The Wind and the Wings of Hogwarts

This contradiction is not obvious on the surface, and no one has openly confronted it.

But many people could sense that the atmosphere inside Hogwarts Castle had subtly changed.

The undercurrents are particularly strong between the extreme pure-blood students and the Muggle-born students, and the hostility between them is becoming increasingly obvious.

The school's professors had to take action.

Dumbledore gave a speech to the entire school one morning.

But Scott felt that his rhetoric of "love conquers all," "Hogwarts is a whole," and "calling for unity among all people" did not seem to have achieved any effective results.

Fortunately, he seems to have taken a two-pronged approach.

First, the deans of the four colleges have clearly tightened their management of their respective students.

They appeared in front of students more often during their free time.

Secondly, the presidents of the male and female student councils, as well as the male and female class leaders of each college and grade, were also ordered to take action.

They play a constant "firefighting" role, ensuring that no conflict between students has a chance to escalate.

In short, under this "close monitoring mode," even if some students want to do something, they basically can't find an opportunity.

As time passed, the "intense atmosphere that was about to erupt" in the school finally cooled down.

The impact of a dueling club event on Hogwarts was considerable, and Scott, as one of the parties involved, was naturally greatly affected.

He seems to have become very popular.

Of course, this applies to the other three houses besides Slytherin.

Many young wizards, especially those eager to try using Transfiguration in combat, began to tirelessly ask him questions.

This annoyed Scott immensely.

His approach was never to directly tell people the correct answer to a question, but rather to provide a list of reference books for them to learn on their own.

Only the Ravenclaw students generally accepted Scott's approach well.

As for Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, apart from studious ones like Hermione Granger and Cedric, the others were all "discouraged".

This successfully gave Scott a lot of peace and quiet.

Being too popular is a problem, being too hostile is another.

After that duel, some of the pure-blooded Slytherin students began to openly harbor hostility towards Scott.

Especially Stryner and his friends.

Stryner's physical injuries from the duel healed quickly, but his wounded pride could not be mended.

After recovering from his injuries, he was subjected to solitary confinement as punishment by Slytherin Headmaster Snape.

Snape's reasoning was that "Strilner's poor handling of the duel was a disgrace to Slytherin, and losing to a fourth-year student was a stain on the house's honor."

This caused Stryner's standing within Slytherin to plummet.

Some of the younger Slytherin students no longer respected him.

Of course, this information was provided to Scott by Eddie.

Scott could tell that Stryner was clearly very annoyed by this.

He clearly hated him.

Scott, of course, felt nothing about it, but he still secretly became more vigilant.

In the second week of December, Professor Flitwick asked the prefects to help compile a list of students staying on campus for the Christmas break.

Scott and his roommates all chose to go home.

As time goes by, this semester is almost over.

Hogwarts Castle is now decorated with festive decorations—although Christmas is still some time away, many people are already eager to get started.

For example, Professor Flitwick hung some colorful lights on the walls of the Charms classroom.

Scott knew that he had even started designing the decorations for the school auditorium on Christmas Day.

On the last weekend of the semester, Scott and his roommates decided to spend the time in Hogsmeade Village near the school and buy some Christmas presents.

They braved the heavy snow on Saturday morning to leave the castle and arrive at the school gate leading to Hogsmeade Village.

By this time, there were already quite a few students.

Roger's girlfriend, Cachini, was also waiting for him there.

But Filch, who was in charge of guarding the gate, didn't seem to have arrived yet.

While waiting, Scott, Milton, and Eddie chose to stand a distance away from the couple.

Eddie is complaining that Roger flirted with his girlfriend in front of them.

Scott, however, began to observe Milton more closely.

"what happened?"

Milton looked up at him questioningly.

"Have you changed a bit lately?" Scott asked uncertainly. "Your magic has been growing very fast."

……

Chapter 089 Money Pouch, Orders, and the Girl

In response to Scott's question, Milton smiled and said, "I knew I couldn't hide it from you."

Scott, however, felt that his smile looked somewhat complicated, not purely happy.

“What happened?” he asked.

Milton shook his head and looked around.

“Mr. Filch is here,” he said softly. “We’ll talk about it later.”

Scott looked at the crowd around him and nodded knowingly.

“Whether you tell or not is up to you, Milton,” he said. “Everyone has their own secrets.”

“Yes.” Eddie nodded in agreement.

Scott and Milton both turned to look at him.

"What's wrong?" Eddie shrugged innocently. "I've been listening here the whole time."

Milton took a deep breath, as if making a decision, and then smiled genuinely. "I do have something I want to tell you, but not now."

Scott said, "Let's talk about it when we get back to the dorm tonight."

Milton nodded.

At that moment, Filch came over with the keys.

"You guys only get enthusiastic when you're out having fun or breaking the rules!" he complained incessantly, his face stern.

Nobody paid him any attention.

He opened the door and started yelling again, "Quick! Line up! I need to check your exit permits! Students below the third grade, don't even think about sneaking out!"

His bulging, bulbous eyes scanned the crowd, as if he were about to pounce out and catch any younger students trying to sneak out.

But this had nothing to do with Scott and his group; they quickly passed through the check and walked out the door.

They walked along a snow-covered road and arrived at Hogsmeade Village, which looked like a Christmas picture.

Where would you like to go first?

Roger, who was walking ahead holding Cachini's hand, turned around and asked.

"You guys probably want to go to Lady Patif's Tea House?" Eddie chuckled teasingly. "Don't worry about us, go on your sweet date."

Kacchini blushed slightly upon hearing this, but Roger smiled smugly and led her away.

“So where do we go now?” Eddie asked, looking at Scott and Milton.

“I need to go to Honeydukes candy store to get my purse,” Scott said.

“Okay.” Eddie nodded immediately, understanding.

Milton looked at them, puzzled.

But Scott just smiled and said, "You'll see when you get there."

They walked to the Honeydukes candy store, and through the transparent window, they could see that the store was already packed with students.

“We’ll wait here for a bit,” Scott said.

They waited at the door for a short while before Fred and George emerged from the store.

"My money bag has arrived."

Scott said to Eddie and Milton.

Then he reached out to the twins, "Give me my share, or I'll pick you up by the waist and tickle your bellies."

"Hey buddy!"

"We are not your pet Nifflers!"

Fred and George pretended to be angry.

“Isn’t that so?” Scott looked surprised. “If that’s the case, why did you go to the trouble of coming all the way from the cave?”

"You wouldn't understand!"

Fred took out a money bag, shook it, and placed it in Scott's hand.

“It’s a ritual,” George emphasized.

Scott opened the money bag, looked inside, and smiled with satisfaction. "Looks like business is doing pretty well."

“Of course,” Fred said happily. “Ever since the Duel Club, everyone has been very interested in your Transfiguration notes.”

“There’s absolutely no shortage of sales,” George said.

He looked regretful. "It's a pity you licensed the Ravenclaw and Slytherin businesses to Eddie, otherwise we would have made even more money."