A magical journey that begins in Azkaban.

Chapter 509 Who is Harry's best friend?

Although he had already flown once, Roger still had to concentrate on driving the airship to ensure its safe return to England. In the cabin of the airship, Bellingrum ran back and forth excitedly, his eyes fixed on the paper, calculating the potential profit of each cargo.

"We're here." Rogge's voice was low and firm. He held the joystick tightly, his eyes piercing through the clouds, staring at the turbulent ocean below. "The volcano should be nearby. Do you plan to jump down by yourself, or do you want me to help you?"

Bellinrum's eyes rolled quickly, and he said with a hint of pleading in his voice, "Can't it be shipped directly to the American wizarding world? I'm willing to pay an extra 1 Galleon for shipping."

"1 Galleon? Are you sending away a beggar?" Rogge coldly rejected Bellinrum's proposal and took the wand back from his hand.

After paying an extra 100 Galleons, Bellinrum landed on the desolate island with his cargo with great heartache.

It stared at Rogge, its voice full of dissatisfaction: "I will never ask you for help next time! You're ripping me off!"

"You think I'm willing?" Rogge rubbed his sore shoulder and retorted confidently: "Your skills are really bad. You can't even control the driving properly."

He complained and flew back to the airship, ignoring Bellinrum's angry gaze, and disappeared into the distance where the sea and the sky met.

"Hey, I'm rich." Bellinrum suddenly showed a cunning smile, and his fingers gently scratched the stone on the deserted island, leaving a string of mysterious runes. As the runes were completed, a deep tunnel opened in front of him.

At the same time, Roger was busy looking for a secret place for the magic airship to dock. The sky was full of satellites, and the airship without the Disillusionment Charm had nowhere to hide under these eyes.

He suddenly recalled that when he and Bathsheda went to the magical forest in Eastern Europe, they passed through the Shetland Islands. This archipelago located in the north of the British wizarding world, far away from Iceland and Norway, is an ideal hiding place.

The airship has the ability to sail underwater and can be quietly hidden under the sea of ​​the Shetland Islands. Roger skillfully manipulated the airship and made it slowly sail into the waters of the British wizarding world like an ordinary Muggle cruise ship.

Because this place is remote, there are not only few wizards stationed here, but they are also used to being lazy. At six o'clock in the morning, when they were sleeping soundly, they were unaware of the arrival of the airship.

Roger carefully guided the airship to Deepwater Bay, then quickly left and flew in the direction of Hogwarts. Although the Scottish Highlands were not far from the Shetland Islands, flying back and forth was also a hassle.

He thought to himself, "Perhaps I should ask the merman how the Durmstrang ship sailed into the Black Lake?"

But after some consideration, he gave up the idea for the time being. The Black Lake is part of Hogwarts, and no ship can enter without the permission of the headmaster.

"But, flying back and forth like this every time is such a waste of time." He looked toward the sky which was gradually getting brighter in the east, and flapped his wings a little faster.

In the past, he could use a portkey or travel through a fireplace. But now the Ministry of Magic's Transportation Department is extremely strict, and all unregistered portkeys are considered contraband. Most importantly, it is forbidden to use portkeys to transport within Hogwarts.

Although you can apply to open a Floo network, you need to provide necessary materials to prove the necessity of opening it. For a remote place like the Shetland Islands, where there are very few wizards living, any application may attract unnecessary attention and curiosity.

Roger couldn't guarantee that all the employees of the Ministry of Magic were clean and had no connection with Voldemort.

After weighing the pros and cons in his mind, he couldn't help but sigh: "Do we really have to dig a tunnel from Hogwarts to Shetland?"

He shuddered at the thought of the distance between the two, and mentally complained that if Apparition had been included in the fifth year curriculum, things would have been very different.

Unfortunately, the apparition is open to registration in the sixth grade, and wizards are taught by the Apparition tutor of the Ministry of Magic. This super teleportation ability is very magical but also very dangerous. If you are not careful, your body will be separated.

"I'll find a chance to ask the Ministry of Magic if I can learn it in advance." As he thought, he folded his wings and landed in Hogsmeade village.

Although he had a note signed by Mr. Snape, he did not want to let the whole school know that he had left school at night, so he decided to return to Hogwarts through a secret passage.

As a thousand-year-old castle, no one knows how many secret passages Hogwarts has. Only Roger knows about the secret passages of the hunchbacked witch, the fourth-floor mirror, the whomping willow, and the flatterer. There may be more secret passages that have not been discovered.

Except for the secret passage of the Whomping Willow, which he had used before, he had only heard of the others. However, he always remembered the secret passage of the hunchbacked one-eyed witch in Honeydukes.

Roger wondered if it was created by a little wizard who particularly loved candy during his school days. It might even be the masterpiece of candy lover Dumbledore during his school days.

While the owner of Honeydukes was still asleep, he quietly entered the candy store. The store was filled with the sweet aroma of candy, and the colorful packaging bags on the shelves were shining like charming little fairies, full of temptation.

All the shelves and merchandise were not enchanted with anti-theft spells, as if they were waiting for the students to put them into their pockets. Roger brushed past them and walked straight into the depths.

The exit of the secret passage was in the cellar. He followed the messy footsteps on the stairs and the dirt that did not belong to the shop and soon found the trap door. When he opened it, he saw that there were two hundred steps below. He didn't know what the person who built it was thinking.

"Is it to lose weight by climbing stairs after secretly eating the candy?" Rogge smiled and shook his head, and simply did not delve into the issue any further.

He had the wings of Daedalus, so he didn't need to climb down slowly, he could just fly along the stairs. He flew all the way to the bottom of the stone steps, and a long slide leading to Hogwarts appeared in front of him.

As soon as his feet touched the bottom of the slide, the entire slide quickly turned into a long stone staircase like a swimming snake.

"Wow, there must be at least 3000 stone steps here, right?" Rogge smacked his lips, paying tribute to the perseverance of the wizards who used this secret passage.

Before the slide was deformed, it took about 10 minutes to slide down from the top, which meant that the students using this secret passage had wear-resistant and high-temperature resistant iron buttocks and pants.

The exit of the secret passage is located on the third floor of Hogwarts Castle, in the Gunhilda Corridor of Gosmoor. When using it from the outside, you need to recite the "Left and Right Separation" spell to make the hunchbacked witch statue open the exit. But when exiting from the inside, just push the statue away.

Roger quietly pushed aside the hunchback witch statue and carefully poked his head out to make sure there were no other students in the corridor. He glanced at his watch and said to himself, "Three minutes until class starts." Just then, Peeves suddenly emerged from under the floor, waving his colorful hat in front of Roger. He shouted, "Oh, Filch, come quickly, there's a student who stayed out all night!"

Rogge stopped immediately and responded to Peeves' provocation: "Peeves, be careful or I'll let the Bloody Baron take care of you!" Hearing this threat, Peeves screamed and disappeared without a trace in an instant.

However, its appearance reminded Roger of a long-forgotten magic item: the Vanishing Cabinet. A set of Vanishing Cabinets has two of them, which can ignore spatial distance and magic defense and allow people to instantly transfer to another cabinet.

He had bought a vanishing cabinet from Borgin and Burke's long ago and left it at home to collect dust. The reason why Peeves reminded him of this was because the vanishing cabinet at Hogwarts was broken by this guy.

"Where is the Vanishing Cabinet now?" He glanced hurriedly at the corridor, but thinking about the upcoming class, he quickened his pace and ran towards the Transfiguration classroom.

Just a few seconds before the bell rang, Roger rushed to the classroom panting. Professor McGonagall nodded to him, motioned him to take a seat quickly, and then began to check the students' mastery of the Vanishing Charm.

"Where did you go last night?" Daphne asked quietly while Professor McGonagall was at the other end of the classroom, "I didn't see you come back all night." There was a suspicion in her eyes.

"Why did you run into my room?" Roger grabbed her hand playfully, with a playful smile on his face: "Did you miss me?"

"Who wants you, a bad guy!" Daphne stepped on his foot lightly and asked relentlessly: "Are you secretly dating someone else?"

"Dating?" Roger pretended to be surprised and said half-jokingly, "If you mean working with goblins, then yes."

"I knew it..." A hint of annoyance flashed across her eyes, and she was amused by the word "fairy". "Are you really with a fairy?"

"Of course it's true. When have I ever lied to you?" Roger let go of her hand, kicked her lightly, and signaled Professor McGonagall to come over.

Professor McGonagall seemed to know something about the antidote to the snake-man virus that Roger was researching, so she didn't pursue his inattention. After checking Roger's homework, she continued to walk towards other students.

"I've been doing some experiments recently, so I'm not in the academy most of the time at night." Roger explained softly. Daphne smiled sweetly and said with concern: "Don't be too tired. I heard that Harry Potter no longer needs tutoring from the dean."

"If you encounter any problems with your potion research, you can ask the dean for help."

Roger's eyes flashed with doubt. Harry Potter was not going to learn Occlumency from Snape. Could it be that they had found other ways to solve his nightmare problem, or something else had happened...

Considering Professor Lupin and Sirius, Harry now has no choice but to study with Snape.

He looked curiously at the first row of the classroom, where Harry and Ron were whispering about Hagrid. Neville sat behind them and seemed to want to join the conversation, but never found the chance.

Compared to Hermione who likes to show off her knowledge, Neville's grades make Harry and Ron feel more uncomfortable. In the past few years, Neville's grades in other courses were basically a mess except for his outstanding performance in Herbology.

Especially in the potion class, even with the help of Roger, he was often the target of Professor Snape's ridicule and sarcasm. But after he returned to normal, not only did his grades improve greatly, but his Quidditch skills were also recognized by many players.

So far this school year, Neville's performance in all classes has been recognized by professors. As roommates, Neville's growth and changes make Harry and Ron feel uneasy and embarrassed.

They can accept the fact that Hermione has always been a top student, but they find it hard to accept the fact that a former poor student has become a top student. This not only highlights Neville's progress, but also indirectly exposes their own shortcomings.

In particular, the sense of superiority in their hearts was disappearing rapidly as Neville's grades improved.

Harry Potter turned around and invited enthusiastically, "Neville, how about going with us to see Hagrid after class?"

Ron, who was standing next to him, had a sullen face and looked unhappy. Ever since the establishment of Lionheart Shield, he felt that Harry was particularly concerned about Neville. It seemed that Ron himself was the unnecessary person around Harry.

He recalled last year's Triwizard Tournament, when Krum from Durmstrang became Harry's good friend. They played Quidditch, swam, and discussed magic together, which made Ron feel deeply lost and depressed.

Fortunately, Krum has returned to Durmstrang and is playing professionally. Now, they only keep in touch through letters. But Neville lives and eats with them, which makes Ron feel that Neville is more threatening than Krum.

When Harry discovered that he and Neville had the same birthday, he was almost as happy as if he had found a long-lost half brother.

Ron was worried that if this situation continued, he might no longer be Harry's best friend, and might even have to add "one of" after him, and might just become an ordinary friend...

His heart was full of contradictions and uneasiness, and a strong sense of crisis made it impossible for him to be friendly to Neville. He was especially surprised and jealous of Neville's progress.

In the past, although Ron's grades were not good, he was definitely not at the bottom of Gryffindor. After all, with Neville around, he had already taken the last place in all classes except Herbology.

Now, those good days are gone forever. If he doesn't work hard, as the class leader, he will probably be the first in the class this school year... and the last.

He glanced at Neville with a hint of resentment, then turned around and pretended to be listening to the class carefully, but his eyes were fixed on Harry's face.

He realized that he needed to find his own value, rather than just relying on his early acquaintance with Harry. He had to find a way to make the friendship between the two inseparable and indestructible!
Harry didn't notice Ron's thoughts. He just thought that Neville's decision to leave the Jackdaw Magic Society and choose Lionheart Shield was the right one.

Moreover, Neville also lent them homework to copy and was even willing to help with the processing of herbs. Especially the coincidence of being born on the same day of the same month of the same year made him feel a natural closeness to Neville.

(End of this chapter)