A magical journey that begins at Hogwarts

The oppression in his heart made him close the book immediately. "See you in the common room later."

Ron and Hermione could only give him a forced smile. They couldn't very well dissuade him; they couldn't very well leave Harry to experience the strange looks from others!

As soon as Harry stepped out of the classroom, he heard the voice again, as if it were coming from inside the walls.

He walked quickly in the direction of the sound and found the ghost floating in mid-air at a corner; it was Nick, who was almost headless.

He opened his eyes wide in horror. His body had turned black, and wisps of blue smoke rose from his neck, which was severed by only a thin crack.

Besides him, there was another person lying on the floor.

Justin Finley, the Hufflepuff student, is a Muggle-born wizard.

At this moment, he was in the same state as Nick, motionless, his eyes wide with terror.

Harry swallowed hard, his breathing quickened, and he was momentarily at a loss.

"If I were you, I wouldn't stay here."

A familiar voice came from behind. Aaron, holding Abe, watched this scene with some regret.

"You, how did you get here?" Harry asked nervously.

Aaron looked at Abe in his arms, a hint of resentment flashing in his eyes.

These days, he hasn't just focused his energy on solving cases; he hasn't neglected practicing magic circles either.

He can complete a basic magic circle in a second without any medium, but to succeed instantly still requires constant practice.

He has also greatly reduced the time it takes to inscribe intermediate-level magic circles, from half a minute three months ago to three seconds now, and with the accumulation of his own magical energy, the power has also increased.

However, he hasn't made any breakthroughs in advanced magic arrays yet; the array diagram, core, and magic input are all much more complex.

Aaron knew that one must eat one bite at a time, and becoming stronger was also a gradual process, so he practiced advanced magic circles using the same method as before.

Just now, he was drawing an intricate and advanced magic circle on a piece of paper, but as he was about to make the last stroke, Abe suddenly heard the voice of the basilisk.

In its excitement, it jumped onto the table, ruining ten minutes of hard work.

But since it was its own dragon cub, it still deserved to be pampered, so after confirming that the basilisk had left, it followed it over.

"It's a coincidence, Harry."

Harry's eye twitched slightly, effectively concealing his suspicion.

How did you end up here?

"Um... well, it's a coincidence. I was originally planning to go back to the common room."

"Really? That's right, me too."

I suggest we leave here first.

“What about them?” Harry pointed at Nick and Justin. “We can’t just ignore them!”

"Someone will take care of it; it doesn't have to be us."

Listen to me, we need to get out of here right now, otherwise...

"Caught in action."

A chilling voice came from the end of the corridor. Filch looked at the two men with a gloomy expression, his gaze lingering on Aaron for a moment before settling on Harry.

"You're definitely getting fired this time, Potter. Remember what I said."

“No, Filch, that’s not how it is,” Harry said anxiously, but Filch didn’t stop and decisively left the spot.

"Otherwise, this would have happened." Aaron sighed and shook his head, wishing he hadn't tried to persuade him. If he had just left, things wouldn't have gone through so much trouble.

Chapter 169: The truth came out, but not completely.

A short while later, Filch arrived with Vice Principal Professor McGonagall.

She stared blankly at Nick floating in mid-air and Justin Finley lying on the ground, and it took her a long time to react.

“Professor, I know you might not believe it, but I really didn’t do it,” Aaron said helplessly. “Of course, it couldn’t have been Harry Potter either.”

“Yes, Professor, I swear, this has nothing to do with me,” Harry said immediately. “It was like this when I came here.”

“I can’t handle this,” Professor McGonagall shook her head. “You two, come with me.”

Professor McGonagall led the two to the principal's office, gave the command, and the automatically rotating staircase slowly ascended, taking them up.

Looking at the gleaming oak door, Harry couldn't help but swallow hard, feeling deeply worried about his future.

Aaron shrugged. It wasn't his first time here, so he wasn't particularly nervous.

Professor McGonagall knocked on the door a few times, and the door slowly opened.

"Go inside and wait. Professor Dumbledore will be happy to see you."

"Let's go!" Aaron patted Harry on the shoulder and comforted him with a smile, "Don't worry, trust me, everything will be alright."

The great Headmaster Dumbledore wouldn't expel us just because we happened to be there.

Harry nodded blankly and followed Aaron into the headmaster's office.

Aaron wasn't so reserved and simply found a chair to sit down, while Abe couldn't help but look at Phoenix Fox, forcibly suppressing the urge to turn it into roast chicken.

"It's you." The Sorting Hat, which had been snoring, suddenly opened its eyes and saw Aaron waving at it, and immediately became furious.

"Hi! It's been over three months, I've missed you so much!"

“I don’t want to see you.” The Sorting Hat forced an angry expression. “You’re the most embarrassing little wizard I’ve ever had in centuries.”

"Be more generous!" Aaron chuckled, took out his wand, slowly approached, and lifted it up.

"What, what do you want to do? Put me down!" the Sorting Hat shouted frantically. The expression on Aaron's face made it feel suffocated, a feeling it hadn't had in over a year.

"Go ahead and scream, even if you scream your lungs out, Dumbledore won't come to save you."

"Help! Help me!"

"Porter, quick, please help me, I beg you."

“This…” Harry hesitated for a moment, looking at Aaron with some reluctance, “Let’s put it down. After all, this is the headmaster’s office.”

"Wait a moment," Aaron said with a meaningful smile, and with a light wave of his wand, "Clean it up."

"Do not..."

Amidst mournful howls of grief, the dust that had accumulated on the Sorting Hat for a year vanished.

"That feels much better."

"If you had behaved yourself, I wouldn't have done anything to you, but why did you have to stick your neck out!"

The Sorting Hat glared angrily at Aaron, wishing the four founders had given it two hands, otherwise it would have slapped him.

Although they might not be able to win, they could at least put up a symbolic resistance.

Suddenly, a strange sound came from the desk. Fox cried out in pain as crimson flames erupted from his body.

Flames roared, engulfing Fox in a fireball. His screams grew clearer, but also grew fainter.

"Water, where is the water?"

Harry said in a panic, his eyes scanning his surroundings for anything he could use to put out the fire.

But before it could be found, the fireball turned into a clump of unburnt ashes and landed on the desk.

"This is terrible! That's Dumbledore's bird!" Harry grabbed his hair, his face full of bitterness.

He was already suspected of being a serial killer and on the verge of expulsion. Now, in the headmaster's office, Dumbledore's pet had been inexplicably cremated, and all that was left besides the bird was himself...

"Aaron, tell me honestly, did you do this?"

"Hey, hey, hey, there are consequences for wrongly accusing someone."

This bird was bound to do this sometime sooner or later; we just happened to see it.

Harry was breathing rapidly, and the anger in his eyes was almost uncontrollable.

Coincidence, coincidence, yet another coincidence.

Unfortunately, the last thing he believed in right now was coincidence; he was certain that someone was trying to frame him, and it was obvious who that person was.

“Mr. Gaius is quite right.” Dumbledore suddenly came down the stairs and smiled. “It’s about time. I’ve been wanting Fawkes to hurry up.”

“Professor, your bird,” Harry said anxiously, “I couldn’t save it.”

"Fox is not a bird, he is a phoenix."

When a phoenix is ​​about to die, it spontaneously combusts and is reborn from the ashes; it's a rare sight for ordinary people.

Dumbledore walked up to the ashes, and a red fledgling, about the size of a pigeon, emerged from them, making the same call as before, but this time filled with ease and joy.

"The phoenix is ​​a magical creature with extraordinary strength and the ability to heal through its tears." Dumbledore looked at the phoenix reborn from the ashes with great satisfaction. "It is usually very beautiful, with golden and red feathers, and it is also exceptionally loyal."

Abbe suddenly jumped onto the desk, standing tall and proud in front of young Fox. The bright white dragon and the ugly phoenix in the ashes formed a stark contrast.

Aaron picked it up apologetically, "The scene of your birth was far more sacred than being reborn from the ashes. There's no need to compare it to that. You are unique."

Hearing this, Abe beamed and snuggled against Aaron.

Harry quickly recovered from the phoenix's rebirth and stared into Dumbledore's blue eyes, wanting to explain what had happened that day, but he didn't know how to begin.

“Principal, I think you already know about Nick and Justin.”

"Of course I know. Filch is determined to get justice for Mrs. Lorris and has no intention of hiding anything."

"Some news travels very fast at Hogwarts," Dumbledore said meaningfully. "But if everyone were to vote for the heir, you'd only get one vote out of ten."

“Because I don’t speak Parsley,” Aaron said speechlessly. “It’s not exactly good news, but it makes things a little easier for me.”

However, I still envy those who are born with a foreign language, unlike me, who has to learn it later in life.

Just then, the office door suddenly opened, and Hagrid rushed in, carrying a dead rooster.

“Professor Dumbledore, not Harry,” Hagrid said urgently, waving his arms frantically at the dead rooster, feathers falling to the ground.

"I can swear on the Ministry of Magic."

In short, sir, you've arrested the wrong person.

"Ahem!" Aaron reminded him, "Hagrid, have you forgotten something?"