Neville's good mood didn't last long. As soon as we got off the train, we could see many people turning their heads to look at him and Harry, and then turning away without any attempt to hide as they whispered to their companions. Perhaps because we had stayed at 12 Grimmauld Place for too long, the cold wind that began to blow at night didn't make us feel uncomfortable when it hit our faces. On both sides of the path leading to the lakeside were lush pine trees, and a fresh fragrance wafted over with the wind. However, we didn't hear Hagrid's familiar voice. Harry and the others had been craning their necks to look for him for a while, and all they saw was a neatly dressed woman guiding the first - year students to take the boats.

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry stood still. Only when complaints came from behind did he reluctantly continue walking forward, carrying Hedwig's cage.

We walked along the path that had been washed wet by the rain to Hogsmeade Station. In the previous three years, we had taken the carriages without thestrals here. Hermione and Ron finally caught up with us, out of breath. A group of us crowded in the station, waiting for an empty spot and stretching on tiptoe to look around. Neville, however, was looking at the carriages with a pale face, as if he was seeing them clearly for the first time. I thought he had lost his toad Trevor again, but then Harry also showed a confused and dazed expression. Their eyes were intently fixed on the air in front of the carriages, as if there was something there that had captured all their attention.

Vivian thought Taurus was playing with her by putting her cage on his head, and she happily fluttered her wings and shouted in the cage. Taurus was already conspicuous in the crowd, and now almost everyone's eyes were focused on him. They even stopped pointing at Neville. But Taurus didn't seem to care. He was busy asking Ron and Hermione if they had seen Hagrid, while Hermione was gnashing her teeth at Draco and Parkinson for brutally pushing aside the younger students to occupy the empty carriage, saying that she must report them.

"Previously, he would at least restrain himself a bit out of consideration for you... Look at his true nature now." Hermione took the squirming Crookshanks from Luna, shook her head, and said, "My parents have always told me that the way a person treats those of lower status reflects what kind of person he really is."

"Yeah." I replied numbly, "That makes a lot of sense."

"What's that?" Harry asked Hermione, "What are those horse - like things?"

Hermione looked in the direction he pointed at, puzzled. "Harry, what do you want me to look at?"

"Can you see it too?" Neville asked eagerly, "This strange winged horse - Harry, you can see it too, right? It's not that I'm confused and having an illusion again, is it?"

"What's wrong with you two?" Ron asked worriedly, "Could it be that the Chocolate Frogs sold on the train were mixed with that mushroom powder that makes people see illusions by Fred and George..."

"I ate the Chocolate Frogs too." I said as we finally got to a carriage and got into the dark compartment. A damp, musty smell hit our faces. "I didn't see anything either."

"I can." Luna's dreamy voice came from behind. "I think only people with a clear mind can see them."

"Buddy, congratulations on having a mind as clear as hers." Taurus finally gave Vivian back to me, but Vivian had affectionately stretched out her beak from the cage to peck at his thumb. Harry and Neville obviously didn't like this statement. They would rather have been given the illusion - causing mushroom powder.

"I think there might be some conditions for seeing it." When getting off the carriage, Harry was still looking at the air in front of the carriage with doubts. I comforted him, "Both you and Neville can see the same thing, which means it should objectively exist. It's difficult to make two different people have exactly the same illusion. Come on, you're blocking the people behind."

"Yeah." He was silent for a while and then said, "I was just thinking, what if Neville and I have been cursed by You - Know - Who."

"Put a curse on you two to make you see horses that others can't?" I laughed. "He'd be pretty bored to do that."

"No, what if this is just a side effect." He ruffled his hair in annoyance. "What if he's controlling us? Think about what happened last term. We should have been able to notice something, right? I clearly saw Barty Crouch Jr. on the map—"

"Stop talking." I interrupted him. Quite a few people around had already pricked up their ears to listen. "Overthinking will only muddle your mind."

"Luna just complimented me on having a mind as clear as hers." He mumbled. "Oh, don't glare at me. I'm just kidding."

In the Great Hall, slender candles had been lit. The ceiling was like the somewhat gloomy night sky outside, but the candle flames beautifully adorned it, making up for the absence of visible stars. Quite a number of people were already sitting at the four long tables. When Neville passed by, they all stopped their chatter and turned to look at him. This made Neville even more uncomfortable. He tightly pursed his lips, trying to show that he didn't hear or care, but cold sweat still broke out on his round face.

"Don't let the nargles get into your head." Luna said to Neville, then bid us farewell and sat down at the Ravenclaw table.

Ginny was already there, chatting animatedly with several fourth - year Gryffindors. We found a few empty seats in the middle of the table and sat down. Nearly Headless Nick greeted us. I was pretty sure that Parvati and Lavender had been talking about us just now, because the way they greeted us was a bit too enthusiastic.

"We thought you'd lost this hairpin!" Parvati pointed at the cat - eye green hairpin in my hair. "You haven't worn it for ages!"

"Uh..." I lied casually. "I forgot where I put it when I was tidying up, and then I found it in the luggage compartment later."

"How could you forget such a beautiful thing!" Lavender exclaimed in surprise, drawing many people's attention to us. I noticed that this year she finally stopped staring at Taurus like a fool. In fact, ever since Taurus danced with Greengrass all night at the Yule Ball last year, she seemed to have cooled off towards him a lot - of course, Taurus himself probably didn't notice, which made her even angrier. She said she would never humiliate herself like that again. Vivian happily fluttered her wings in the cage, as if she was also joining in the conversation.

Harry and the others were still looking for Hagrid's figure among the staff tables. But I had noticed since entering the Great Hall that he wasn't there. It's hard to overlook Hagrid's presence, after all, he would surely stand out from the crowd. I saw that my father was still sitting gloomily in his old place. Professor Dumbledore was sitting in the middle of the staff table, wearing a deep purple robe covered with silver stars. He tilted his head to listen to the strange woman beside him, and the hat on his head seemed about to fall off.

"That woman named Umbridge!" Neville rarely showed an expression of extreme disgust. "She attended my hearing at the Ministry of Magic. It was she who said I was just a poor, deranged little boy and rejected our—"

"Neville." Hermione interrupted him with a bit of a warning tone, preventing him from saying the rest.

Neville closed his mouth aggrievedly, but still stared angrily at the woman on the staff table. She was wearing a fluffy pink cardigan that didn't suit her age at all. There was a funny big pink bow on her gray - brown short hair. (I noticed that Parvati took off the big red bow on her head and put it beside her.) The bright colors made her short and plump figure seem even more swollen. Perhaps noticing that many students in the Great Hall were looking at her, she turned her face, picked up a goblet and took a sip, then gave us a smile. This made her face look even more like a toad.

"So she works for Fudge?" Hermione frowned and carefully examined the staff table with me. "Could it be... no..."

Her murmur was drowned out by the sound of first - year students filing in led by Professor McGonagall. They all looked frightened and pale - faced, looking at the patched wizard's hat in front of them with expressions of awe. I noticed that a little girl looked very nervous. One of her hands was tightly clutching the robe sleeve of another little boy beside her. I almost immediately averted my eyes and tried not to think about anything. Fortunately, the Sorting Hat started to sing right away.

"This year's song is a bit off - topic, isn't it?" Ron raised his eyebrows after the Sorting Hat finished singing. Many people around were also whispering. This was the first time in five years.

"Maybe it hears more news than all of us." Taurus casually joined in the applause. "This hat stays in Dumbledore's office all day long."

"I really envy it for being able to see Dumbledore every day." Neville said gloomily.

"Back then - like the last time You - Know - Who was around, did it say anything like this?" Hermione asked Nearly Headless Nick, who was sitting beside her. "You must know. Did it give any warnings?"

Nearly Headless Nick was about to answer, but Professor McGonagall had already started reading the list of first - year students. She swept a particularly stern look over the students who were whispering to each other, and Nick immediately sat up straight and pressed a transparent finger to his lips. The long line of new students gradually shortened. Every year's opening ceremony seemed like the beginning of a cycle: The familiar scenes always reminded people of the feelings they had when they first walked into the magnificent Great Hall and looked up at the starry sky overhead years ago.

I watched as that little girl, trembling all over, walked up to the stool and sat down. Professor McGonagall gently placed the Sorting Hat on her head. When the Sorting Hat called out "Hufflepuff", she immediately broke into a smile. She trotted all the way to the little boy who had already taken a seat at the Hufflepuff table. Her face had turned as red as a freshly - ripe apple.

"It's so nice." I heard Hermione say after Dumbledore finished his brief welcome speech. "Coming back to Hogwarts makes people feel at ease. Everything is still moving forward."

"Yeah, it's really nice." I murmured, looking at the suddenly - appeared mountains of various foods in front of me. "They're so lucky. It's really great."

As the Weasley twins said, fifth year is the O.W.L. year. If before we just heard teachers endlessly talking about that a certain spell was a key examination content for O.W.L.s and thought in our hearts that it was still a long way off, then since we stepped into Hogwarts this academic year, this exam has been like a huge giant walking towards us with heavy steps. It patted each of us on the shoulder one by one and mercilessly pounded us into the floor - the class schedule has never been this full.

The Weasley twins, full of energy, shuttled among the listless students, introducing their not - yet - fully - developed nosebleed nougat and trying to recruit testers for their Skiving Snackboxes. Hermione was very dissatisfied that they dared to blatantly post an advertisement on the Gryffindor notice board to recruit testers. She finally gave up trying to interpret word - by - word the speech Umbridge made after the dinner yesterday - seriously, we were all dozing off while listening, but she actually almost memorized those words. Taurus said that with this alone, Hermione didn't need to worry about any of her O.W.L. exams.

"How did they suddenly have so much money?" Hermione asked suspiciously. "I saw that advertisement. The payment they offer to the testers isn't small, and there are also those raw materials. Just now they said they want to open a joke shop after graduation. I don't think Mrs. Weasley gave them that much pocket money, did she?"

"In fact, they stopped asking for money from home a long time ago. Mum is always worried that they're up to no good." Ron said gloomily. "I'm actually quite puzzled. They even bought me a set of dress robes during the summer vacation this year. I really don't know where they got the money from."

"So, what do you want to do after graduating from Hogwarts?" Harry abruptly changed the subject. "Our exam results this year are related to our future."

"I want to do something meaningful." Hermione said quickly. "If I could further promote the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare—"

"Seriously? I thought you were just having a whim last term." Taurus interjected casually.

Hermione felt insulted. "Of course not!"

"I want to travel around the world." Taurus said slowly. "Not like my dad. That's too easy. I plan to travel like a Muggle, using their means of transportation. That must be great fun—they travel in tin cans that can fly in the sky. Those Muggle girls are also interested in card tricks. Of course, I read about it in magazines. I can use magic instead of tricks. It's sure to attract them."

"You could attract them just by sitting there like a statue." Ron muttered. "I think Muggle girls and witches have pretty similar tastes."

"Ron, what do you want to do?" Hermione asked in a seemingly casual tone.

"Er..." Ron said hesitantly. "Actually, I haven't decided yet. I just thought, um..."

"What?" Harry urged.

"It would be cool to be an Auror like Harry's dad." Ron said in a half - joking, half - serious tone. "But it's really difficult, right? They're almost the best of the best."

"Yeah." Harry seemed enthusiastic. "You think the same as me! Is there anything more meaningful than directly chasing after the Dark Side?"

"Then you have to get an 'O' in Potions for your O.W.L.s—my dad only accepts students who get an 'O'." I saw the smile on Harry's face disappear by half in an instant, and felt that I might have discouraged him too much. "Er, I mean you have to start preparing seriously from now on."

"What do you want to do in the future?" Hermione asked me curiously. "Do you want to be an Auror too, Iris? Just like your mother?"

"I haven't really thought about it," I said honestly.

"Just say something off - hand," Ron said. "I know I can't get an 'O' in Potions, but it's not against the law to dream, right?"

"Um... I think the International Association of Magical Potioneers is quite good." I shrugged. "Although Dad scoffs at some of the viewpoints in their journals, it's quite interesting. Those people are very tolerant of all kinds of innovative ideas and they've been writing to Dad, inviting him to attend conferences."

Everyone except Hermione gave me a look that said "What are you talking about?" Hermione enthusiastically echoed me. "I also think you're more suited to do research! But the headquarters of this association is in America—do they have a branch in the UK?"

"No." As we reached the History of Magic classroom, and I could feel a wave of drowsiness even while standing at the door. I said, "They've always been short - staffed, which is why their monthly magazine often turns into a quarterly one."

"Do you mean you want to work in America in the future?" Taurus asked me in shock. His voice was a bit loud, and I felt my face heat up because all the half - asleep classmates in the classroom suddenly raised their heads and looked in our direction. "You actually want to live with Americans?"

"Er... I think at least the editor - in - chief is a nice person." I said in a low voice after sitting down. "When I was in second year, I stole the invitation letter they sent to Dad, wrote a messy article about the improvement of the Living Death Potion, and sent it to them with the school owl. Instead of throwing it in the trash, Mr. Editor - in - chief not only helped me revise the manuscript on five sheets of paper, but also sent it back. In the end, he even agreed to let me publish the article under a pseudonym. But I didn't write anymore later. I thought the back - and - forth revisions were a bit too troublesome. After all, I was still a student."

They seemed shocked by this idea of mine. Before Professor Binns started talking about the Giant Wars in that wheezy voice and everyone except Hermione fell asleep within ten minutes, they were all trying to make me think that America was much worse than the UK.

But they obviously failed. As you know, before finally accepting my husband's proposal, I had been working for the International Association of Magical Potioneers. Those three years away from my homeland calmed me down a lot. Even today, I still try to find time to attend their annual communication conferences and I'm sincerely happy that they've started preparing a semi - monthly magazine. The retired editor - in - chief, Mr. Ted Moss, even said he would reserve half a page to advertise this book of mine. I kindly declined this offer. After all, this is just a middle - aged woman's rambling memoir and has nothing to do with potions.

I tried my best to focus on my notebook, but compared to Professor Binns' dull recitation from the textbook, the boys' discussion behind me about Gryffindor Quidditch team choosing a new goalkeeper seemed much more interesting. Of course, Hermione was quite displeased. After class, she yelled at the three boys, saying they wouldn't be able to borrow her History of Magic notes this year.

"Oh, come on," Ron said. "How could you bear to see us poor souls, who don't have a brain as excellent as yours, or such focused attention, or a memory like yours that can remember everything at a glance, fail to get an O.W.L. in History of Magic, Hermione? You're so kind."

"You always know how to flatter me like this," Hermione turned around, but her expression had softened a lot.

Like other teachers, Dad also emphasized his requirements for our O.W.L. exams in the first class of our fifth year (which might sound more like a threat to some people). He looked gloomily at Neville (Neville gasped) and said he hoped every student in this classroom could at least get a passing grade, otherwise he would be very angry.

"I thought he'd be nicer to us after this summer vacation," Ron muttered. "Now it seems like I was just dreaming."

"Iris, go and sit at the table with Miss Patil and Miss Brown," he turned around and said expressionlessly to me after stating the requirements for making the Calming Draught today. "You heard me. Hurry up."

"Oh... Yes, Professor." I threw the herbs I had just taken out into the empty cauldron.

"Potter, what is this?" Ten minutes before the class ended, I heard Dad ask Harry in a sarcastic voice. I turned around to look. Clouds of dark gray gas were rising from his cauldron. Actually, compared to others, he wasn't the worst. At least what was rising from his cauldron was steam, not the green sparks spraying out of Ron's cauldron, or the semi - solid substance that had stopped boiling in Seamus' cauldron.

"Potter, tell me," my dad's tone sounded like he was speaking in a soft voice, but in fact, everyone in the classroom could hear his cold, mocking voice. "Did your father forget to teach you how to read?"

From the Slytherin side, Draco's loud laughter rang out.

"I don't think he did," Harry said, his voice tense.

"Read me the third line of the instructions."

"Add powdered moonstone, stir counter - clockwise three times, boil for seven minutes, then add two drops of sneezewort syrup."

"Did you follow the requirements step by step?"

Harry's reply was very quiet. Clearly, he hadn't added the sneezewort syrup. If I were still sitting between him and Hermione, I could have helped him fix it. I suddenly realized that Dad might have moved me away just to make things difficult for Harry - he probably had never forgotten to hold me accountable for taking Harry to his office to steal gillyweed.

"Of course I know you forgot. Potions is an exacting art, and you clearly don't have a precise enough mind. This mess you've made today is useless - Vanish." My dad lazily waved his wand, leaving Harry standing in front of his empty cauldron. "Weigh yourself, Potter. Don't make unrealistic efforts - in every sense."

"How does Snape know you want to be an Auror in the future?" Ron asked after class. "Could Mr. Potter have talked to him about this?"

"I think the possibility of You - Know - Who being appointed as the Ambassador for Peace and Goodwill of the British Ministry of Magic is greater than the two of them sitting down and talking about these things." Harry looked both angry and wronged. Compared to Neville's cement - like finished product, Harry's potion could clearly get at least a B - at least, but he got the only zero in the class.

"Neville, going to Divination class together?" Taurus asked Neville, who was hurrying by.

"No, I'll go by myself." Neville said listlessly and left.

"Seamus was really out of line last night. I really wish I could have punched him then," Taurus said, looking at his back.

"What happened again?" Hermione asked, but soon we had to part ways to go to Arithmancy and Divination classes. There was no time to elaborate, so we could only bid a hasty farewell to the boys. Professor Vector, like other teachers, assigned us much more difficult homework than before. There was only one class left on the schedule, Defense Against the Dark Arts, but no one could muster the enthusiasm they used to have for going to class.

"Good afternoon, class!" After we silently entered the classroom and took our seats, Umbridge stood up from behind the podium (she didn't look much different from when she was sitting). The bow on her head had turned black, making one wonder if she had a whole trunk full of bows.

Exhausted after a day of classes, only a few of us responded to her. She seemed very dissatisfied. "This won't do. I want you to answer me in unison, 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge'. Please try again - Good afternoon, class!"