On Saturday morning, the weather was overcast, and a hazy mist filled the air. Although there were no obvious raindrops, if one walked across the open area without an umbrella, their robe would definitely get slightly damp from the water vapor. Harry rescheduled the Quidditch tryouts to the afternoon (in this way, by stalling for a bit of time, he could avoid going to Slughorn's dinner party). The few of them planned to visit Hagrid in the morning after having breakfast.

"I still need to practice the Aguamenti spell," Ron muttered as he opened the Advanced Potion-Making book that the owl had just delivered, looking rather disgruntled. "I really don't know what there is to explain. Are we going to knock on Hagrid's door and say to him, 'Sorry, the reason we didn't choose your class is that we hate that stupid course'?"

"We don't hate it!" Hermione retorted.

"Come on. Ask yourself, do you really, truly like those Blast-Ended Skrewts from the bottom of your heart?" Ron shook his head as he ate the salmon fillet. "If we had continued to stay in that class—we might be teaching his younger brother how to tie his shoelaces right now."

Just as Hermione opened her mouth to say something, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil came in through the entrance of the Great Hall, arm in arm. When passing by Ron, Lavender patted his shoulder and gave him a charming smile: "Good luck later!"

Ron choked on the pickled salmon in his mouth and couldn't speak for a moment. Harry, who had been looking down at the Daily Prophet, raised his head and said to Lavender, "The weather isn't good in the morning. The tryouts have been moved to the afternoon."

"Oh!" Lavender winked at Ron playfully. "Got it. We'll come and watch!"

"Has anyone been caught?" Taurus sat down beside Hermione with his uncombed hair. He casually took a plate of scrambled eggs closest to him and added it to his bowl of cereal. Every time Hermione or Harry read the newspaper, he would ask this question with a glum expression.

"No," Hermione replied coldly. "There's a report about a Dementor attack, and then there's the news about Mr. Potter having an argument with the director of the Auror Office."

"Who made you angry?" Taurus asked casually as he tilted his head to read the newspaper in Harry's hand. "It seems to be about the matter of Stan Shunpike—your father really doesn't agree with Scrimgeour's approach of 'better to kill by mistake than to let go'. Tsk... Questioning whether the current Minister of Magic is just a puppet of Albus Dumbledore, these media outlets have much shorter memories than one would expect."

"It's not that they have short memories. They only care about what kind of sentences can help them sell more newspapers," Hermione said, deliberately omitting Taurus's previous question. She said worriedly, "They don't care whether these words will cause panic among people. I think if Mr. Potter tries to intervene, they'll dare to publish The Ministry of Magic Attempts to Interfere with Freedom of Speech on the front page tomorrow."

"Actually, many people prefer Scrimgeour's way of doing things." Harry, who had been silent all this time, folded the newspaper and glanced at the overcast and rainy sky above. "But Scrimgeour didn't get along well with my father when he was the deputy director before. That's not something surprising."

At this time, Hogwarts was like an isolated island that was heavily protected by all kinds of means for us. We lived in the castle just like before, as if nothing had changed. But this illusion of harmony could always be easily shattered by some things—the always empty seat of the headmaster at the teachers' table, the classmate who was suddenly called out of the classroom and informed that his mother had passed away, the parents who came in a hurry to handle the withdrawal procedures for their children. It seemed that every day when we opened our eyes, there would be familiar or yet-to-be-familiar figures disappearing in this castle, and for every farewell, we couldn't be sure of the date of the next reunion.

When they had lunch, the sky began to clear up. The group who had just come back from Hagrid's hut seemed to be in a good mood. Harry told me that Hagrid had forgiven them for not choosing his class. Hermione and I softly discussed the problems I had encountered when I was doing my homework alone in the library in the morning, while Harry doodled on the sign-up sheet filled with names as he ate. It seemed that Ron realized the Quidditch tryouts were just around the corner after lunch, and his expression as he looked at the sunlight outside the window was no longer so relaxed. He even lost his appetite for food. Taurus patted Ron on the shoulder, but it didn't seem to have much effect.

There were already a few Gryffindors sitting sparsely on the stands to watch the tryouts. Hermione pulled me and we hurried up the stands. She didn't even say "good luck" to Ron. I remembered that since meeting Lavender at breakfast, Hermione didn't seem to have said a single word to Ron. She clearly looked sulky, yet she still chose to sit in the seat closest to the goalpost.

"Hey, can we sit here?" Lavender and Patil came over arm in arm and pointed to the empty seat beside me.

I glanced at Hermione. She nodded expressionlessly, and the two girls immediately sat down. I noticed that Lavender was wearing the bright big bow that Patil used to like the most, and she also had on the color-changing lipstick from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

I immediately saw Romilda Vane among a group of girls on the pitch. Even though I didn't know much about Quidditch, I was sure that the group of girls just wanted to fool around on the pitch. As soon as Harry blew the whistle, they giggled and doubled over with laughter, hugging each other and not following instructions. Some of them didn't even hold a broomstick. These people who didn't pass the tryouts didn't leave right away. Instead, they also sat on the stands to watch the following process.

"I thought you would find it boring," Hermione whispered in my ear (actually, there was no need, as Lavender and Patil were flipping playing cards to tell each other's "destined one", and they probably didn't have time to listen to what we were saying). "But I found that you're watching more attentively than I am."

"I think it's quite fun," I said, looking at Harry who had probably spent half of the time on the pitch shouting at all kinds of people. "I've never seen him be so... fierce to anyone."

Actually, I didn't quite understand the previous tryouts, but the tryouts for the goalkeeper were something that everyone could understand—just don't let the ball get into the goal. Therefore, when the final goalkeeper tryouts began, everyone on the stands was full of enthusiasm. Even though it was already dinner time, no one seemed to want to leave. When each goalkeeper candidate flew towards the goalpost, the spectators on the stands burst into enthusiastic cheers, and when a goal was conceded, there would be equally loud boos. Among the previous five people, at most, they only saved two balls. Hermione leaned forward and looked towards the people holding brooms and waiting to enter the pitch by the side of the pitch. Now, only McLaggen and Ron were left.

I never expected that McLaggen, a big and burly man, could fly around nimbly on a broomstick. He saved the first four balls in a row and blew a whistle at the girls on the stands triumphantly, which elicited a lot of giggles in response. When Ginny charged towards him with the last penalty shot, I suddenly felt an unnatural gust of wind brush against my elbow. The next second, McLaggen pounced in the completely opposite direction, causing even louder laughter.

"Good luck!" Lavender shouted at Ron, forming a trumpet shape with her hands around her mouth as he mounted his broomstick. Hermione didn't seem to care much about this. She was staring intently at Taurus, who was preparing to take off with the Quaffle. I felt that she was almost as nervous as Ron, but her pride wouldn't allow her to cover her face with both hands like Lavender did.

But Ron performed really well. He managed to save five balls in a row smoothly, and the cheers from the Gryffindors were so loud that it seemed they could lift the stadium that was already getting dark.

"You're amazing, Ron!" Hermione almost dashed down the stands (yes, she even forgot to take me with her, and I had to run after her). The new team members selected by Harry were gathering around him, but McLaggen roughly pushed aside the skinny Beater and said to Harry viciously, "Ron Weasley's sister and Taurus Black didn't serve the balls seriously at all! The balls they gave him were all easy to save. This is completely unfair."

"Nonsense," Harry's voice was already hoarse from shouting all afternoon, but he still frowned and replied. "Everyone saw that Ron almost missed Ginny's last shot. Taurus sent the same spinning ball every time, just in different directions. You performed very well today, but Ron performed even better than you. That's the truth."

McLaggen took a step closer to Harry. "I want another try."

Harry didn't back down. He shrugged expressionlessly. "I read out the rules to all of you before the tryouts started. The rule is that the goalkeeper saves five balls, and the one who saves the most wins—you didn't raise any objections at that time, so naturally you have to abide by the rules. I don't think there's a 'have another try' in the rules."

McLaggen looked around at the new team members who were glaring at him, made an ugly face, and then walked away cursing.

"I thought we'd have to teach him a lesson before he'd leave," Ginny said disdainfully, reaching out to untie her long hair that she had coiled up for easier flying. "What a pity. I've been researching a new Bat-Bogey Hex but haven't found anyone to test it on."

Her words dispelled the somewhat tense atmosphere, and everyone smiled. By the time they finally set the next training session for the following Tuesday, the sky had completely darkened, and it started to drizzle again. Ginny waved at us and affectionately took her boyfriend Dean Thomas's arm and left. Ron seemed to still be immersed in the tryouts and hadn't come to his senses yet. Not only did he not comment on his sister's behavior of kissing her boyfriend on the cheek in front of him, but on the way back, he described his thrilling saves animatedly and almost tripped over his own broomstick.

"I'm better than that McLaggen anyway," Ron said in a very proud tone. "At first, I was really worried. I didn't expect him to pounce in the completely wrong direction in the end, as if he'd been hit by a Confundus Charm—"

Hermione's face suddenly turned bright red. I thought of that unnatural gust of wind by my elbow at that time. She avoided my inquiring gaze and asked me in a hurry, as if trying to hide something, "Didn't you specifically bring a box of mint-flavored Ice Mice? Give some to Harry. He can hardly speak."

"Oh... okay." I bent down to rummage in my schoolbag. The cardboard box was pressed under a pile of thick books, and it took me a long time to dig it out. "Well, it's a bit melted. I should have cast a spell on it earlier—how about not eating it?"

"It's okay." Harry reached out and took an Ice Mouse whose tail had completely melted and stuffed it into his mouth, shivering from the cold.

"I think McLaggen was indeed hit by a Confundus Charm," I said thoughtfully as I pulled Hermione aside when I saw McLaggen bump directly into the doorframe as he entered the Great Hall. "We were really close to the goalpost at that time."

Hermione's face turned red again. She looked around warily. After making sure that the boys had all entered the Great Hall and started gobbling up their food, she nodded slightly and said, "You also saw how badly McLaggen reacted after he didn't make the team, and he even pestered you! I just thought that Harry definitely wouldn't want such a guy on the team—"

"Is there really no other reason?" I tilted my head. "For example, for Ron—"

"Oh, keep your voice down! Don't look at them!" Hermione interrupted me immediately. "Alice, you can't tell them about this, okay?"

"Of course," I nodded. "It's your personal business."

After dinner, I wanted to go to the Owlery to send a letter to my mother. Unexpectedly, I met Astoria Greengrass there. When I pushed the door open, she looked over with shining eyes. After realizing it was me, she smiled at me a bit awkwardly.

I was just about to pick an owl that wasn't dozing off among the school owls when Hedwig flapped her wings from the nearby railing and landed on my shoulder, steadily extending one of her claws towards me.

"I'll just use a school owl," I reached out and scratched the warm white down under her chin. "What if Harry also needs you to send a letter home?"

Hedwig blinked, leaned her head over and gently bit my finger, making a cooing sound. I thought of Vivian—surprisingly, I hadn't thought of it for a long time.

"Do you miss it too?" Hedwig watched quietly as I tied the letter to the foot of a tawny owl. I reached out and combed her wings. "I'm really sorry. I didn't take good care of it."

"Ah, sorry. Are you waiting for someone here?" Only then did I realize that Astoria didn't seem to be here to send a letter. She was carrying a small basket filled with several puddings and small cakes in different packages. "Don't worry. I'll leave right away."

"It's okay. I'm not waiting for anyone. Um... it's kind of a childish thing," Astoria smoothed her hair and said somewhat sheepishly. "I accidentally broke some potions before. I came here to send a letter home at night and found a dog here... It was sleeping in the haystack—"

She pointed to the messy haystack in the Owlery.

"Later, I found that it often came here at night. Maybe it's because there are the fewest people sending letters in the Owlery at night. My parents said that I'm not in good health and won't allow me to touch fluffy animals, let alone keep a cat or a dog. But I really like small animals. Animals with fur are very warm, so I couldn't help but touch it... That dog is really cute! At first, when I touched it, it would bare its teeth and try to drive me away. Although it looked fierce, it never bit anyone. Later, it became very obedient. When I pat my leg, it knows to lie on my lap and doze off."

"You brought desserts for that dog?" I looked at her basket curiously. "Dogs should like meat, right? Besides Hagrid, I've never known that anyone keeps a dog at Hogwarts."

"Yes. I originally wanted to find its owner and buy it, but I couldn't find them," Astoria said. Seeing that I didn't mean to laugh at her, she no longer spoke in a shy whisper. "It's quite strange, but it seems to be just an ordinary dog without magic... At first, it wouldn't even smell the snacks I brought it. Until last time my mother sent me and my sister some custard pudding, it actually buried its head and ate a whole one... When I saw it eating, its tail wagged more happily than usual, so I bought some more desserts. I don't know if it will come today."

"It's windy here. Don't wait too long," I looked at her pale face. Rain was constantly splashing in through the open window, and I couldn't help but remind her.

"Okay, thank you, Miss Snape." She nodded to me. I hesitated for a moment and didn't ask her if Draco had said anything strange in the Slytherin common room recently. Astoria's clear eyes made her look so much like a delicate doll that one couldn't help but want to take good care of, so I didn't want to use her innocence and kindness to pry into anything.

I returned to the crowded Gryffindor common room, but only saw Ron and Taurus sitting there doing their homework. As soon as I sat down, I heard Ron say in a strange tone, "You're really out of luck."

"Hmm?" I looked at Ron's sullen face in confusion. He was clearly happy during dinner. "What's wrong?"

"Right after you left, Professor Slughorn blocked Harry and Hermione in the Great Hall and said that since the tryouts were over, they had time to go to his dinner party. He was very disappointed not to find you after looking for you for a long time," Taurus explained to me, glancing at Ron who was frowning and flicking his quill.

"Didn't he invite you?" I thought that since Professor Slughorn seemed to admire Mr. Black when they talked before, he would also invite Taurus.

"He did. I directly said I didn't want to go," Taurus yawned. "Surprisingly, he didn't think I was being offensive. He even told me not to be too sad about my mother."

"All right. Anyway, no one has ever thought of inviting me to any parties," Ron suddenly stood up. "I'd better go to bed."

After saying that, he walked straight away. I stared blankly at his departing back, not understanding why Ron seemed more irritable than Taurus now—come to think of it, Taurus had gradually recovered a lot recently and was much calmer than before when he mentioned Mrs. Black.

"I'm going for a walk," Taurus stretched. "See you later."

"See you later," I took out my homework from my schoolbag and spread it out.