A magical journey that begins at Hogwarts

"Let go of his hand." Sirin looked at Hermione with a hostile expression. "You guys lied to the senior first."

"Aaron was very reluctant when I suggested bringing Crabbe and Golgah in, but I didn't expect you guys... you're really shameless."

Harry and Ron both lowered their heads in embarrassment. Normally, if Malfoy mocked them like this, they would have retorted, but now they were truly ashamed.

Aaron tried to break free from Hermione's hands, but she held on tightly and refused to let go.

"How come I never noticed you were so shameless before?" Aaron said irritably. "I have my own things to do, I really can't teach so many people."

"How will we know if we don't try?" Hermione asked, feeling guilty yet remarkably determined. "They came because they believe in you."

Aaron chuckled inwardly. If it weren't for the education he received from childhood that forbade him, he would have already started cursing.

I didn't know anything about it, and I just stumbled into this huge pit without even realizing it.

"Could you help us one more time?" Hermione pleaded in a low voice.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you. In fact, it took me a lot of effort to convince myself to come, and I even raised the standards to five.”

"But you multiplied it fivefold!" Aaron said, on the verge of tears. "I wasn't prepared at all. You can't play games like this!"

“I’ll be your assistant,” Harry interjected. “It won’t be so difficult if the two of us work together.”

Upon hearing this, Aaron was briefly caught in a dilemma.

“To be fair, Potter,” Draco scoffed, “it’s not that I look down on you, but do you think you can teach me?”

“That’s why I said I was an assistant,” Harry said impatiently.

“There’s nothing to hesitate about?” Hermione pressed her advantage immediately. “It’s not as difficult as you think.”

"Not difficult? Do you even believe that yourself?" Draco sneered.

"Actually... it's not impossible."

"You..." Draco wanted to say something, but Aaron glared at him and stopped him.

As for Sirin, she quietly drank her butterbeer. Since her senior had agreed, she just needed to support him.

A few minutes later, more than twenty people sat together in a corner of the bar.

Opposite them stood a somewhat resigned Aaron, two haughty Slytherins, and three awkward and reserved Gryffindors.

“Uh, hi!” Hermione greeted. “Everyone knows why we’re here. We need a teacher, a competent teacher, a teacher with real experience in defense against the dark arts.”

“Why?” Michael Corner asked.

"No reason why?" Aaron said immediately. "If you don't want to learn, you can leave now."

To be honest, no one wants you to leave more than I do.

"Uh... I didn't mean that. I was just curious about why you gathered us here."

“Because the mysterious man is back, you idiot,” Ron said, sounding a little annoyed.

As soon as he finished speaking, the reactions of the crowd varied: some were panicked, some were nervous, some were doubtful, and some were disdainful.

“What evidence is there that the Mysterious Man has returned?” asked a blond Hufflepuff.

“Dumbledore said so,” Hermione said.

"Dumbledore said that because Potter said it, but where's the evidence?"

Some people turned their attention to Harry, hoping he would provide an explanation.

“I won’t tell you,” Harry stood up. “If you want to hear that, please leave!”

“I don’t think there’s any evidence!” Draco said sarcastically, then looked at the others, “If you’re looking to find out about Mr. Potter’s lies, you’re probably going to be disappointed.”

“In fact, he wasn’t lying,” Aaron suddenly said. “Voldemort has indeed returned.”

Everyone's attention was instantly drawn. A look of joy flashed across Harry's face as he realized he was no longer fighting alone, while Draco was incredibly embarrassed, his face turning pale and then purple.

"Are you serious?" Hufflepuff, with his blond hair, looked at Aaron suspiciously. "But if it's true, why have you been testifying for Potter for over a month?"

"What good is testimony?" Aaron retorted. "You don't believe the words of the Savior, you don't believe the words of the greatest White Devil of this century, do you expect me to believe a Slytherin?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Although I don't care, being called a fraud by the Daily Prophet still affects my mood."

Chapter 462 A Grasshopper on the Same Rope, Deliberately Picking a Trouble

"Do you have any evidence?" the blond Hufflepuff asked again, sounding somewhat aggressive.

"Hehe!" Aaron shook his head, amused. "This student..."

"Zakaris Smith".

“Well, Mr. Smith, you remind me of someone,” Aaron said with a meaningful smile. “Cornell Fudge, the current Minister of Magic and Umbridge’s boss.”

He always liked to evade certain things, calling Barty Crouch's death a disappearance, the Death Eaters' attack a prank, and Voldemort's resurrection nonsense.

After the Triwizard Tournament, Dumbledore told him more than once about the seriousness of the situation and urged him to prepare, but each time he would respond with, "You have no evidence."

Does the lack of evidence necessarily mean that the event didn't happen?

“Uh… Aaron, Smith is just being suspicious,” said McMillan, the prefect of Hufflepuff.

“I don’t have any proof. If you still don’t believe me…” Aaron pointed to the bar’s door, “The door is over there. Goodbye.”

The crowd looked at each other, but no one left, not even Zacharias.

"No one's leaving?" Aaron sighed regretfully. "That's really disappointing."

“We need to learn how to protect ourselves,” Hermione continued. “If you want to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts, we’ll have to plan how often we should meet and where we should meet.”

“Did Gaius teach us?” asked Susan Borns, who had long braids of blonde hair.

“Even if that’s the case!” Aaron said reluctantly. “Harry Potter will be my assistant.”

“Great!” Fred and George laughed.

The others were also quite satisfied with this answer, after all, they had all seen Aaron and Harry's performance in the Triwizard Tournament, so teaching them wouldn't be a problem.

“It seems no one objects to us having Defense Against the Dark Arts class,” Hermione said with a hint of relief. “Then we need to discuss how long each class should be.”

Aaron meant one class a week, each lasting no more than two hours.

“It can’t conflict with our Quidditch training,” Angelina said.

“And ours too,” Smith said.

“I believe we can definitely find a time that suits everyone,” Hermione said.

“Another problem is where we’ll have the classes,” Aaron said. “Not that I’m being a spoilsport, but Umbridge probably won’t allow so many of us to gather together to study Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

“We definitely need to find a place,” Hermione said thoughtfully. “Let’s all look together, and I’ll send a message to everyone once we’ve decided on a time and place.”

As she spoke, she took out a piece of parchment and a quill pen from her bag, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "I think we should write down our names."

Firstly, it confirms the number of people, and secondly, signing means...

"In cahoots?" Aaron glanced at the parchment, a look of interest on his face, then looked at Hermione. "Is that what you mean?"

Hermione nodded slightly. "I know this is quite sudden, but it's also very necessary."

“Uh…” Zacharias said with a complicated expression, “I think our prefect will let us know when the gathering will be.”

“I disagree as well,” Draco said dismissively. “It would be disastrous if this list fell into Umbridge’s hands.”

“I’ll keep it safe,” Aaron said. “Do you have any objections?”

Draco paused for a moment, then reluctantly shut his mouth.

Aaron was the first to sign his name on the parchment, followed by Harry, Draco, and Celine. Draco and Celine exchanged a glance and reluctantly wrote their names down.

With someone taking the lead, the others no longer hesitated and lined up to write down their names as if signing a contract.

The group left the Hog's Head Bar one after another. On the way back, Draco looked resentful, as if someone owed him a large sum of money.

"I don't understand. I can tolerate attending classes with those guys, since it's not much different from usual, but the list...?"

"Calm down, Draco." Aaron took out the parchment and held it up to the sunlight to look at the name on it. "This contract is very crude, but it still has some binding force."

"A contract?" Sirin frowned slightly. "No wonder I felt something was off when I signed it!"

"What kind of contract is this?" Draco asked worriedly.

"If you secretly inform on someone, you'll get a pockmarked face. It's not too serious, but you'll be despised by everyone."

So don't write your name on paper casually in the future, unless the paper is your own.

"Luckily, you had the list, otherwise I definitely wouldn't have signed it," Draco said, pursing his lips.

“But Hermione is thinking too simply,” Aaron said meaningfully. “This piece of paper can at most guarantee that there won’t be any problems inside, but Umbridge will find out sooner or later.”

“I don’t think they care about getting caught,” Celine said thoughtfully.

“I think so too.” Aaron nodded in agreement. “Breaking school rules is commonplace in Gryffindor, but if I have this list, then there’s room for manipulation.”

"What do you mean?"

"It's better if you don't know."

The next day, a new notice appeared on the bulletin board:

Hogwarts Senior Investigator Order

Effective immediately, all student organizations, associations, teams, or clubs are hereby dissolved.

Hereinafter, an organization, association, team, and club are defined as a regular gathering of three or more students.

A reorganization can be requested from the senior investigator (Professor Umbridge).

No organization, association, team, or club may exist without the approval of a senior investigator; any such organization found to be operating without such approval will be immediately expelled.

The above regulations comply with Education Order No. 20.

signature

Senior Investigator – Dolores Umbridge

"My goodness, that's something else." Aaron couldn't help but click his tongue. "I knew this couldn't be kept secret for long, but I didn't expect it to last even a day."

“That’s not a bad thing,” Draco chuckled. “Perhaps you can use this as an excuse to decline teaching so many people!”

"You're overthinking it. They've made up their minds to go against Umbridge. They won't give up unless they get caught red-handed."