Harry returns from Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 372 Side Story: Four Flying Paths, Flame, and Peeves
When Harry woke up in the morning, he finally felt much better.

Fortunately, he wasn't alone at school. Although the castle was large, Gareth was there to guide him.

There are a total of 142 staircases in Hogwarts. Some are wide and large, some are narrow and small and shaky. Some lead to different places every Friday. Some staircases disappear halfway up, and you have to remember where you should jump over them.

Furthermore, there are many doors here that won't open for you if you don't politely ask them to open, or if you push the wrong way. Some doors aren't actually doors at all, just solid walls that look like doors. It's not easy to remember where things are because everything seems to be constantly moving.

There were no formal classes on the first day, and Harry didn't know why, but that's how things were.

However, the specific situation depends on the circumstances.

After running the Gryffindor Tower to the Great Hall once, Gareth became a little reluctant to run it again.

"Here you go." Gareth handed Harry a package after lunch.

"What is this?" Harry asked curiously. After opening the bag, he found something that looked like furnace ash, shiny yet somewhat grayish, and he had no idea what it was for.

“Floo Powder,” Gareth said with a wink. “This is a good thing. Don’t you think Hogwarts Castle is too big? This is a great way to take a shortcut—remember what Headmaster Black mentioned about the Floo Flame yesterday? It’s activated with this. Just drop a little of this into the Floo Flame, say the location you want to go, and you can arrive at your destination instantly!”

Harry's eyes lit up.

He had just run around Hogwarts Castle with Gareth today and found it to be incredibly winding—he had no idea which way to go; the staircases were so crooked and twisted that it was really difficult for Harry.

“Come on,” Gareth said enthusiastically. “I’ll show you how to get back to the Gryffindor Tower first!”

After saying that, they called on a few Gryffindor classmates to go and test the Floo Flame.

They arrived at the Filo Flame in the Great Hall. Gareth stared at the flickering torch and said, "Good heavens, I thought the Filo Flame was like a fireplace at home, but it's actually a torch... Of course, I don't know if this thing will actually work properly. Um... Has anyone used Filo Powder to go somewhere else? Please raise your hand?"

Randall and Quixida raised their hands.

“Alright, Randall, you give it a try first,” Gareth said. “Harry won’t use this, and I think as a pure-blood wizard you should set a good example.”

“No problem, watch me!” Randall was eager to try. He picked up a pinch of the shiny powder, walked to the torch, and threw the powder into the flames.

With a whoosh, the fire turned emerald green, almost burning one's face.

Harry was surprised to find that the fire wasn't hot at all.

He reached out and touched the torch, shouting, "Gryffindor Tower!"

They disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“You have to pronounce those words clearly, buddy,” Gareth said to Harry, as Quecida pinched out a pinch of glittering powder. “Remember, you have to speak clearly, or you might be teleported to some unknown place. You don’t want to end up in some dark wizarding community, do you?”

"Don't say anything wrong?" Harry was a little nervous. Although the flames weren't hot, he was still hesitant to put his hands in them.

Just kidding, that green flame, put your hand in...

Don't be ruthless!

“You know, there are many kinds of demonic fire, and you must choose the right one, but as long as you speak clearly—” Gareth said, “keep your elbows close, close your eyes, and don’t move—remember, don’t move. Come on, give it a try?”

Harry took a deep breath, pinched up a pinch of Floo Powder, and then put the rest of the Floo Powder into his pocket.

He threw Floo Powder into the flames, and the flames roared back to life.

“Put your hand in,” Gareth said.

Harry was a little hesitant.

“Put it in!” Gareth said again. “Don’t worry, it won’t burn you. Don’t doubt the magic!”

Upon hearing this, Harry could only cautiously extend his hand.

what……

The fire wasn't hot at all; it was warm and comfortable, like putting your hand into warm water.

“Speak!” Gareth prompted.

“Gryffindor Tower!” Harry said clearly, not knowing why he could pronounce it so clearly; he had thought he was about to say something wrong!
Immediately afterwards, he felt as if he were being sucked into a giant electrical outlet.

His body seemed to be spinning rapidly... The whistling sound beside him was deafening—he tried desperately to open his eyes, but the swirling green flames made him dizzy... Something hard hit his elbow, and he clenched his arms tightly, but he still kept spinning and spinning—now it felt like cold hands were patting his cheeks, and he squinted through his glasses, but he couldn't see anything.

Then, he felt his feet touch solid ground.

He leaned against the wall, feeling dizzy, and it took him a while to recover.

“It’s normal to feel dizzy the first time,” Randall said, patting Harry on the shoulder. “Relax, take a deep breath—you’ll feel much better—by the way, I have a piece of honey butter candy here, you can eat one to calm down, it will make you feel much better.”

Harry took a couple of breaths, took the candy, and put it in his mouth.

The sweet taste made him feel much better, but he wasn't sure if it was just psychological.

Then, Gareth appeared beside him.

“Looks like you did it, Harry!” Gareth said happily, bouncing up and down with Harry in his arms. “See, I told you, it’s not hard at all, not hard at all. I don’t know what you were nervous about. Maybe that’s a common problem for newcomers. But it doesn’t matter. Now that you know how to use this, we can use it to get around. For example, if we want to go to the Great Hall, or back to the Tower, or even to a classroom that’s further away—I know the Greenhouse is far, but it will save us time and effort if we go there this way.”

“The Floo Flame is a really great invention!” Harry exclaimed sincerely. He then pulled out the packet of Floo Powder and asked, “Is this expensive, Gareth?”

“Oh, it doesn’t cost any money,” Gareth said with a grin. “You know, the school encourages students to use these, so everyone gets some.”

“I see, thank you Gareth,” Harry said gratefully.

“All you pigeons,” Gareth said with a chuckle.

But after trying Floo Powder, Harry discovered another problem that gave him a headache—ghosts.

Often, just as Harry is about to open a door, a ghost will suddenly jump out from behind it, giving him a big fright.

Nick Fury, who was nearly headless, was happy to show the way to the new Gryffindor students, but if you encountered Peeves, who loved to play pranks, it would be much more difficult than dealing with two locked doors and a machinations-laden staircase.

He might dump a wastebasket on your head, pull the rug off your feet, throw chalk at you, or sneak up behind you and, when you can't see him, grab your nose and scream, "I've got your nose!"

Peeves is a mischievous sprite from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and has existed since the founding of Hogwarts.

Peeves' penchant for creating pranks and chaos has always been a headache for the school and its students and teachers. The only person who can intimidate him is Barrow, the resident ghost of Slytherin House. As for Headmaster Black? Peeves isn't afraid of him at all.

Harry got hit with chalk by Peeves on the first night, leaving his face covered in white marks.

“I’m curious,” Harry asked Gareth as he wiped his face that evening, “why is Peeves so arrogant at school, yet nobody does anything about him?”

“Oh, it’s not like they didn’t manage it. At least a few years ago… let me think, it was eleven years ago, in 1876, when the caretaker at the time, Ranchos Calpe, devised an ingenious trap to drive Peeves out of the castle.” Gareth said with a grin, “My aunt told me about it. She said Mr. Calpe’s trap consisted of various weapons used as bait and a huge bell jar enchanted with multiple restraining charms. Once Peeves entered the right spot, the bell jar would fall and trap the mischievous sprite.”

“And then?” Harry asked eagerly. “Did Mr. Calpe succeed?”

“You saw what happened. Of course he failed, otherwise how could Peeves still be in the school?” Gareth shrugged and said helplessly, “Things didn’t go as planned because Peeves easily blew up the bell jar and left with several scimitars, a few crossbows, a large-caliber muzzle-loading gun, and a small cannon. After that, Peeves started shooting randomly for fun, threatening the students’ lives. So the castle had to be evacuated for three days.”

“No?” Harry had certainly heard of muzzle-loading guns and cannons. He imagined it for a moment and said, somewhat incomprehensibly, “He got his hands on something so powerful? What happened to it afterward?”

Gareth shrugged and continued, “Three days later, Professor Euprasia Moore, the then-principal, agreed to a deal with Peeves, persuading him to hand over his weapons in exchange for more privileges granted to him by the school—one swim a week in the boys’ washroom on the first floor, priority access to the moldy bread in the kitchen to throw away, and a new hat specially made for him by Ms. Bonabil—this was the most disastrous and last attempt to get rid of Peeves, and of course, it also forced Mr. Calpe to retire early ‘for health reasons,’ and he was succeeded by our current administrator, Mr. Gladwin Mohn.”

Harry swallowed hard.

So Mischievous Ghost was actually this troublesome at school?
We really need to stay away from him; if we offend that mischievous devil, things could get very bad.

“Leevy also gives Mr. Mohn a lot of trouble,” said the senior Gryffindor student next to him. “But if Leevy gets on your nerves, you can threaten him with Bloody Barrow.”

“Okay, I understand, thank you,” Harry said politely.

Mr. Moen not only found Peeves a headache, but the new students at Hogwarts also gave him a lot of trouble.

However, Hogwarts' punishments are quite severe. According to the older students, Mr. Mohn has some rather eccentric hobbies. His solitary confinement is terrifying because he can use a red-hot branding iron to punish students who violate school rules and regulations, and he can even chain students to the dungeon.

“I don’t recommend that you break the school rules either,” Gareth said with a smile. “Of course, as long as you don’t get caught by Mr. Moen.”

The freshmen's first class was a spell class, taught by Professor Ronan from India.

Most Hogwarts students disliked him because they felt that the Charms professor had no real skills and only talked big.

Especially the senior Gryffindor students, before the new students went to Charms class, would tell them to be prepared that they would learn nothing.

Harry didn't think anything of it at the time, but during his first class, he realized something was wrong.

"Next we will learn the Illumination Charm."

Professor Ronan's English accent seemed to have a curry flavor. No one knew why Hogwarts would hire such a professor to teach Charms, but this curry flavor not only made it difficult to understand, but also made people feel physically uncomfortable.

"That damn colony, coming all the way to the British Empire to beg for food!" a Slytherin classmate muttered under his breath. Harry remembered the man; he had seen him during the sorting of houses. His name was Violet McDowell.

Harry didn't know anything about the British Empire, but in his memory, Britain in 1991 was a bit of a mess. Not only did it almost lose to Argentina, but it also lost to Iceland in the fishing industry—something his Uncle Vernon always grumbled about.

Yes, a century later, Britain has become Little Britain, almost lost Northern Ireland, and its monarchy is largely powerless and not even united.

A century ago, Britain was a powerful empire, a true "empire on which the sun never sets," far surpassing the British Empire of later years.

Even wizards in the wizarding world can't help but puff out their chests when they mention the British Empire.

But what McDowell didn't know was that the word "empire" in British Empire actually came from India—the imperial lineage of Queen Victoria of Great Britain was from the Mughal Empire of India.

It's impossible not to laugh.

Then Harry saw Professor Ronan wave his wand several times before the tip of the wand finally lit up.

It wasn't very bright; it was rather dim.

"Not even as good as me," Gareth muttered to Harry. "Was that level of illumination charm really used by the professor?"

Then Harry heard what Professor Ronan said.

"Slytherin, 5 points!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Miss Malfoy, brilliant Illumination Charm!"

(End of this chapter)