From the beginning of the school year to now, Harry felt that his attention seemed to be split into six or seven parts - Quidditch, Dumbledore's biography, student union, clubs... The difficulty of the seventh-year courses has also increased. The professors seemed to be waiting for this moment and planned to force all kinds of advanced magic knowledge on them.

In the spells class, the excited short professor Flitwick shouted in an exaggerated tone:

"Oh my God! I just want to list all the useful spells, but I'm worried that your poor little brains can't fit them!"

The students below looked at each other in bewilderment.

"But don't worry," he said with a smile, standing on a pile of thick books as usual. "I will teach you more practical things, closer to the essence of spells... For example, the storage spell can launch two completely different spells at once; there are also methods of analyzing and constructing an unfamiliar spell, which will definitely come in handy if you plan to invent spells in the future; or other advanced spell-casting techniques, such as the order of different spells acting on the same target, how to reduce disturbances... and so on."

In the potions class, everyone was not spared. Harry felt as if he had returned to the first grade. After the failure of making scabies potion in the first class, Snape had trained them in the most basic potion techniques for several weeks.

The students in the advanced class had to do their best to meet Professor Slughorn's different requirements in every class, such as "reducing the toxicity of wolfsbane with rose petals and jumping toadstools", "how to maximize the efficacy of feather grass with limited materials"...

Even Emmeline Vance, who had just taken over the post of Transfiguration professor, put forward new requirements for the students after becoming familiar with the teaching tasks: the seventh grade will continue to learn about human body transformation and try to combine the theory of transformation with various complex models for comprehensive application. After saying that, she transformed a feather into a bird, and then the bird's long beak became flat, the feathers fell off, and black satin-like fluff grew out, turning into a Niffler. The students were amazed.

"It's just the appearance." Emmeline Vance said, "My experience is that you should not stick to the transformation image you have learned before, but figure out what effect you want to achieve."

Snape's attitude was the most uncomfortable for students.

Even when he changed his favorite subject, his attitude did not change much. In a recent Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Snape flipped through the textbook to the end. The students used their eyes to catch his movements and guessed which part of the content they were going to learn, but Snape threw the book aside when he turned to the end.

"Today's teaching is an extended topic. You will find that the exam will not cover this part of knowledge at all." His black eyes swept across the classroom. "This means that this class is not very helpful for those who just want to get the NEWTs certificate. Those who don't want to listen or don't understand can come back next week."

No one left on their own initiative. Although everyone was angry and felt despised. They secretly held back their energy and prepared to fight back. As a result, after the class, the students walked out of the classroom one by one with their heads down. Obviously, none of them could meet Snape's requirements.

"You know what's most annoying?" Dean shouted indignantly, "He actually suggested that I use the free time to do something else... like go swimming in the Black Lake or something."

"That's not surprising," Seamus said with a suppressed laugh, "You almost hit him with your hair-loss spell. Think about it-" "

But the seventh-year courses are really valuable, and the advanced applications of various defensive spells and dueling spells are dazzling," Daphne Greengrass chirped excitedly: "You can't imagine how magical the effect will be after replacing 'Spell Stop' with 'All Spells End'..."

On the afternoon of the last day of September, Hermione came out of the dormitory holding a box and sat opposite Harry and Ron. The two stared at the box intently, and Harry said without hope: "Hermione, there won't be any badges in it?" "

-And it has ambiguous abbreviations written on it?" Ron added.

Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"Of course not!" She opened the lid of the box and poured out the contents. A thick stack of clippings immediately piled up on the table like a small mountain. Harry and Ron came over to watch. "These are what I collected in the first month of school. Now I have to reorganize them."

"Classify them like in the summer vacation?" Harry asked.

"Yes." Hermione said.

"Can you see anything?" Harry asked. He and Ron were rummaging through the papers on the table, picking out the content that interested them.

Since the start of school, there has been no work of cutting news in the summer vacation. Other students can only order one or two newspapers at most, except Hermione - she has subscribed to all the newspapers and magazines that can be collected. Every other week, the Grangers will send her a package containing the Muggle newspapers they can buy.

"The news is always delayed, but you can still get some useful information. I have to say that various changes are changing with each passing day." Hermione said as she lowered her head to sort them out, "especially when read together with the book "Providing Support for the Openness of Magic"..."

"I know it without reading it," Ron muttered, "The whole world is changing, only Professor Binns's class remains unchanged."

Harry's eyes stopped on a small piece of clippings, and he lowered his head to read the content on it.

'The site of the new wizard town is set in Cornwall, named Rutherford. Two hundred wizards have moved there. It is reported that Rutherford is adjacent to another mixed gathering place for wizards and Muggles - the village of Dingworth. With the completion of the new town, wizards in the surrounding area will have more choices...'

Dingworth... Harry stared at the name in a daze. He suddenly asked Ron: "What is the name of the place where Bill and Fleur finally settled?"

"Shell Cottage." Ron said casually.

"No, I mean the specific location." "

Oh, it should be on the edge of a cliff facing the sea in Cornwall," Ron showed a reminiscent expression, "Bill wrote to me - on the outskirts of a village, called... what was it called?"

"Dingworth." Harry said affirmatively.

"Yes, that's it."

Harry nodded and continued to read the neatly printed fonts on the clippings, 'Rutherford will become the second town in the UK composed entirely of wizards. The first is the village of Hogsmeade. The people involved in the construction of the town include 24 staff members and 57 wizard families who decided to settle here. Thank you for their contribution...'

Harry saw Longbottom's surname on a long list of names.

The second piece of news was an interview in a Muggle newspaper reprinted in the Daily Prophet. A guy who seemed to be of some importance criticized that doing business with wizards would impact existing business rules and that they should be prohibited from getting involved in certain industries... Harry put down the clipping, being accustomed to the occasional opponent popping up, and reached out to pick up a small palm-sized piece of paper.

The paper was written in small, compact characters that the American Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had accepted twelve children with magical talents. They were all under school age, the oldest was only ten years old, and the youngest was only six. Harry read uncomfortably that these children had been forced to take special drugs and asked to cooperate with various tests. He was stunned for a while before continuing to read the following content. The second paragraph wrote about their origins - 'Descendants of the Scourers. The Scourers once betrayed their own kind despicably, chose to marry with No-Maj in order to escape punishment, and abandoned any children who showed magical talents... These people were eventually punished.'

Harry felt a surge of anger and relief, and then a vague idea emerged in his mind, but it was interrupted before it could take shape.

"Hey! Listen to this," Ron shouted excitedly, "This Muggle newspaper praises Dumbledore for single-handedly intimidating two generations of Dark Lords. Now it's Professor Happ's turn to take over. They're curious about who is the most powerful wizard--"

Hermione snorted sarcastically, "They just want Grindelwald and the professor to fight."

"I'm curious too," Ron read the news with relish, "They call Dumbledore the Swordbearer, which is a cool title, but he holds a wand, not a sword... I'm not sure, maybe he's referring to the Sword of Gryffindor?" He gestured in the air with one hand, pretending to hold a goblin sword that could cut through iron like mud.

"How's the biography going?" Hermione looked at Harry and clipped a stack of clips with a small clip.

"It will take at least a few months to complete," Harry muttered, "Mr. Doggie's requirements are very high."

Hermione shrugged, took the small piece of paper from Harry, glanced down, and then sighed, "I hope these children can be well taken care of." But then her eyes froze, and the sympathy in her eyes was replaced by horror.

"No, it shouldn't be, it's impossible..." She stared at the table and muttered to herself.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

Hermione held her breath and asked softly: "You said... these children, will they be the first batch? Only them? Will there be more people-"

"What do you mean the first batch?" Ron stopped and asked.

Harry's eyes widened suddenly. The vague idea that had just been lingering in his mind suddenly became clear, but he would rather it wasn't true.

"You mean there were people controlled by the local government before them-" Harry was speechless, this guess was too terrible.

Ron looked around, snatched the note from Hermione's hand, and read it quickly. Combined with what he heard, his face gradually turned pale and uneasy. But he immediately thought of something, "I say - it shouldn't be what you think, Ilvermorny and Hogwarts have similar magic, any young wizard who shows magical talent will be recorded - well, these twelve children are just not old enough, so they left an opportunity for the bad guys." Harry and Hermione

were stunned for a moment, Ron's words seemed to make sense, and they couldn't find any flaws for the time being. The two breathed a sigh of relief. After sorting out the clippings, Hermione took out the book "Providing Support for the Openness of Magic" from the beaded bag, but she seemed uneasy for a long time and even had no appetite for dinner.

Finally, Harry suggested going to see Hagrid. Ron and Hermione had no objection, but they came out of the castle and knocked at the door of Hagrid's hut for ten minutes without receiving a response. There was no one inside. "Hagrid is not at home, maybe he went to patrol the Forbidden Forest." Harry said, "It's strange, the lights are on all the time."

"It may also be that he took Grawp for a walk - in any case, we went there in vain." Ron frowned and said.

They could only go back. Harry looked back several times but didn't see Hagrid or a figure bigger than Hagrid.

"Come back tomorrow, Harry," Hermione advised.

"Remember to bring the Marauder's Map, in case you can't find anyone," Ron suggested.

"Good idea," Harry said, "but there's no need to bring it with you. Just make sure Hagrid is at home before we come. My Marauder's Map can't see deep into the Forbidden Forest - what's wrong with you, Hermione?"

Hermione suddenly stopped, her eyes wide open, full of fear.

"The light... the Marauder's Map... can't see..." She suddenly jumped up, "Oh, I suddenly remembered something very important - but it's better to confirm it first, I'll find you later." Before Harry asked, she ran into the hallway.

"What did she think of?" Ron asked puzzled.

"I don't know," Harry's heart was shrouded in a shadow. He thought of the American Purgers and the heavy topics they discussed during the day, but what could the light and the Marauder's Map remind Hermione of? "Let's go!"

They ran towards the stairs, but they climbed up to the fifth floor without seeing any trace of Hermione. "She might have gone to the library." They turned back and searched the library under Madam Pince's sharp eyes, but still found nothing. The two had to return to the lounge and wait for Hermione to come back.

On the other side -

Hermione came back from the Ancient Rune Office, which was also locked. It was obvious that the professor had not returned to school this late. She hesitated for a while and still couldn't make up her mind. At this time, a strange sound came from her body, and she took out a glowing spyglass from her beaded bag.

"Is it Valen?" Hermione's eyes lit up. If Valen came back, the professor must be there too.

She took the person-finding - no, the sniffing spyglass - and walked down the spiral staircase and soon returned to the entrance hall. She stopped in front of the college cup hourglass for a while, and walked down the underground passage with a strange look on her face. Could they be in Professor Snape's office?

With this thought in mind, Hermione walked down the stone steps to a spacious underground corridor. The lights on both sides were bright, and there were colorful portraits on the walls. Occasionally, one or two Hufflepuff students could be seen talking behind the pillars. This was not the way to the original office of the Potions Professor.

"..."

Hermione's expression became even weirder. "Well, it's not impossible." Finally, she stopped in front of a picture, which was a huge silver bowl full of fruit. She took a deep breath, stretched out her index finger, and gently scratched the big green pear. The pear squirmed and turned into a green handle.

Hermione pushed open the door - inside was the Hogwarts kitchen - her eyes swept across the spacious and tidy room, which was as big as the hall, and there were four long dining tables exactly like the hall. She walked quickly past here and came to the real location of the kitchen.

Hermione found her target at a glance. Originally, her heart was filled with anxiety and fear, but now she actually wanted to laugh. Felix sat on a small round stool, the kind that house elves usually sit on, with his hands on his knees, staring at the huge fireplace. There were dozens of house elves around. She walked forward a few steps and saw a black furry little guy through the gaps between the elves. It was Valen, who was also sitting on a small stool, hugging his knees and staring at the fireplace.

An enticing aroma filled the air.

"Gudong." Hermione couldn't help swallowing her saliva. She didn't eat anything in the evening.

Felix turned his head on the bench, revealing a dozen or so fish sizzling in the fireplace, and a flash of surprise flashed across his eyes.

"Granger? What a coincidence, meeting you here - uh, I haven't had time to have dinner yet, you -" He looked at Hermione's face carefully, "Would you like to eat something together?"