Hogwarts Study Panel

Chapter 230: Astronomy and Prophecy
Originally, Madam Pomfrey was absolutely against them going in to visit the wounded, but Headmaster Dumbledore said something from inside:
"Let the brave children in."

Only then were Sheehan and the others allowed inside by Madam Pomfrey, but Madam Pomfrey still kept a stern face and said:
"Ten minutes, even one minute more, and I'll throw you all out!"

Sheen and his five companions quickly went inside.

The large bed in the hospital room had clean white sheets, and a table was placed beside it. Curtains were drawn around the bed to protect privacy. After Sean and the others entered through the curtains, they found Harry and Professor Quirrell still fast asleep.

Headmaster Dumbledore winked beside him:

"It seems you've come at the wrong time."

Then the little wizards quietly went out again.

Only Sheen was stopped:

"Mr. Green, could you please stay for a moment?"

Sheen was already at the very back, and now when he turned around, he was only separated from Headmaster Dumbledore by a curtain.

“Come to me, Mr. Green, you can sit down.”

Sheehan walked over to Headmaster Dumbledore, who, like an elder who wanted to talk to a child, even gave Sheehan a lemon sorbet.

“A glimmer of hope is enough to give someone the courage to resist the darkness… Mr. Green, how did you know that poor Professor Quirrell needed to be saved?”

Dumbledore said with a smile.

“I don’t know, Principal… I’m not the one who makes the choice. I just offered an option to the best of my ability.”

Sheen said.

"An unexpected answer. In a place where everyone else overlooks, you see poor Professor Quirrell's struggle... Child, this is something many people cannot do."

I heard you sold the bag of Galleons I gave you?

Upon hearing this, Sheen was momentarily stunned, then felt somewhat embarrassed. Selling a gift given to him by someone else was hardly a pleasant thing.

Seeing that Sheen was somewhat flustered, Headmaster Dumbledore hummed a little tune and looked at the ceiling with a smile.

“I think I should give you another one, so that next time you can decide whether to sell mine or Minerva’s.”

Headmaster Dumbledore took out a bag and placed it in Sheehan's hand.

He seemed quite pleased to see Sheehan's awkwardness.

"Go out, child, I think there are people waiting for you behind the door."

Headmaster Dumbledore said.

Sheehan had assumed it was Justin and the others who had stuck their heads to the crack in the door, only to be ruthlessly blocked by Mrs. Pomfrey.

But what I didn't expect was—

“Follow me, Sheehan Green.”

When Sheen was called by his full name, he felt a kind of blood-like pressure and obediently followed Professor McGonagall toward the Transfiguration office.

Justin and the others wanted to say something in support of Sheen, but after being glanced at by Professor McGonagall, they quieted down.

Professor McGonagall, strict and righteous, is always like this, making the young wizards both love and fear her.

The fire in the Transfiguration Office is always blazing.

Minerva McGonagall was still shaken...

Upon reaching the fourth-floor room, she suddenly realized that what the children had said was all true. The mysterious man was not dead; he had instructed Professor Quirrell to help him retrieve the Philosopher's Stone and make a comeback.

Yet the professors were completely unaware of this, and even sent a group of brave children to guard the Forbidden Forest and go to the fourth-floor room to stop Professor Quirrell.

If anyone truly understands the danger involved, it's the young wizard standing before her.

“This is too risky—Sheen Green! How dare you guard the Forbidden Forest, break into the fourth floor, and face Quirrell alone—do you know what you're doing?!”

Professor McGonagall growled, trembling with rage.

Sheehan could only remain silent. Professor McGonagall looked at him as if he were back in the McGonagall family villa.

Marcus had a better eye than her; he had given the child the door key long ago and foreseen her current choice.

A huge owl flew in through the window. As it dropped the letter, it hit the silver cat figurine on the table, making a crisp tinkling sound.

“I know of some tragedies, Professor, and I cannot remain indifferent when they happen before my eyes… Professor Quirrell… he wrote me a letter of recommendation.”

Sheen's voice was soft yet firm.

These words startled Minerva McGonagall as she watched Sheehan pull a well-preserved letter from his bag.

It's as if I'm watching a seed blown by the wind, determined to grow its roots.

"Tell me next time."

Professor McGonagall was silent for a moment, then spoke in a hoarse voice.

When Sheen left the Transfiguration office, the old wizard with a long, white beard had somehow entered.

He said with some emotion:
"So I think we know clearly now. He will always stand on the side of good, even if there is a lot of injustice in this world, even if the ugly side seems easy."

He has the most genuine kindness towards this world, and I think, Minerva, that's your credit.

In many ways, you always do better than me.

……

Outside the Transfiguration office, Justin and the others kept scrutinizing Sheehan. It seemed quite abnormal that he wasn't missing any limbs.

Sheen glanced over, and they pretended not to see it.

The downpour stopped this morning, and as Sheen listened to the hooting of owls, his thoughts drifted away.

Professor Quirrell was still unconscious, which meant he hadn't been able to speak to him and was missing a proxy... If Professor Quirrell were willing, he thought there was probably no one more suitable than Professor Quirrell.

In the time that followed, Hogwarts Castle was completely peaceful. There was no longer the crisis of Voldemort's henchmen trying to kill the unicorn, nor the panic caused by the theft of the Philosopher's Stone.

There was only a busy atmosphere.

The young wizards seemed to have changed a lot after this experience; they thought:
No matter how difficult the final assignments and tests are, are they any harder than guarding the Forbidden Forest and preventing Voldemort from stealing the Philosopher's Stone amidst his threat?
However, when Sheen was reviewing the events from Hermione and the others' notes, he realized something—Frenzer the centaur said that Harry would be killed by Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest, so he stopped Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest.

Sheehan naturally thought of Harry's final plan to die, which happened to take place in the Forbidden Forest.

The centaurs' prophecies seem to have never been wrong.

This made astronomy, this branch of magic, seem even more profound in Sheen's eyes.

If Hagrid hadn't been sulking about Harry's coma these past few days, Sheen would have already entered the Forbidden Forest. He was secretly looking forward to both the unicorn cookies and the possible centaur cookies.

On the third day after Harry and Professor Quirrell fell into a coma, Sheehan and the others finally received news:
Harry woke up, and so did Professor Quirrell!

(End of this chapter)