The days at Hogwarts

The Gryffindor common room.

"Where's Harry? Where's Harry?" George slapped Ron's back hard, making a banging sound.

"We're going to celebrate! All night long! All night long!" Fred followed the rhythm, and the two of them seemed to be playing some kind of percussion instrument.

The three were surrounded by excited little wizards who couldn't wait to start the celebratory party.

In order to prevent his brother from being accused of killing his brother on the first night of the new semester, Ron endured the pain in his chest and shouted, "He went to find his godfather! Professor Black is his godfather!"

This answer caused the young wizards to burst into discussion. As one of the warriors was missing, they could only vent their emotions on the other three warriors.

Angelina stretched out her arms and pulled Hermione into her arms. She was surrounded by a group of little witches with shining eyes. They separated Hermione from the boys and accepted their questioning and praise.

Hermione was swept away by the crowd. She looked back and saw Loren saying something to the crowd of boys, which seemed to have attracted all the attention to Ron.

At the last moment when her vision was blocked, she saw Loren turn his head and smile at her mischievously...

On the other side, Harry took Sirius Black to the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office with ease. The house elves had already cleaned it up, and except for the furniture, even the corners and gaps had been carefully cleaned.

"Without those photos and portraits of Lockhart, this office looks much better!" Harry happily introduced Black. "What do you think, Professor Black?"

"To be honest, this name sounds a bit strange. It will probably take me some time to get used to it," Blake said with a smile.

A house-elf came out from the lounge and said in a shrill voice, but with an equally delighted tone: "The room inside is also very clean. Dobby has made your bed and put the things in the suitcase in order!"

Looking at this familiar house-elf, Harry's eyes widened and he exclaimed, "Dobby! Why are you here?"

"Sirius Black has freed Dobby!" the elf said in a shrill, high-pitched voice, and Dobby looked up at Harry, his round eyes lit up by the moonlight streaming in from the nearest window. "Sirius Black has freed Dobby!"

Harry was stunned. He turned to look at Black, pointed at Dobby and asked, "What on earth is going on?"

"Oh, that's a long story..." Black raised his eyebrows and told the story of how he attended the party at Malfoy Manor, ran into Dobby, and finally bought Dobby from Narcissa.

"Not only that!" Dobby held up the straps of his vest to show off, "The merciful Master Black gave Dobby a vest, and he set Dobby free!"

Seeing Harry's still somewhat puzzled look, Black explained, "The condition for the elf to be free is to get something from the master, such as clothes. It doesn't have to be the master's clothes, as long as it is given by the master."

Dobby pulled up the other strap of his vest just in time, jumping in front of Harry to show it off.

Blake felt a little annoyed when he saw this scene: "That's not a vest at all, it's just a piece of cloth from the garbage dump in the old house."

"So, if I ask you about what happened before, you won't bang your head against the wall, right?" Harry seized the opportunity and asked all his previous doubts at once.

"…It started with Master Malfoy. He seemed to have put something on one of you. Then a guest came to our house and said that there was a little wizard involved with a werewolf. He also mentioned the great Harry Potter and that they wanted to harm Harry Potter. Dobby did those things to warn Harry Potter."

"Thing?" Harry was a little confused. He remembered that Voldemort had mentioned the Horcrux diary in the Chamber of Secrets and said that the thing was destroyed by Loren.

So, Lucius Malfoy and Voldemort wanted to harm them, but their carefully prepared things were destroyed by Loren long ago.

Harry was a little happy, but also a little depressed. He complained to Dobby, "You broke my arm during the Quidditch match and nearly killed me just because of information you didn't even know clearly?"

Dobby looked away guiltily.

"Promise me, Dobby, you won't try to protect me again." Harry said fearfully.

A bright smile suddenly broke out on the elf's ugly brown-red face, revealing a mouthful of teeth.

"I have talked to Dumbledore about Dobby. He is now working in the kitchen of Hogwarts. Dumbledore pays him one Galleon a week." Black said, waving at Dobby. "Just work hard at school in the future. You don't have to take care of me."

Dobby slowly backed away and nodded towards the two men, "Dobby will repay you. The money Dobby earns will be used to pay back Mr. Black!"

He pinched his long, thin fingers together, snapped them, and disappeared.

After the elf left, Blake walked around to the desk and sat down in the professor's seat.

Experiencing this perspective, Black felt awkward. He simply moved out a chair and sat side by side with Harry, only then did he feel comfortable.

Black moved his hips: "Don't take it lightly. Remember the werewolves he just mentioned? We still don't know why Malfoy and his people are involved with werewolves."

Harry shook his head nonchalantly: "No matter what the werewolf wants to do, this is school and Dumbledore is here."

Werewolves... school... Dumbledore...

Hearing these words, Blake was in a trance.

A year after being released from prison, he still hadn't figured out how to face Moony. He was too impulsive at the time. There were obviously better ways to deal with it, so that Peter Pettigrew would get the punishment he deserved, so that Harry would be well taken care of, and so that Lupin...

In just two days, the best friends killed each other, sold out, and betrayed each other. Three people died, some escaped, and some went to prison. He couldn't bear to think about how Lupin survived those days.

Harry fiddled with the trinkets on the table, and although he wasn't worried about his own safety, he wanted to find out what Voldemort's minions and werewolves were planning.

I didn't get any information about werewolves in school, and I hadn't learned anything about them in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. But I seemed to have some impressions of them.

"Werewolf...werewolf..." Harry muttered, and suddenly shouted, "I remember, it's Hermione! She has been reading the Daily Prophet for some time, saying that the Ministry of Magic has introduced a new Anti-Werewolf Act!"

He counted on his fingers and recalled, "It seems that this bill will squeeze the living space of all werewolves, making it difficult for them to find jobs to fill their stomachs... Hermione said that this is discrimination, and many gentle and kind werewolves will be forced to do bad things."

As if he had heard some news, Blake became anxious: "Anything else? Any news?"

Harry shook his head; he had heard all this from Hermione.

Black's eyes flickered, and after a moment of silence, he asked hesitantly, "Harry, if, I mean if. If one day, you and your best friend have a conflict, and you do something wrong, and this incident will have a great impact on your friend, will you take the initiative to find him?"

Harry said "Ah" in confusion: "I don't know. Loren and Hermione are always right. Ron and I will never have conflicts with them. Ron and I do quarrel occasionally, but Loren and Hermione don't participate in our stupid things, and then Ron and I make up the next day."

"That's great..." A look of reminiscence flashed across Black's face. Through Harry's description, he seemed to see the former "plunderer" group.

Prongs who always did stupid things, Moony who had a furry little problem, and... Black's face looked a little hideous when he thought of that damn Wormtail.

Harry glanced at Sirius cautiously. He always felt that his godfather was a little strange. He asked tentatively, "Did you have a conflict with your friend?"

"Little boy, don't ask questions that you don't have to ask." Blake shook his head and threw away the messy thoughts in his mind. "You should go back to the common room. Your friends may be waiting for you."

He stood up and walked Harry to the door of the office. After closing the door and coming back, he noticed the full-length mirror that he had ignored before, and Blake muttered, "This mirror is too big."

At a certain angle, the mirror reflected the candlelight on the ceiling, making Blake's eyes dazzled. He shook his head and turned the mirror over in disgust. Now he felt much better.

After preparing the content of the first lesson tomorrow, washing up, changing into pajamas, Blake, exhausted from the journey, fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.

"...hairband..."

“…Puff…”

Faint hawking sounds came from a distance, and Sirius opened his eyes and found himself in the middle of an unfamiliar room.

Desk, chair, bookshelf... The furnishings in the room looked like an office. There was a suitcase in the corner. The strangest thing was that there was a huge mirror at the door of the room, which was almost taller than a person.

Who on earth would use such a large mirror... A strange thought flashed through Sirius' mind, and many images emerged with the thought. He slowly remembered that he had come here to chase Wormtail.

James and Lily had been hunted by Voldemort and his minions many times. For their safety and the safety of his one-year-old godson, he secretly replaced the secret keeper with Peter Pettigrew, and openly attracted the Death Eaters himself.

As a result, damn Peter Pettigrew, he betrayed his trust!

Blake was filled with rage. He kicked the door open and strode out.

As soon as I walked out of the door, I saw a bakery opposite. A young couple was buying puffs with their son, and the clerk was chatting with them. Outside was a busy Muggle street, with vendors setting up stalls on the side of the street, selling odds and ends of handmade products.

At a small roadside bookstall, a little boy with black hair and black eyes suddenly turned his head to look at him. There were only two books on the white animal fur in front of the boy, which looked very strange.

The little boy tilted his head, some distance away from him, but the voice sounded as if it was right next to his ear: "If you keep chasing, a tragedy will happen, and many people will be killed. The people here are all Muggles, we shouldn't fight here, right?"

Sirius felt a little dizzy, and vaguely felt that something was wrong. A series of strange images flashed through his mind, the sound of explosions, the overturned floor, the exposed sewer pipes, the wailing crowd...

It happened so fast that it flashed by in a flash.

The family of three from the bakery had already bought their desserts, and the young couple were walking along the street, chatting and laughing. In front of them, Peter Pettigrew's fleeing figure passed by the young couple and was about to disappear from their sight.

Sirius didn't have time to think, he tightened his wand and chased after him: "Peter Pettigrew! You have to pay for your actions!"

……

The flames of the explosion burst out like a huge wave, flooding the entire street and burning everything to ashes.

While his consciousness was blurred, Sirius heard some cracks spreading along the glass, a crisp sound like the ice on the Black Lake cracking.

In the void of the silver mirror light, he vaguely remembered what had just happened. He forgot a lot of things and returned to the moment of chasing Peter Pettigrew.

"Is it, a dream?"

Why do you have such a dream?

Is it because I thought of Lupin tonight and regretted my original choice?

As for the harm done to innocent Muggles... Sirius didn't feel guilty about it. He thought that maybe he should write a letter to Lupin and have a good chat about what happened back then...

There was the sound of a mirror shattering, and Sirius opened his eyes once again, finding himself in the middle of an unfamiliar room.

Pushing open the door, a boy with black hair and black eyes was sitting on the street. He tilted his head and looked at him with an indifferent look in his eyes and a ethereal voice: "...Shouldn't be here, right?"

……

the next day.

The second-year wizards are full of expectations for the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. After all, at least they are free of that idiot Professor Lockhart, and the Defense Against the Dark Arts class will no longer be a sitcom.

The new professor Blake's face looked a little listless, with some hideous bloodshot in his eyes, and the dead skin on his lips was white and cracked, and he didn't look very energetic.

Hermione looked at Professor Black. Although she had no evidence, some intuition told the little witch that there was something strange going on.

Loren looked at Blake on the stage calmly, without any ripples in his heart... He had no intention of torturing Blake. If Blake had a sense of repentance, the illusion would be vulnerable.

But if he persists, the illusion will be his nightmare, forcing Blake to make choices again and again.

Black's voice was much more energetic than his appearance. He was full of enthusiasm and said cheerfully: "A little wizard told me that your Defense Against the Dark Arts class started to be missing from here, so -"

He pinched the silk cloth beside him and pulled it, revealing a cage full of Cornish pixies.

They were dark blue in color, about eight inches tall, with small pointed faces. Their voices were very shrill, like a bunch of budgies quarreling, and when the silk was removed, they began to scream, jump up and down, shake their cages, and make faces at the students.

In fact, when Lockhart took out these elves for the first time, the little wizards looked down on them. But when they met them again, they were different after having experienced being tortured.

There was a suppressed scream from the audience.

"Don't scream, it will irritate them." Blake said in a humorous tone, trying to reduce the students' pressure.

Neville was standing in the front row, but after seeing what was in the cage, he moved back: "I don't want to experience the feeling of being hung from the ceiling again. Remember to protect me."

Seamus stood on tiptoe to hug his shoulders, and comforted him like a brother: "Come on, my friend, you have fought with pythons before, so show some Gryffindor courage."

"You haven't been hung from the ceiling before, so of course you say that." Neville muttered and continued to take a few steps back.

Harry smiled and said, "Don't worry, Sirius is different from Lockhart. He is not a fool."

Blake lifted a Cornish pixie from a cage, pointed his wand at it, and shouted, "Remember the special effects spell—Pesky Pixie Pestenomie!"

The light green wand light hit the elf, causing it to curl up instantly, with its wings folded neatly onto its back, like an uneven ball.

"It actually works. I thought this spell was made up by Lockhart." Seamus was very surprised.

Blake's eyes wandered among the group of young wizards: "So, who wants to be the first?"

Harry raised his hand instantly, faster than Hermione...

With Harry's demonstration, the young wizards felt more confident and went on stage one after another to cast spells on the elves. Even Neville succeeded.

……

The first Defense Against the Dark Arts class ended quickly, and the students left the classroom in groups. They were eager to attend another event - today was the day when people from the Ministry of Magic came to investigate the Chamber of Secrets.

Harry stayed and helped Black clean up the battlefield.

"This class was great today!" Harry clapped his hands after throwing the last Cornish pixie into the cage. Seeing Sirius's tired face, his tone dropped. "You don't look well. Are you okay?"

Blake pursed his cracked lips and laughed heartily: "I don't know, maybe I couldn't believe that I became a professor. I felt like I had a nightmare all night, but I can't remember the content of the nightmare."

Chapter 229 Alienation of Power

Logically speaking, the Ministry of Magic should have sent people to investigate the Chamber of Secrets incident as early as the Christmas holidays.

Allowing the young wizards to directly see the results of their investigation after school starts can minimize the impact of the situation, instead of being watched and discussed like now.

In short, the Ministry of Magic waited until school started before launching a high-profile investigation.

Loren guessed that perhaps the approval process for the Ministry of Magic's field missions was rather cumbersome.

After the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Loren and Hermione followed the crowd and rushed into Myrtle's bathroom, watching one student after another jump into the not-so-clean sewer pipe.

The water pipe was only wide enough for one person to pass through at a time, so the small bathroom was crowded with little wizards waiting to jump in.

"I only remember seeing a pair of scary big yellow eyes. Oh my, it's so scary!" Myrtle's somewhat excited voice came from a small compartment at the innermost part.

Loren and Hermione walked in the direction of the sound, came to the innermost part of the bathroom, and pushed open the door of the cubicle.

A young Auror stood in the middle of the cubicle, and Myrtle sat on the toilet tank, seemingly conducting some kind of inquiry.

The young Auror nodded at the two of them, without driving them away or saying anything extra. The smell he exuded reminded Loren of some salted fish.