As the dinner was coming to an end, the students had eaten and drunk their fill, and the noise in the hall gradually became noisier.

More and more people realized that Headmaster Dumbledore was not there tonight, and they all glanced at the professors' seats, talking about it in a flurry of voices, and a sense of uneasiness filled the air.

Felix watched this scene silently, and Professor Flitwick's sharp voice reached his ears from two seats away.

"Minerva, is Headmaster Dumbledore stuck?"

"I don't know," Professor McGonagall tightened her lips, twisted her hands together, and looked very entangled. She looked at the students pointing and talking in the hall, and suddenly stood up.

"Classmates,"

her voice spread far away, and the hall gradually quieted down. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and was about to explain when there was a sudden commotion near the door of the hall.

Professor McGonagall felt relieved, and Dumbledore appeared.

He stood at the door of the hall, with the dimly lit hall behind him, but his silver-white hair and beard shone in the light of the pumpkin lantern.

The uneasy atmosphere accumulated in the air disappeared at once.

Dumbledore strode through the gap between the tables in the Great Hall with a smile on his face. People started talking eagerly again, but this time the atmosphere in the air was relaxed and cheerful. Dumbledore stood on his own star chair. Harry keenly noticed that he had put on the white gloves again and put away the black gem ring.

"The color of the beard has also returned." Hermione whispered.

Harry was only staring at Dumbledore's conspicuous purple robe and white gloves, wondering if the hands under the gloves were intact, and didn't pay any attention to the beard at all. "What did you say?" He asked subconsciously.

"Headmaster Dumbledore's beard is not the same as when he was fighting." Hermione whispered, craning her neck to look at it, "But it's back now."

"Is that true?" Ron poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice and patted his stomach full of food with satisfaction.

"I saw it too," Neville whispered. "During the battle, the headmaster's beard darkened, an iron grey, a bit like, like..."

"The owner of the Hog's Head Inn!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione retracted their gazes from the professor's chair and looked at Neville, who nodded at them seriously.

"It might be a secret method." Ron said uneasily.

"I really hope so," Hermione said, "but I haven't seen it in any book... Well, unless the headmaster used advanced human body transformation."

"It must be so." Ron made the final decision.

"But why did Headmaster Dumbledore do that?" Harry asked puzzled. An important lesson he learned from the Duelling Club was not to make unnecessary movements during a fight. He looked at the professor's chair again.

Dumbledore did not sit down directly. He stood in front of the chair and looked at the students in the hall. The voices subsided again, and people looked at him eagerly.

"Ah, excuse me, my name has been mentioned in too many newspapers recently, and I am going to cut out all the parts that mention my name," Dumbledore said with a wink, "Owls from all over the world have also filled my office. These little guys have always had a special liking for things that move. I had to put away the silverware on the table... After I finished all this, I suddenly realized that the dinner had already begun."

"I hope you can understand that for an old man, time is both the most precious and the most easily neglected thing. I have a particularly profound understanding of this when I was playing ten-pin bowling..."

He sat down, without eating anything, but smiled and looked around the hall. After more than ten minutes, when the last round of desserts disappeared from the table, the dinner was over.

The students stood up sparsely. They moved slowly and lazily towards the door, like a group of sloths coming out to find food. The professors also stood up, "Severus." Dumbledore said politely, "Can you stay for a moment? I have something to say to you."

The two left together.

When most of the others had left, Hagrid also took out his wooden box from under the table, said hello to Felix and Sirius, and quickly slipped away.

"Everyone is weird." Sirius muttered.

"Are you okay?" Felix asked.

"Not bad," Sirius said vaguely, "It's just a punishment... I don't care, I'm used to it."

A vague, distant voice floated from behind them.

"If I were you, I would definitely not be able to stand this. It would be too humiliating to be on probation."

Sirius glared at Trelawney, "Excuse me? I don't think I've seen you before. Are you also a professor at the school?"

Trelawney seemed to be greatly offended. She threw her shawl around her body and walked away.

"She is Sybill Trelawney, the professor of Divination. You have met her several times..." Felix's tone was unpredictable. In fact, he had a strange feeling about this professor. The two prophecies he knew were completed by Trelawney.

"I know," Sirius said without hesitation, "I also helped Harry with his Divination homework, you know, to come up with ideas and stuff. Kids nowadays are a little lacking in imagination..."

Gryffindor common room.

Harry slumped drowsily in the soft armchair. He glanced at the grandfather clock at the door of the common room. It was not yet nine o'clock. It was still early to go to bed, but he didn't want to do anything. Harry looked at the ceiling of the common room and his hand found a rolled-up newspaper in the gap between the seats.

He picked it up and saw that the photo on it was of Dumbledore leaning over and grabbing his shoulders. He stared at himself lying on the ground twisting like a snake and subconsciously touched his scar.

Ron sat down next to him, the armchair shook twice, he leaned over to take a look, "Man, you were really scary back then."

Harry didn't say anything, he turned a page, it was "Reacquainting Felix Heppe", turned another page, it was "The Only Person He Feared: The Greatest White Wizard Dumbledore", the fourth page was "The Dark Mark Reappeared Over Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

He sat up and read the article carefully.

"After the thrilling duel, a lot of delayed news reached the country. For example, the wand that shone so brilliantly has been confirmed to be Salazar Slytherin's snakewood wand. It is hard to imagine that this wand has been sleeping in front of Ilvermorny School for more than three hundred years.

It is reported that this wand was brought to the United States by a descendant of Slytherin, and following the guidance of the unknown, he founded Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

It can be concluded that the mysterious man has coveted this wand for a long time. After obtaining the wand, he killed Gilbert Fontana, the headmaster of Ilvermorny, who came to stop him. Fontana is a descendant of the twelve Aurors of the United States. He had a good reputation during his tenure and led the Ilvermorny School delegation to participate in the first Five-Power Tournament last year.

The American magic community was filled with indignation and strongly demanded that the murderer who killed the headmaster Fontana be handed over.

...

At present, Ilvermorny has not yet elected a new headmaster. The only person who witnessed the death of the headmaster Fontana at the time of the incident was a young Muggle professor Uriah Edmund, who was very lucky to escape the slaughter.

When Edmund was questioned, he said, "The battle ended too quickly. Although the headmaster Fontana resisted tenaciously, the opponent's moves were evil and weird, and all defenses collapsed in an instant..."

As of today, the Magical Congress of the United States has not made a public statement. There are rumors that they sent Aurors to intercept the mysterious man, but suffered heavy losses. Headmaster Dumbledore and Ms. Bones called on all wizards to unite and fight against You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters.

This news has not been confirmed. "

Harry put down the newspaper, his heart heavy.

Ron said optimistically: "Don't worry, Hogwarts can be said to be the safest place in the world. You-Know-Who would never dare to come."

"You're right." Harry said, he felt a little better.

Ron glanced at Hermione who was writing and drawing on the table, and whispered: "We can't do anything in school. Instead of worrying about this, we might as well care about the troubles at hand."

"What trouble?"

"The Quidditch game is coming, I asked Angelina, the first game is scheduled for the weekend, we will play against Slytherin. Professor McGonagall deliberately exempted us from this week's homework, and Snape booked all the available venues a month in advance. Harry, everyone wants to win! "

…

On the first weekend of November in the Valley, Valen went out happily, wearing a small scarf and swaggering all the way.

The ground in the courtyard was covered with a thin layer of snow, but that was nothing to him. Valen stepped on a series of small footprints and looked around for his target.

"Wow! Look, it's the little rich woman."

A group of people gathered around.

Valen nodded imposingly and pushed away a finger that wanted to tickle his chin. He jumped onto the bench in the courtyard, and then these little wizards took out the "treasures" they had collected.

"I found a shiny pebble by the Black Lake!" a boy said proudly.

Valen shook his head, and others shouted.

"Valen already has a lot of glowing stones, look at mine!" A little witch mysteriously took out a small hat from her pocket with small shiny discs on it, and Valen's eyes lit up.

"Chi! "

It picked and chose from its pockets, and took out a few things: a flying paper crane, a portion of ghost food, a small bottle of super bubble water, and a feather pen floating in the air. The little witch seemed very hesitant.

"It's the super bubble water, choose that one quickly!" A little wizard next to him gave advice.

"What's the use of this feather pen?" The little witch asked curiously.

Valen picked up the feather pen and wrote a crooked word in the air, "This." The people around him exclaimed again, "There really is a Sniff who can write!" Valen first waved his hands triumphantly, but when he thought of the big devil, he wiped off the words in the air guiltily.

"I want this one." Mafalda said, with a gleam in his eyes.

The first transaction was successfully completed. Valen put on a goose yellow hat and a scarf, and he was very happy.

"Hi, Valen, do you want to take a picture? " said Colin Creevey who was passing by.

Valen nodded repeatedly.

Colin took out a camera from his body as if by magic, opened the camera cover, and Valen called out. "What's wrong?" Colin stopped and asked. Valen reached into his small pocket, took out a small wooden stick, and posed in a handsome manner.

Then he nodded at Colin to show that he was ready, and Colin took a picture of it.

"I'll send you the developed photos in two days." He waved and left, "I'm going to the Quidditch field to watch the game. It's been a year, and I can't miss it. "

Valen's eyes lit up, and he quickly completed the remaining transactions. Even the boy with the smooth pebbles got a card that would make twelve kinds of laughs and left contentedly.

Valen returned to the castle and walked along the foyer to the stone steps in front of the castle. He built a pergola with his hands and looked at the Quidditch field in the distance. He began to worry. This road was too far.

He wanted to go to the Quidditch field to watch the game, but it was too tiring to walk there by himself. Valen stood on the steps and looked around. At this time, he keenly heard a voice, "...Astoria, can you let me save some trouble..."

"What's wrong with me?" said an indignant voice.

"Although Professor Binns is a ghost, he is also a professor at the school. You can't use ghost food to tease him in class..."

Astoria was about to refute when she saw a Niffler suddenly rushing in front of her and opened his arms to stop them.

"Is it you, little one? "

Astoria jumped in front of it happily and stretched out her hand to touch its head, but Valen jumped away nimbly and pointed a small wooden stick at her angrily.

"Hey, where did you get the wand?" Astoria said in surprise.

Daphne also took a serious look, "It's different from what is shown in the newspaper. It's not Professor Hepp's wand. Could it be some student's?"

Valen shook his head repeatedly, took out a feather pen from his pocket, and wrote a word crookedly in the air, "Mine." It patted its chest.

Astoria said "huh", "It's yours, can you use it?"

Valen was so excited that he almost jumped up. He was waiting for this sentence. He waved at Astoria and made a provocative gesture.

The expression on Astoria's face was dull.

"Is it going to duel with me? "She looked at her sister blankly, and Daphne shrugged.

Astoria turned around and found Valen nodding and signaling with his eyes: Yes, it's what you think. She was stunned for two seconds, then burst out laughing and winked at her sister Daphne.

"Daphne, look at this, haha, it's really funny..."

Two seconds later, Astoria pulled out her wand and said, "Since you asked, I can't refuse... tsk tsk... I forgot to tell you that I won the duel championship in my first grade, and that was the only one."

Daphne covered her face and didn't want to look at her childish sister, "Are you serious?"

"Oh, I will show mercy." Astoria waved her hand and said, she looked at Valen with disdain, "Don't say I bully you, let you make the first move."

Valen turned around twice with his hands behind his back, and then raised the small wooden stick.

A quick whirlwind appeared out of thin air and lifted Astoria up. She was swept into the air ten feet high and spun with the whirlwind. Astoria helplessly and a little confused stretched out her hands to grab a few times, but found that she could do nothing. Several passers-by pointed at her, covered their mouths and laughed, and almost made her nose crooked.

What's even more annoying is that during this process, Valen and Daphne stood together, looking at her with interest, and Daphne laughed so hard that she fell backwards.

After spinning in the air for nearly a minute, the whirlwind that entangled her gradually subsided. When Astoria fell to the ground, she saw stars and felt dizzy. She couldn't even stand steadily. "Valen!" She shouted angrily, and rushed towards Valen with her

teeth and claws. As a result, she walked crookedly in just a few steps and fell on Daphne instead. Astoria raised her head from her sister's arms in dissatisfaction and found that Valen's black eyes were staring at her fiercely, and the small yellow hat and luminous patches on his head were shining in the sun.

Ten minutes later, Valen sat on Daphne's shoulders and followed them to the Quidditch field.

Astoria puffed her cheeks all the way.

"Valen, how did you suddenly learn magic?" Daphne asked curiously.

"Chi!"

"Did Professor Hep help you?"

Sniff shook his head.

"Strange...how did I find a few small gems inlaid on your wand? Is there a secret?" Daphne saw a clue.

Valen shuddered and quickly hid his treasure in his pocket. It means nothing.

The Quidditch field was crowded with people. Since there were no competitions in the whole year of the previous school year, people's interest and enthusiasm for the first game of the new school year increased. Almost everyone who could come came. Students braved the cold and chattered excitedly.

Valen waved goodbye to the Greengrass sisters. It smelled the scent of the big devil.

It jumped off Daphne's shoulder, took out two small bottles from its pocket and handed them to them. Well, it was considered as travel expenses.

"Ghost food? I have a share?" Astoria asked in surprise.

Valen nodded happily. After all, you are the first person I defeated, and you are the 'Duel Champion'. This is the first step for the great Sniffer Wizard Valen to step onto the stage of history. He has thought about it. After defeating the big devil, he will write an autobiography, and he will definitely describe the first battle in great detail...

When Valen disappeared, Daphne stretched out her hand with a stern face: "Confiscate it!" Astoria saw that the situation was not good, and she quickly blended into the crowd and disappeared.