Chapter 628: Weekend Trip to Hogsmeade (asking for monthly votes at the beginning of the month!)

Slughorn obviously made a misjudgment. Felix thought as he handed the mead to Snape, who had a stiff expression.

Slughorn must have been deeply impressed by the cross-college friendship between Severus and Lily during the First Wizarding War, which was a special background. It's no wonder that professors are often well-informed, but what they know is only superficial, and rarely touches on the deeper conflicts and emotional entanglements between students. In addition,

seeing that Harry used old textbooks in class - Harry was not short of money - with Slughorn's attention to Harry, he could find out that the textbook once belonged to Snape with a little attention.

"For you, Harry... Oh, I forgot, you are not yet an adult." Felix took back the hand he had handed out.

"Oh, don't be too strict, Felix. It's okay to drink less." Slughorn said with a blink of his eyes.

He seemed to have discovered that Snape and Harry's relationship was not what he thought, so he flexibly changed the subject. He patted Harry's shoulder and said, "It seems that I have kept you by my side for too long. You should go find your friends. That's right... Take it, Harry." After that, he picked up a goblet from the tray held by the passing house elf and handed it to Harry.

Harry just wanted to leave the place of trouble as soon as possible. He thanked him and left quickly. He didn't breathe a sigh of relief until he felt the sharp eyes staring at the back of his head move away. Professor Slughorn's voice, which was livening up the atmosphere, was faintly heard behind him.

"...Amelia Bones, she did a good job. Back then..."

"Harry?" A familiar voice said. "

Neville, why are you here?" Harry said in surprise. Neville was hiding under a large golden curtain. A string of small colorful lights was hanging above his head, and his face was colorful.

"I, I came here to rest for a while." Neville said cautiously.

Harry followed his gaze and saw the Greengrass sisters. They were wearing beautiful emerald green gowns and were surrounded by a small group of people like stars in the sky. He asked in confusion, "What did they do to you?"

"They... talked to me." Neville stammered, with a lingering fear on his face.

"Is it because of this?"

"Of course - not only that, but also Blaise Zabini, Marcos Belby, and even Malfoy!" Neville said in shock, "Their behavior is very strange, as if they have changed into different people." He suddenly raised his head, as if frightened by his own words.

Harry understood a little.

"Do you think they were under the Imperius Curse, or that they were replaced by Polyjuice Potion?" he asked softly.

Neville looked at Harry's face carefully, "You know the reason, don't you?"

"Isn't this the social etiquette they advocate?" Harry said carelessly.

The two looked at each other in silence. Neville looked at Harry's goblet and asked casually, "Where did you get your juice?"

"Professor Slughorn gave it to me." Harry said vaguely. He drank up the sweet juice and felt his throat was blocked. He took out his wand, turned the cup into a small stool, and sat on it. Neville stared at Harry's stool.

"Do you need help?" Harry asked.

"Thank you very much." Neville said quickly.

So the two simply hid behind the curtain and sat on the small stool to chat happily. Harry tried several times and successfully used a silent spell to bring a plate of beef pies on the table.

"Would you like some?" Harry asked, picking up a pie.

"Thank God, I'm starving." Neville smiled.

The two wolfed down the food while looking at the other people in the office. The two did not come out from the curtain until the singing on the ceiling disappeared.

"Oh, my God!" Hermione suddenly appeared and almost bumped into them. "Where did you come from?" She stared at the suspicious oil stains on the corners of their mouths - Neville was still holding an empty plate in his hand - and looked over their shoulders at the golden curtain behind Harry and Neville.

"Never mind," Harry said, burping, and at the same time quietly stretched out a leg to push the small stool into the curtain. "Is the party over?"

"I guess it is..." Hermione said, turning her head.

At this time, Professor Slughorn walked to the center and said with a smile on his face: "I hope everyone has a good time tonight. I can guarantee that this will not be the last time..." The participants left one after another, and Felix and Snape walked to the corridor and talked in a low voice.

"What is hidden in classroom 7?" Snape asked bluntly.

Felix raised his eyebrows.

"It was suddenly closed this school year, and the temporary room next door was not very effective. I heard students complaining," Snape said, "and... Professor Bagshot also showed interest."

He said a few simple words and turned away.

Is this a reminder? Felix thought, as far as he knew, Snape had been very low-key since the beginning of the school year. It seemed that after Voldemort's fall, he completely didn't want to care about Harry and Dumbledore. It

was mid-October, and the school finally posted a notice to confirm the date of the first Hogsmeade weekend.

That morning, Harry woke up early. It was dark outside and the wind was howling. He stared at the curtains of the four-poster bed for a long time, but still couldn't fall asleep, so he simply took out the book "Advanced Potion Making" from under the bed to pass the time.

Ever since that unpleasant little party, Harry refused to take this embarrassing textbook to Potions class. He and Ron read a book for two weeks until Ron's owl, Piglet, brought back a new textbook from Flourish and Blotts. Since then

, this Advanced Potion-Making has been put away in his closet - to be precise, under his bed.

Hermione's words saved its fate when she was stuffing runes into a ghost book. "Objectively speaking, this book is actually not bad, and there are a lot of Professor Happ's notes on it."

Harry thought to himself that the reason why this book fell into his hands was entirely because he was the only one who could barely decipher Snape's sticky and messy notes at that time. During the OWLs exams in the previous school year, he was responsible for sorting out useful notes, and when the new school year started, its value was greatly reduced.

Harry opened the book from the middle back and stared at the spell written in the blank space - Sharp Strike, and below it, there was a simple text "to the enemy". In fact, there is more than that. There are two different fonts below it, each with neat small characters giving annotations.

One of the notes was about the spell itself: Cutting spell, fast and silent; with a little practice, it can cut off a person's head, and is more effective on stone and metal. The counter-spell is quick healing, recite three times (approved by the inventor of the spell himself).

It was this sentence that once made Harry hesitate.

And below Professor Happ's comments, there was also Hermione's comment (it can be seen that she was very annoyed at the time), "Poor speech, is violence all in the minds of boys of that age? And I dare to conclude that this is an illegal spell..."

Harry grinned and laughed silently. He could fully imagine what kind of mood Hermione was in when she wrote this text, but although he was not sure why the professor would think of cutting people's heads - Harry thought this idea was quite scary - it was undoubtedly a clear warning to him.

Professor Happ also left some rather offbeat comments on other handwritten spells -

the Nail Growth Curse (a minor evil curse, good for comic effect); the Upside-Down Bell (make sure your opponent is wearing pants, or not, depending on how much you hate him); the Muteness Charm (a must-have in the library, with Hermione's note: Got you, Professor!); and the Sticky Jaw Charm (the effect is to stick the tongue to the upper palate, which can assist in practicing silent spellcasting).

Harry stared at the instructions for the Sticky Jaw Charm, and his thoughts drifted elsewhere for a moment. Would this spell be useful for practicing Animagus? Sirius had told them a particularly unreliable suggestion: using the Stunning Charm and the Petrifying Charm to prevent unconsciously swallowing (or chewing) mandrake leaves while sleeping. Harry thought, if the Sticky Jaw Charm was added, there would be no need to worry about daytime and nighttime...

Harry shook his head vigorously, this was definitely a bad idea.

The time for learning Animagus was set after Halloween, and including him, Ron and Hermione, there were a total of more than a dozen students who met the requirements. They had nearly a month to learn theoretical knowledge, and then they would start their first attempt during Christmas, which would minimize the trouble caused by the difficulty in speaking.

In the morning, students lined up in a long queue, passed Filch's examination, and went to Hogsmeade to play in the envious eyes of the younger wizards.

"Where's Hermione?" Ron asked at the oak door.

"Still fiddling with her rune book, she can't wait to fill it up." Harry said, looking around.

"Well, it looks like there are only two of us today," Ron sighed, but he soon cheered up, "How about going to Zonko first? Then go to Fred and George's shop, and the Writers' House, I need to replenish a few quills, and finally go to the Three Broomsticks for a drink..."

"Uh, actually-" Harry looked at Ron awkwardly.

"Hey, Harry!" Ginny appeared from behind them and patted Harry's shoulder happily, "Let's go."

Ron stared and shouted in disbelief, "You want to come with us?"

Ginny raised her beautiful eyebrows, walked forward and took Harry's arm, looking at Ron demonstratively. Harry felt very strange and wanted to quietly withdraw his arm, but Ginny insisted on not letting go.

"I think," she looked straight at Ron, "now is the time to set an example of a good brother."

Ron was dumbfounded.

"Are you going to leave or not?" Filch looked at them and roared angrily.

"Let's go!" Ginny turned her head, her hair rose in the air like flames for a moment, and dragged Harry away. Harry had never felt so much as he did now: the journey from school to Hogsmeade was too long. He didn't feel the joy of the date at all. Although Ginny was next to him, the rough breathing from time to time behind him reminded him that Ron had not walked far.

"Where should we go first?" Ginny said happily.

"Uh...how about going to Zonko first?" Harry racked his brains.

"And then?"

"I think... we can go to Fred and George's shop," Harry said slowly, "We might run into them."

"Good idea! What else?"

"... go to the Men of Letters to buy some quills, and then have a drink at the warm Three Broomsticks. How about this plan?" Ron suddenly asked, sullenly.

"Oh, that's terrible." Ginny said with disgust.

They separated at the entrance of Hogsmeade village - although Ron was not very happy, Ginny glared at him and refused to give up. "Who goes on a date with their sister?" Ron muttered and walked away with a clatter.

Harry and Ginny came to Zonko, but it was boarded up.

"Oh, bad." As they turned and walked towards Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, Harry suddenly shouted and took Ginny to a side road.

"What's wrong?" Ginny looked behind her curiously.

"It's Professor Slughorn." Harry said nervously. Ginny chuckled in his ear, which made Harry feel itchy. He completely forgot about Ron and let Ron blow the cold wind alone on the street. "How about we go to Madam Puddifoot's Tea House for a cup of tea?" Harry asked with courage.

It was a recognized dating place for couples in Hogwarts.

Ginny looked at him, and stars seemed to twinkle in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Harry said confusedly, his face was a little hot, he didn't know if his little thoughts were discovered.

Ginny laughed so hard that she fell backwards. "Okay." She straightened up and said, smoothing her messy hair.

There were already quite a few people sitting in the tea house. When they went in, everyone stared at them. Two little girls in the corner pouted their lips. Among them, the girl with a protruding chin and long black hair chattered with her companions.

"Don't worry about them." Ginny said arrogantly, dragging Harry inside, but they turned around in the smoky room and didn't find an empty seat. The two junior girls were about to leave, but now they sat back down, crossed their arms in unison, and frowned at Ginny.

"That's Romilda Vane, she's in the club discussing how to give you a love potion," Ginny said, looking around anxiously, hoping to vacate a pair of seats.

"What?" Harry was shocked.

"Oh, don't make a fuss, some of the ideas are quite interesting." Ginny said casually, and then her eyes lit up, "Let's go over there!"

Harry muttered in his heart. He thought it was obvious that Ginny was there at the time, but she not only did not stop it, but also participated in it herself, at least heard a lot of 'interesting ideas'. This made him very annoyed, and then he thought of a key question, club? What club? Harry

's heart was shrouded in an ominous shadow. Maybe he should find an opportunity to talk to the Creevey brothers about the management of the club. For safety reasons, this matter cannot be delayed...

They came to the window seat, where two people stood up. One of them was an old lady with a delicate face. She was buttoning her coat gracefully, and then she handed a gift box to Daphne Greengrass.

Harry saw the delicate smile on Daphne's face again, and he was a little allergic to this kind of smile.

"...Please pass it to him for me."

Daphne nodded, and the two walked out of Madam Puddifoot's Tea House and separated on the left and right.

On the other side, Ron wandered aimlessly on the streets of Hogsmeade, sucking a licorice wand in his mouth, full of complaints in his heart. Then, he saw an old woman in gray tattered clothes passing by. Ron glanced at her and didn't take it seriously, but the clumsy guy following the old woman attracted his attention.

"Hey! Don--" Ron shouted excitedly.

Suddenly, a wand was pressed against his lower back.

"Say one more word and I'll kill you."