A day at Hogwarts.

Chapter 596 Another year of holidays
Hogsmeade Station was packed with noisy students, white smoke from the steam train filled the air, and the hooting of owls mingled with the chatter, all exuding the excitement of the start of the holidays.

Everyone was excitedly discussing their holiday plans, laughter and farewells filled the air, and the sound of suitcases being dragged across the ground was constant.

"Get out of the way!"

"The strongest warrior has arrived!"

Fred and George walked ahead with an air of superiority, deliberately taking exaggerated strides, their shoulders clattering against the luggage cart, their faces beaming with smug smiles.

Cedric, following behind them, looked helpless and had the urge to kill several times.

Cho Chang laughed so hard she couldn't stand up straight, clutching her stomach tightly, tears welling up in her eyes, and she almost had to lean on Cedric to stay upright.

The students cooperated by making way with smiles, some even bowing exaggeratedly, and a few girls even playfully lifted their skirts in a gesture of respect.

The entire platform was filled with a relaxed, cheerful, and carefree atmosphere.

In a crowded carriage, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Seamus, Neville, and his pet toad Rafer were crammed together. The carriage was filled with luggage and owl cages, and the air was somewhat stuffy.

"Hey, Seymour!"

Cedric suddenly darted into the carriage, handed a bulging, heavy bag to Seamus, and said, "This is for you."

Simo curiously took the bag, which made a pleasant tinkling sound. He asked curiously, "What's this?"

The bag was quite heavy, clearly containing a lot of things.

Cedric explained sincerely, "You blocked Beauxbatons and Durmstrang's door that day, buying us valuable time."

"So after discussing it, we decided that you would also get a share of the bonus."

The bag contained part of the prize money for the champion of the three-way battle.

A bright smile immediately spread across Ximo's face, his eyes lit up, and he said, "Hehe, thank you!"

He was overjoyed; he hadn't expected that he and his group, who were just playing around on the field, would receive a share.

The gold coins were poured out with a "whoosh," ready to be distributed to the other team members.

The maze final that day was not affected by Voldemort, and they did not learn of the major events that had occurred until after the competition.

The three-way battle inside the castle was extremely fierce. Fred was unfortunately cursed, and his eyes became crossed. He has not fully recovered yet, and his blurred vision caused him to accidentally injure his own teammates in the melee.

Fortunately, the other two teams were delayed by opening the gates, allowing Cedric's team to maintain a slight advantage. Although the advantage gradually diminished, they eventually held on until he touched the Goblet of Fire.

Before leaving, Cedric glanced at Hermione with a complicated expression, as if he were looking at something rare and precious, just like Harry was when he was surrounded by onlookers in his first year.

Hermione had gotten used to these stares over the past few days, so she could only pretend not to notice and lower her head to help Seamus divide the money.

Now, besides Harry, she is the second person to survive the Avada Kedavra curse, making her the focus of everyone's curiosity. Some people have even said that she is the "girl who survived" after the "boy who survived," which makes her feel uneasy.

"It's said that what struck Hermione that day wasn't the Killing Curse," Seamus suddenly said in a low voice, leaning forward mysteriously.

Ron's eyes widened immediately as he pressed, "What kind of spell could it be?"

Seamus continued in a low voice, as if revealing some major secret: "I heard from Mafalda that this matter has been discussed within Slytherin, and they have reached a conclusion."

"Rodolphus Lestrange didn't dare to hurt Hermione; he just wanted to scare her."

Hermione frowned, her tone clearly puzzled and slightly annoyed: "Why doesn't he dare to hurt me?"

This incident made her feel like a freak for several days, and she was even taken to St. Mungo's Hospital for all sorts of tedious tests, which made her quite unhappy and feel bewildered. Seamus shrugged: "Mafalda said it seems to be related to Charles, but the specific reasons cannot be told to non-Slytherin students."

Everyone was confused, looking at each other, not understanding the connection.

Ron slapped his forehead and said, "I know what's going on!"

"Harry and Hermione, who survived the Killing Curse, have one thing in common!"

He immediately attracted everyone's attention, and everyone, including the person involved, was curious about what they had in common.

Ron said seriously, "Charles!"

Harry and Hermione's lips twitched.

Neville thought to himself, "That sounds really reasonable. Maybe I should also recognize Charles as my godfather?"
But they had no way of asking Charles.

After returning that day, Charles stayed in his studio, busy painting various vegetables, fruits, and meats. Apart from a brief exchange of words when settling the wages for the greenhouse fertilizer experiment, he hardly interacted with anyone.

Yesterday he left again on Durmstrang's large ship, supposedly to conduct academic research in Durmstrang.

Many people assumed he was terrified by Hermione's fainting and was consumed by self-blame, so they didn't pursue the details of that day.

In reality, Charles was worried that someone might deduce the truth about the "Slytherin's pet" that appeared in the girls' bathroom years ago from the lightning jellyfish, so he deliberately avoided the crowd to prevent any complications and waited for the storm to pass before making a decision.

Even Voldemort and the Death Eaters now tend to believe that Rodolphus was just trying to scare Hermione.

According to Voldemort's original plan, after his resurrection, he needed to fight Harry one-on-one, and someone needed to witness Harry's death under his wand, breaking the myth that "Voldemort could not defeat Harry Potter".

Of the three witnesses who happened to be present, Neville was a pureblood, Seamus was half-blood, and Hermione's parents were both Muggles, making them very representative.

If there is one less witness, the sense of ceremony will be greatly diminished.

However, Rodolphus had already vanished, leaving behind a widow, making it impossible to verify his true intentions at the time.

Now the widow is heartbroken every day and spends every night confiding in the Dark Lord.

It is said that some Death Eaters overheard the Dark Lord whispering about whether or not to kidnap Arthur Weasley to ask him about potions or something.

The kidnapping of Arthur was ultimately not arranged. Snape arrived, had a private talk with Voldemort, and left the room with a strange expression, as if he had been assigned some incredible task.

"Excuse me, is Miss Granger in this carriage?"

A plump witch pushing a snack cart in the train aisle poked her head in. She had overheard Ron's conversation outside the door out of curiosity and only asked questions after the conversation ended.

Hermione looked up and replied, "I'm here. What do you need?"

The fat witch laboriously pushed her cart full of snacks into the carriage, piling a huge pile of snacks onto the narrow table, almost crushing the toad Rafer that Neville had placed on the corner of the table. Neville was so frightened that he quickly grabbed Rafer to protect him.

"These were all bought for you by Mr. Charles Smith. Please help yourself."

The fat witch wiped her sweat and said with a smile.

Everyone stared in disbelief at the mountain of snacks piled on the table, and the carriage fell silent instantly.

Charles bought Hermione snacks?
It's as unbelievable as Dumbledore suddenly shaving his beard.

Meanwhile, at No. 3 Privet Drive, Dumbledore was furious, his sharp gaze sweeping over the three people in front of him.

(End of this chapter)