offshoot of the Prewett family, but as far as I know, the last few descendants of the Prewett are few in number and have no children of school age... ..."

Mafalda's eyes flinched as she averted her eyes a little as her body trembled a bit.

"Malfoy, you haven't changed a bit, all you can do is bully a little girl." Harry couldn't bear to look away and chimed in to help, but as soon as the words left his mouth he regretted it a little, why the heck did he bother to interject between them, since he hated both of them quite a bit.

Draco's expression stiffened, "Just telling the facts."

Mafalda calmed down as she wisely changed the subject, "Where's your girlfriend, Malfoy? She literally can't take her eyes off your pointy chin for a moment, oh my goodness, it's been almost five minutes, she's not going to faint, is she?"

Draco slowly said, "You mean Pansy? She's gone to perform her duties as a prefect."

"I don't think so." Mafalda said with a sly, and snarky tone, "I just saw her trying to confiscate a butterbeer bottle from a student, when it fell to the ground and suddenly exploded and lit her pretty dress on fire, oh, she's out of luck ..." and with that, she turned and ran off.

Draco narrowed his eyes and then fixed his gaze on Harry, "So you're once again famous, Potter?" His head tilted to the side and Harry knew the 'Harry Potter Fan Club' was exactly in that direction.

"Yeah," Harry said woodenly, he knew Malfoy wouldn't miss the chance to taunt him, he had thought it would change for good after he promised Malfoy to keep the diary thing a secret a while back.

"Your fame is always going up, without stopping a single moment, and I'm actually quite bitter about it."

Ron laughed out loud.

Draco sized him up twice, "If I were you, I'd go home and go through the family tree to avoid identifying a random person as my relative ... Well, only if you have that kind of thing in your family." After saying it he turned and left.

"What does he mean?" Ron frowned, as he stared at Draco's back.

Hermione sighed, and she glanced carefully at Neville and Ginny, who were not far away from them, and kept her voice low to prevent it from spreading.

"You guys honestly don't think Mafalda's last name is 'Prewett', do you?"

"Why not-" Ron asked, and then his eyes widened.

Harry's mind raced; Mafalda's father is a distant cousin of Mrs. Weasley's, and Mrs. Weasley's surname was Prewett before she married, and that suggests something ... He quickly found the template for the comparison - Dudley and him. The two of them are cousins, but one of their last names is Dursley while the other is Potter, and if Dudley ever has children in the future, his children will only have the last name Dursley, and not something different, like Potter ...

It occurred to him now that Mafalda had mentioned that her father is a Squib, and Squibs are looked down upon in the wizarding world. Harry almost instantly believed that Mafalda's father had suffered a lot of discrimination when he was a little kid, so he certainly wouldn't want his daughter to be like him and Harry was convinced that as a father he would do something about it when he heard his daughter going to be part of a wizarding community, what would it be? Changing her family name, changing it to one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight which he distantly related to.

The dislike Harry felt for Mafalda in his heart instantly diminished, and it was replaced by sympathy.

Ron's reaction was half a beat slower, but he too thought of what Harry had just thought of, and he opened his mouth without uttering a word, as the three of them silently stopped discussing the subject. But at that moment, it suddenly struck Harry how utterly stupid the idea of pure blood is.

Harry remembered what Nearly Headless Nick had said.

Professor Hap had never talked about his origins for a single second, but that hadn't stopped him from becoming the banner of Slytherin House and the other houses also adored him, but Harry wondered if it was due to the fact that Professor Hap had always given fewer assignments than other professors every time ...

"For some time I wanted to say, stop your nonsense and take off your ridiculous hoods and get over here to help." Hermione said in a lecturing tone as she straightened her waist again.

Harry and Ron reluctantly showed their faces, Ron covered his face because he didn't want to be seen when his name was written under the 'Spew' word while Harry just wanted to stay away from the Creevey brothers. He peeked behind him and saw that the 'Harry Potter Fan Club' was deserted, leaving only an empty brown curtain and table.

Was there no recruitment? Harry thought expectantly as Ginny walked over quietly, "They're out of gifts."

"What?" Harry asked in confusion.

"The gifts." Ginny said calmly, "A free set of your photographs for simply joining the club, I think the shots are quite good."

Harry stared at her, "You also didn't-"

Ginny shrugged and admitted readily, "It's just writing a registration form, it's a real bargain for those who need it."

Harry's face suddenly felt like it was on fire, and he couldn't speak without stammering.

"My set is under the table, you can take a look." Ginny covered her mouth and giggled softly, "I will go over to Luna's booth, she found a bunch of butterbeer corks somewhere and plans to make a few necklaces ... ugh, I'll have to talk her out of it."

Harry sat down slowly leaning against the table and caught a glimpse of a large box on which he was winking playfully.

...

Felix crouched in front of a booth, where seven or eight boxes lined up horizontally in front of him, in it dolls of various shapes and sizes were stacked neatly. As he looked past the first row, the dolls appeared more primitive, the proportions of the dolls were somewhat off, and he could see hints of magical golems in them, probably the earliest work of the makers. From the second row onwards the dolls were much more refined, with many other models, including a wonderfully detailed Bowtruckles walking around in one of the boxes, and Felix could hardly find a fault with it except that its head looked a little crooked and its leaves glowed a bit. And those glowing leaves had ancient runes inscribed on them.

"You used the 'tranquillity' circuit?" Felix asked with interest.

"Yes, Professor." Cedric was slightly nervous, "I adapted the elements from the twelve amulets I had seen in class to this, and it worked quite well." With that, he pronounced a crude phonetic phrase, and one of the leaves of the Bowtruckle's body suddenly burst with bright light, and the expressions of the few people enveloped in the halo - Felix, Cedric, and Cho Chang - all became peaceful.

"A bit strong." Felix commented.

Cedric smiled, "I will use it occasionally when I practice my rune writing skills, it calms my restlessness."

Felix nodded.

Cedric then introduced him to the dolls on the shelf one by one, "I made these by imitating magical golems, but there were some problems in the joint areas all the time, and the movements were not that fluid ... Later on, I designed some more models that are not just limited to fighting, like this forked tail dog doll(Crup), whose sole function is rolling over."

"It has a very vivid expression on its face." Felix said.

"I combined a mixture of transfiguration with it," Cedric explained, " the magic can be sustained for a long time by using runic circuits that can store magic, which makes it more convenient than alchemy, in a sense."

Felix thought for a moment and enquired, "Any thoughts on where you'll work after you graduate?"

Cedric said honestly, "Not really thought about it yet."

"What do Mr. and Mrs. Diggory think?"

"My family wants me to enter the Ministry of Magic, my father works in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," Cedric said, "but Collins advised me to join the Auror squad, and Fred and George, have invited me to join their magic trick workshop many times... . But I wasn't really interested in either."

"What about your own interest?"

Cedric looked at the dolls on the table, as his gaze became soft and absorbed.

" Well, I guess that won't be that bad." Felix said understandingly.

The conversation with Cedric had been very rewarding for him. He realized that it seemed that another sub-discipline of Ancient Rune had emerged, combining Ancient Runes and Transfiguration, which may later encompass areas such as alchemy and memory magic; with just a gentle push from him ... Would Cedric dwell even deeper on magic golem study?

Felix had made a number of magical golems by himself, but it became apparent that he had no desire to delve deeper into the subject, so handing over this expertise to someone who would be worthy and has a passion for it would be the ideal outcome.

Felix ended the session by suggesting Cedric to check out the second to last row in the restricted section of the library, "Remember to keep this 'Enthusiasm' alive." He advised before leaving.

"What did Professor Hap mean by that last statement, a simple encouragement?" Cho Chang looked at Cedric with puzzlement, it didn't quite sound like that to her.

Cedric obviously thought so too, and after contemplating it for a few moments, he suddenly broke into an excited smile and said, "I think he meant something like this." He raised his hand and traced a magic rune in the air, and in the next second, the magic rune was transformed into a colourful, beautiful cloud that bounced around in his palm, as if he is holding a flowing aurora borealis.

"I guess Professor Hap had left some kind of materials there, and the 'Enthusiasm' Rune is the key to it." Cedric said with certainty.

"How did you reach that conclusion?" Cho Chang asked with a jubilant voice.

Cedric stammered, "I told you that Fred and George have been hiding things in the castle in various guises these days, and I know a bit of the inside information, one of the ways to open the hidden treasure spot is to recite a Latin poem in an ancient runic language in front of a suit of armour, or, of course, to whack the armour seventeen or eighteen times in the stomach... ..."

Felix continued to wander around the great hall in a good mood, as he spotted many professors enjoying this experience alongside the students. The burly Hagrid and Professor Burbage, of Muggle Studies, are standing in front of a poster of a Muggle film.

Professor Burbage was talking rapidly, but Hagrid was clearly distracted, as he kept staring at the poster: an old monkey standing on a raised rock, holding a newborn lion cub up high, with hundreds of animals standing beneath the rock with their heads bent down.

In a jarring voice, Hagrid asked, "A cartoon? Is it for kids?"

The student swallowed as he answered, "Adults can watch it too, I think it's pretty entertaining."

"So - er," Hagrid waved his arms, " where can I see it? Do I need to buy a magic projector?"

"The 'Future World' company sells them, and Professor Hap once had screened this film in our class." The student whispered.

" It sounds easy to get," Hagrid muttered, "Do you have any suggestions if I want to show it to a much larger - um - creature than me? "

"Oh, I think ..." the student said with a shaky voice, as he looked terrified, "Our club doesn't consider recruiting members of that size... ..."

"Hello, Hagrid." Felix couldn't help but interject them.

Hagrid turned his head and said with delight, " Great! Felix, I've just had a great idea, if I could only show little Grawp-" his face suddenly flushed, so much that even his wool cap and the beard on his face couldn't hide it, "Ahem, I mean if I could show it to the big guys in the Forbidden Forest, it would be great. It would be nice, at least it would reduce their tantrums ..." he muttered.

"You could write and ask Remus, I remember the company was doing tests on the new product and needed a lot of feedback." Felix said.

Hagrid left cheerfully.

As soon as Hagrid had left, Professor Burbage made her way over.

She pulled a bulging envelope from her pocket and said with annoyance, "Professor Hap, help me pass it on to that big talker, I'll make him come forward and admit his mistakes!"

Felix blinked, "Charity, some of his words still make sense."

"But he is too arrogant," Professor Burbage said with exasperation, "he's talking like I'm some little kid who doesn't know anything, hear what he wrote, 'only a fool would abandon his wizardship' and 'If Technology can't be used by wizards, it's only a threat', Professor Hap, who is your pen pal? I'd really like to have a proper chat with him in person!"

Snape, who was pretending to be passing by, stiffened and stopped in silence, as he inclined his head to survey the booth in front of him, a soft padded clad wooden stand with a grilled fish sticking out of it, the grilled fish's eyes locked with his.

"Would you like a skewer, Professor Snape?" A young girl asked, mustering up her courage.

Snape tore his gaze away from the dead fish's eyes and stared into Eleanor Branstone's eyes, and coldly said, "No need, Miss Branstone."

On the other side, Felix was patiently explaining to Professor Burbage why his pen pal would not show up, "Charity, you should know that in reality there are some people who are withdrawn, inarticulate, and extremely repulsive to interact with people ..."

Professor Burbage showed a skeptical look, "Is that so? His language in the letter was pretty much sharp though."

"Some people prefer to communicate through their writing and think more thoughtfully." Felix said with a shrug.

Eleanor Branston couldn't help but gaze curiously at the statue-like Snape, wondering if Professor Snape is thinking that her fish isn't grilled properly, and pulled out a small jar from her belongings and used her wand to conjure out a blue bellflower-like flame, which circled the grilled fish twice as she sprinkled some spices, and in an instant the aroma was overwhelming.

Snape's nose twitched slightly.

Eleanor Branston looked at him encouragingly, as if waiting for him to ask, but Snape took two cold steps back, revealing Valen, who had been drawn in by the aroma.

" Travelling Niffler Merchant!" Eleanor Branston called out, pointing at Valen.

Valen puffed out her chest proudly, her dark eyes blinking as she pointed out her one small finger at the grilled fish on the stand.

Eleanor Branston handed her one with a grin.

Valen leaped onto the table and gave an odd glance to Snape, who had been standing next to her and when she saw no reaction from him, she ate it happily.

It is delicious~!

"Hey, Valen, so you are here?" Felix who had just concluded his conversation with Professor Burbage turned his head and made his way to the booth where Valen eating. He stared at the grilled fish and muttered to himself, "Looks like a perfect heat, do I have to sign up to get one?" He asked Eleanor, as he looked down.

"Or you can help with the flyers." Eleanor carefully pointed to a few students not far away, who appeared to be from different houses, but all with one unifying feature: grilled fish in one hand and a flyer in the other.

"Sounds fair enough," Felix said hesitantly, "would it be alright if I traded it with a recipe, I know a secret sauce that tastes rather ... Severus?" He trailed off in surprise.

Snape looked at him indifferently.

"Of course, I've heard that you are the person who created the 'fish-deboning spell' -" Eleanor said.

"Stop, don't mention that." Felix grimaced and pulled a piece of parchment from his ring, "One hand on the fish, and the other one on the recipe, deal?"

Eleanor Branston blinked, "Deal." She glanced over at Snape and handed him two grilled fish over, "The extra is a gift for you, Professor, you can give it to whoever you want."

"Oh, thanks." Felix took it and took a bite from one of the skewered grilled fish, then turned his head to look at Snape with a smirk, "Want a try? I can assure you, it tastes great."

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

Snape fought the urge to brush it off and took the grilled fish, but his gaze was frighteningly intense.

" Got something to discuss with me, Severus?" Felix asked, seeing that Snape was silent. They emerged from the great hall and made their way to the middle of the yard, where the ground was covered in a blanket of snow.

"I heard your discussion with Burbage about growing crops with magic-" Snape paused, putting the words together without a rise in his tone, "and I happen to have a similar doubt."

Of course, he had heard more than that, such as the existence of a pen pal involved, which he assumed would probably be the dangerous man that Dumbledore had mentioned, and through Felix's description, Snape had a brief mental picture of a withdrawn, stubborn, inarticulate, out-of-touch wizard.

Such people were not uncommon in the wizarding world. But the one who could alarm Dumbledore so much would probably be someone of great strength.

These thoughts flashed by as Snape concluded his sentence and surveyed Felix without moving.

Felix glanced at him, unfazed; he had happened to want to pull a Potions Master in, and compared to Damocles Belby, who lived far away, Severus, who lived close at hand, would be obviously more suitable.

There is also an alternate candidate in the form of Slughorn, but with that old man's fickle nature and fondness for enjoyments, it won't be easy to convince him.

" The wizards have always shown a disposition to be self-sufficient. Growing vegetables with magic? To them, it's no different from washing dishes or tidying their rooms with magic, but if you look at it another way - vegetables, fruits, and crops are all life, and no one had ever known for studying how magic played a facilitating role in this process of growth."

Snape listened silently, always feeling something was wrong, why was the conversation actually going on about growing vegetables?

"What the wizards have taken for granted is a fantasy in the eyes of the muggles." Felix continued, "I think this is a good starting point."

"Starting point for what?" Snape asked perceptively.

"Looking at Muggle science from a wizard's point of view, and ultimately adopt and improve it using magic." Felix said, " This process requires an understanding of both sides - there is no need to be well-versed, and Professor Burbage's knowledge base is perfectly adequate for it, which is why I introduced this subject to her."

Snape hummed through his nose and said nonchalantly, " It is indeed better than going into the nature of magic without knowing it."

Felix didn't respond to that, "As far as I know, no wizard has ever systematically studied the effects of magic in growing crops before, there is one big reason for that, besides the fact that there are indeed fewer people in the wizarding community: the prevalence of pragmatism among wizards."

This was the conclusion Felix came to when he looked at the differences between wizards and non-wizards from a broader perspective.

The foundations of the two buildings, magic, and technology are very different - the former is based on magic and the soul, while the latter is based on reason and logic. For the vast majority of wizards, the ability to reason and deduce logically, although useful, is not necessary, at least it does not interfere with their ability to cast spells.

Over time, this part of knowledge has only been reflected in specific disciplines.

"... Magic Planting Studies? Or Magic Agriculture Studies? If Professor Burbage can really work something out, it might change the world."

"Change the world?" Snape couldn't help but frown, the very word sounded dangerous.

"Ah, a poor choice of word," Felix grinned and took a bite of grilled fish, "the accurate term is, wizard's powerful trump card."

Snape made a silent note of it while secretly wondering where this card could be used, he subconsciously took a bite of the fish as well, the tender and tasty filet exploded in his mouth followed by a warm heat that filled his stomach and heightened the cold and biting air in the yard.

He heard Felix continue, "Professor Burbage stands at the doorstep of a whole new field, and I'm happy to provide her some meagre help."

"Like that pen pal?" Snape risked asking.

He felt he was getting a little closer to the truth, Dumbledore had instructed him to - no, Dumbledore had no intention of telling him who that person is, but that didn't stop him from finding out from Felix. Snape thought secretly.

Well, he didn't expect it to go so well either, Felix didn't seem to be hiding it.

A wonderful sense of familiarity arose in Snape's mind; when had it happened before? Oh, he had been pulled into the 'Future World' company, and still to this day he had to take some time out of each month to brew an enhanced version of wolfsbane potions and sort out recipes for alchemical materials ...

Vigilance instantly pulled up.

Felix blinked. That was some serious eavesdropping, Severus. Like a seasoned hunter waiting for his prey to take the bait, he explained patiently, " There are more people than just him. At least as far as I can think, the discipline of magical planting - let's name it that for now - may also require knowledge of spells and potions."

Him? A male wizard? Snape's mind wandered. Then it dawned on him why Felix had revealed this information to him readily; it required knowledge of Potions ... He had a feeling he was throwing himself into the net.

"It seems like a lot of work, and I don't see any point in it." Snape said calmly, "I've only heard of dumb wizards, not starving wizards."

" Broaden your mind, Severus, there are more than just wizards in this world."

Snape mulled it over slightly, his calm heart rippled, the hand that held the grilled fish trembled, and he had to use Occlumency to hide his true emotions. After a long while, he asked hoarsely, "You mean - those muggles? No - there is Statute of Secrecy to restrict it - unless -"

His expression became unfathomable, and then a cold chill went up to his spine.

Felix waved his hand, "I didn't mean to defy the Statute of Secrecy, that's why I said it is just a trump card," Snape was slightly reassured, but Felix's next words made his heart rise to his throat and his guts jump out along with it.

"After all, there are lessons to be learned from the past," Felix said, "If I've learned anything from the past, it's that you can't take an extreme route, because if you're extreme, the people who support you will be even more extreme. Even if it influences hundreds of thousands of people, it's somewhat insignificant -" he shot Snape a meaningful look.

A name instantly dawned on Snape - Gellert Grindelwald. Is he the man Dumbledore is wary of, the first Dark Lord? He listened intently, even slowing his breathing to carefully deduce every word Felix said.

"Extreme views can bring in blind followers, but they can also separate you and your followers from normal people ..." Felix said, "It happens all the time, doesn't it? When you are the only one who is distraught by something and crying out for justice, the bystanders who don't feel that way, would look at 'you' strangely and be intimidated by the way you wave your arms and subconsciously move away from you."

" So what did you do to solve this problem?" Snape asked, having calmed down completely.

"With Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic holding the front of the line!" Felix said irresponsibly, "At best I am simply anticipating some possible crisis and doing some advance preparation. It's not illegal to start a company, is it, and supporting the development of the wizarding world is not going to be attacked by the masses ..."

"Including pushing Burbage to study what you call magic planting study? You think this thing will get us through a certain storm (crises)?" Snape pursued the question heartily.

"I don't know." Felix said briefly, "All I know is that there are still over a billion people who don't have enough to eat in this day and age."

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

The club recruitment event in the great hall came to an end.

December brought more snow and cold wind, and one morning Felix was watching outside from his window, Black Lake is frozen thick enough to support hundreds of young wizards skating and sledding on it, with students having snowball fights around the rocks and willows on the shore not far from the lake.

Someone made a big scene, using magic to conjure up a seven-foot-tall snowman that chased students around, and Felix stared at it for a while before realizing it was a student who had unfortunately been affected by a Sticking Charm and later got hit by snowballs.

"Kee?"

Valen who is sitting on his shoulder looked around, as she was amazed by the bustling scene on the black lake, and then she turned her head to look at the Great Demon Lord for permission.

"Well, don't forget to eat, I'll be staying over at Severus' place the whole day." Felix said as Valen happily jumped down and rummaged through her pockets for her gear, as she has to maintain her reputation as a combat Niffler. Valen has been around Felix for a long time now and has been influenced by his occasional mischief, or a bad sense of humour, coupled with the great demon king's strong backing, caused Valen's notoriety in this area to gradually spread.

Presently, she draped herself in a small cloak and selected one of her seven exclusive wands which were jewelled with gems a size of a rice grain, as she glided down through the window facing the black lake. The little cloak opened behind her, rippling with light, and carried Valen off into the distance.

Valen waved her wand excitedly in the air, a blue and a green gem lit up under the vibrations of a specific frequency of her magic, as a snowman Nifflers formed quickly under the magic of the gem, and they followed Valen in mid-air all the way across the sky towards the black lake.

The sound of students exclaiming and laughing in the distance put Felix in a good mood as he gathered his things and headed down the revolving staircase, past the entrance hall, and towards the Potions class office on the basement level. Suddenly he heard a familiar voice--

" I never imagined, that I would kind of miss Professor Grubbly-Plank one day; Hagrid actually got the latest magic projector, I'm really worried that future classes will consist of teaching Grawp how to adjust the buttons on the projector." Ron kicked and stomped his way outside, and then he seemed to have tripped and fallen, with snow caked all over his clothes.

"I tried to talk him out of it, but he thinks it's all under control." Hermione's voice was slightly muffled. She carried a snowman Niffler in her arm.

"Miss Granger?"

Felix called out to them and Harry, Ron, and Hermione paused, Hermione was startled and dropped the snowman Niffler in her hand to the floor, which jumped up and hit her a few times - "Ouch!" Hermione yelped and watched as Niffler Snowman stormed out of the entrance hall and ran off after a large group.

Felix couldn't help but laugh.

Hermione turned red, "We saw Valen pass by in the sky and there were so many more on the ground ... everyone picked up one ..." she stammered.

Felix blinked, so Valen hadn't flown very far before the army of Niffler she had high hopes for had been intercepted by the little Hogwarts wizard? He felt a little sorry that he hadn't seen that scene, and Harry and Ron turned their heads sideways and laughed, as they had wanted to do so for a long time.

Hermione gave them a stern look and asked in a stammering tone, "Professor? Is there something wrong?"

"Ah, yes," Felix retracted his smile and took a pouch of gold coins and a piece of parchment out of his ring, "the money for the New Solutions to Runes Magazine has arrived, help me distribute it to the students according to the list ... "

"Is it still five galleons each?" Ron asked eagerly.

"That's right Weasley," Felix said, "I remember you published several articles under the name 'Frontline Lookout'?"

" Yup." Ron said happily.

"Then you guys can have a nice Hogsmeade weekend." Felix said, turning his head to Harry who had been silent, "I saw the article you wrote about incorporating the Rune 'Sun Wheel' into the Patronus Charm to make the Patronus stronger ... Genius idea. "

Harry grinned a little, "I was just trying it out, didn't you suggest me to work on the Patronus Charm more when I had the time, before I put most of my energy into the Occlumency, but now there is no need for that, so I am spending my time working on the Patronus."

"The scar didn't hurt again in the last two months?" Felix asked.

Harry nodded. Something suddenly occurred to him, "Professor, I've tried quite a few ancient runes, but this is the only one that worked, and I've never been able to figure out why ..."

Felix thought for a moment and said with uncertainty, "I would suggest you to try more runes that lean towards the spirit and will, after all, the Patronus itself is a product of positive emotions."

Harry looked down in thought when Hermione blurted out, "So Harry was able to pull it off because the Rune 'Sun Wheel' symbolizes a positive rising process and also indicates a change of will under the influence of magic ... "

Felix nodded approvingly.

"In that sense, the 'tranquillity', 'enthusiasm' and even the 'light' rune you have learned can be tried out with the charm. Well, when the Christmas break is over, I will have a look at your club ..."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief when Felix left. Thankfully, the Professor hadn't talked to him about anything else. He had been avoiding meetings with Professor Hap lately and was on the edge since meeting him now. It was simply because the scene of the Professor's reviewing the Harry Potter Fan Club at the start of December was too awful to look back on for the rest of his life.

If there is a spell that uses an emotion like an embarrassment to cast it, Harry thinks he would surprise everyone by casting it very powerful beyond his mastery.

I wonder who - Harry seriously suspected it was Snape - who had put the 'Harry Potter Fan Club' together with 'Frontline Lookout Club' in a very conspicuous place, so he was forced to stand expressionlessly in a corner of the great hall and listen to the Creevey brothers talk about the significance of the Harry Potter Fan Club in front of a crowd of professors, "Harry Potter is the bravest man I've ever met, he fought the Basilisk and outsmarted the You-Know-Who... "The Creevey brothers spoke on stage in a high, staccato voice, like a duet, and Harry was leaning against the cold wall, praying that he would sink into it, preferably without anyone finding it.

At least he didn't have the courage to look which of the three, Snape, Sirius, or Professor Hap, had the most excited expression on their face... Not to mention that all of Harry's professors who were teaching his classes had come over to join in the fun that day, and he didn't know how he'd gotten through the last two weeks.

"Harry, you could fry an egg on your face." Ron commented at that time.

Even though the memory was really unbearable, Harry had secured 120 galleons for the 'Frontline Lookout' activities. Hermione was jealous as she only received a stipend of 10 galleons for her meticulously Prepared S.P.E.W. speech which Snape interrupted nastily, "This is not the venue for the Minister of Magic's campaign, Miss Granger. If you want to achieve even a tenth of your vision, you'll have to wait till you graduate."

Hermione was exasperated for a few days, and at one point fantasized about using a Permanent Sticking Charm to stamp the new S.P.E.W. slogan on the door of Snape's office. Even Harry and Ron, who had been upset with Snape, were startled and were forced to persuade her with facts and reason.

In addition to a substantial amount of gold galleons, the 'Frontline Watch' had well over fifty members, for which the school had given them a spacious abandoned classroom as an activity area. -It wasn't until later that Harry learned from Professor McGonagall that the house-elves would help with the cleaning up, but they hadn't had the chance to do it yet due to lack of manpower.

Hermione insisted that the house-elves should not help, saying condescendingly, "I can do it myself." Ron snickered, "Who said otherwise, it's just a broom room ... anyway," and he paid for it, spending most of the afternoon on thick dust and stubborn paint.

But I am innocent, I didn't say anything about it, Harry couldn't help but complain that day.

There was another change.

Mafalda had made an appearance at the 'Frontline Lookout Club' and, in fact, there were several new faces at the club that he hadn't expected to meet, such as the Greengrass sisters, and he almost thought he would also meet Draco Malfoy.

Then Mafalda told him that Malfoy hadn't even joined a club.

" Well, he will just wait and see, it's a Malfoy family tradition that they won't make a stand easily ..." Ron hit the truth right on the head.

To Harry, Mafalda's change in attitude towards him was purely a surprise.

He speculated secretly that it was probably because he had defended her that day that Mafalda had finally given up on making up stories about him in her little essay, and in her words, she had simply "matured to do something more meaningful."

"It's just a campus gossip tabloid," said the equally sociable Fred: "She fills it with news she gets from thirty-seven clubs. It supposedly sells well."

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other.

" Is it popular?" Hermione asked with mixed emotions.

"There were quite a few submissions from people," George said, " along with advertisements and anonymous love letters."

"You guys wouldn't be one of them, would you?" Ron asked with a squint.

"We're paid for it, a full two Sickles." Fred said, first with some indignation, then with a look of admiration, "To be honest, I kind of like her, that's not a bad business to run ..."

"We both felt like we were outdated." George said with a thumbs up.

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

Felix knocked on the door in the dungeon office, Snape was wearing the same black cloak as always, his curly black hair fell to the back of his neck, and his unwavering dark eyes always reminded Felix of the grilled fish he had eaten that day under the cold wind in the yard.

The person who had opened the door silently stepped aside, revealing Professor Burbage bent over the table, her hair dishevelled as if it were a pile of hay and her wide glasses looked like a pitchfork stuck in the hay. As Professor Burbage was carefully inspecting a flower pot.

"Did I miss something?" Felix asked pleasantly.

"You're just in time, Felix." Professor Burbage said with excitement, still not taking her face off the flowerpot, "I told Severus that we had to wait for you to come over and witness this ..."

"There's nothing to witness." Snape said.

He slammed the door behind him and strutted over to the table, where he pulled a glass vial out of his top pocket. "Please." He said coldly, and Professor Burbage hurriedly stepped aside, holding her breath as she watched Snape carefully screw open the stopper and drop a drop of liquid into the flower pot.

A miraculous sight occurred.

The brown dirt in the pot bulged up to reveal an inconspicuous hint of a tender green bud, and a few minutes later, as the three of them watched in silence, a palm-sized green shoot swayed gently in the pot.

"This is ...," Felix enquired.

"A rejuvenation potion, a magical potion that prompts seeds to sprout." Snape said.

"Don't you have to add a Growth Potion? I remember when these two potions used together it could even restore most of the wilted plants to health." Felix asked curiously.

"There's no need to waste it," Snape said, "the seeds Burbage provided are plenty nutritious on their own."

"Can I take it back with me?" Professor Burbage asked pleadingly, eyeing the seedling in its pot.

"Oh, no." Felix immediately said, "We had a deal."

He wanted to take the potted plant with him to get it tested in a lab, mainly to see the changes in nutrient content in the soil and the subsequent growth of the plant. Burbage knew this too, she just couldn't bring herself to part with it. Right now she is looking at Snape with a pitiful look, "Severus ..."

"I only brewed this one vial of potion." Snape grunted, "With the most basic ingredients, as someone requested."

Felix reassured Professor Burbage, "There's no need to rush, Charity, there's absolutely plenty of time to spare. From germination, growth, flowering, and fruiting of the seeds ... We only need to figure out the first step for now, which will speed up the growth cycle by at least half a month compared to the normal process, no?" He asked Professor Burbage.

"Yes, absolutely possible." She said with conviction.

"That's enough." Felix said, "Don't think it's insignificant, studying the process thoroughly is quite remarkable and fully worthy of an Order of Merlin ..."

Professor Burbage left with a red face, she now wanted to ask Headmaster Dumbledore for a plot of land to build an experimental greenhouse.

"I am sure Sprout will help, and she would be more than happy to do so." Snape said dryly from the doorway, hoping she would bother him less in the future. Turning his head, he found the culprit sitting leisurely on the sofa, flipping through a magazine.

"What have you come up this time, some new 'Trump Card'?" He sarcastically asked.

"I was wondering if the Killing curse could kill the bacteria in the water ... Okay, I'm just kidding, forget about it." Felix hurriedly said when he saw the look on Snape's face. " I have one thing to tell you, Mr. Scamander has found a way to make the Blast-Ended Skrewt breed steadily, he said in his letter that they are now overflowing with larvae and asked if I needed some ..."

Snape thought hard for a moment.

"The slime of the Blast-Ended Skrewt larvae is corrosive, but when handled well, it can remove the properties of certain potion ingredients without losing its excellent secondary component."

"Then you'd better publish a few articles and help to spread the word." Felix said.

Snape nodded, that is what he was hoping for. The office quieted down and Snape stared at the specimen jar on the shelf against the wall and said, "I was informed that you have the Ravenclaw diadem in your possession ..."

"Dumbledore told you about this?" Felix asked.

"Not him." Snape said.

Felix frowned, it is something that only Dumbledore knew about, he never brought it out to show it personally, mainly because he felt too ashamed to use it covertly all the time. On the contrary, Valen had worn it for a while at the very beginning of her studies, but Valen had no idea what it was, other than that-

"Did someone from the Ministry of Magic tell you that?" Felix murmured as he mulled it over, "But only a few people in the Ministry of Magic might have a clue about it, and these kinds of important files on record usually wouldn't be noticed by the general staff of the Ministry unless someone deliberately went looking for ... Oh, I see."

Voldemort still had his hand in the Ministry of Magic.

"What's that?" Snape asked softly, as he had long wanted to enquire about these. "It can't simply be a relic of Rowena Ravenclaw. Although legend has it that her diadem can increase one's wisdom, but the Dark Lord attaches far more importance to the diadem itself than the legend."

Felix fell into silence. The fewer people knew about the secret of the Horcrux, the better it would be, but since Sirius knew about it ... he seemed hesitant, his biggest concern still being the fear that Severus would be able to deduce the secret of Harry being a half Horcrux himself. In fact, Sirius's side is also a hidden problem, but Sirius doesn't really know much about Horcruxes, especially not the fact that they can be made out of living beings, while Severus has the chance to know about the existence of the snake.

"Something to do with the secret of his immortality?" Snape asked in a low voice.

He watched the expression on Felix's face carefully, and although he found nothing, a moment of silence was enough to allow him to surmise part of the truth.

Instead of pressing the issue, Snape changed the subject and added, "The Dark Lord found out about it through a spy from the Ministry of Magic, and he asked me to sidetrack it, but I thought - it would be better to ask you directly. I already have enough trouble to deal with and don't want to waste any more time ..."

Felix smiled, " It really is the least time-consuming way to go. Perhaps Voldemort will praise you for your efficiency."

"I have no intention of reporting back immediately," Snape said, "The Dark Lord takes this matter very seriously, even more than his desire for the item in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic, and he revealed to me that he would find an opportunity to arrange a spy to work with me."

"Send a spy to the school?" Felix felt amused.

It would have been a good plan, but with Snape around, it seemed a bit ridiculous. He didn't take it too seriously, if he captured the spy now, it would probably reveal Snape's undercover identity, and Felix guessed that Dumbledore might push the boat along the tide and wait for the spy to present himself at the school, and then it would depend on who would show up at the school.

He was somehow looking forward to it.

Voldemort only had one Horcrux with him now, and presumably, his insecurity was at an all-time high; he just didn't know if the golden cup was on him, or Bellatrix Lestrange. By all accounts, Voldemort is not the man to entrust his only lifeblood to his men. So ...

Felix tries to simulate what Voldemort is thinking at this moment: if I were him - in Voldemort's situation - what would I do?

The first thing that must be done is to make sure that the Horcruxes are secure.

There are three Horcruxes that 'I' clearly know that have been destroyed, the diary, the snake, and the ring; the Horcruxes whose status cannot be determined consist of the diadem and the locket. The diadem may be in the school, well, 'I' currently don't know that it's on Felix Hap. And the locket - "Where do you plan to spend your Christmas break, Severus?" Felix asked, looking up. Snape looked at him in confusion, and replied, rather reluctantly, "Need to do some errands at the Order of the Phoenix base..." Felix withdrew his gaze, good, got it - so 'I' suspected that the locket had been stolen by a former servant. Regulus had died over a decade ago, and if the Horcrux hadn't been destroyed, the best chance of it being in the old Black ancestral house would be high, a place where he couldn't possibly enter for now.

And in addition to that?

'I' also knew that I had some sort of connection to Harry Potter at school. For the past two months, I had to protect my mind with Occlumency a little tighter... It was quite frustrating but at the moment it seemed to be the best thing to do ... because 'I' am not sure if this connection will extend to other Horcruxes, damn, the half-told prophecy! Damn Harry Potter! Now 'I' must ensure that the only Horcrux is under my nose and I must never be separated from the Golden Goblet unless there is a compelling reason to do so ...

Felix thought hard, and he was going to find out that reason now. He continued to contemplate.

There are two other people on his level in the wizarding world, and if they set up a trap, all hell will break loose, so 'I' must be very cautious now, but 'I' know that one of them will not live long, so I just have to wait in peace... ...but I wouldn't mind giving him a kick when he's at his weakest if possible, it would be a wonderful feeling. That's if he's holding the Horcruxes that are crucial to 'me' ...

Felix was instantly enlightened.

Was this Dumbledore's plan? To use the Horcrux to bait Voldemort? But there seemed to be no place for him in this fight, it would be entirely a one-on-one affair between Dumbledore and Voldemort ...

"What can I do?" Felix asked himself, "Yeah, it's so easy, I should have known." He said with glee.

Of course, it would be a good opportunity to get the last Horcrux while they were at it.

Well, now for that 'last minute' scenario - Voldemort and the Golden Cup Horcrux have to be separated, and no one would be stupid enough to bring their second lifeline to a duel to the death, even if the opposite party is a dying man, and the only person Voldemort could trust with it would be Bellatrix Lestrange.

Snape stared at Felix, who was mumbling to himself, oblivious to his complex mental activities.

"Care to have a game of Exploding Snap, Severus?" A moody Felix asked.

...

Well, they certainly didn't play the cards.

Felix emerged from the Potions class office with the student club list that was also posted on the notice board in the entrance hall, albeit that had been dated three weeks ago.

Christmas is just around the corner.

Felix is planning to make a trip to Newt's house over the holidays - to update his 'material library' - and he's also going to travel around the world and collect some rare magical creatures while he's at it. As he passed a huge suit of armour in the corridor, he suddenly stopped to take a closer look at it, as it seemed to have some kind of hidden magic in it...

The helmet of the armour also rattled as it slowly lowered its head and locked eyes with Felix.

Felix: "..."

"Clang, clang, clang ..."

"Huff, huff, huff ..."

Felix stopped banging on the armour and turned his head to look into Keeper Filch's light-coloured, furious eyes and asked, somewhat awkwardly, "Mr. Filch?"

" Oh it's Professor Hap, I thought ..." Filch mumbled, "I was just chasing Peeves who had somehow got a bubble gun and there were colourful bubbles all over the ceiling ... It could be Zonko's new product, I must report it ..."

Felix waited in silence for Filch to leave. "Clang! Clang!" He knocked twice more and the armour finally seemed to have had enough and opened the mask on his helmet and began to dry heave.

"By the way, Professor Hap, I wanted to ask-" Filch, who had walked away, came back with an embarrassed and curt expression on his face but then froze when he saw Felix's movements, and Felix had a bit of a headache, he simply wanted to examine the strange armour.

It was at this point that the armour exaggeratedly cupped its belly and opened its mouth to spit out a red envelope, which slowly floated through the air as the two watched.

"Oh." Felix whispered, recognizing what it is. The Howler began to smoke and then burn, and he took a few steps back and reached out, detaining the sound within the confines of the entrance hall. After a few seconds, a cheerful voice that belonged to the Weasley twins, which had been amplified hundreds of times, rang out.

"It doesn't matter if you're Peeves - or a Filch - or a brat who failed an exam - or - -"

Fred's and George's voices interchanged with each other.

"You're great -"

"And certainly mischievous -"

"adventurous -"

"Got caught numerous times -"

" Indomitable - "

"The persistent -"

"The number one delinquent!" Voices began to converge here and there, and Filch's face turned purple. The Howler continued to thrash through the air with glee, " Hurry up! We've made plenty of help accessible to you, provided you and I have our hearts in the right place!"

"Bang!" The Howler exploded into a ball of flame, from which colourful fireworks flew out and finally disappeared in unison.

An embarrassing silence followed.

Felix patted the dust from his body and, despite his inner grudge, on the surface, he pretended to be calm and asked, "Mr. Filch, did you forget any tools?"

"Oh, er, yes." Filch muttered vaguely, the loosely hanging flesh of his face twitching unnaturally. As he brushed past Felix, Felix heard him curse the Weasley twins' names over and over again.

As Filch headed towards the office, Felix hurried out of the castle as well. After stepping on the stone steps and taking a few breaths of the dry, cold air, he relaxed.

Felix could see that Filch had something to say to him, and might even have been preparing for it for a long time, but the timing was indeed a little awkward just now. Let's wait until we have another chance. If he heard the news of the Weasley twins' detention, he would certainly be able to reminisce about today's event happily.

Felix made his way down the steps. Seeing Valen having fun from a distance, made him grin widely before changing his direction and making his way through the greenhouse and vegetable patch to the edge of the forbidden forest. A few shifts later, he is standing at the edge of the cave where the giant Grawp stayed over for this winter.

There was a loud "thump, thump" sound came from inside, and tiny stones tumbled down through the cracks in the rocks above his head. Felix caught the smell of a mixture of mould and straw.

"Grawp - wrill brte (will bite) - Ahe lan (the lion) -" the voice sounded deafening.

"Shut up! You stupid bastard!" Hagrid yelled, "Be a good boy and go brush your teeth."

There was another smashing sound, which sounded like an outburst of discontent.

"Ouch-" Hagrid ran out, panting as he covered his face in pain, his moleskin coat ripped open in several places.

"Are you all right, Hagrid?"

"Felix?" Hagrid looked surprised as he grinned and pulled the bits of stone out of his beard, "It's all right, little Grawp was messing with me, he's improving fast, even when he loses his temper he holds back from hitting people ..." then his tone turned low, " Though there's still a possibility of an accident."

"Are you showing him a film?" Felix glanced towards the cave, from this angle all he could see was a huge, dirty foot

"Yeah," Hagrid said cheerfully, "Little Grawp loves little animals, just like me! I'm going to take him to meet some friends in the Forbidden Forest when the time is right, without him being on a leash ... but not now, I'll just have to show him the film. He's never seen a lion before and is curious about it, and I planned to give him the book you gave me."

Felix zoned out for a moment, remembering the set of books he had given Hagrid when he first visited his door, with the various muggle animals drawn on them.

At that moment, there was another smashing sound heard from the cave and Felix saw the big foot "thumping" on the ground, like a drum.

"Quiet! I'm talking to Fili!" Hagrid yelled at the cave.

" Fili? Fill - Hermy- Hagger- Ciri- Hari- Rong-" Grawp yelled down from inside.

Hagar said helplessly, "His English is still substandard and fixated; he thinks Hari sounds better ..."

"Is there something wrong at school?" He asked gruffly.

"Oh, no. It's a personal matter." Felix said, "I want to know the location of the giant tribe - I know they've gone deep into the mountains... I mean, I wanted to know which direction they've run off in." He saw Hagrid trying to speak and quickly added.

"You aren't thinking of dealing with them, right?" Hagrid muttered uneasily, "They ... are kinda miserable, with not much left of them."

" Well, I have no need to do that, but I think it's necessary to check on their status, considering that they have disappeared from the wizard's sight for a long time."

Hagrid froze for a moment, "Well, I can only tell you the general direction, do you have a map?"

"I've collected a bunch ..."

...

When Felix reappeared, he was at the edge of the Black Lake.

Valen was skating on the ice while he stood at the edge. One of the students must have transfigured a pair of ice skates for her, and judging by the movement alone, her skating skills were much better than most of the Hogwarts students.

"Valen, do it again!" A student shouted excitedly.

Valen happily pulled out her exclusive wand and waved it casually, a stormy wind swept up the snowflakes on the ice like a tumbling snow dragon, and Valen rushed straight into the whirlwind, as her small yellow hat and scarf fluttered high in the snowflakes.

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

Over the next two days, Felix found himself always bumping into Filch on various occasions.

From the staff common room and the Ancient Rune classroom to the entrance to the great hall and behind one of the armour in the corridor, his reserved and flattering face could be seen from time to time ... Felix waited for news of the Weasley twins' detention, but it was completely uneventful. He guessed Filch must have spent all his time figuring out how to have a 'chance meeting' with him.

On the third morning, Filch crouched at the door of the Ancient Rune office with a bucket, rags, and other cleaning tools, huffing and puffing as he went through his work.

"Hello ..." Filch flashed his mouthful of big yellow teeth, "Professor Hap, I noticed the entrance is a bit dirty ..."

"Come in and have a seat, Mr. Filch."

Filch nimbly dashed in as he brushed past him, displaying agility that was completely out of proportion to his age. His eyes seemed to lit up at the sight of Valen, who was self-entertaining herself on the sofa, controlling a bunch of little coloured figures as they danced with her exclusive wand.

"Mr. Filch?" Felix called twice before he snapped back to attention.

Filch rubbed his hands together and said flatteringly, "Your Niffler is really smart, and it is rumoured she also can write."

"Thanks." Felix said briefly, "Bang." As he closed the door.

...

"I'm a Squib, Mr. Hap." Filch whispered, "A Squib is a-"

"I know the definition of a Squib." Felix said, "We can move to the point a little faster, as I noticed you seem to be dwelling on it for a long time."

"Oh, okay, yeah." Filch said wretchedly, "Squib ... er, we were never taken seriously, just a second class citizen, not even as good as those house-elves, at least they can use magic ... you don't know, how I have to carry the kerosene lamp and fight with the mischievous, dumb kids on a daily basis. ..."

"I remember the school purchasing a stock of small magic lamps." Felix reminded him.

"Yes, yes, but that light was too bright to catch without alerting them." Filch said wryly.

Felix was silent, not wanting to comment whatsoever about the war between Filch and the students. All he knew is that Hogwarts needed someone to help keep order, lock the doors at night, and clean the castle at their leisure, so there is Filch.

Filch did a good job, but he likewise extended his power boundlessly, repeatedly suggesting for the school to reinstate corporal punishment, the underlying root cause of which was naturally due to his jealousy towards the students.

At the same time, Felix understood the reason why Felch came to the door.

"... We don't even have a birth record! The only way to prove our existence is by looking up our parents' names ... When I was ten and hadn't shown any magical abilities, my family was frustrated. When I turned eleven, naturally, I didn't receive my letter from Hogwarts, and they started talking about sending me away to a Muggle school, but it didn't happen because there was a war going on outside at the time!" Old Filch gasped, "People were dying everywhere, and they were so frightened that they decided to leave me behind ... and pretend that they didn't have me because I disgraced them and other relatives of the family stopped showing up at our door ... "

"Professor Hap - Mr. Hap - you can naturally see how much ridicule I have received, having spent my adult life wandering the wizarding world on my own, and if it hadn't been for the encouragement of Lady Oakby... ..."

"Idris Oakby?" Felix asked.

"It is her. She is a good person, better than anyone. Too bad she died ten years ago, it's true that good people don't live long ...," Filch said emotionally.

Felix blinked; he had heard similar remarks back in the headmaster's office, where the chubby Slughorn was eating an icing pineapple while lamenting the misfortune of one of his favourite students, Lily. Felix thought these words were entirely heartfelt, as Slughorn had forked out a small vial of Felix Felicis.

As for the Oakby that Filch spoke of, her full name is Idris Oakby and her only widely known contribution was the establishment of the Society for the Support of Squibs, a society dedicated to helping the Squibs living in the magical world in any way they could ...

Oakby died ten years ago at the age of 113. But in Filch's words, it became "good people don't live long" ...

"More than twenty years ago, I was doing odd jobs all over the place, not even able to buy newspapers, and scavenging for leftovers every day, until one day," Filch suddenly beamed, as his eyes widened, "do you know what I saw?"

"A job posting?"

Felix conjured up in his mind the image of a cynical, cranky, idle, headstrong, stubborn, middle-aged man: doing a menial job with a fire of jealousy inside him. Of course, he had better options, but he had spent his entire childhood in the wizarding world, and letting Filch leave would be tantamount to killing him. So he muddled along until one day the middle-aged man got his hands on a newspaper from the trash - or from some wizard on the street - that changed his fate forever.

After seeing the job posting on it, his life took a turn, and thus the Filch, the Caretaker of Hogwarts born.

"That's right! Finally, I made it to Hogwarts! Thirty years late, but still made it, and I saw the young students, sir, and you don't know how envious I was of them ..." Filch looked frantic, part of his face strangely contorted and trembling as if spilling out his dark inner secrets unimpeded for the first time.

Valen, who was playing with the colourful little figures, was stunned and stared blankly at Filch, whose expression was out of control. She looked at the Great Demon King and then at Filch, wondering whether to slip out and call his cat over, as Filch's nose was about to drip a bucket of snot.

Luckily Filch pulled a dirty handkerchief out of his pocket just in time. He blew his nose so hard in a fit of anger that made the edge of the handkerchief fly around. Filch looked up, showing his red nose, and smiled curtly, "Mr. Hap, I'm sorry to make you see this. You are one of the few people at school who have helped me, and I feel no reason to hide -"

He met a pair of silver eyes, the silver glow covering the pupils and whites of the eyes. He had never seen such a sight before and was unable to speak in terror.

"Filch, do you know the definition of a Squib?" Felix asked.

Filch felt puzzled, he had tried to explain it at the beginning of the conversation, only to be stopped by Felix, and now Felix had brought the subject up again, Filch thought he was being mocked, and his face turned ugly.

"Like many concepts in the magical world, Squib is rather a broad concept, and we can define it from all angles." Felix said steadily, "The common definition in the magical world deems someone - who was born in a wizard family, but unable to demonstrate any magical ability - as a Squib."

Filch looked at him blankly.

"Professor Haa-Hap?"

"I hope you'll notice the subtle distinction here, it's the key to keep this conversation going-" Filch's face showed a clear confusion, but he meekly shut his mouth. Professor Hap's expression at the moment was somewhat frightening. "- Many parents can't actually be sure if their child is a Squib, there's no way to be sure ... what really kills their hope is the letter of notification from Hogwarts, and if it's received, they are naturally not a Squib. Even if his spell casting at the beginning was crappy ... have you actually had the experience of casting a spell?" Felix asked coldly.

Filch froze, and stammered, "I haven't, never-"

"No, you don't understand me ..." Felix's silver eyes gazed at him and stared at the meagre magic inside him that looked like stubborn stone, but it was an exaggerated metaphor; magic and stone were two different things from every sense of the word. They could not be the same.

Felix murmured, "Not some complete spell, one of those tiny, accidental experiences that you had dismissed only as an illusion: rattling a small piece of paper, breaking a cup with just a little force when you were angry ... you had that experience, hadn't you?"

"I ..." Filch thought hard and put on a pondering face, "I think I have ... yes!" He suddenly shouted, startling Valen again, and she held up her little wand in front of her. Filch tried his best to keep his eyes wide as they shone with reminiscence, "I remember a particularly stubborn stain a few years ago, I used up a whole bottle of detergent, and it didn't go away, I just kept staring at it for a while in a frustration... watching it in a bit of a trance, and then it was gone... . Does that count?"

He looked at Felix with an expectant look on his face.

"We can try." Felix said with great interest, jumping up from his armchair as though he would sooner witness an interesting piece of spectacle.

Half an hour later, Filch left excitedly.

"Mr. Filch," Felix called to him from behind, "your magical response is too weak if you don't mind me asking-"

"Oh no, this is good enough for me," Filch grinned gleefully, holding a small, jewelled wooden wand in his hand, "even if it only works once in ten times, it's still a godsend for me!"

But not for me, Felix thought to himself.

Upon closer examination, he realized that the magical fluctuations in Filch's body were far weaker than Valen's. Even comparing Valen and Filch together was somewhat bullying; Valen may be a Niffler, but she is a normal Niffler, not a Squib Niffler.

In terms of talent, she simply beats Filch by a landslide.

It took a lot of effort on Felix's part to make it slightly more useful by adding a whole five 'amplification circuits' in the end. The final result, the small wooden wand in Filch's hand, had seven gems inlaid on it: one to store magic, five inscribed with amplification circuits, and only the last one containing the actual magic, the Scouring Charm.

That is all he could achieve for now.

Felix pulled back his tangled thoughts and said calmly, "You misunderstand, Argus. I meant to say that your situation is typical, and I'm going to take some time to study a few more similar cases - not now, of course - and I assume you know some friends who share your plight?"

Filch blinked twice and asked tentatively, "You'd like to get to know them?"

Felix shrugged, "As you said, the Ministry of Magic doesn't have their names. It's pretty hard to find them ..."

After closing the door, Felix sat down on the couch to play the Exploding Snap Cards with Valen.

But his thoughts had wandered elsewhere.

The Squibs had always played the role of the invisible people, and by contrast, the Ministry of Magic's recent stream of incentives and enticements for werewolves to register voluntarily spoke volumes about everyone's attitude.

One Filch certainly doesn't matter, but the group of Squibs is a natural link between the wizarding world and the ordinary world. If the wizarding world would ever be forced to go public, the best person Felix could think of to travel between the two worlds would be the Squibs group.

Felix seemed to see a second trump card beckoning him ... Well, he decided to ignore it, for now, Voldemort is still alive and kicking. He decided to leave the preliminary work to the employees of 'Future World' Company.

Gotta find something for them to do.

"Kee! (You lost!)"

Felix snapped back to find Valen darting around with a small notebook, 'On a certain date, month and year, the Great Demon King lost for the first time against the Genius Niffler Valen ...' After peeking from the side, Felix confiscated the notebook in annoyance.

"This one doesn't count, let's play another hundred games!"

...

In the last Ancient Rune class before Christmas, Felix looked down from the podium at the students who were completely out of the mood for class.

"Professor, Professor Flitwick had allowed us to have free time in his class." One student boldly hinted. His words drew a low murmur of agreement, "Yes, Professor, you only need to spend two minutes at the end to assign our assignment." Another student chipped in boldly.

Felix looked at them with a wry smile, "That's not impossible. I'll assign the assignment first and after that, if you still feel you all need free time for the rest of the class, I'm all for it ..."

A suppressed cheer had risen from below the podium as the two students who had spoken had enjoyed heroic attention.

"Given that some students will not be able to cast spells during the holidays, I will not assign any practical assignments. The whole thing is on the 'answer space' where you will find a new gift sign on it ... the one that is hanging on the Christmas tree, and yes, that is your holiday assignment."

The students opened their parchments.

Harry stared at the 'Christmas tree' in incredulity: there is a small, silly-looking lion at the bottom of the tree. It kept jumping up and down, pawing at the gift box hanging on the branch, which naturally turned out to be a waste of effort.

There is also a pattern of a glowing wand next to the gift box.

He turned his head to see Hermione excitedly poking her wand at it, and the gift box in the tree immediately fell down and was pounced on by the impatient lion cub. "Bang!" The lion cub was drowned in test papers.

"Quite a novelty, isn't it?" She said gleefully.

"Yeah, it looks kinda festive." Harry muttered, not a trace of joy visible on his face.

"You guys get it, O.W.Ls year." Felix said cheerfully from the podium, after a moment, only to pretend he had just seen the sad atmosphere in the classroom, "Oh come on, I always wanted you all to be happy with your studies ... Here's the deal, I can give you an offer."

All the students looked up.

"If you can prove to me that you have indeed mastered this part of the subject, I can consider my assignments to be nothing more than a repetition of meaningless labour ... and will reduce them appropriately." Felix said with extremely sinister intentions, "I have specially prepared a test that is not compulsory, as it is really not good to have a test before Christmas ..."

The students who had just been clamouring for free time were dumbfounded, they stared blankly for a good while, then finally looked at Felix.

"Hurry up with the papers, Professor!" One student yelled.

This statement basically marked the end of the open battle between the professor and the students, with the students' side losing out.

Of course, they thought it was a good deal.

Harry had spread out his thick test sheet and was just about to answer the questions when Hermione jostled the sheet. He couldn't help but glance to the side to find Hermione quickly skimming the whole paper with a look of delight.

The paper had been divided into ten sections, with translations, deductions of meaning, and an examination of the twelve steps involved in making the amulet. Harry immediately started with the section he is best at, considering what the professor had just said. Ron on the other side of the room just sulked and answered the questions, and Harry had to reluctantly give up after Ron failed to catch the answer even though he had mouthed the answer twice.

Time passed, and the only sound in the classroom was the subtle rustle of quills on parchment, which was pleasing to the ear.

Finally, the bell rang.

Harry lifted his head and looked around the classroom. Noticed that only a few students had finished answering their papers, and only Hermione stared at the paper for inspection, mumbling something under her breath.

"Stop answering questions." Felix announced, as all the test papers flew towards him, and stacked neatly in a row on the lectern. "I'll finish marking them before the holidays ... Okay, you can leave now."

The students exchanged looks of excitement and thrill with each other as they gathered their things and left the classroom in a line.

"You guys leave first." Draco Malfoy said to his two followers, Crabbe and Goyle scrunched their faces into a frown as if they didn't quite understand until he said it again, to which they shrugged and walked off alone.

Draco stood in front of Felix, a fine bead of sweat seeping from the tip of his nose.

"It's like this, Professor Hap-" he stammered.

Felix raised a hand to stop him and turned his head to glare at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who are still dawdling in the doorway, refusing to leave, "Bang!" The door slammed shut in front of them. "Now you can talk."

Draco froze for a moment and whispered, "Professor, I wanted to ask if you are free for Christmas, I'd like to invite you to the house ..."

"Lucius asked you to ask?" Felix calmly questioned.

Draco looked up at him, unable to tell from that face whether he was happy or not. And he stammered, "No, no, it's me ... I think ... well, you've always taken good care of me, teaching me not only the Disillusionment Charm and Apparition but even the advanced magic like Occlumency, which if my father found out, he would have let me express my gratitude."

Felix looked down at him, his light yellow hair and pointed chin identical to his father's. Felix didn't speak for half a second.

"Don't think too much about a lot of things, it is not your turn to get involved in this mess, for now, all you need to do is enjoy a pleasant holiday."

"But Potter and the gang-" Draco said defiantly as a flush rose to his pale face.

"They're not like you." Felix said firmly, "Merry Christmas to you in advance, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco turned away stiffly as he pushed the door open - "Draco?" He heard the professor's voice say and Draco looked back with excitement. Professor Hap had stood in front of the huge window, the clean, clear sunlight from outside spilling into the classroom and casting itself on the professor's back. It made it completely impossible for him to see the man's face as he squinted his eyes.

" Is your wand made of hawthorn wood?" The professor asked.

"Yes, Professor." Draco said.

"A wand of this material is particularly suitable for healing magic, you might consider it."

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

Christmas came and went as usual.

The school is deserted and silent. Felix attributed this to the daily updates in the newspapers, which served as a sideways reminder to the students that there is a dark lord lurking outside the peaceful school grounds. That's why they become more and more eager to be with their families over Christmas.

"It's not really that bad," Professor McGonagall said, "during the last war people were always on edge and quickly made decisions without any consideration for the future."

"Like what?"

"Like getting married as soon as they graduate, and young couples eloping together and fleeing abroad ... happened quite frequently." Professor McGonagall sounded somehow disapproving.

Two seats away, Astronomy Professor Sinistra was describing in detail a spectacular solar eclipse she had seen, and Trelawney, who had been silent, looked at her thoughtfully, "Last summer, I saw with my Inner Eye, the existence of eerie shadows on Jupiter, which may correspond to what is happening right now ... I really regret I didn't issue a warning in advance, but I caught a bad cold then ..."

The implication in her words was so obvious that the others at the table glanced at her.

Professor Sinistra asked with interest, "You're talking about the astronomical phenomenon involving an impact of a comet hitting Jupiter? I observed it from start to finish, it started with a big explosion and then diffused a huge cloud of dark dust that lasted for months."

Trelawney clutched the necklace adorned with beads around her neck, "Well ... we're probably not talking about the same thing, you know ... people with Inner Eye don't see things quite the same as normal people... ..."

Felix gave a sideways glance, then turned his head away quite firmly.

"Fine." Professor Sinistra smacked her lips and said, and immersed herself in slicing the beef pie on her plate. Dumbledore also withdrew his gaze and rejoined the conversation between Professors Burbage and Sprout, "I can't wait to see the latest developments, Charity. I must say this type of research is very interesting and crucially there's not much risk involved ..."

"Yes, Pomona has helped me a lot." Professor Burbage said with a burp. Professor Sprout poured her a glass of wine with a smile.

"Where's Sirius?" Professor Flitwick looked around.

"He's gone home for the holidays, with his godson." Felix said.

"You mean Potter ... Oh, I have a hard time associating him with the word 'father', probably because he left such an impression before. ...but I have to say, he's a qualified professor, much better than I expected." Professor Flitwick huffed sentimentally, thus the dismissive soft grunt from Snape was not heard.

Felix thought about it, whether it was the school performance he had inquired about from the Fat Lady or the more glaring 'No.1 Death Eater and Azkaban's first escapee', both had a higher profile than the title Professor Black ...

But Sirius was doing pretty solid now as a Professor.

As the cold wind howled, the fire roared in Black's old mansion.

Sirius, who had just been mentally complimented by Felix for his solidness, is currently being scolded, as Mrs. Weasley thrusts up her waist and her short, lanky frame explodes with great energy: "Without saying a word! Disappearing without a trace! Do you know how worried we were, thinking you had been taken away by the You-Know-Who, which really isn't the worst thing that could have happen," she huffed, "and you took Harry along knowing it?"

Sirius leaned listlessly on the sofa, his right hand dangling out of sight of Mrs. Weasley, as he fiddled with a muggle chess piece hidden between the gap in the stone wall. Harry stood on the side, not daring to breathe. Mrs. Weasley had been shouting for half an hour, and halfway through Ginny, Ron, Lupin, and Tonks had all appeared at the door, but no one had the courage to stop a still angry Mrs. Weasley.

It wasn't until Mr. Weasley returned that she remembered there was still beef stew in the pot and hurried to the kitchen.

"Please, do something serious for once." She shouted at Ginny and Ron, who were standing at the top of the stairs. Sirius, who just looked downcast, stopped what he was doing and pricked up his ears, and when the footsteps died down, he leaped up from the sofa and made a face towards the stairs. Ginny watched in disbelief.

"Don't listen to her Harry, a man needs to experience a bit of adventure ... not to mention I will step on in advance if something happens." He winked at Harry and made his way upstairs.

Ron repeatedly made sure his mother had really left and came up to Harry and asked. " Where have you been?"

"To visit the grave." Harry whispered through his teeth.

Ron opened his mouth and finally patted Harry's shoulder wordlessly, "Don't think about that, let me show you something nice. While you were away, Ginny asked Tonks a lot about the Auror training program, and we think some of it would work perfectly well in Frontline Lookout ..."

Harry looked up with interest. "I'll go over and see before dinner - is it in Ginny's room?" He glanced towards the stairway; Ginny had disappeared at some point.

Taking a few steps forward, he found Ron staring at him oddly.

"I'm warning you ... if you plan to do *Something* to Ginny, I will never let -" he stated in a low voice as if he had been constructing this sentence in his head for ages.

Harry's jaw dropped, "How could-"

The conversation between them was interrupted unexpectedly as Mrs. Weasley poked her head from the door, "Dinner's ready, children, go wash your hands. Where's Ginny?"

Harry and Ron both shrank back at the same time, leaving the previous conversation behind them. "Didn't she went looking for you?" Ron muttered.

" Each and every one of you is a pain in the arse ..." Mrs. Weasley's voice trailed off.

Malfoy Manor.

Draco Malfoy sat at the elaborately decorated dining table, a roaring fire burning in the ornate gold gilded fireplace as he clinked his silver plate.

"Draco, mind your manners." Narcissa said, "If you're done eating, you can look under the Christmas tree; a few of your seniors have brought you presents while you were napping."

Draco licked his lips, and sat upright, as he looked at Lucius and said, "I, I have something I want to talk to you about."

"Is something happened at school?" Lucius put his fork down slowly and wiped his mouth, then picked up his goblet unhurriedly.

"No." Draco said, breathing heavily.

"Then what is it?" Lady Malfoy looked at her son in disbelief. She had pale skin, with slightly high cheekbones, which made her look a bit villainous at first glance.

Without answering his mother's question, Draco looked at Lucius and stammered, "Dad, I want to talk to you alone ... a conversation between men."

Lucius and Narcissa exchanged an odd glance. "So, you think you can take the responsibility?" Lucius put down his goblet and wiped his mouth with the clean white velvet again, and repositioned his spine against the back of his chair, as he stared straight at his son.

"Draco ...," Narcissa's voice held a clear warning.

"I think so." Draco said stubbornly.

"Very well, very well." Lucius lowered his voice, "Come with me." Draco leaped up from his chair quickly. "Bring your wand." Lucius said coldly. The expression on Draco's face froze.

...

The next day dawned beautifully and Felix showed up at Diagon Alley very early.

"These are ...?" Lupin watched in wonder as he pulled out a roll of parchment.

"A plan, and information about some Squibs." Felix explained, "Some of the addresses may be old to find, and it's okay if you can't find them."

Lupin unfolded the plans first, his lips quivered as he read the dark green print, and his expression gradually grew serious, "The exclusive wand that allows the Squibs to cast spells, the principle behind it is magic frequency ... isn't it quite different for each person?"

"That's right. The so-called magic frequency is actually a precise measurement of the fluctuation of magic power, and the magic power in each wizard has a subtle difference, which is our unique characteristic. In theory, you can accurately identify the wizard casting the spell by the magic frequency ..."

"And in reality?" Lupin asked tactfully.

"In reality, it's more complicated. If your control of magic is strong enough, and you are determined to conceal it ... it is entirely possible to change the frequency of your magic." Felix said in an elusive tone, "But it must be recognized that such a process is difficult ... very difficult ..."

It is precisely because of this fact that Felix was able to create the exclusive wand. Because this wand can only recognize a specific magic power. If outsiders wanted to imitate it, they would have to rely entirely on luck and there's a possibility that they wouldn't get any results even if they tried tens of thousands of times.

Lupin looked at Felix and felt that his smile was rather crafty. He lowered his head and continued to look through the plans, "Yesterday Sirius brought Harry to Godric's Hollow." He said as he read.

"No trouble, right?" Felix asked, by the trouble he meant Voldemort, whose hideout is nowhere to be found.

"No, they went and returned quickly, they didn't stay too long." Lupin smiled, "Still got a good scolding from Molly, but I think it was a lesson he deserved ... No need to rush this plan, right?"

Felix nodded slightly, "Let's start with the people settled in the wizarding world first, don't make too much of a buzz."

Lupin thought carefully for a moment, "Felix, you don't have to lock your sights entirely on the Squibs, some wizards ... are actually pretty bad at casting spells."

"You mean--"

"We could advertise in the newspapers, something like a correspondence course in 'fast spell casting' or something." Lupin gave a reminiscent look, "I lived off that job for a while, it was a really an easy time, all I had to do was write letters every day, and only occasionally I will get customers at my door. That was also when I honed my teaching skills ... Unfortunately, it didn't last long."

The subject came to an abrupt end and Felix reckoned what followed would not be too rosy.

Lupin took out his quill and cocked his head to ponder the wording for the ad, with an earnest look that Felix could not bear to disturb. He skulked around Lupin's office, mentally analysing the positioning of the Squibs.

According to Felix's anticipation, when the dust had settled and the wizarding community had gone public, the two sides would inevitably enter into a more substantive exchange. But this exchange would certainly not be completely relaxed and unrestricted, and it would not be a scenario where wizards could fly all over the place.

This is when someone will need to travel back and forth between the wizarding society and the muggle society.

It is best to be involved in both sides in order to act as a bridge of communication, but then again there is a distinction between bridges. In Felix's mind, young wizards from Muggle families - including purebloods willing to embark on the new wizarding ship - represented the future backbone of the wizarding world, but they would essentially have to remain in the wizarding world in the end.

They are unlikely to serve as a direct window to the outside world, presenting the wizarding world to the outside world and vice versa. That would undoubtedly be a waste.

But it is quite necessary to have some 'windows for communication between the two sides in the early days of the opening'. The alternatives Felix had in mind for this role are Squibs and the relatives of young wizards from Muggle families. These people knew about the existence of magic early on and occasionally experienced it first-hand, or at least most of the parents of the young wizards had the experience of accompanying their children to Diagon Alley to buy books.

It would be unlikely that they would be able to pursue magic, but the new age certainly would birth many new professions, and a number of them would suit them well.

Felix expanded his imagination: first of all, tour guides would be necessary. They could either guide wizards to science and technology museums, ... or guide ordinary people to experience the magical world on a day trip; in addition, there would be new-age writers who would use the perspective of ordinary people -- or the perspective of Squibs and a wizard's relative -- to portray what it's like to see the magical world and unravel the mysteries of magic.

The benefits are obvious: strangeness is a breeding ground for suspicion, and the only way to bridge the gap is to understand.

And of course, there are also the traders who sell Potions, food, and moving comic books ... these things always need to be run by someone, and it's hard to get wizards to do business based on pounds; after a lifetime of calculating that 1 Galleon equals 17 Sickles and 1 Sickle equals 29 Knuts, Felix reckons a fair number of wizards can't figure out decimal.

But if the parents of the young wizards are willing to do so, Felix is happy to see it. He, for one, thought favourably of the parents of Justin Finch-Fletchley, whom he had contacted ...

The only thing Felix is concerned about is the mentality of the Squibs. He could intuitively sense the ambivalence of both desire and hatred in Filch: to him, it didn't matter at all who ruled the wizarding world or how many people died in the wizard wars, or he would even be happier with more deaths.

The only people Filch could accept were those who had helped him, like Ms. Oakby. Felix is not even sure if he counts as one.

The mentality of the marginal group of Squibs was reflected in Filch, and it is quite representative. Of course, others would probably not be as extreme as Filch.

In most cases, once the children of wizarding families were confirmed as Squib, they would be sent to Muggle school early (Filch didn't go because of the war), and these people would grow up with very minimal entanglement with the wizarding community. Like Mafalda's father - he married and had children like normal people, and would have spent his life pretending the wizarding world didn't exist at all if it weren't for the fact that his daughter is a witch.

So Filch is an example or a rather extreme one. After all, not all Squibs have the opportunity to see hundreds of little wizards bouncing around in front of them as soon as they open their eyes.

...

Felix casually picked up a copy of the Werewolf Code of Conduct from the desk and could tell that Lupin had been looking through it so often lately that even the corners were worn. He flipped the book open and the pages automatically settled on a particular page in the middle - "No, Felix!" Lupin shouted in panic as he reached for it and ended up knocking the book out of Felix's hand by pushing too hard.

A photograph floated down from the tumbling book of the Werewolf Code of Conduct and spun to the floor. The photo showed the woman with conspicuous short pink hair winking mischievously at him.

Felix froze for a moment. "Oh, sorry, I didn't see anything." He turned around and unsurprisingly heard a grinding of teeth, good thing Lupin hadn't rushed over to bite him, and after a ten-second interval, he turned around and Lupin had cleaned up the scene and panting in his chair.

"Don't say anything." Lupin said half-heartedly, his voice hoarse as he buried his face in his hands.

"I think Tonks is quite-"

"Don't say a word!" Lupin said sharply, his chest heaving violently.

Felix put away his joking expression as he nodded silently. Everyone has a knot in their heart. ... Stepping out of the sword castle, Felix pulled out a communication mirror and said to the man in it, "Give me Graybuck's location."

A disguised, shrill voice sounded from the other side, "Oh ... he's hiding far away ... and probably not in England right now ... "

"So you aren't in England either?" Felix lazily quipped.

"It's not like I'm hanging out with him! The guy's probably hiding in a cave in some random little country! With a bunch of werewolves around him!" The man exclaimed in annoyance.

"Reconciliation requires sincerity, remember? You were the one who took the initiative to find me." Felix reminded.

A violent gasp was heard from the mirror as if the other man struggled to hold back his anger. Felix waited a moment and said calmly, "Give me that man or his location, I don't care what you do, but if you do it, we'll forget about our feud. It's quite tiring to always remember your name, Mr. Shafiq."

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

After Christmas, the days at Black's old mansion filled with boredom.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny were doing their assignments at the dining room table, and every half hour, Kreacher would bring a steaming pot of tea.

"Thanks, but I really can't drink anymore." Ron's face turned red as he held it in, and shortly thereafter he bent over and ran upstairs to use the bathroom. It looked disgusting to Ginny.

She picked up the teapot in a delicate gesture and poured herself a cup of tea, and brought the cup to her lips, taking a very ladylike sip before gently placing the cup on the dining table and looking up to find Harry frowning as he pondered his Potions class paper, she immediately huffed and flipped through the pages loudly.

Ron returned.

"Snape is still in the study." He said briefly.

Harry knew what he meant; Snape had started to come over regularly the day after the Christmas, and it was a little odd how he appeared at the Order of the Phoenix headquarters three days in a row at a time when the members of the Order were all busy.

"Look on the bright side, maybe he's just coveting the Black family's book collection." Ron said.

"I saw him, last night." Ginny said pointedly, and Harry and Ron immediately turned their heads. "I was going to the kitchen to have some water and I saw him glide past the stairs like a ghost without making a sound ..."

Harry and Ron looked at each other, this made him even more suspicious.

" Is he looking for something?"

"Maybe trying to decipher the Order of the Phoenix's protection magic!"

"Don't be silly, this place is under Fidelius Charm and no one can force Dumbledore to reveal the secret!"

"Why don't we write to Hermione, she knows quite a bit of sneaky magic." Ginny suggested as she leaped to her feet.

"Good idea."

For the next few days, Harry and Ron discussed what Snape planned to do while they anxiously waited for Hermione's reply. It took nearly a week for them to realize that the old Black mansion is protected by layers of magic and Hedwig couldn't find her way back in.

Harry slipped out during lunchtime and brought back Hedwig, who had been wandering around Grimmauld Place for days. Hedwig angrily pecked Harry's ears and fingers as Harry kept apologizing, and only when she had vented enough did she drop a bulging envelope on the top of Harry's head.

Hermione's letter was long.

'Mum, Dad, and I are in Switzerland, and it's very peaceful here without a hint of a war vibe. I persuaded them to stay here for a year and a half, but they strongly disagreed and forced me to promise to write them a letter every week!

I taught them by hand how to subscribe to the Daily Prophet and the New Solutions to the Rune Magazine, and although they couldn't read the latter, they were able to find my name on it. They were also interested in 'The Quibbler', which I thankfully discouraged in time, as I don't want them to ask me what is a goblin pie in a letter.

For your questions, I do know a few tricks, but I'm not sure if they'll work on Professor Snape. I recommend a few methods that muggles use, which I was inspired by a detective novel Dad was reading recently, you can place a strand of hair in the space between the book and if someone opens it, the hair will fall out ... Other methods are enclosed at the end... ...'

"What do you think?" Putting the letter down, Harry asked Ron and Ginny.

"Use that muggle method!" Ron and Ginny said in unison, Harry didn't object, apparently he too had little faith in his chances of getting past Snape using magic.

In the evening two days before the school starts, Harry went upstairs to call Sirius down for dinner. At the fourth-floor stairway, Harry saw Sirius leaning against the doorframe, and just when he was about to say hello, he noticed that Sirius was facing the room, as he lazily fiddled with his wand, talking to someone inside.

Harry took a few steps closer and the voice became clear.

Sirius' tone was unfriendly, "Tell me, how did you end up in my room?"

Who was he talking to? The question just popped into Harry's head and in the next second he knew the answer, when a slow voice said, "Naturally, I have something to look for you, why are you even asking this question, do I look like I am lost or something?"

It is Snape!

Harry's breath caught and his heart raced. He held his breath, Snape's actions had been so suspicious lately, and he desperately wanted to know why.

"Yeah well," Sirius squinted as he looked around the room, "I thought someone had sneaked into my room to look for something ..."

"Look for something?" Snape's icy voice said with an intense contempt in his tone and Harry could almost imagine his thin lips puckering up like a snake poised to spew venom, "Oh ... you mean the bikini pictures posted on the wall?"

Sirius, who was raising an eyebrow at Snape, stiffened and licked his lips, "What did you say?"

"I have to say, you have a unique taste and a lot of nerve." Snape's sneering voice heard and Sirius turned red, "That's an old picture!" He growled in a low voice.

Not wanting to hear any more, Harry backed away, when Snape suddenly appeared in the doorway, bumping past Sirius who was in the way, and was surprised to see Harry who was tiptoeing backward.

That moment was downright awkward.

A few seconds felt like centuries. Harry froze in place as a sneer pulled at the corners of Snape's mouth, "Looks like Someone found out your little secret, Sirius. Would you Obliviate him?" He walked away with a large stride.

Harry turned slowly to get down the stairs, "Stop." Sirius said with a grimace and Harry stammered, "I didn't hear anything." Sirius couldn't help but curse in a low voice, not sure who he was cursing, "Follow me."

Harry walked into the room with a great burst of courage.

He had never formally entered this room before, at most knocking on the door to call Sirius out for dinner and vaguely glimpsing the large sculpted bed and velvet drapes over the bed. It was only when Harry entered that he realized the room is spacious and beautiful.

Sirius sat on the bed with a huff and pointed to the wall behind Harry.

"See for yourself."

Harry slowly turned his head, expecting to see some odd pictures, which he did. Harry noticed the Gryffindor flags on either side of the silver satin wall first, they acted as the baseline for the entire wall of photographs, allowing one to tell at a glance which house the owner of the room came from.

Harry secretly applauded.

Then he couldn't help but notice the wall full of stickers and photographs, and Harry blinked, it wasn't quite what he had expected, there were lots of pictures of Muggle motorbikes plastered on them, only a few of them being 'bikini pictures' as Snape had called them, the girls' faded smiles frozen on the yellowed pictures - they didn't move at all - seemingly cut from a muggle film poster.

This had been glued to the wall when Sirius was at school, which Harry realized, and at the same time he had to admit that Snape was right about one thing, Sirius did have a lot of nerve ...

Apart from these, there are also many wizard pictures on the wall. Harry was first surprised and then with a tinge of discomfort, he finally knew where the set of photographs that Sirius had obtained from the Creevey brothers was hidden. There are dozens of Harry Potter's winked at him.

Harry wasn't sure what he felt more inside, embarrassment or being moved, his eyes were slightly sore, and it took him a few moments to spot a couple of different pictures.

A picture of four Hogwarts students standing arm in arm, Harry stared at the picture of his father, Sirius, Lupin, and of course Peter Pettigrew, each of them smiling happily at the camera.

And then there is a picture of Sirius with a young man on his shoulder, which Harry recognizes as Regulus, neither of them very old when the picture was taken, and Sirius was yet to run away from home

The last picture - Harry's breath froze - featured a dark-haired baby flying up and down on a small broomstick, giggling and smiling, and two legs of a full-grown man were trailing behind him; that must be his father, James Potter.

"Lily mailed it to me back then, I managed to find it when I was cleaning the house." Sirius said, pointing to the baby picture, "It was hidden in my motorbike repair manual and I nearly threw it away."

Harry remained silent, unsure of what to say.

"I have a few more letters here from James and Lily ..." Sirius stammered, "I've been hesitant whether you would want it or not."

"Of course I do!" Harry immediately said, looking at Sirius with an expectant look on his face.

Sirius smiled.

"It's probably not exactly what you're expecting ... We talked mostly about the war in those days, except for your mother, Lily. She always had a great passion for life ..." he muttered, and when he finished he paused for a moment before getting up from the bed, and yanked open the drawer of his bedside table, taking a pile of letters from it.

Harry gazed greedily at the somewhat faded traces of ink, wondering how he hadn't thought of this before. But then it occurred to him that he never seemed to have the habit of keeping Ron and Hermione's letters ... he decided to change it immediately, starting now.

"Do you have James's invisibility cloak?" Sirius abruptly asked.

"What? Oh yeah, Headmaster Dumbledore gave it to me in my first year." Harry replied, not knowing why Sirius was asking this question, his full attention fixed on the letters. He saw a line of beautiful handwriting, probably written by his mother.

He impatiently held it in his hand, wishing he could feel the body heat of the person writing the letter.

Sirius stopped talking and looked moody. He waved his hand and Harry headed outside, he suddenly turned back at the door, "Well ... Sirius, I wanted to say that you do have good taste." Without waiting for Sirius's reply, he hurriedly slipped away.

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

Meanwhile, Felix is creating a house in the icy Arctic and Valen is hiding under his thick dragon hide hat, feeling uncomfortable from only seeing endless glaciers.

Felix has had a pretty productive week. After Christmas dinner, he spent the day focussing on company matters before popping over to Newt's country house, where he was greeted by the Scamander Couple, Newt's wife - Tina Scamander, a kind and earnest old woman who after knowing he was planning a short trip, had thoughtfully prepared Felix a box with Twelve varieties of hot dogs.

"Honey, you might as well make some apple pie as a dessert," Newt said.

"I always have trouble grasping the heat." Tina said as she glanced at him.

For the next three days, Felix followed Newt's instructions, travelling to and from all the magical creature sanctuaries around the world, collecting the magical creatures' data he had in his mind, and as the final week of the holidays approached, he reached the North Pole, a place he knew the least about.

"A magical creature that can split itself?" Newt asked, "Did my memory body tell you that? Frankly, I don't know if it was an illusion, but I saw one once in the far north of the world, which is a combination of a snow ferret, fox, and a wolf... They split themselves when hunting somewhat like the Matagots that guard the important places of the French Ministry of Magic. Though they are totally different because the Matagots is not a creature, but a spirit being..."

Felix was very curious about this magical creature.

He must admit that he was intrigued when he first heard about it in classroom seven. Despite knowing that the Liquid luck Potion is useless, he still used up the last bit of his stock and began his endless search.

His advantages lie in his superb mobility due to the Apparition and his eyes that can discern magic.

But the Arctic is too vast, so hopelessly vast that he can only trace a circle outwards based on the general location provided by Newt. Luckily, he had found a rather precious jewel on the black market in the Americas, a jewel from a Horned Serpent that is endemic to that region, and the jewel on its forehead grants both invisibility and the ability to fly, which Felix had woven into a carpet, thus allowing him to float without any burden.

Felix himself can fly, but it requires a lot of magical power, and he rarely uses it unless it is for battle. In comparison, Voldemort made it look easy, and Felix wondered if he had dissected a Horned Serpent and transplanted its bloodline into his own body, or of course, it could have been a Lethifold?

"Two days to go, if we can't find it by then we'll return." Felix said, and soon the house made of ice was built, after entering it he enlarged the interior by casting the Undetectable Extension Charm and created a fireplace inside, which was when Valen jumped out of his hat.

"Didn't you have a good time with those otters yesterday?"

"Kiki!"

"The thermostatic pendant not working? Well, you've been using it for a long time. When we get back, I'll make you one, never mind, let's buy one." Felix pulled out the thick blanket, and iron pot from the ring, as he turned his head to look at Valen and said hesitantly, "Do you prefer to grill fish or soup, plus we have plenty of hot dogs, too ..."

Valen gagged twice.

"A bit greasy? How fussy." Felix smacked his lips. In the end, he didn't touch the hot dogs either - he'd had enough of them in those two days in the Brazilian rainforest.

The next day, Felix was sitting on his flying carpet, looking down from several thousand feet above, with endless, undulating icebergs below him; the carpet could actually fly even higher, but Felix's magical perspective couldn't keep up if they go any higher.

Valen leaned against his back, happily playing a mini-game. The game came from the magic painting club at school. When the club was considering what theme to use as material for an interactive magic painting, Valen showed up at a crucial moment. She not only provided the core inspiration but also included a substantial amount of funding.

The result was a magical painting mini-game called 'Brave Warrior', with Niffler as the lead role.

After spending some time 'slaying', Valen took a new magic painting out of her pocket, and Niffler in the middle of the painting which was anxiously waiting at the edge of the level jumped onto another one, armed with a deluxe version of her exclusive wand, and set off to challenge the new level.

On the other side, Felix had made a new discovery.

A creature with snow-white fur nimbly moving across the white earth, and by following its path, Felix found a nest of frantically fleeing Arctic rabbits. The creature indeed looks like a combination of Arctic fox and Arctic wolf, as described by Newt, albeit a lot smaller, looking about the size of a ferret.

The key thing is that Felix saw rapidly flowing magic on this creature.

Having magic meant that this is a magical creature.

As Felix floated two or three hundred feet above the air, the snow-white magical creature, which was oblivious to the eyes of the mysterious man overhead, moved as fast as it could, but the arctic rabbit was no slower and steered quite nimbly. This magical creature leaped high as it approached the Arctic rabbit, and splitting an identical entity from its body as it reached the peak high it could reach from the jump, the two white shadows crisscrossed through the snow, with their mind connected as they cooperated seamlessly and caught an unlucky rabbit in the blink of an eye.

Felix watched as he descended, mentally tsked in amazement as he couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary if he didn't look closely.

The magical creature with the snowy white fur picked up the rabbit and turned its head to see a strange creature descending from the sky, it had never seen a human before, so it stayed where it was to examine Felix.

Felix smiled kindly.

"Little fox? maybe a Little wolf? Or a Little ferret? Whatever, I got delicious hot dogs for you..."

Two days later, Felix released it.

"Full harvest, let's go, Valen." Valen waved goodbye to her newfound friend.

"Kee! (Bye!)"

"Kiki! (Watch your weight!)"

"Kikii! (Otherwise you can't catch any food!)"

Felix patted Valen lightly, " He is much more in shape than you are ..." Exasperated, Valen wanted to hit him.

...

The Hogwarts train had stopped at Hogsmeade and the young wizards who had gone home for the holidays returned to school by carriage.

Ron and Hermione, as the Prefect, had organized the young wizards into the carriage and entered the carriage in time with the last group. As soon as they got in, the Night Thestral carriage moved.

"What, all about dark magic? Snape?" Hermione looked at Harry and Ron in surprise, her mind still not switched back after spending the last two weeks travelling around with her parents. "Well ... it's normal if you think about it, isn't it? We all know he's interested in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, maybe he's preparing for it ..."

Harry said dismissively, "If that's the case that's fine, it means we only have to put up with him for one more year ..."

"The point is, he's still sneaking around the house in the middle of the night, as Ginny can testify." Ron added.

"Oh, ugh, I don't know, but it's his personal business." Hermione stroked her hair, "Did you guys finish your assignments, I think there are a few things that could be changed."

Harry and Ron looked at each other, they had obviously spent more time guessing Snape's motives.

"I'm still- a little.. short," Ron glanced uneasily at Harry, who didn't say anything.

"Well, if you guys don't turn in your assignments tomorrow, will you give that reason to the professors?" Hermione asked pointedly. Harry sighed. When they got back to school, they hurriedly finished their dinner and went to the library. A number of students were already sitting inside, and they found a random empty table and sat down, Hermione looking around thoughtfully.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, the Muffliato Charm became popular."

Harry looked around, he did notice some students' mouths opening and closing rapidly without making a sound, and the gloomy face of Mrs. Pince, the librarian, repeatedly showed up through the gaps in the bookshelves, like a vulture that has failed to find its prey circling high in the sky for a while before regretfully leaving.

Harry tapped his wand on the table and the surrounding sounds became muffled, sounding like a low, noisy buzz.

Harry flipped out his assignment, his History of the Magic essay short of one more paper to finish. He swirled open his ink bottle, the tip of his quill drenched in ink, as he scribbled away on his parchment. In the interval of looking up, he saw Snape's silhouette flicker in the middle of the bookshelf.

Harry's heart thumped and his eyes strained to catch Snape's movement, surprised to find him lingering in the restricted section for a short time before finally sitting at a table, reading a book. It was only when the library was about to close that Snape stood up and left with the book.

"Wait for me." Harry said to Ron and Hermione as he stood up. "What?" But he was already stood up and walked out of their table.

He returned after a long while with his heart in his throat.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked, "You look like you've just been hit by Mrs. Pince with a chicken feather duster ..."

"Snape, the book Snape was reading ..." Harry swallowed hard, "Magick Moste Evile."

"So?" Hermione asked with annoyance, not taking her eyes off her own paper, "Harry, he is a professor, even if he studies dark magic, he must have a legitimate reason, he's probably thinking about how to crack them ... you probably would have found out more if you could check his book borrowing records. "

"Good idea." Ron said, "Hey, I'm serious, we could really try that!"

"Now you're wrong about that, Hermione." Harry said lowering his voice, "I haven't read as many books as you have, I've only heard that name once ..."

Hermione looked up and froze as she stared at Harry's face.

In a dry voice she said, "I remember ... a passage in the preface of this book, 'No discussion or instruction regarding the evilest magical creation, the Horcrux, will be given here'... ... Harry, you think he's investigating ..."

She didn't continue, but both Harry and Ron knew what she meant - Snape might be secretly investigating about the Horcrux.

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

In the clubroom, Harry, Ron, and Hermione bickered verbally.

"Harry, we should better not get carried away, remember, in the first year you thought Professor Snape was planning to steal the Philosopher's Stone, but he was actually spying on Quirrell. He also extended his protection when Quirrell tried to make you fall off your flying broom."

Hermione magically locked the door and chanted a few more anti-disruption spells to make it easier for them to talk about the dangerous topics without fear.

"I know." Harry sullenly agreed.

"And second year-"

"Thanks for mentioning the second year, he tried to expel Ron and I as soon as school started, don't say he wanted to protect me, Hermione, his mind shouldn't have been magically connected to Dobby, not to mention he didn't know the Chamber of Secrets was going to be opened at that point."

"Oh, er ..." Hermione was a little short of words, "Third year, he was on our side ..."

"Do we need to award him a medal? For not siding with the Dementors?" Harry was annoyed, "Hermione, why do you keep speaking for him? He used to be a bloody Death Eater!"

Hermione was silent for a few seconds, "But Headmaster Dumbledore defended him, you told us yourself, Harry, remember? You saw it in the Pensieve ..."

"He - also - doesn't - deserve - to be - trusted." Harry said through clenched teeth.

"Who?"

Harry didn't say anything.

Ron and Hermione looked at him uneasily, "You mean Headmaster Dumbledore - what makes you think that -"

Harry remained silent.

He is hiding a huge secret inside him that is weighing him down, and he doesn't know if he should tell it to Ron and Hermione. The secret had nothing to do with Snape, but it had to do with Headmaster Dumbledore. In the pile of letters Sirius had handed him, he learned a fact that shook him to his core.

"Have you had any nightmares lately, Harry?" Hermione asked softly, looking over to Ron, who shook his head to show that he knew nothing about it.

"No." Harry said with a blank face, but Ron and Hermione looked even more worried. Harry hesitated twice internally before he pulled a letter out of his pocket and handed it to Hermione.

Hermione immediately read it.

"Dear Padfoot-" she paused, "Who wrote this letter?"

"My mum," Harry said, "Keep reading."

"Oh, well.

Dear Padfoot.

Thank you, thank you for Harry's birthday present! It's his favourite toy ever. He looks delighted to be flying around on his toy broom. I've attached a photo for you to see.

I'm sorry you couldn't make it ...

James was feeling a bit stuffy here, though he tried not to show it, but I could tell - the invisibility cloak is still with Dumbledore, so there's no opportunity to go out. How happy he would be if you made it over.

Wormtail was here last weekend and I felt he was downcast, but maybe it was from the news about the McKinnons. I cried all night too when I heard it.

Bathilda drops by often, she's a funny old lady who tells so many stories about Dumbledore, it's truly unimaginable. I don't know if he would be happy to hear it in person! To be honest, I don't know how much to believe it, it's hard to believe that Dumbledore once knew Gellert Grindelwald, the dark lord who rampaged through Europe and that they were once close friends because they shared the same ideology!

But Bathilda claims to be Grindelwald's aunt, and if that's true, then it's hard to pretend what she said is anything but true - after all, she doesn't have any reason to lie. She also revealed a fact about the catchphrase that was later used by Grindelwald to justify all his atrocities and which made him famous - 'for the greater good' - which is said to have originally been written in a letter addressed to his close friend Grindelwald by Dumbledore. It's unbelievable.

There are even more unbelievable things, which I cannot reveal in this letter, and perhaps we should not be harsh on a young man at seventeen. Just think how silly we acted back then, and how James still thinks the whole world should know about Quidditch!

That's all for now, I hear Harry's cry, I hope it's not because James tries some crap due to him being bored, if it's I'd knock him hard on the head ...

- Lily."

Harry saw the shock written all over Ron and Hermione's faces, almost exactly the same as when he first saw the letter, one second he was experiencing all that tender care that he never remembered through his mother's handwriting, the next he was pulled back to reality by the cold truth. It was as if his heart had been torn in two, one half leaping with jubilation and sadness at the knowledge that they had once had a cat, that Sirius had bought him his first flying broom, and that his mother had been as gentle and kind as everyone had told him she was, perhaps a little sentimental as well ...

But the other half, Harry didn't know how to describe his feelings, when he was exposed to the more real Dumbledore, the seventeen-year-old Dumbledore, who had already become good friends with Gellert Grindelwald, the Dark Lord who was destined to bring doom later on when he was only two years older than he was now, and how ironic the words 'shared same ideology' ... sounded!

And there is also that invisibility cloak, Harry thought. For what reason did Dumbledore took the invisibility cloak? A Legendary Warlock like Dumbledore could become perfectly invisible even without an invisibility cloak. He recalled another implausible conjecture he, Ron, and Hermione had made about the invisibility cloak that the older brother of the Three Brothers from the Deathly Hallows ... held ...

If Dumbledore shared the same interest as a young man who aspired to establish a new order dominated by wizards in his youth, was he also interested in the legendary Deathly Hallows that could make one a master of death? Did they plan to establish an eternal reign together, just like Voldemort? Harry was ashamed of himself for thinking like that; how could he put Dumbledore on the same level as Voldemort? But it was hard for him to find excuses and prevent himself from having an afterthought: if Dumbledore hadn't taken the invisibility cloak, was it possible that his family might not have died?

Harry stubbornly ignored the fact that Dumbledore, Professor Hap, and Professor Moody had all seen through the invisibility cloak, and held on to the possibility that could never be verified, repeatedly shifting between hope and cynicism. He buried it all, locked away firmly with an Occlumency until he couldn't help but burst out suddenly during his conversation with Hermione.

He felt resentment coursing through his veins as he looked fervently at Ron and Hermione, like asking them to see how Headmaster Dumbledore wasn't as nice as they thought ... he felt a gush of pleasure from seeing the looks on Ron and Hermione's faces as they were on the edge of collapse.

"Harry," Hermione trailed off, "I know it's truly unbelievable, but it's understandable-"

"Understandable?!" Harry shouted, "Understandable... UNDERSTANDABLE - you know he -"

"Yeah, I know." Hermione stroked her hair confusedly and walked around the activity room, "I know ... talented people always have a lot of ideas, not to mention some people will go much further off the rails than that at their most creative age ... "

"Who do you mean?" Harry snapped.

"What-"

"You said some people are far more outrageous with their ideas than Dumbledore, I can't think of-"

"That doesn't matter!" Hermione said impassively, "We're all well aware that Headmaster Dumbledore is sitting in the Headmaster's office right now, he didn't participate in any of Grindelwald's speeches and atrocities, on the contrary, he stopped him."

"He took the invisibility cloak." Harry said stubbornly, through clenched teeth.

"Ugh, I ... I'm sorry, I know it's hard on your heart, Harry, but we both know the Invisibility Cloak won't stop Vol, Voldemort, their fate was sealed from the moment Wormtail betrayed- "

" I! WON'T! BELIEVE! FATE!" Harry shouted, his panting voice distorted with rage.

Hermione gave him a careful look and gestured with her eyes for Ron to help, who seemed to have not gotten over his shock. He racked his brain and said, "Yeah, Harry, I think Hermione's words have a point ..."

"Which words make sense?" Harry said through clenched teeth.

"It's just that, that ... geniuses always think differently, they're all quite precocious, like Professor Hap, and of course, you-" Ron slowly mumbled.

"Me?" Harry looked at Ron incredulously, the anger in his heart strangely lowered a little, not because Ron had called him a genius by any means, it was ridiculous.

"Yes, that's right, you." Ron's tone smoothed out considerably, but it was still slow and sounded like he was making it up as he went along. "No kid your age has been through more than you, to put it mildly, even Dumbledore ..." he deflated, preferring not to say anything offensive, "You're targeted by one of the world's strongest wizard, and thwarted his plots three times, and you also established the Auror Reserve-"

"My performance-" Harry opened his mouth.

"To be honest, it's quite outrageous too. I collect chocolate frog cards, and you know 'Andros the Invincible', right? He's known for conjuring up giant-sized Patronus, and you did it at the age of fifteen-"

"I had the help of the rune-"

"At least it hasn't been publicly demonstrated by anyone other than Professor Hap yet, has it? And as for practical skills, you're above the average Auror's level now, you also once managed to beat Sirius in training, which is why he was too embarrassed to name you in class ..."

"That was a sparring match." Harry's face flushed a little.

Ron patted him on the shoulder, "Harry, you know what the other graduates say about you? A well-deserved student leader of this era. No one but you could possibly claim that."

"I'm sorry," Hermione interjected coldly, "I haven't heard that one before."

"Because you're not a graduate." Ron said without thinking, "Collins told me that, and the footage of the last two events of the Tournament, you have no idea how hot they sold ... Harry, you're not just famous for the scar on your forehead. Well, speaking of that, I'm quite famous too, I have fans sending me letters ..."

Harry and Hermione stared at him.

Ron said cheekily, "Not as many fans as you, of course, but I mean, do you expect me to complain?"

Harry felt very strange inside, he didn't know how the conversation had turned to the question of whether he is a genius or not, but there is no doubt that he felt much less resentment towards Dumbledore in his mind and the gloom that had been weighing on his heart for the past few days dissipated.

"Even if you all have a point, it at least shows that Headmaster Dumbledore can also make mistakes." He said stiffly.

"I thought of a good idea." Hermione said.

Harry looked at her and asked, "What is it?" But there wasn't much hope in mind.

"Write a letter." The corner of Hermione's mouth curled slightly as she pulled blank parchment and a quill out of her book bag, and with a flick of her wand, the quill automatically wrote on the parchment, in a completely different handwriting than Hermione's usual one.

Harry and Ron came up next to her left and right side and both of their mouths dropped open in surprise when they saw the first sentence being - 'Dear Felix'.

"Dear Felix," Felix read the letter in front of him with an odd expression, as he had assumed that he would never receive a letter from 'Ms. Jane' in his life, and he continued to read on with anticipation-

"Please forgive me for taking the liberty to write, I was a little pessimistic in my last letter, but things are gradually getting better.

The hard times are not yet over, but I am confident that the future will get better. Lately, I've had so many strange ideas popping into my head, they're like a thousand Billywig insects buzzing around, maybe adapting the story in my head into a book would be a big hit?

I don't think I'll ever be a writer, but the characters in this story seem to come to life, and the problems they had started to plague me as if they were real in reality. I urgently need valuable advice if you are willing ...

The story takes place in a remote and closed town where the mayor is a respected elder who fought in the battle and captured the most feared bandits with his own hands, and then he returned to the town and became the protector of the town's civilians, and the townspeople all hold him in high regard.

But there are a few formerly influential blokes who believed that the old mayor had touched their interests, and decided to gather behind a brutal and evil ringleader to overthrow him and regain their former noble position.

A boy lives in the town's herb shop and among his neighbours there is a warm and cheerful girl, they are both about the same age and later they become very good friends.

After going to school, the boy and the girl did not end up in the same class, but their friendship was always preserved. In the meantime two major incidents happen to the boy, first is that he joins a school group that favours the idea of the criminal gang that rampages around the town and the girl keeps urging the boy to leave, but the boy wants to gain fame and refuses to agree. As for the other incident, he and the girl fell out two years before graduation.

After graduation, the boy secretly joined the criminal gang, while the girl became a policeman and married her suitor. The girl and the suitor foiled several plots of the criminal gang, which angered the gang leader, who killed them personally, leaving only a baby behind.

After that day, the evil gang leader also disappeared and the townspeople rejoiced. When the trial took place, the mayor of the town stepped in and shielded the boy. It was said that he had indeed been a member of the gang, but at some point, he realized his mistake and became undercover.

The boy then became a teacher at the only school in the town and in this way, more than ten years passed and the girl's orphan child came of school age. The child, who had been secretly fostered by the mayor of the town in the home of the girl's relatives because both of his parents had died, had a miserable childhood and had always believed that he would be shovelling cow dung for the rest of his life, but to his surprise, he received a letter of acceptance from the school.

The child enters the school with great joy, only to be met with hostility from the boy - who is now a teacher - who had the same unhappy childhood as he did. I don't know why maybe it's because the child always reminds the boy about the father of the child?

The child showed a great deal of athletic talent and had the potential to become a good sheriff later on. The girl's orphan child wants to avenge his parents' death, so he has been trying to gather information about the gang leader. He later discovered about the comeback of the gang leader who now had found a new weapon, and also learned the reason why he didn't die last time was because he had built strong armour from precious materials, and he has six pieces of such armour in total ...

The boy had recently noticed that the teacher who had been targeting him had been acting strangely and might also be investigating the armour's mysteries. This is very unusual - because not only did the mayor already know the reason why the leader was not dead, but he also destroyed several pieces of armour personally - so this teacher is definitely investigating privately behind the mayor's back.

There were so many doubts in this boy's mind, he didn't know if the teacher who treated him badly is a good or bad person, and if he is good, why did he disobey the mayor's orders? Especially since the boy had also recently discovered that the mayor had made his share of mistakes when he was younger, and his image of the wise and good man in the boy's mind was shaken ..."

Felix put the letter down and laughed rather heartily. Valen looked at him curiously.

"Oops, someone's secret is going to be impossible to hide." He looked at the snow Owl that is waiting for a reply and asked, "Your name is Pigwidgeon?"

Hedwig reluctantly whimpered in response and buried her head in her wings.

--

Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

Harry showed a confused expression as he handed the letter to an eager Hermione and Ron, who couldn't wait to read it.

"Ms. Jane, judging by your drafting skills alone, you really not quite suitable for writing a book, it is a little too flat ... that was a joke. I suggest you write from the point of view of the girl's orphan child and unravel the past layer by layer ... As for how to string them together, find a theme for the story that flows throughout the whole book -

Why does the mayor protect civilians?

Why is the boy willing to go undercover?

How did the girl's orphan child survive?

By the way, some of the information is only known to the people involved and those closest to them and will seem incomprehensible to the bystander. For example, I have a Niffler called Valen. Only I know how many hours a day she sleeps, and only I know that she is addicted to games these days. ... Don't be surprised if one day she no longer splurges, it might be because I blocked her pocket money.

After reading your story, this is what I can assure you of.

Finally, I suggest you to change the owl's name, she doesn't look very happy when I call her 'Pigwidgeon'."

Hermione looked thoughtful as she finished reading the letter, "Is it really bad?"

Ron on the other hand snorted out a laugh, "I told you we shouldn't have let Hedwig wear Piggy's (Ron's owl) tag, that would have looked silly." Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"And you guys agreed then." She looked to Harry for input.

Harry didn't notice her gaze as he mulled it over with his head down, "What would be the theme ... that flows through the whole thing? Guilt? Not really, Voldemort doesn't have guilt."

"Dude, the answer is pretty obvious." Ron said. Harry glared at him and Ron twisted his head and whistled.

At the weekend, Harry bumped into Snape again at the library door, and Snape came out from inside clutching two large, thick books.

Harry was relieved for a moment. This means that Snape has not pinpointed the keyword Horcrux, but when he thought about it again, it seems normal, Hermione at first rummaged through the restricted section but still couldn't find any reference material, even when she knew the name Horcrux!

The only book that mentions the word Horcrux is "Magick Moste Evile", but the author of this book only skimmed through about it.

Harry was disappointed back then, and now he is glad.

"Potter! What are you doing?" Snape strode over and asked him coldly. From his angle, Harry could see the cover of the book he carried in his arms featured the face of a distorted male wizard who seemed to be suffering inhuman torture, with his mouth wide open enough to fit half a coconut.

"I came to find a book to read in the library." Harry said.

He took his eyes off the cover of the book and stared at Snape's face. It was completely a spontaneous reaction; from their first meeting, Snape had shown an intense and unwarranted hatred. Harry also hated Snape, whether his slow, drawn-out way of speaking, his cold, stone-like eyes, or his greasy hair and huge hawkish nose.

These are the factors that Harry dislikes, not to mention that they come together. Even without counting these, Harry didn't think Snape is a qualified teacher - he is known for his eccentric attitude, even Sirius is trying to remain impartial by restraining himself, but Snape deduces points unscrupulously ...

" It does not seem so to me, you look like you are specifically waiting for someone?" Snape spoke unkindly, staring at Harry's bulging pockets, " I guess you have some prohibited item in your pocket, hand it over. Filch would be interested."

Harry obediently took the object out, it looked like a silver-grey material composed of liquid, which fluttered and fell from his hands to the floor and formed a glistening puddle.

Snape sucked in a cold breath.

"This is my invisibility cloak, a relic left to me by my mother and father. It's saved me a few times, from Voldemort." Harry stared into his eyes and said, "Professor Snape, does it count as a prohibited item?"

Snape did not speak for a while.

The two men seemed to be engaged in a silent battle, at least that's what Harry thought. He was prepared for this, if Snape intended to confiscate it - which was just what he wanted - he could turn around and demand it back since the invisibility cloak was a birthday present from Headmaster Dumbledore.

Snape took his eyes off the invisibility cloak and stared into Harry's eyes, and half a moment later, he said coldly, "Put it away!"

Harry slowly bent down and picked up the invisibility cloak from the ground, and at this point, he didn't know what to do, his plan didn't consist of what to do next. While he was hesitant he felt darkness before his eyes, a wind blew by, and the hem of the black robe brushed his hair, Harry looked up and only saw the back of a man hurrying away.

Harry stared at Snape's back, a strange emotion fermented in his heart. In the evening, he pushed open the door to the common room, Ron and Hermione approached him anxiously, "Where have you been, Harry?" "Yeah, we've looked everywhere."

"I went to the covered bridge." Harry muttered.

"The covered bridge?" Ron looked at him uncertainly, "What were you doing there, it is freezing outside -"

"Thinking about something." Harry said vaguely, as he headed back to his dorm room and laid straight down on the four-poster bed without taking off his clothes. He hadn't slept a wink that night which caused him to walk to class the next day muddled with dark circles under his eyes.

"Tell me what colour is this, Potter?" In Potions class, Snape's eyes glinted with malice as he spooned out the potion from Harry's cauldron before letting it flow back down for all the class to see.

"Green." Harry muttered stiffly.

"What colour it is supposed to be?" Snape asked again in his elusive voice.

"Pink." Harry replied.

"Pink, so you can tell the difference." Snape repeated as a chuckle broke out in the background. "Then surely you should have known what you are brewing is just a pot of waste water ... You are going to be stuck with zero points, Potter." He waved his wand and the liquid in the cauldron was emptied in one swift motion.

Harry sat down with an expressionless face, shaking with anger. It is true that he did not do well, but Goyle's potion resembled a sticky paste, and Crabbe's cauldron oozed a foul smell and black smoke, but Snape didn't give them a zero. It didn't require any brain to know that Snape was targeting him.

He stared at Snape's back as he returned to the podium, and this time Harry didn't have any messy thoughts in his mind, he just wanted to hex him. The Bat-Bogey Hex seemed to have a different allure to him now, and his mind already imagined a swarm of bats flying out of Snape's large hawk nose.

"Don't be impulsive, Harry." Hermione in the side tried hard to calm him down. Ron didn't have time to talk, as his cauldron was steaming and spitting out a yellow bubble.

...

Felix had been wondering what kind of person would show up at the school in the form of Voldemort's mole from the Ministry of Magic in late January when he heard Sirius complaining.

"Something's wrong," Sirius muttered in a small voice, currently it is breakfast time, and he is tackling a tough-looking steak, the knife and fork hitting the plate with a tooth-aching sound. "I don't know why the Ministry of Magic sent a team to school at this time of year to inspect the students' mastery of Apparition and Side-Along Apparition ... Is this because they don't trust me?"

" Well, you're not bad, Professor Flitwick complimented you on that." Felix said casually as he leafed through the Daily Prophet.

"It's - his - habit -" Sirius was still fighting with his steak, and from using too much force the plate shattered. He huffed and pointed his wand at it, and the plate immediately restored itself to its original state, and he pointed once more, which cut the steak into pieces.

"No, I need to ask Amelia to see what she's up to!"

Felix had no intention of getting involved as he closed his newspaper and finished the last bit of milk.

"What's going on lately?"

" Constructing a building."

"Well, sorry?"

"We're really constructing a building," Sirius said vaguely as he wolfed down his steak, "building all sorts of terrains, you know I can't mess around the castle, and I don't think Classroom Seven is real enough ... I'm tempted to take my students to the Shrieking Shack for adventures, it's easy to set up some traps there."

"You're still on probation." Felix reminded him.

"Thank you."

The two men went their separate ways for their classes, and the atmosphere in the seventh-year Ancient Rune class was very relaxed. Although it was their last year, with all kinds of new and exciting teaching methods, the students had been progressing very quickly making it the subject that they had to least worry about.

Felix took the students to classroom seven and two ghosts floated past them, chatting as they floated by, "Nice dessert today."

The students were used to this.

One by one they passed through the water-like curtain, Felix stopped at the entrance and waited until the last student jumped in and after a few more seconds a figure identical to him coalesced in the air.

Felix's memory body looked up and down at his original and grinned, " Gonna do something bad?"

--

#jean cadagan, Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

Felix looked blankly.

"Ok, ok, I will stop joking, I want to ask one question: I can act like as usual right?" The Memory body frowned, seemingly genuinely troubled by this.

"Just don't overdo with your stupid play." Felix said.

The memory body flipped the bird and Felix asked with a dark look on his face, "Where did you learn to do that?"

"A student." The memory body said absently, "I can tell you his name, I remember him well."

Felix took a step out of classroom seven and went to the Room of Requirement, then reappeared in the Shrieking Shack. A few Apparitions later, he was standing near an abandoned warehouse. In the warehouse, a man lay tied up, hulking, with knotted grey hair and a beard, deeply sunken eyes, and long yellow nails on dirty fingers, he looked more like a beast than a man.

Felix noticed that the ground was covered with thick scratch marks.

"Fenrir Greyback?"

Greyback whimpered, a rag stuffed in his mouth.

"Oh, I forgot." Felix said insincerely, waving his hand as the rag was removed and the man spat on the floor. This revealed the sharp teeth in his mouth and the visible scab in the corner of his mouth. At this moment he slanted his eyes from the ground and asked in an incredulous tone, "Felix Hap? Were you the one who send the men to capture me?"

"It was me. What did Voldemort tell you to do?" Felix's sharp gaze pierced straight into Fenrir's eyes like a rapier, and after a long while, Greyback's gaze went slack, and he fell to the ground, motionless.

"Didn't Voldemort give you his mark? Oh, sorry, he probably doesn't think much of you." Felix said.

Greyback, who looked like a corpse, moved and his eyes grew fierce as he whimpered, "... that was cooperation ..."

"Cooperation? Do you really think you are qualified?"

Felix shot out a stunning spell and the werewolf fell straight back down.

After a long while, Lupin and Tonks suddenly appeared out of the air, both of them raised their wands and looked around warily. "Is it the right address?" Tonks asked in a low voice. " Yes, that's what the note that suddenly fell on my desk read." Lupin said, with a vague guess who did that, but with Tonks right next to him, he couldn't go into details, in case it turned out to be something illegal.

"Over there." Tonks said warily, and the two moved step by step to the edge of the warehouse, in perfect sync with each other, and Lupin, who realized this, became even more frustrated.

The lock on the warehouse proved no challenge to them, and he pulled open the heavy iron door, but his body froze when he saw what it held inside.

Meanwhile, Felix had returned to classroom seven, regardless of what Lupin intended to do, he, for one, decided to take this matter into his own hands. He reckons Lupin won't kill Greyback as long as he doesn't lose his mind a bit, even if the werewolf was the one that bit him when he was a child.

So Felix left a curse on Greyback, to let his sin wither with his body.

The students in Classroom Seven were ignorant of all this, not even knowing that the professor had changed in the middle of the process. All they knew was that Professor Hap had led them to Classroom Seven, where they came into a forest clearing and sat one by one on huge, bald tree stumps, where a line of vine hung from the sky, and Professor Hap sat impishly in a hammock made of vines, as he gave them a lecture.

"Does anyone know what we've been learning lately ... yeah, that's right, what a great memory ... Huh, didn't I tell you guys? Combining the core runes of the twelve amulets together to create ancient magic ... didn't tell you? How sly ... Never mind, I'll demonstrate it to you ..."

"The Professor is very lively today." Fred said, looking at the memory body that had been swinging.

"Probably wanted to try a different style," George said, "it's quite tiring to always maintain a straight face."

"Makes sense, we could try that."

At that moment, a hand suddenly reached out of the air and grabbed their professor. The students looked at each other in confusion. Before they could react, the professor reappeared. Felix cleared his throat and said to the dumbfounded students on the stump, "Ahem, does anyone know what I just said? There's an extra point ..."

After class was over, the students walked out of the classroom in a row.

"The professor must have slacked off, probably ran off to have tea with Professor McGonagall."

"Why Professor McGonagall?"

"Gee, don't you think she was very elegant when she was young, if only I could be that elegant in the future."

In the afternoon Felix saw a lot of new faces in the school, a dozen adult wizards, only a few of whom he recognized. They mostly consist of people from the Wizarding Examinations Authority and people from the Apparition Test Centre along with high-ranking Ministry officials, and among them, two people had attracted his attention - they're Dolores Umbridge and Chesterton Avery.

"Gee, it's not that difficult to guess." Felix muttered. "Nope, can't take it lightly." His gaze swept over the dozen or so adult wizards present; perhaps a real mole is hiding among these people.

Dumbledore welcomed them warmly, and then he chatted in a low voice with his old friend Professor Tofty.

"Is Professor Marchbanks absent this time?" Dumbledore asked in a gentle tone.

"She's busy preparing the test papers, and it is the people from the Apparition Test Centre who are in charge of today's test, but because they are understaffed they have brought in a temporary group from the Ministry." Professor Tofty said.

The slightly young wizards in the crowd looked around with excitement, they had rarely had the chance to return since they had graduated and now they felt so much younger all of a sudden to be back at the school again, and currently, they were chatting passionately about the interesting things they had done at school.

"Can we take a stroll around?" A round-faced witch asked.

"Sure, Corrine," Dumbledore pointed his white-gloved hand towards Professor McGonagall, "Minerva will arrange everything." The round-faced witch shrank at the name and said in a slightly weakened tone, "Good morning, Professor Mc, McGonagall."

"It's afternoon, Miss Corrine." Professor McGonagall sternly said.

"Oh ... good afternoon."

"Amos! Come and see, I've found something new," Wilkie Twycross, a wizard wearing an old-fashioned bowler hat, shouted from the entrance hall, "My, what a change, it wasn't here when I came last year!"

He is the instructor of the Apparition class from the Ministry of Magic who basically would pop by the school once a year, and with a look of wonder, he plastered his surprisingly pale face on the bulletin board.

"Is it a club?" Amos Diggory asked from far away at the great hall door, "I heard Ced mention it over the holidays ..."

Without speaking, Wilkie Twycross carefully pulled a colourful piece of parchment from under the bulletin board and said with a look of admiration, "This looks like a newspaper? Let me see."

"Occamy breaking out of its shell documentary sales is quite a boom, and it was filmed by a Niffler- Huh? I didn't know this - Weasley twins were screaming at a suit of armour late at night and were caught by the Caretaker, Filch, who arrived on the sound - tch, was it exam stress, thinking back when, er - - Filch casted a spell in a high-profile manner and dispelling the rumours about him being Squib - Professor Sinistra's schedule remains chaotic, often waking up in the middle of the day -Professor Burbage's intention to change the Muggle Studies course to teach farming and students complaining -- Ha, that's so interesting, this newspaper is called 'The Wall of Mystery'?"

"Do you like the name? I picked it myself, it's the name of a song." A voice asked. "Oh, uh," Wilkie Twycross looked down at the little girl who had suddenly popped up, and then at the newspaper, "Is this your paper?"

"Yeah."

Wilkie Twycross stared at the parchment and asked tentatively, "Little girl, your name is Mafalda?"

Mafalda nodded proudly as she fluidly changed the subject, "So can you tell me what you do?"

"Do you want to interview me, little girl? You're only supposed to be in the first year?"

"That has nothing to do with our interview, I have interviewed a lot of big shots." Mafalda straightened her chest and tried her best to look taller.

Wilkie Twycross felt a little amused, "Yeah well, who are they?"

"Let's see, three winners of the Order of Merlin, three full members of the Dark Force Defence League, the captain of the Quidditch team, the Head girl and Head boy of the school, last year's Tournament of Champions contestants, and some future celebrities ... Later on, I'll also target the Professors. And Headmaster Dumbledore." Mafalda said with a straight face.

The more the two adult wizards listened, the more surprised they became. "Is Cedric Diggory among them?" Amos asked eagerly, "I'm his father."

" Yes! He's one of those future celebrities, the kind that would be on the Chocolate Frog card."

"And you could even predict that?" Feeling rather absurd, Wilkie Twycross wanted to hear the young girl's reasoning.

"Yeah, he's had quite a few articles published in the New Solutions to Rune Magazine, but the real reason is his Magic Puppet Club, which has just recently been renamed." Mafalda cocked her head at the yellowing bulletin on the wall and stated with conviction, "It's not just him, I have a feeling a lot of the clubs in here are going to turn into massive entities in the future, I'm witnessing history ..."

Amos Diggory and Wilkie Twycross looked at each other and Amos admitted he was somewhat persuaded, he had been bothered about a family issue recently and this little girl seemed to have given him an answer. But Wilkie Twycross would not forget what he had just read on the bulletin board and wondered how on earth the 'S.P.E.W.' and the 'Crumple-Horned Snorkacks Certainly Exist Club' could become a huge corporation.

He happened to know where the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks had originated from, a third-rate tabloid in the magical world, and its editor-in-chief didn't seem to be in his right mind ...

"So, young lady with a keen sense of smell, what about you? What's your stance about yourself?" Wilkie Twycross asked.

"Me? I'm just the chronicler of this episode of history." Mafalda said briskly, "Of course, it doesn't stop me from making money, so do you plan to be interviewed, I can pay the honorarium of two Sickles each ..."

--

#jean cadagan, Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

In the Ancient Rune office -

"I heard you've been spending a lot of money recently?"

Valen responded stiffly, sitting on a small table.

"Seriously, how many clubs have you invested in up to now?"

"Hmm." Valen looked around with her little hands behind her back, refusing to look straight at Felix who is standing in front of her.

"And have you paid someone to write your autobiography? The student who runs that school tabloid?" A newspaper shook in front of Valen.

Valen's jaw dropped, it looks like all of her little secrets seems to have been dug out?

"It's about time," Felix said solemnly. As he sat opposite to Valen, and with a shake of his palm, something jumped out of his ring - Valen's mouth opened wide in surprise at what appeared to be a - a hideous snake?

Valen stared at the little creature in front of her, it appeared to be a greenish snake with a ridiculously large proportioned head, and from the moment it appeared it swam happily around her with a wide-open maw, Valen reached out with a jerk, and picked it up by the tail and shook it, the little snake bounced twice in mid-air like a flexible rope and opened its mouth to spit out a copper knut.

Valen's eyes widened, this is a snake that can spit money?

"It's a money bank," Felix answered, " Today I will teach you two new concepts, savings, and interest." Valen, who was having fun, stopped and slowly turned her head to look at him, "Kee?"

"Simply put, it's about saving up your pocket money and putting it in one place, which is here -" Felix pointed at the small snake which was twisting and turning, " it was specially prepared by me for you, you can place some of your wealth in it."

The little snake, which is essentially an alchemical item, nodded cooperatively and opened its mouth wide.

"Kee?" Valen looked at Felix in confusion, why would I put my money in the little snake, I have my own pocket for it.

"That's not the same," Felix said in a tactful manner, "think about it, the money that goes in your pocket, it's only getting smaller and smaller, isn't it?" Valen froze and nodded, "That's right," Felix raised his pitch to make his tone more convincing, "but if you keep your money in the little snake, after a while, it will become more."

Valen looked dumbly at Felix and then looked down at the little snake that she had been clutching in her hand. Is this another precious treasure?

"Kee?"

"How much more can it become, well ... This would be a dynamic and evolving growth. To be more precise, it will vary according to the time and quantity you store, for example, the growth you gain for storing one Gold Galleon will be less compared to storing ten Galleons, like ten times less. And the difference between storing it for a day and storing it for ten days would be different too, with the same ten times difference. Do the maths yourself, how many times does it multiply in total?"

Valen wiggled her fingers as she looked down, and after a long moment, she looked up at Felix in confusion.

"A hundred times." Felix revealed the answer.

Valen looked shocked.

"That's right." Felix said with a smirk, "Don't worry, how will I take your money? I'm just handing you a way to make more money, it's an untold secret ... your money is still yours, it's just transferred from one place to another and the little snake will still be in your hands, well, how is the deal, a good bargain, no? "

Valen thought about it for a while, it seems so ... She nodded her head afterward.

"Very well then, let's discuss a precise figure," Felix paused and asked uncertainly, "how much do you have?"

Valen looked down at her small pocket, all she knew for sure is that she has a lot, even after using some of it, she still has a lot.

"I'll count it for you." Felix said as he looked at her pocket. When he saw the lack of response from the opposite party for a long time, he muttered to himself with a sigh, "Save up, interest, money grows more money ..."

Valen had an intense internal battle going on in her mind:

Would the Great Demon King swindle her out of her money?

But all the pocket money she has was given by Great Demon King.

Don't forget the Great Demon King is very cunning!

But the little snake would remain in her own pocket.

The Great Demon King is very cunning.

But the money grows more when you put it in the little snake ...

Valen barely realized that it is getting dark, and after a long internal tussle, she finally closes her eyes and solemnly nodded her head.

"Clang."

"Clang."

"Clang, clang."

Valen looked at her little pocket and instantly felt penniless, and then she looked at a small pile of gold galleons on the floor and her sense of joy returned.

"That makes a total of 2007 gold galleons when you calculate it." Felix said with a look of amazement, "Tell you what, how about we deposit two thousand galleons into it?"

Valen looked at him silently. All she wanted now is to punch someone.

"It's a good deal, I'll do the maths for you, there are some pretty complicated mathematical equations involved ... you haven't learned to do arithmetic? Ah, what a shame."

The sky turned completely dark and Valen squeezed the numerical formula that took up most of the parchment with a pang of confusion, "Swish!" A small mound of galleons on the floor was swallowed by a little snake that had opened its bloody maw.

"Kee!!!"

Valen grabbed the little snake by the neck and shook it hard, she was just starting to regret it! But now it is too late, the little snake burped and opened its mouth to spit out seven gold coins.

Valen looked at the money on the floor for a moment, before she picked it up one by one and stuffed it into her little pocket pitifully.

"We might as well place the little snake money bank at ..."

"Kee!"

Valen clung to the little snake with a deadly hug, as her dark, shiny fur flared up all over her body.

"It's yours, all yours." Felix chuckled, "Just one last step, let's set a date, if you take it out earlier than that time, you won't get the extra galleons."

Valen held out her trembling hands and offered the little snake to him.

The next day when she woke up from her cradle bed, Valen stared at the ceiling in a daze for a couple of seconds and subconsciously felt her little pocket, then she yelped and jumped up from her bed, and looked around, finally finding the gluttonous snake that had eaten her wealth in one of the corners of the cradle bed.

Valen breathed a long sigh of relief and her little shoulders relaxed.

She slipped out of the bedroom with the little snake money bank and looked around the office for a moment, eh? Is the Great Demon King not home? She walked over to the sofa, and with a hard hop, she jumped onto the Great Demon King's usual favourite spot and started rolling around on it. After rolling around contentedly for two minutes, she suddenly got worried and looked fearfully under the sofa.

The little snake had coiled itself into a tight circle and lazily flicked out its tongue.

Valen's heart settled down. It is a weekend, and she reckons that the Great Demon King has gone off somewhere for a stroll. She pulls out her magic painting and traced over it with her little finger, on which the game's protagonist, Niffler, has already collected four gems, each of which can unleash powerful ancient magic, and - at Valen's insistence - - The Niffler is also wearing a charming cloak.

But today the game seemed less appealing, and every now and then Valen was forced to check whether the Gluttonous Snake was still there, the snake often wandered off, "in an irregular orbit around you", according to the Great Demon King, which Valen didn't quite understand, but it probably meant that it wouldn't go too far.

Still, Valen would feel panic when the snake disappeared from her sight. Each time she takes the trouble to jump off the sofa and pull the gluttonous snake out of its hiding place in the corner and place it in front of her eyes.

When lunchtime came, Valen wobbled and prepared to go out. After thinking for a moment, she took the gluttonous snake with her. She absolutely could not let it out of her sight.

She hid the snake under her yellow hat and wandered around the castle, after seeing Mafalda, who was selling tabloids and looking for the material. Valen subconsciously looked at her little pocket, and there were only seven gold galleons inside which made her sad.

Valen had learned how hard life can be when she eventually passed by Mafalda. She clenched her little fist, she had already made up her mind - she would stop buying newspapers until she had saved enough money again, till then she will borrow it from someone to browse.

After some searching, she finally spotted an acquaintance.

"Kee!"

Astoria Greengrass looked down and saw that Valen was greeting her in a friendly manner. The two came together and began to read the newspaper. Valen soon finished reading one side and was anxious to turn the page. She squinted her eyes, the reading speed of this defeated warrior is a bit slow ...

Never mind, one has to be considerate~

"Don't worry," Astoria seriously said, "You see it says that twelve people from the Ministry of Magic have come to stay at the school for two whole weeks, and their job includes testing the results of the Apparition training as well as assisting with special training - indicating that The Ministry of Magic is very concerned about the safety of its students, see, that's what it analyses."

Valen tilted her head to look at her, making Astoria slightly puzzled.

Valen pulled a piece of parchment out of her small pocket and quietly handed it to her. "What's this? Well, do you want me to calculate this formula? Let's see, it's not that hard to do ..." Astoria looked down at the dense mathematical formula, and her gaze swirled in circles.

"It's bit difficult ...not my fault though, it's because I didn't choose the Arithmancy class."

Although she didn't get an answer, Valen finally put her mind at ease, it wasn't that she isn't smart enough, it was the Great Demon King who was making it difficult. As she parted from Astoria, she happily carried the gluttonous snake for a walk, and there is a large crowd of people gathered in the entrance hall, and Filch is blocking the entrance to the great hall with great poise, holding a wand in his hand.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood in the crowd watching the buzz.

"What year are the ones inside?" A new student asked.

"Seventh year." Ron chimed in, "They had learned Apparition last year in their sixth grade and this is a chance for them to get their certificates early." After that, he finally revealed his true intentions, "What do you guys think - is it possible to get a certificate even if you're not old enough to master the Apparition?"

A few younger students around looked at him with awe.

"I think it's hard to get," Hermione said analytically, " According to the rules, one has to be of age-"

"But these are special circumstances, aren't they?" Harry asked, quite looking forward to it too, "If we got it, we don't have to take a carriage to Hogsmeade." And it would be a lot easier to see Grawp, he glanced at Hermione, who had also thought of that.

The three of them could not escape Hagrid's warm invitation to visit Grawp's temporary home for a weekend, no matter what. The trio prepared themselves rigorously by practising all sorts of defensive spells all over again before going, and were amazed at the sight they saw when they arrived - Grawp was sitting on a pile of hay, holding a giant half-eaten pumpkin in one hand and expertly switching the buttons of the magic projector with the other - and they couldn't believe they had watched half an episode of The Lion King in a cave together with the footage of the second event of the tournament.

Grawp became very excited to see Harry, as he huffed and yelped at him, and they half guessed in conjunction with the footage on the magic projector, before eventually realizing that he actually wanted to see Harry's Patronus Charm.

Hagrid had also bought a magic radio to keep Grawp entertained, and when they emerged from the cave, Ron stated incredulously, "Have I been under a Confundus Charm? I still can't believe I heard 'Witching Hour' in a cave next to a pair of feet over twenty inches tall that was tapping to the beat!"

"Don't worry, your mind is perfectly clear." Hermione said, she originally didn't want to come, but now she thought it was a good idea, "We can have a little faith in Hagrid's dream, can't we? Are you ready for a sixteen-foot-tall Forest Keeper?"

Harry felt at the time that he could find a perfect opportunity to persuade Hagrid that he didn't need to rush and that two more years would be nothing ... Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance. Snape had recently become more aggressive and kept picking on him, he wasn't sure if it was because Snape had read some of his thoughts, the previous year Professor Hap had happened to mention that Snape is a master of Legilimency.

A pair of small feet made their way to the great hall and Valen sneaked past the door. Filch was just about to stop her, but when he realized it was Valen, the old wrinkled face immediately smiled widely. Valen smoothly shoved a small dried fish to Mrs. Norris and slipped into the great hall.

" O Merlin, she's so smooth." Neville said with admiration.

At that moment, there was a shrill, squeezy scream sounded from inside, and the students in the entrance hall froze for a few seconds as a short, fat woman stepped out.

"It's Umbridge." Harry instantly said, he had seen how condescending this woman was and how she had been carried out of the school in a wretched state, he just didn't expect to see this woman in school again, he had thought that Umbridge had been kicked out of the Ministry of Magic with Fudge's downfall.

" Well, she has learned to keep a low profile." Ron said, and Harry knew what he meant, Umbridge is wearing a taut bright green wizard's robe that is conspicuous but very low-key compared to the dazzling pink from before.

"Filch, I just saw a big rat." Umbridge said in a pinched tone.

" Her name is Valen, she's a Professor Hap's favourite pet, and she's not a rat, she's a Niffler." Filch remarked with discontent.

Umbridge's body stiffened as she noticed Filch's grumpy attitude and a sweet smile immediately piled up on her slack, wide jaw, "So that's it, that little fella looks pretty cute, do you like cats too, Mr. Filch? I also adore them, I love them so much-"

She asked, pointing to Mrs. Norris, who was lying at Filch's feet, her head lowered as she nibbled on a small dried fish.

"She has a name, it's Norris." Filch said stiffly. Umbridge shut her mouth. At that moment Filch suddenly yelled at the crowd, "Look out!" He huffed and puffed his way into the crowd, and the students around him immediately scattered to the side, revealing an underclassman who was standing there unsure of what to do.

There was a floppy slice of Cauldron cake stuck to the floor at his feet.

" Don't pick it up yet!" Filch yelled again, and the student complied almost immediately. Filch muttered under his breath, "Just causing me trouble all the time... hehehe ... sullying the castle... don't touch it! " He suddenly shouted at a student who had his wand out and was pointing it at the floor.

"Let me do it," Filch said with a red face, pointing his exclusive wand at the remaining stain on the floor. "Tergeo!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

The remnants of the cake on the floor immediately disappeared and Filch grinned widely as he took a step back to the great hall's entrance.

Umbridge was astonished; she knew Filch is a Squib, yet he is now able to use magic? And the clubs with weird names, the newspaper, she felt like Hogwarts had become completely unrecognizable.

"Umbridge?" At that moment, another young man stepped out of the great hall, "Professor Tofty is asking to allow the sixth years in." Umbridge glanced at him, "I was just about to mention that, little Avery."

The young man's brow immediately furrowed.

The sixth years began to gather spontaneously and Harry saw the chaser Katie Bell mingle in the crowd, walking into the great hall with an excited look on her face. Greeting the seventh years who had finished their assessments, where the captain of the Gryffindor team, Angelina Johnson, had a beaming look on her face.

"Did you make it?" Katie asked as she brushed past her shoulder.

Angelina gestured a thumbs up at her.

In the great hall, the two middle tables had been temporarily moved elsewhere and replaced by two little wooden circular stages, spaced about ten feet apart from each other. A dozen adult wizards stood near the wooden circles, and all four of the heads of Hogwarts were present.

"Good morning, everyone." Wilkie Twycross stepped forward to speak, catching the eyes of all the sixth years, "I hope you saw the announcement posted in the entrance hall before you came in, the Ministry of Magic is busy at the moment, but we still managed to spare some of our manpower in order to have all the students at Hogwarts master the Apparition or Side-Along Apparition which is a basic requirement set by the Ministry of Magic as Ms. Bones believes it will effectively reduce casualties ...

Today is our first day so my colleagues and I will be focusing on checking on your progress, and judging by the performance shown by seventh-year students, you have learned quite well. I have to thank the professor of this year's Defence Against the Dark Arts class for that, I know how tiring it can be to teach Apparition to others ..."

"So," he waved his wand, "students who have mastered Apparition, or think they have, step forward, and we can finish this part of the assessment first ..."

"Don't make a fuss." Felix said to Valen who stood on his shoulder, "We'll be just watching the fun." He squinted as Umbridge and Avery made their way in grudgingly from the outside of the great hall, and Felix's gaze started to twinkle a bit.

--

#jean cadagan, Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

In the great hall, the sixth graders are still being assessed.

They all had the basic foundation for it, and even according to the normal procedure in previous years, they would have started to access Apparition magic around this time. But because of Sirius' appearance, they had got their training a little over half a year ahead of schedule, so a large proportion of the students stepped forward when Wilkie Twycross questioned them.

It was significantly less time-consuming for the staff of the Ministry of Magic to just examine the students' Apparition performance without the need to guide them, as all they had to do was just stand by and record the results. There were two minor splinching instances occurred during which students reacted quite calmly, mainly because they had already seen it in advance in the Defence Against the Dark Arts class.

The next step of the assessment is the Side-Along Apparition, in which the staff of the Ministry of Magic is responsible to bring the students along with them to Apparate, and then check the students' physical state to see if they have any strong negative reactions.

"It's a heavy load for us," Wilkie Twycross said, "and each person has to take a break for every few attempts. So I will reserve two days for this." But the thought that there are nearly a thousand more students left sent a pang of distress through the Ministry of Magic staff's hearts.

"I wouldn't have to suffer this if I didn't come to see Ced." Amos Diggory whispered.

After the most part of the day passed, the Ministry of Magic staff were all exhausted enough for the four Heads of House and Felix to come down and help, but after two more sessions, something went wrong on Felix's side.

Wilkie Twycross came over quickly, "How are you feeling?" He watched the student's expression carefully.

" Quite fine." Cormac McLaggen, who had a short thick, coarse hairstyle, froze for a moment and replied.

"Oh, that's not okay." Wilkie Twycross paused as his lips furrowed.

" Wh-Why not?" He asked in bewilderment.

Without answering him, Wilkie Twycross looked at Felix, "Well - Mr. Hap, your Apparition was very - skilful, and the process of movement is nearly free of discomfort, which does not meet our test requirements. " He pointed at the side where Amos Diggory had moved into the opposite wooden circle with a sixth-year student, and the girl began to dry heave before she could stand.

"Marietta, are you all right?" Her friend Cho Chang asked with concern.

"I ... barf..." Marietta clutched the wooden circle and vomited as Mr. Diggory covered his nose and walked away from her, and no one seemed to have wished to go near her except Cho Chang.

"You see, it has to be that bad to test the impact." Wilkie Twycross said, without any extra expression on his face, which made Cormac McLaggen look at him in respect. "Oh, that's quite normal, it won't look weird when you see it more ..."

"So do you want me to cause as strong reaction as possible?" Felix asked with interest and a shiver went down Cormac McLaggen's spine.

"It doesn't have to be particularly strong ..." Wilkie Twycross said in an unnatural tone.

Near noon, the sixth years left with excited faces as they exchanged comments, and the Ministry of Magic staff wrote down their names and performances one by one, before letting the fifth years in. Wilkie Twycross repeated what he had said before by the book and then asked the students to disperse evenly and wait for the staff to carry them as they Apparate.

The Heads of House walked between the students to help them get lined up, and Ron raised his hand while Wilkie Twycross approached them.

Twycross walked over to them, he looked thin and pale as if a gust of wind could blow him over, " Well, student, what's your problem?"

"Well, it's like this." Ron glanced at Harry and asked, "I just wanted to ask, since we've mastered Apparition-" when he saw Wilkie Twycross frown a bit, he hurriedly added, " We were preparing for the Tournament of Champions, so incidentally we learned to Apparate, Me, Harry and Hermione."

Wilkie Twycross showed a look of surprise. He looked closely at Ron's face and then at Harry, "Oh Merlin, Yes ... I recognize you! I saw you on the footage, you are Weasley's kid, right? I am sure of it when I saw the red hair and freckles, you were pretty impressive at the bottom of the lake ..."

Ron's face flushed, he had just spent most of his time in the Black Lake reading a bunch of casual books by repeatedly breaking in the same level.

Not noticing his hidden emotions, Wilkie Twycross continued, "I met your father Arthur Weasley a few times, ... unfortunately we never got to talk more than a greeting ... ahem, I think it's okay. "

" Pardon?"

"Guys!" Wilkie Twycross clapped his hands as everyone looked over, "Let's add some fun to the hard work and welcome the winners of the Tournament of Champions, who have worked extraordinarily hard to make our country proud, and the footage only showed a very small part of it! In fact - they also mastered the Apparition."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were pushed to the centre of attention.

"Oh," Hermione groaned under her breath, "I wasn't planning on being in the limelight right now."

Ron's voice trembled a little, "Believe me, I didn't see it coming too... Harry, did you bring the Liquid Luck, now is the right time ..."

Harry knew Ron too well to know that he was babbling out of nervousness. How could they possibly drink the Liquid Luck while everyone watches? But he did mentally ponder whether it is necessary to carry it everywhere with him, lest he encounters a similar unexpected situation and be helpless.

The students and professors gathered around them, all watching the show with great interest. They knew that Harry could Apparate, he had demonstrated it when dealing with the Dragon, by using it to move twice. Ron had also used it once, as for whether Hermione knew the magic as well, they weren't quite sure.

"Well then, to be safe, let's let Mr. Potter try it first." Wilkie Twycross said and then Harry was pulled near a wooden circle. Wilkie Twycross pushed him from behind and Harry almost tripped as he jumped into the circle crookedly.

"Very well, please hold your breath ..."

The voice of Wilkie Twycross sounded from afar, but Harry's consciousness was all focused on the wooden circle, he is literally familiar with this process and had used it during the Christmas holidays, he collected his thoughts and tried with all his might to occupy the space across the room ... He appeared across the room all at once.

Many students were startled.

They could discern a comparison. Most of them were unaware that the Ministry of Magic staff had in fact deliberately heightened the discomfort of the Apparition; all they knew is that Harry's spell casting was extremely smooth compared to the loud bursts made by the adult wizards, and he appeared in the centre of the wooden circle a dozen feet away in a flash before their eyes.

In the crowd, Umbridge examined Harry, and she could tell that he was performing this magic extremely well.

Wilkie Twycross, the professional instructor, was also a little surprised, " Can you adjust the position you appear in? Mr. Potter."

Harry nodded.

He had spent a lot of time over the summer trying to imitate Professor Hap's tactic. Although it still looked elementary compared to the original, it still had some semblance of the Professor's tactic. At least Sirius couldn't handle it.

The students applauded after a long pause, and several members of the Frontline Lookout loudly cheered for Harry. The crowd grew quiet and Ron saw Wilkie Twycross grinning and beckoning him, so he walked over with fluttering feet. When Harry was returning, he squeezed the words out of his teeth and whispered, "Do you need a Daydream spell from Neville?"

Ron grinned stiffly as he stepped into the wooden circle. Wilkie Twycross rambled on, introducing him to his colleague, "This is Weasley, his brother and dad both work in the Ministry, you should know them - Arthur's very nice, I've seen him in the lift a few times, and he has always initiated the greeting... . His brother's a workaholic, I had believed he worked the night shift for a while ..."

Ron really wanted to tell him to shut up. He took a few deep breaths, trying to stabilize his emotions, his eyes fixed dead on the wooden circle in the distance - "BANG!" He appeared in the wooden circle.

Ron touched his face quickly, "I made it? No hair loss? And the eyebrows are intact? Great!" He beamed with delight.

Finally, it was Hermione's turn, who also managed to complete her spell skilfully, appearing exactly where she was supposed to be without much noise. The students applauded in unison, and she retreated into the crowd with a red face.

"Very good!" exclaimed Wilkie Twycross, "Very good, students. They have demonstrated their magic brilliantly, and I will advise the Ministry to issue them certificates in advance ... Also, as a professional instructor, I must correct one thing in order to avoid any unnecessary misconceptions on your part; their spellcasting gestures are not the standard style."

"What do you mean?" Cormac McLaggen asked, "They're doing it wrong?"

"No, of course not, in fact, they did it much better." Wilkie Twycross spread his hands, "The most important thing for beginners to remember when Apparating is Three D's: Destination, Determination, and Deliberation... Other than that the gestures are also necessary, it will help us master Apparition, because, with it, you can easily visualize."

Twycross walked into the nearest wooden circle, where he opened his arms and gracefully spun in place, and disappeared in a fluttering whirl of robes, before appearing in a wooden circle on the other side.

"Just like that - mobilize your magic and turn gracefully - that's the right way to do it -"

"Are you kidding me!" Ron shouted.

Twycross looked at him calmly and Ron flinched as he mumbled, "Uh, sorry." "It's alright," said Twycross, "I'm just curious about why you think it's weird, didn't the person who taught you the Apparition tell you about this spellcasting gesture?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione immediately looked to Professor Hap in the crowd, the Professor looked at the ceiling and seemed to be suddenly fascinated by the candle decorations overhead.

Draco Malfoy, who was not far away, also had a surprised look on his face; he had the same confusion when he had studied, but the professor hadn't mentioned it at all, and he had assumed that he had seen the wrong information ...

Professor McGonagall gave Felix a stern glare, as the situation became clear - Felix must have omitted a rather important step in the first place, causing Harry and the others to not even know the common spell casting gesture used by beginners even after learning the spell ... Professor McGonagall glanced at Hermione, this student should know, but the other two well ...

She smacked her lips and said, " Twycross, can we continue the assessment?"

--

#jean cadagan, Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

"Oh, sure." Twycross snapped out of his confused state, "So - by the way, are there any other students who would like to try it as well? I know under the current special circumstances, some of the parents may have violated the restrictions for your Safety ... The Ministry of Magic is not going to pursue this for now."

Harry's mind wandered as he stared at Malfoy, who had bragged to him a long time ago that the professor had promised him to privately tutor him some magic spells, including Apparition.

But Malfoy didn't intend to stand out, and until the end, he had just performed the Side-Along Apparition, under Mr. Diggory's guidance, with ease.

A week passed in a blink of an eye.

The Ministry of Magic team had spent two days sorting through a thousand students from top to bottom at Hogwarts, and in the end, less than a hundred students had failed to meet the standard. According to Twycross, "I'm really impressed, this has greatly reduced our workload."

"If you had come a few months later, the number of students who didn't meet the standard would have been even lower." Sirius stated not knowing whether to say it proudly or grumblingly.

"Ms. Bones was very anxious lately." Twycross said half-heartedly.

Sirius' heart fluttered, and he pulled Twycross aside and whispered, "I know all that, I worked as an assistant for the Minister for nearly two months before, and I'm on good terms with Amelia, she told me all about it ... Things haven't gotten better?"

"Alas, I also inquired by chance," said Twycross, "the number of Muggle victims has been steadily increasing in recent times, many of them were only discovered during the Ministry's private investigations, and their bodies were stolen ... Ms. Bones was concerned that the You-Know-Who might be up to something big."

Sirius frowned.

When he approached Felix to discuss this matter, Felix looked unusually calm.

"Voldemort is personally taking action, and he seems to have planned to create a batch of Inferi."

"We should stop him!" Sirius exclaimed sharply.

"I'd like to, but - as I just said, 'Voldemort is personally handling this', and he's not utilizing any Death Eaters' forces. And you certainly can't catch him when he wants to leave for sure."

Sirius' face froze, and he muttered, "Something has to be done."

"We made some preparations, in fact, probably in the next few days-" Felix said, before turning towards Angelina Johnson, who had been sitting on one of the benches in the yard, "Miss Johnson? "

Angelina approached them slowly, " Do you need me, Professor Hap?" Her friends are looking over leisurely.

"Yes, I wanted to remind you that your hair is not exactly the same colour as I've seen before." Felix stated calmly.

Angelina yelped and fished a small mirror out of her robes and looked at herself carefully, "It really is." She frowned as a very jarring strand of pink hair in her ponytail turned to black.

"Tonks?"

Sirius growled under his breath.

"Hi Sirius, long time no see." 'Angelina' waved at him.

"So that other one - that wouldn't be Remus, would it?" Sirius was taken aback and looked incredulously at the other girl on the bench.

"What makes you think that?" Tonks rolled her eyes, "He's not here, he needs to watch over the sword castle. That's Emmeline Vance, and Kingsley and Mad-Eye Moody are also here, they got withdrawn from the Department of Mysteries guarding duties."

Sirius gaped, "Since when?"

"Yesterday." Tonks cheerfully said.

For the next two days, Sirius made an extra effort to look for students who were acting abnormally in class and even became slightly paranoid. He always felt that some students below the podium would be Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley, or even Mundungus.

After class, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went to the great hall for dinner -

"Sirius has been acting weird for the past two days." Harry said.

"I've been meaning to ask this," Ron asked with a grin, " Would you guys play a Frisbee when you were alone together?"

Harry hammered him on the back softly.

"Hi, Neville, Dean, Seamus." Harry greeted them and sat down in the empty seat next to them. Dean and Seamus seemed to be asking Neville to do something, as Dean said eagerly, "Cast that spell on me again - that daydream spell, I've noticed that I'm studying more efficiently."

"Professor Hap told me this spell should not be abused." Neville whispered.

"There's nothing wrong with using it once in a while." Seamus said while shaking his head.

Harry knew about this magic. During the Christmas break, Ginny had inquired from Tonks about a part of the Auror training, and when school started they used it in their Frontline Lookout training after that, which did not turn out well: the enormous amount of training weighed on the members, and not everyone was comfortable with the mechanical repetition of spellcasting.

Then Neville stepped forward and stammered to introduce a spell he had learned. Harry was quite shocked when he first experienced the 'Daydream Spell' - an exact replica of a cosmic astral magic he had experienced on his golden invitation card. Objectively speaking, of course, it was considerably less effective, mainly because Harry's Occlumency kept reminding him that everything he was feeling was fake. This made Neville's magic much less effective.

But for the other members of the group, the magic gave them a spiritual baptism. Their little troubles were nothing compared to the vastness of the stars, and those who experienced this magic would be uplifted for at least a while.

"It's a bit like the amulet Cedric came up with, but both methods are obviously different, and I prefer this one." Fred commented.

...

Snapping back from the memory of the last club event, Harry had become keenly aware that someone was staring at them, he followed his senses and looked across the table to see two students, a man, and a woman, seated at the opposite table, they appeared to be a couple and when Harry looked back at them, they smiled quietly at Harry.

In the evening when Harry, Ron, and Hermione emerged from the library, it was late, and they were practically the last ones out. The three of them were walking down the empty corridor and Ron was cursing Snape and the assignments he had given to them by turns.

That was creative, Harry thought. Ron seemed to have found a real use from Divination class - they could get a steady stream of unlucky and ill-fated muses from the class and use them to vent their anger against Snape. Suddenly there was a flash before their eyes, and the ghost of a girl darted before them.

"Myrtle?" Harry muttered in surprise, he hadn't seen her in ages.

"Oh, it's you guys," Myrtle was startled as well, she then turned and was about to float away, but then she paused in midair as if petrified. She slowly turned around, her large bulging eyes glaring at them from behind her thick, white, round glasses, and Harry wasn't too comfortable with that scrutinizing, weighing gaze, which reminded him of Malfoy.

"Can you guys come with me?" She continued.

"What are you talking about?" Ron muttered, "We're tired after a long day of catching up on our assignments, and now we just want to go back to bed and sleep."

"You guys and Draco are friends, right?" Myrtle asked.

"Who?" Ron looked up abruptly.

"Draco, Draco Malfoy." Myrtle said, "He's in a bit of trouble and I don't know who to ask for help, but I certainly can't look for the Professor, that would make things worse ..." she rambled on, floating over and bobbing in mid-air.

"He's not about to get shoved down the toilet is he?" Ron perked up, "And it just happens to block your home too?"

"Rude!" Myrtle shouted at Ron as she descended from mid-air. She then floated up slowly and covered her face sheepishly, "But he is indeed in my lavatory."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other blankly.

Myrtle swooned for a moment before she remembered what she had to do, and she hurriedly urged them on, "Are you going to help or not? Time is running out!"

"Who the hell is the one who's delaying ... I don't want to get caught in the girls' lavatory." Ron muttered in a small voice.

"You've been there plenty of times." Hermione pointed out.

They had indeed been there more than once, spending a considerable amount of time in there brewing polyjuice potion during their second year before they moved elsewhere when Malfoy found out.

"Maybe, but for Malfoy's sake ..." Ron hesitated, and they looked at Harry, waiting for him to make a decision.

"Let's check it out." Harry eventually said.

--

#jean cadagan, Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

The three of them followed Myrtle and walked quickly in the direction of the girls' lavatory. The good news is that the library and the lavatory are on the same floor, and they didn't have to take a long way around. As they approached the lavatory, Ron abruptly asked, "Myrtle, how did you meet Malfoy? I've heard that you have a habit of peeking into the Prefect's washroom-"

Myrtle whimpered and covered her face as she passed through the wall.

Harry and Hermione glared at Ron, who shrugged, " I am genuinely curious."

"Just shut up." Hermione said as they came to the door of the lavatory where Myrtle normally haunted, Harry listened with his ears sideways for a few seconds and whispered, "Can't hear a thing ... must be warded with a spell."

Harry and Ron turned their heads to Hermione, who quickly pulled out her beaded pouch and rummaged around for a moment, before pulling out three Extendable Ears from it.

Harry inserted one end of the flesh-coloured Extendable Ears into his ear and threw the other end towards the dirty door, which automatically went through the crack.

"Great, I hope there's no Anti-Disturbance kind of spell placed there, I'll try ... Yes, there isn't one."

They quieted down to listen carefully.

A throaty squeezed voice reached their ears, "What's there to think about? Or should I ask our Lord to give your father a direct order? Draco, we're on the same team, we just need a little help from you ..."

Hermione looked up in horror, "It's that woman, Umbridge! What's she trying to do?"

Draco Malfoy's slightly hoarse voice sounded out, "I, I won't ... make a Vow... I can't, the Vow, it'll, it'll kill me."

"As long as you don't try to break it, there'll be no problem. Malfoy, do you want to betray the Lord?"

"I, no ...not" Draco's voice trailed off, "Your chance for success is too low for me to gamble my life. I need to think about it for a while, I'll get back to you tomorrow or the day after, I'll ask my father-"

"Lucius is one of us, you surely don't think you can stay out of it."

"... I didn't expect that."

"There's no time for you to waste, dear Draco. If you don't say yes for good, I'll report it right away, so think for yourself what will happen to your father then." Umbridge said in a sweet voice, sounding like an innocent little girl, but the golden trio couldn't help but shudder at the thought of her big cakey face and the threat she was making at the moment.

" W-What shall we do?" Hermione quirked her head to look at them.

"What does she mean by the Vow - the one that will kill people?" Harry calmly asked.

"My guess is it's probably the 'Unbreakable Vow', once you enter it, it can't be altered and there's only one consequence for breaking it - death." Hermione said quietly, "But that requires a third person to witness it."

Sure enough, another unfamiliar voice spoke up. It sounded like a young man, " Just sign it Draco, let me tell you a secret, Dumbledore - that Mudblood protector won't live long, our lord is simply staying on the lookout ... He attaches great importance to this mission and asked us to complete it at any cost. Surely you don't want to be the reason for the failure, right?"

A silence followed inside.

"What shall we do?" Hermione asked once more.

"They have to be stopped, somehow." Harry said, rising to his feet and pointing his wand against the door.

"Wait." Hermione said, "We don't know what their plan is yet, it's best to let them believe it was an accident." She thought for a moment, "I have an idea."

"Hermione -"

But Hermione was already rushing forward. She put on a panicked look and hovered back and forth at the door, "Huh? Why is the door locked?" She muttered to herself and seemed to be building up her emotions. With that, she drew her wand, "Alohomora." The spell that blocked sound at the door was broken, and the lavatory door popped wide open with a crack.

"We all risked our lives to get here, why are you-" the man's impatient voice abruptly halted.

"Hello - is anyone there? I'm in a hurry to use the toilet - who placed the spell at the door? Was it to stop Myrtle?" Hermione asked slowly.

The few short seconds were stretched too long, and it seemed like there will be no end to it. Harry and Ron's palms were sweating as they stared intently at Hermione, fearing that a wand of glowing green light would be thrust out from inside. It was impractical to wait for the opposite party to make a decision, so Harry shouted wisely, "Hermione, make it quick, we'll be waiting outside!"

"Yeah, I still want to trade chocolate frog cards with Dean." Ron shouted after him.

Hermione's hesitant voice said, "Oh, hold on, there's a problem ... it looks like there is someone inside ..."

"Do you need help?" Harry shouted at the top of his lungs.

Finally, the door opened. Draco Malfoy appeared with a pale face, "Oh it's just you, Hermione Granger."

"Malfoy?!" Hermione's surprised voice exclaimed, "What are you doing in the girls' lavatory? I'm going to tell the Professor-"

"Mind your own business! This place is abandoned," Malfoy shouted in a low voice, "What are you doing here? Where are the two heels, Potter and Weasley?"

"Going to the toilet, of course!" Hermione said in a condescending voice, "They're outside, unlike you-"

"Out of my way."

The conversations kept going on as Hermione's unrelenting voice said, "Just wait, I'll make sure to tell the Professor, so he can deduce your points and detain you! And I'll tell Filch too! As well as asking every girl to keep their eyes on you, you nasty, vile ..."

Harry listened and secretly complimented Hermione in his mind, this way the people inside would be more or less apprehensive and would find it hard to approach Malfoy openly any further.

The pale yellow hair and pointed chin of Draco's silhouette gradually became clear in the darkness, his face sweaty and pale, as if he seemed to have caught a serious illness. An enraged Hermione trailed behind him.

"Draco Malfoy?" Harry blurted out in a feigned tone of surprise.

Malfoy gave them a stern glare and turned his head away without a word.

Hermione paused in exasperation until Malfoy's figure disappeared, and then she asked in a calm whisper, "How was it?" "Awesome." Ron gave her a thumbs up, "And the people inside?" Hermione shook her head slightly, indicating that she hadn't seen them.

"Probably hiding." Harry mouthed, the wand in his hand kept pointed at the darkened door of the abandoned girls' lavatory.

Hermione hadn't fully entered just now, it would have been terrible if she had fallen under the Imperius Curse, she wasn't sure she could break free from the curse.

Harry nudged his wand over Ron and himself, and under the effect of the Disillusionment Charm, the two immediately blended into the darkness. Hermione also followed suit, and they slowly backed away, hiding in the darkness. After waiting quietly for ten minutes, they all somewhat became impatient, and then a faint movement came from within.

A silvery glow glowed in the darkness, it looked like a cat, but it seemed rather faint, and the Patronus circled around for a moment, before dissipating into specks of silver.

Then a short, fat woman materialized in shape and looked around before hurrying away.

But none of the golden trio uttered a word; they knew there must be another one inside. After another moment, a young male wizard exited from inside and left with great strides.

Only when his back disappeared did the trio breathe a sigh of relief.

"That man's name is Avery, we've seen him before at the Ministry of Magic." Hermione whispered.

They walked back in silence, looking preoccupied. What had happened today was more than they had expected, "They're obviously up to something, better tell the Professor." Hermione said, to which Harry and Ron nodded. Suddenly, the door to the broom room on the ground floor opened silently and three pairs of hands poked out of the darkness to drag the trio inside.

They reacted almost instantly - Harry casted a humanoid shield charm and the barrier that clung to his body swelled into a ball in the blink of an eye, pushing the disorganized hands out of the way, and two dark thorns flew out of Hermione's beaded pouch and headed towards the darkness in a tangle; Ron stepped back and muttered a spell, as white flames quickly gathered at the tip of his wand.

"It's us, Harry!" A very familiar voice said.

Harry's heart pounded as he looked at the figure in the darkness as he blurted out incredulously, "Angelina?"

"Come on in." 'Angelina' said impatiently.

The door to the broom room closed behind them.

--

#Will and #Moroni Albornoz Castro, Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

Harry narrowed his eyes slightly; the broom room was pitch black, with only a faint light radiating from a few wands.

There were three people standing close to them - Angelina, the captain of the Quidditch team, and two others who looked familiar to Harry, and he carefully tried to recall and recognized them as the odd couple he had seen in the great hall at lunchtime. Harry couldn't figure out how they knew Angelina and why they were hiding with her between the brooms and tried to drag them in.

"Angelina, what the hell is going on? And - who are they?"

Harry asked as Hermione poked him quietly with her finger from behind him, which made him notice that there are still three or four people standing in the corner in shadow, whose faces and bodies blended amongst the wooden crates, brooms, and cleaning tools, leaving only the outline of some of their limbs showing, making them look like monsters with multiple limbs and weapons.

'Angelina' opened her mouth to explain when Ron suddenly interjected, "Beware she's not real, she might have used a polyjuice potion." Harry thought Ron had a point and his heart started to race.

Someone chuckled lightly in the darkness and Harry noticed that one of the large figures was looking down at them at some point.

"Don't be paranoid, boys." The tall student who had lowered his head stood upright and approached them, Harry gripped his wand tightly, he generally only had seen this type of body stature in the Slytherin team. If Ron hadn't just warned him that Angelina might be a fake, he would have linked it as a collusion between the captains of the two teams.

In the darkness, the silhouette of the speaker bent slightly to place something on the floor, Harry realized it is a magic lamp and the next second the room lit up.

The bright, gentle glow illuminated the tiny broom room completely.

It was then Harry, Ron, and Hermione finally got a glimpse of the room in its entirety.

Counting them, there are eight people. Three on their side ... Harry unconsciously started to consider how they could win if a fight broke out, and although at the moment it appeared that the other side showed no hostility, Harry is certain that the 'Angelina' in front of him is by no means the team captain he is familiar with.

"It's me, Tonks." 'Angelina' said, closing her eyes and assuming a thoughtful expression, as her face gradually transformed into a different appearance, with her hair turning pink.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione's mouths dropped open.

"It's really you! Then, then they-" Harry stammered.

Tonks seemed to be in a good mood as she pointed to the two people that Harry found familiar and said, "This is Frank and Alice, you've met them before at the Order of the Phoenix base, although they're in different faces now ..." and she pointed to the people in the corner "Alastor and Kingsley."

They all greeted them.

"I'm sorry, I might have scared you guys." Alice Longbottom said, "But you guys are really something." She pointed to the bruise on her wrist, then swiped her wand over the scratch, and it instantly healed.

Harry felt that the events that had happened today were unbelievable, but he had at least solved one mystery: the two people across the table during the day were the Longbottoms, and they weren't looking at him, but at Neville ... who was next to him, but more questions arose as to why they had shown up at the school in a group and disguised as students.

Hermione drew a cold breath and hissed, "You guys are following Umbridge and Avery?"

Realization dawned on both Harry and Ron.

"What a sharp girl." The huge student in a long green Slytherin robe said, and Harry caught a shadow of Professor Moody in the way he walked, the tall student lifted a parchment, with dense lines and flickering black dots in his hand.

"Marauder's Map?" Harry uttered in surprise.

"You recognize it? Ah, I remember you have a similar one, or the original version - this one's made by Felix," Moody said, his voice sounded younger and there is no fake blue eye darting around his eye sockets to make Harry feel uncomfortable, but the next second his intact, much younger eyes fixed on them with a deadly stare, "You nearly messed up the plan, little ones."

The trio immediately tensed up.

"Don't scare them, Mad-Eye." Kingsley said with a smile, he still had the same dark complexion with lots of dreadlocks tied on his head, at first glance he looked a bit like Quidditch commentator Lee Jordan. But Harry knew that he is usually bald.

Harry felt like he is attending a fancy dress party.

Kingsley said gently, "It's true that our visit to the school has something to do with Umbridge and Avery, but there are other tasks on our shoulders."

"What task is it?" Ron pressed impatiently.

Kingsley shook his head slightly.

"Involving Voldemort? Do you guys need help?" Harry offered testingly, he figured it out in context with what he had just heard in the abandoned girls' lavatory.

Kingsley stared blankly at him.

"Okay, well, there's plenty of time to catch up later - let's get down to business first." Moody said, his gaze settled on Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who subconsciously felt a gush of pressure despite the fact that he had a completely different face before their eyes, which looked considerably more well-defined than Moody's.

"Well, I saw it on the map, the ghost named Myrtle led you all to the girls' lavatory, didn't she?" He waved the Marauder's map in his hand, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded dully. Moody grunted and paced back and forth in a small circle, "It looks like you guys having a colourful school life, but you really shouldn't have disturbed them."

"But they were forcing Malfoy to make a Vow-" Hermione snapped sharply.

" Still an Unbreakable Vow!" Ron said, "That stuff literally costs life."

"Yeah, we can't just stand by and watch ..." Harry muttered.

Moody stopped pacing while everyone showed a surprised look on their faces.

"That's rather a surprise," Moody said as he glared at them, a look of disbelief still visible on his face, "Tell us what you know, and we'll try to analyse it. Granger, you speak." He called Hermione's name.

"Oh, okay, Professor Moody." Hermione was somewhat surprised.

Moody grinned wordlessly, and Harry concluded that this grin looked intimidating regardless of the face it appeared on.

"I was your professor for only six months, but I was extremely impressed with your paper. To be honest, I wish I had an assistant like you when I was working, at least I didn't have to worry about reports."

"Professor Hap probably thought the same thing." Ron muttered in a small voice.

"I helped you write a few reports too, Alastor." Tonks reminded kindly, "But you only gave me my usual score."

"Yeah." Moody said, "And I wonder why I didn't look you up afterward."

After all the jokes ended, Hermione cleared her throat and began to describe their experience. "Well -- we came back from the library, it was about eight o'clock -- and then we met 'Moaning Myrtle' halfway through, and she told us --"

Hermione finished her story.

The people in the broom room didn't speak for a moment, each in their own thoughts. This left the trio somewhat unsure of their attitudes, and Hermione asked softly, "Did that - did we do something wrong?" She thought about the 'plan' Moody had mentioned at the beginning and worried that she had inadvertently ruined it.

"No, you guys made a good choice." Kingsley reassured her, "We targeted Umbridge and Avery early on, but we also suspected there might be another mole in the school, so we've been using the map to monitor their movements for the past few days, hoping to follow their trail, as we did tonight. But we couldn't possibly crouch under their noses and figure out what they were actually talking about, let alone realize that they had gone to the extent of forcing a student to make an Unbreakable Vow ... It was you guys who saved that boy."

"Death Eaters' little brat." Moody scornfully commented.

"But also a student of the school." Kingsley stated with a nod.

"He is likely to be a Death Eater in the future, just like his father, aunt, and uncle." Moody growled in a low voice.

"You better make it clear that it's the aunt who married Lestrange," Tonks said cheerfully, "to avoid a misunderstanding."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that." Moody said under his breath.

Harry wanted to laugh a little, he thought about the 'Pureblood's Dilemma' that Sirius had mentioned to him, catching one means pulling a bunch of them ... but right now it is not the time to laugh, the atmosphere in the broom room was a little serious, and Frank interjected from the side, " But the boy isn't a Death Eater, at least not yet. If we try hard enough, he won't be able to inherit the 'family business' even if he wanted to."

"Let's hope so." Moody's young face wavered a bit.

"Alastor's just saying empty words, in reality, he's more righteous than any of us when it comes to this kind of thing." Kingsley reassured a somewhat dazed Harry, Ron, and Hermione, "He would have made the same choice in your position, so don't feel pressured, you've done a good job today. I heard you guys aren't exactly on good terms with Malfoy? That's even more impressive, so go back and get a good night's sleep-"

At that moment there was a knock at the door and the golden trio turned back in alarm, "Do you excepting someone?"

"It's probably Emmeline." Moody muttered, as he picked up his wand and gestured for the rest to be quiet.

The door opened and a girl with straw-coloured hair and a round face walked in, carrying a cloth bag, "There's quite a bit more food in the kitchen than I thought there would be." She said cheerfully, Harry got the feeling that he had seen that face somewhere, he guessed it might be one of the upperclassmen like 'Angelina'.

"Huh, you guys here too? Want some?" Emmeline Vance asked, taking the food out of her bag and handing it out to the others as she did so.

"No, thanks," Harry said, and Ron and Hermione also shook their heads. "By the way," Harry turned his head to Tonks, "where's the real Angelina?"

" Of course, she's in her own dorm room now," Tonks said as she took a hard bite of the pie in her hand, "she agreed immediately when I asked her, saying that she can freely use this time to think up a game plan while I borrow her identity, you know, I'm Metamorphmagus, so it's easy for me to disguise. Everyone is relying on a Polyjuice potion to disguise, Alastor, Frank, and Alice are using normal human hair, you know, the school is so big that no one can guarantee to know everyone ... Emmeline has a relative in the school. It's usually just two of us that are hanging outside to collect information."

Harry nodded as Emmeline spun around and came back to him, holding up a bag in her hand, Ron and Hermione each holding a chocolate muffin and grinning cheekily at him.

" Kinda hungry after a night of extra work." Ron whispered.

"Have some, I asked the house-elf in the kitchen for some extra dessert." Emmeline Vance said kindly.

Harry relented to her hospitality and randomly picked up a fried jam doughnut and ate it in silence.

"Why are you back so late?" Moody asked.

Emmeline Vance sighed, "There was a club having an event in the kitchen, and they were having a great time exchanging cooking tips with the house-elves, and I had a hard time until I found a lone one and asked for his help ... It was very novel, we didn't have anything like this back in our day."

" Well, can I ask a question?" Ron asked.

The guys looked at him and Kingsley smiled, "What do you want to ask? We won't reveal anything that needs to be kept secret."

"What are they doing at the school - I mean Umbridge and Avery?"

" The question you should ask is, what the You-Know-Who want them to do, Death Eaters don't make their own decisions. Wreaking havoc, stealing things, snooping for information ... are all possibilities, but the possibility of creating havoc is low."

"Why do you say that?" Ron asked, wiping the crumbs of cake from his mouth.

The guys looked at each other and Frank Longbottom answered with careful deliberation, "Because it's not worth the effort. Based on our judgement - those two should be one of the few undercover agents that the You-Know-Who have in the Ministry of Magic; After all, we have the upper hand now and not many people are willing to surrender to the losing side. Besides, unlike the last war - with Thief's Downfall, any attempt to use bewitching magic like the Imperius Curse would no longer work. Headmaster Dumbledore also confirmed this point."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione took the moment to exchange meaningful glances with each other as they lowered their heads to eat. They probably knew what Voldemort is up to, the Horcrux ... but Harry's mind wondered why Headmaster Dumbledore hadn't destroyed it as soon as he could if he had one intact in his possession.

"Um, I'd like to ask a question too, may I?" Hermione asked.

"Alright, one question each. Then you guys should behave and go back to your beds." Kingsley said in a coaxing tone.

"How long are you all going to stay?" Hermione asked. Harry looked up and around excitedly, while mentally fighting the urge to applaud Hermione.

" It won't be too long." Tonks said with regret, "Whatever they plan to do, they have to act in the next few days. That's why Ministry decided to send us here, to keep a few more pairs of eyes on them... If they drag it any longer the Ministry of Magic will take us back."

"Okay, enough talk," Moody said interrupting her as he looked at Harry, " The final question."

Harry shoved the last bit of fried jam doughnut into his mouth and asked, politely, "Professor Moody, did you see Professor Snape on the map? What's he doing? And Sirius?" He added Sirius for the sake of it.

"Snape's name isn't on it, Felix mentioned that his name was erased when he gave me the map." Moody said calmly as if he didn't catch the undertone of targeting in Harry's question. " As for Sirius, he was a little pissed off that we didn't tell him first, and now-" he lowered his head and stared at the Marauder's map, "he's going back and forth in his office, probably thinking things over. "

He claps his hands to end today's conversation.

"Boys, I have to thank you for your noble behaviour today, but you need to hurry back because the lights will be turned off pretty soon outside. Keep it a secret, you know quite a lot of the inner story because we see you as one of our own," he continued with a wave of his hand when he saw Harry trying to respond, " Not as juniors, but as future companions and comrades in arms, I've heard about the club you've been running for the past two days, the Frontline Lookout club... . And that's pretty impressive."

"Remember, there's no such thing as a shortage of dark wizards to catch, and there will be plenty of opportunities for you to flex your muscles in the future. But that's not now."

Harry looked a little disappointed and mumbled, "So we don't have to do anything?"

The question made Moody hesitate for a moment. He looked at Ron and Hermione, who also looked expectant, and said, "If there's a ruckus in the school in the next two days, you guys can help to maintain the order. But it's likely you'll not feel anything as it passes."

" Provided it's not a threat to your own safety." Kingsley added.

"Okay." Harry said. And then the three of them walked out of the broom room.

Hundreds of kilometres away, Voldemort walked down a long, eerily dim underground passage, with green torches on either side, and he was followed by Bellatrix Lestrange.

" My lord, will they make it?" Bellatrix asked in a low voice.

"Whether they succeed or not is irrelevant." Voldemort said coldly, so much time had passed that he had completely calmed down, but his desire for his Horcruxes had been growing with each passing day.

Especially after his attempts to make a new Horcrux had failed.

After the Battle of Hogsmeade, Voldemort realized that old man Dumbledore knew the secret of the Horcruxes. Although he was shocked, he was not overly frightened. He calmed down and figured out that Dumbledore was cursed and would die sooner or later after a few years. At that time only Felix Hap could stand against him, and he firmly believed after a period of time he would not lose. When it comes to the critical point of the fight, it would not be impossible to trade one life for another; after all, he still had a Horcrux with him and could continue to make Horcruxes.

But when he intended to use the death of Headmaster Ilvermorny to create a new Horcrux, a violent tremor ran through his soul, as if he was going to disappear in the next instant.

Voldemort realized the possibility that he would no longer be able to split his soul.

Not being able to split his soul meant that he would not be able to make a new Horcrux, and it also implied that every single Horcrux that still remained would be incredibly valuable.

Every extra Horcrux in existence counted as more than one life.

Severus brought back mixed news - he failed to retrieve the remains of the locket from Black's old mansion, but the house-elf did survive, suggesting that the servant he had thought loyal had truly betrayed him and dealt him a fatal blow.

But combined with the information that Regulus Black was dead, he could probably guess that Regulus had not had time to destroy the Horcrux, since he had exchanged his own life for that of the house-elf.

He had enough confidence in the curse trap he had arranged.

"That was idiotic." He said through clenched teeth.

"Master?" Bellatrix looked at him in confusion.

Voldemort ignored her and continued walking down the eerily deep corridor, heading deeper and deeper into the ground, with a faint rustling coming from the other end.

House-elves do have some tricks up their sleeves, and he had failed to consider those ... tricks, but house-elves are too weak and incapable of destroying a Horcrux. If Severus failed to retrieve the locket from the old mansion, it probably means it had ended up in the hands of old man Dumbledore.

The fate of two complete Horcruxes remained unknown ... Voldemort clenched his fists furiously, as a dangerous red glint flashed in his eyes.

Just as Dumbledore knew Voldemort, Voldemort also thought he saw through Dumbledore, and he knew one thing: whether or not the two Horcruxes survived to this day, they would all be destroyed before Dumbledore dies ...

Voldemort took a deep breath, "Bella." He said softly and Bellatrix looked up at him respectfully.

"Gather all the forces."

"But-"

Voldemort glanced at her coldly, and she immediately stopped talking.

As far as Voldemort is concerned, he would not be distressed even if all his servants died, provided their deaths are worthwhile. And in his mind, if they could slightly stumble his opponents and buy a little time for his plan, they would be considered to have died for a good cause.

--

#Will and #Moroni Albornoz Castro, Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!

The next day, in the classroom with the 'Frontline Lookout Club' sign on the door, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were arranging the soft mats and wooden targets in order on the floor. Which might be used later.

The door was pushed open and Fred and George sauntered in, " Why are we moving here today?"

"Professor Hap is coming." Harry said.

The twins approched Harry with a look of interest and Harry shrugged, " I guess he wants to see my Patronus and guide us in the meantime."

"Cool!" Fred said.

They also joined in and by the time Ginny and Luna came in, the classroom was already full of people. Ron and Neville were moving a large wooden box filled with various spell books and training props together.

"I'll help." Ravenclaw student Anthony Goldstein shouted, raising his wand and pointing it at the wooden box. "Don't!" Neville was startled and shouted, however, the spell had already been recited, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The wooden box swung violently, knocking Ron's hand away, and the corner of the box smashed into his foot, causing him to yelp in pain. The crate then floated slowly, swaying left and right as if drunk, and rose higher and higher, soon reaching a dozen feet high into the ceiling above them.

" You need to learn a bit of control." Harry said as he ran over and looked up for a few seconds.

"Sorry! It's my first time controlling something this big." Anthony said with a sad face.

"It's not about the size," Harry shouted towards his ear, "you need to learn to control your spell."

" Spell?" Anthony muttered in confusion.

"That's right, you're doing great now, look! You managed to make the crate fly to the ceiling, I now need you to complete the next step and make it descend again." Harry said as the people around him watched apprehensively, Hermione mumbling under her breath.

"What are you doing?" Ron asked, tiptoeing on one foot as Neville supported him from the side.

"Preparing a shock absorption spell, just in case." Hermione said quickly, "Oh, but I suppose there's no need for that."

The large wooden box descended to the ground little by little and slowly landed. Anthony slumped to the floor, covered in sweat and panting. Harry pulled him up, "Well done." "Thanks." Anthony grunted as the members around him applauded.

A voice sounded from the doorway, "Very brilliant teaching, if it was a classroom I would consider giving you twenty points." Felix said with a smile on his face.

The members of the Frontline Lookout gathered around, "What are you going to teach us, Professor?" Fred chimed in.

"How about the ancient magic hidden behind the twelve amulets?" Lee Jordan suggested, "The last demonstration was too short."

Felix wanted to put his memory body in a small dark room, but at the moment he could only go along with his memory body's mischief, "Last time was considered as an introduction, to pique your curiosity - I'd like to give the students more time to do their own research... ...as far as teaching goes, it might be better to leave it as suspense until the end of the school year, just like Illumination Magic. I just dropped by today to check out a few things. Potter, I'm interested in seeing your variant Patronus."

"Oh, okay." Harry said.

This is something that had been agreed upon a long time ago, the Professor had said that he would take the time to stop by after the Christmas break, but he didn't expect it to drag on until now. Harry's happy emotions brewed, "ex-PEK-toh pa-TRO-num!" As he whispered, a silver stag burst out of his wand and circled around them.

Harry grew very comfortable with this charm, and he saw Professor Hap nod slightly, which sent a jolt of excitement through him. As he maintained the Patronus Charm, he held out his other hand. There seemed to be an additional invisible carving knife in the air, outlining a bright runic symbol.

In the blink of an eye, the runic symbol turned into a purple mist with a faint golden glow.

Harry looked up and the silver stag which was hovering in midair flung its hooves and rushed toward him. Instead of ducking, he reached out his hand, in a manner that looked like he was about to caress the Patronus' horns to the other's eyes. Then - the purple mist merged with the Patronus, like ink dripping into a pool of water - the Patronus's blurred outline became clear, and its hooves touched the ground with a "ta-da" sound.

Felix smiled at this.

"Have you tested the power?" He asked.

Harry scratched his head in confusion, there were no dementors in sight, but when he saw Professor Hap's eyes moving towards the wooden target, he instantly understood. "Go on." Harry said as the Stag gently nudged his hand with its massive antlers before turning towards the wooden target and slamming into it, "Bang!" The wooden target was knocked over.

The Patronus' bright purple glowing horns became dim and seemed to turn back into a blur of silver colour, and when Harry tried to control the spell, the stag's form became solid again.

"Professor, it has another form." Harry said, pointing his wand at the stag as the purple mist on the Patronus faded away, followed by the rapid expansion of the stag's size making it two or three times bigger than it was, "Erm, it just simply got bigger, but I don't know what the point is." He said embarrassedly.

"It will be useful," Felix commented, "Have you tried any of the other runes?"

"I've tried 'Tranquillity' and 'Enthusiasm' but they don't work too well and conflict with the Patronus Charm." Harry honestly said.

"Strange." Felix was a little surprised, "I've tried it personally and there were no problems."

"Have you tried it too, Professor? And it worked?" Harry couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah," Felix opened his hand and a Silver Rain Swallow emerged from the thin air and landed on his shoulder. He then produced two runic symbols, one by one, and brought them to the Rain Swallow's beak, which opened its beak and swallowed a cyan symbol, then its silver aura gradually tinged with faint cyan colour.

A faint halo rippled out, and those around it immediately felt their mood become very calm and peaceful, with a very lazy, but clear consciousness. Then the Rain Swallow Patronus swallowed another fiery red symbol, and its body looked like it cloaked itself in a thin layer of flame as it gave a high-pitched cry as a halo of radiance spread out.

The peace of mind was immediately shattered, and Fred and George, who were close by, clenched their fists with excited expressions. "Fred, I've got a great idea, how about pulling Peeves into our club?" George excitedly blurted.

"Can't wait!" Fred responded to him enthusiastically as the pair strutted off towards the door.

Harry was also feeling out of sorts, his own enthusiasm for Quidditch had resurfaced and all he wanted to do now is ride his broomstick wildly through the sky, maybe taking Ginny with him would be a good idea? His mind whirled with crazy thoughts, then the Occlumency spontaneously worked and his mind cleared, as he subconsciously pulled the twin who reacted the most.

"Professor?" He shouted urgently.

"I know."

Felix cancelled the spell and looked around the room. Most of them felt like they had been bonked in the head and gradually came back to their senses, but with confusion still evident in their expressions.

"Sorry, I didn't expect such a big reaction, you guys carry on with your practice and ignore me while I examine it myself." Felix sat down on the large box in the corner and secretly wondered what had happened, are they that weak to be affected that much by a slight emotion?.

Harry shook his head, the Occlumency is isolating the adverse reactions. He looked at the rest of the group, who were clearly caught up in a state of false enthusiasm and dazedness.

He clapped his hands together, drawing everyone's attention to him. Harry said stiffly, "Let's continue our Patronus Charm practice today, I know it's been a long time, and you may have gotten a bit rusty-"

"Bollocks! I'm in great shape!" Ernest Macmillan exclaimed.

Without waiting for Harry to continue, Ernest started waving his wand around with a look of concentration and enthusiasm. Harry suddenly realized that these people couldn't have been influenced by that 'enthusiasm' rune, could they? Amplifying emotions with the power of the Patronus ... but how on earth did Professor did that?

The training today had been surprisingly good.

It only took Ernest half an hour to condense a vague shape, and Harry was startled when he saw it; how did Ernest's Patronus somehow look like his cousin Dudley? He stared at it for a while before recognizing it as a boar, and because of this he missed the Weasley brothers' brilliant show narrowly - they brought the blurred silver mist together to form a vivid Magpie.

"Look at this, Harry!" Fred exclaimed, but as his wand turned a different direction, the Magpie reverted back into a mist.

"You're close enough, try again a few times!" Harry encouraged, even though he didn't know what had happened.

"Got it, got it." Fred stated impatiently and proceeded to get together with George to study the odd Magpie Patronus.

Fred's attitude was not unusual, Harry noticed - most of the members had become more focused but also became rather annoyed if they were disturbed as if they were immersed in their own world. This could be an effect of the professor's magic, Harry thought.

He approached Felix resentfully, the professor holding a Rain Swallow in his hand, constantly feeding it runes of various shapes and sizes, which had tinted the Rain Swallow with a blossom of colours.

"What's wrong?" Felix asked with his eyes closed.

He is experiencing the construction of the Rain Swallow Patronus - his Patronus is far more stable than the others, even beyond the definition of the 'Patronus Charm' itself, due to the fact that he had inherited Lady Rowena Ravenclaw's memory nodes and used them to nearly reconstruct his Patronus.

" They don't need my guidance, at least for today." Harry quipped.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I seem to have messed up your day." Felix said.

"It looks like they got a great deal out of it," Harry shook his head and then looked at the rest of the classroom with some concern, "It won't leave any after effects, will it?"

"No, it's like a sudden rainfall, the effects are minimal. They should get tired though, you can prepare some chocolate in advance-"

Harry nodded.

"Unless they're in that mood for a long time, that is-" Felix stopped and opened his eyes.

"Professor?" Harry looked at him curiously.

"I've been wondering what would be a good carrier for the emotions." Felix muttered.

"And now?"

"Seems to have found the ... answer right at hand, no?" Felix lowered his head to examine his Patronus. "Say sorry to them for me ... Also, the reason you couldn't incorporate the other runes into the Patronus was found, because its spell intent simply isn't the same as those runes. I'll write it down and give it to you later, it's a bit of a pain in the arse to explain at once ..." He got up with a jump and disappeared in a flash with the help of the Room of Requirement as a medium.

Dumbstruck, Harry reached out and poked the air in front of him; just now someone had been sitting here, but now it seemed as if the professor had never been here. Harry sat in Felix's place for a moment in confusion, which naturally ended in no success. He looked up at the others, who didn't notice the eerie scene - except for a dubious glance shot by Hermione, who nevertheless turned her head back to practice the Patronus Charm.

Only one person seemed unaffected in any way - Mafalda came over and asked curiously, "What did you talk about? And why Professor Hap has suddenly disappeared, I thought it is not possible to Apparate in the castle?"

" It was nothing," Harry said warily, "You weren't affected?"

" Well, I was; but now I have an urge to interview you, very badly." Mafalda's 'Enthusiasm' for gossip (interview) overrode her 'Enthusiasm' for magic.

"Er ..." Harry looked speechless, and after a long pause, he whispered, "There's something I happen to ask of you."

"An advertisement? Or an exclusive reveal?" Mafalda asked with great interest.

"Is there any difference between the two?" Harry squinted at her.

"The former requires you to pay for the advertisement, while the latter involves me paying you an honorarium." Mafalda said matter-of-factly.

" Well, you need to distinguish it," Harry froze and said vaguely, "Well, it's an exclusive reveal, but it also counts as an advertisement ..."

After half an hour the whole group broke from that state of intense focus one by one, looking exhausted. Harry handed out the prepared chocolates to them, "The Professor asked me to convey his apologies, he's not quite skilled in that magic yet."

"Where is he?" Fred turned his head to look around.

"I guess he got into a frenzy too, but he went into that state by choice." Harry said furtively, "He'll probably perfect that magic next time."

"That's pretty cool." George said with a look of admiration.

Ginny yawned, her eyes fluttering half-open and half-closed as she asked, "Can I have a nap on the cushion, Harry?"

"Let's go to the 'Crumpled horn Snorkacks Certainly Exist' club," Luna said, "I transplanted a lot of plants, and it looks like a little garden with a hammock. Want to come along?" She turned her head to stare at Harry.

"... No, thanks though." Harry said as he bid farewell to Neville, Susan, and the rest of the group, and eventually, only a few people were left in the classroom.

"It does seem a bit scary, I mean that magic." Ron said with a lingering fear, "I didn't know it was affecting me, I was so into learning that I became annoyed if someone distracted me from doing it." Then he added with a smile, "But it worked like a charm though, I seem to be getting the hang of it and my Patronus has taken on a hint of shape."

"Me too," Hermione said cheerfully, "The Professor once said that it was difficult for me to muster strong emotions, probably because I am too collected, maybe I should make myself more 'enthusiastic'."

Mafalda was the last to leave apart from them, and she gestured at Harry, "It's a deal."

"What 'deal' have you made?" Ron asked, munching his chocolate.

"Draco Malfoy." Harry said softly. "Great." Ron said happily, "I can't wait to see him get cursed by everyone - peeping in the girls' lavatory is enough to get him in trouble! And he couldn't complain about it because we sort of helped him out!" He was in such a good mood that he looked as if he had already eaten several chocolates, his faced beamed brightly.

"I didn't say his name." Harry shook his head and said.

"Oh." Ron's eyebrows dropped, "I bet he would not thank you for letting him off the hook regarding this."

Harry shrugged, "I don't expect to get anything in return either."

The great hall was buzzing with life in the late evening as the Ministry of Magic staff remained after the dinner to guide the students who had failed their assessment as usual, "Step up, there's only less than a third of them remaining." Twycross cheered his colleague on.

"I need a break." Umbridge said coldly, as she walked out of the great hall on her own.

" Wilkie, I'd like to get some air too ... it's been a tiring few days, sorry." Avery whispered, followed by several more people who made their own excuses to leave. Twycross watched this with a mixture of bewilderment and deflation as he glared at the remaining people from the Ministry, "Do you want a break too?" No one walked out of the room this time.

" Twycross, do you need a hand?" Professor Flitwick asked enthusiastically.

"Oh, Professor Flitwick? Is it your turn to be on duty with Professor Snape tonight?" Twycross beamed, "Thank you so much." Snape, who followed Flitwick stood in silence as he stared at Umbridge and Avery as they passed the long table until they disappeared in the doorway of the great hall.

The fact that Voldemort had not revealed his undercover status to these two made him secretly relieved, it indicates that the Dark Lord seemed to have finally regained a bit of his senses. Although it is not necessarily a good thing, at least he does not have to worry about him suddenly going berserk during one of the debriefings ...

On the other hand, Umbridge and Avery, who had walked out of the great hall, passed through the entrance hall and came to a dark corridor, where they hid behind a huge pillar and muttered.

"You go!"

"Why not you?"

"I have a more important task!"

Valen, who was passing by in the distance, gave them a curious look. She smacked her lips and carried the little snake away, she had failed to negotiate with the Great Demon King last night. Valen had concluded that she sucked at maths and that she needed to find some assistance! From her previous experience with Astoria, she knew that many of the students at school are unreliable and probably inferior to her, and she had to find the right person for this task.

It just so happens that she knows a school topper.

Umbridge and Avery peeked out furtively from behind the pillar and stared at Valen's back.

"You think this little thing will help with the plan?"

" Give it a try. If it works, you'll have someone to open the door for you." Avery whispered, "I'll find another opportunity to make contact with Malfoy, and if that doesn't work, there's a backup." He left from the other side of the stone pillar.

Umbridge stopped where she was, somewhat persuaded.

The Ancient Rune Office seemed like a den of horrors in her mind, but if someone there to lead the way, it would undoubtedly be much easier.

She stepped out from behind the pillar and discreetly pulled out her wand. Her wand looked very short, only eight inches, like a quill with its feathers pulled out, and it looked very inconspicuous. Umbridge stepped closer, she had heard about this Niffler in the past few days, a pet ... raised by that man, who she hated with a passion.

Umbridge slowed her breathing as she kept mentally reminding herself that all it would take would be a Confundus Charm, just like she had convinced her own father to retire early. It would be easy.

Her mouth squirmed, and then there was a flash of white light. Umbridge almost thought she had succeeded, and she controlled herself from grinning broadly, but things went beyond her comprehension when the little yellow hat that Niffler had been wearing suddenly exploded with a powerful light and bounced off the spell that she had been confident of.

Valen who is carrying the little snake stopped in her tracks and turned her head in confusion to see a strange-looking short, fat woman frozen in place with her wand in her hand. Valen blinked and took off her little yellow hat, a visible scorch mark was visible on the back of the hat and a faint wisp of black smoke rose from it.

"Kee?"

Valen stared intently at Umbridge.

--

#Will and #Moroni Albornoz Castro, Thanks for all your love and support.

Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.

Happy Reading!!!