Chapter 255 The Calm Before The Storm

Considering the threats from Malfoy and other Slytherins, Harry and Ron finally persuaded Hermione, who enthusiastically invited Evan to participate in the war between the two Houses.

"What happened in the morning?" Evan asked with curiosity. "How was Sirius' Defense Against the Dark Arts class? Was there something unexpected?"

"The class went smoothly, and we were introduced to a Banshee, a very intriguing dark creature, constantly emitting a sharp and mournful sound. However, there was something inappropriate, though it did not cause any real harm," Hermione explained. "It was Sirius, he didn't hide his disdain towards the Slytherin students in class and deducted a lot of points from them, maybe more than a hundred..."

"Sirius is not to blame, Malfoy was too provocative," argued Harry. "He misbehaved in Sirius' class and didn't do as he was told."

"I know, but Sirius is still too emotional. Now that he's a professor, he should treat every student as fairly as Professor McGonagall does," complained Hermione, resembling Professor McGonagall.

"Damn, do you really know what you're talking about?!" exclaimed Ron, surprised. "A bias towards Gryffindor from a teacher is my life's greatest expectation. And now you tell me you expect fairness!"

"Sirius didn't do much. Think of Snape, how he treated everyone before, if it were him," Harry added.

"Snape deducted at least two hundred points from Gryffindor this morning, and even scared some girls to tears," Evan mentioned about what happened in the morning Potions class.

"I already knew it would be like this. Old fox," Ron commented disdainfully.

In summary, due to the duel between Snape and Sirius, their unabashed repulsion, and other long-standing resentments, the animosity between Slytherin and Gryffindor reached its peak.

During the following week, students from both houses were on alert. They all walked through the castle in pairs, fearing any mishap.

Despite being on guard, nothing actually happened.

With Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall's intervention, the castle strengthened its management, and neither Harry nor Malfoy had the chance to wage their supposed house war.

Over time, Snape and Sirius also restrained themselves, and their deductions from Gryffindor and Slytherin gradually ceased, but Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts became the two favorite and most loathed classes for Gryffindor and Slytherin students.

In comparison to the highly differentiated Potions class and Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class was surprisingly well-received.

Following Evan and Hermione's suggestion, Hagrid chose a fire salamander as the magical creature for the first class of the new semester. He provided a bonfire full of salamanders for their enjoyment, and they had an exceptional class collecting firewood and dry leaves to keep the fire burning, while the fire-loving lizards scurried up and down the white, flaming logs that crumbled.

Almost everyone agreed that this was the best class Hagrid had ever taught.

A week after classes began, Ravenclaw and Slytherin played a Quidditch match, Slytherin won, but the score was very close.

According to Wood, this was good news for the Gryffindor team, because otherwise, even if Gryffindor defeated Ravenclaw, they would still be in second place.

This match allowed everyone to focus on the Quidditch match, and compared to the illusory house war, they found it more practical to determine the outcome this way. Gryffindor lost to Hufflepuff before, but thanks to Harry's Firebolt, they remained the favorite team to win the title this year.

Currently, the Gryffindor Quidditch team had to train at least five times a week.

In the cold January wind, Harry soared outdoors for five or six hours almost every day, barely having time to finish his tasks.

Evan, too, felt the lack of time. He had reached a point of stagnation in his magic research and needed to invest more time. Tom Riddle's diary had guided him the previous year. Evan had conducted all the related research. And now he was diligently studying the Dark Magic books he had taken from Grimmauld Place number 12.

Those magic books, especially "Secrets of the Darkest Art," were highly esoteric and intricate. There were many things Evan could not comprehend at all.

He couldn't ask Dumbledore or Sirius about those dark magic books. He had to investigate on his own. He spent more and more time in the library, and Madam Pince, the librarian, looked at him more and more strangely.

With Sirius's approval, most of the books Evan borrowed and consulted were very ancient and unpopular magic books, all from the Restricted Section. These books were not meant to be in the hands of twelve-year-old wizards. Even adult wizards rarely used them.

The only one busier than Evan was Hermione. She had chosen so many classes that eventually the immense workload seemed to be taking a toll on her.

Every night, if she wasn't studying in the library with Evan, she could definitely be seen in a corner of the common room, several tables filled with books, Arithmancy charts, rune dictionaries, diagrams of muggles lifting heavy objects, and folder after folder of extensive notes.

Apart from Evan, she hardly spoke to anyone and was curt when interrupted.

"What's going on with the two of you?" Ron finally couldn't help but shout at Harry one evening. "I've never seen anyone busier than Evan and Hermione, not even Percy, who's preparing for the Highly Demanding Wizards Exam. The books they read in two days are more than what I've read in a semester."

"I don't know!" Harry didn't look up. He was finishing a distasteful essay on Undetectable Poisons for Snape. "What if we were to copy Hermione's Potions assignment?"

"Perhaps we shouldn't, she wouldn't approve," Ron glanced back at Hermione. She was barely visible behind a teetering stack of books.

"Hermione is so peculiar, how can she attend so many classes?" Ron continued. "I overheard her speaking with Professor Vector, that Arithmancy witch, this morning. They were discussing yesterday's lesson, but Hermione couldn't have been there, because she was with us in Care of Magical Creatures! And Ernie Macmillan told me she has never missed a Muggle Studies class, but half of them are at the same time as Divination, and she hasn't missed any of those either!"

Harry certainly knew why, but he had to keep it a secret.

He couldn't speak about the Time-Turner, and he truly needed to make progress with Snape's essay at that moment.

Although the confrontation between Snape and Sirius seemed to have calmed down, there was still a raging undercurrent. Harry needed to tread more carefully. At that moment, if anything ended up in Snape's hands, it would be hard to overlook.

"What if we asked for Evan's help? He would lend us Hermione's Potions assignment. I'm sure he wouldn't refuse," Harry changed the subject.

"That's a good idea, but only if we can locate Evan," said Ron. "Apart from Hermione, I also want to know what Evan is up to these days. He's in the library every night, I've seen him there several times. He's always engrossed in a hefty tome of magic that no one could fathom."