The next morning, the Daily Prophet indeed published an article about the attack on Amelia Bones, Director of the Department of Law Enforcement, at the Ministry of Magic, and it took up two full pages.

As expected, this incident immediately caused an uproar in Hogwarts, and the discussion in the hall never stopped during breakfast that day.

Kyle looked around the dining table and saw that Susan had not come to have breakfast. He thought she should still be in the dormitory.

In order to help Susan calm down better, Professor Sprout came to the common room last night and said that she didn't need to attend classes in the next few days.

If it were any other time, Susan would have jumped for joy, but last night she couldn't laugh at all and just lowered her head silently.

And no one had seen her anywhere else in the castle all day.

"Slughorn is such a snob!" By dinner time, Mikkel began to madly belittle a professor.

"You know what? He had a party at his office this weekend, but he didn't invite Susan."

"What's the big deal..." Someone said nonchalantly, "Since it's Professor Slughorn who's hosting the party, it's his freedom to invite whoever he wants."

"You are too naive. You don't know the inside story." Mikel shook his finger and began to explain to others.

"I've inquired about it. Professor Slughorn's Slug Club only invites students who are excellent or have distinguished family members.

"Susan had an invitation too, but when he read the newspaper, he snatched it away, that stupid old slug."

"It shouldn't be that serious..." Some people still didn't believe it. After all, Slughorn was a professor. How could he do such a bad thing as snatching back the invitation?

"Mikel, how did you know he took the invitation away?"

"That's because I was right next to him and was asked to deliver a message to him..." Mikel said angrily, "He took the invitation from me. How could I not know?"

After a moment's silence, the man continued, "Is it possible that Professor Slughorn wanted Susan to be quiet for a while?

"Think about it, with such a big thing happening, how could she be in the mood to attend a banquet?"

"I don't think so." Mikkel curled his lips. "What if Susan wants to change her mood? There is no need for him to ask for the invitation back."

Listening to Mikel's words, Connor asked curiously: "Is Professor Slughorn really such a person?"

"Almost, but I think Mikel is exaggerating."

Kyle thought for a moment and said, "Although Slughorn does have a preference for students with outstanding family backgrounds and is a relatively realistic person, he has never done anything rude like asking for a return invitation. At most, he simply refuses to invite them."

"Should I still go?" Kanna looked down at the parchment in her hand.

This is the invitation that Mikel just sent, inviting Connor to a small party at the Potions Office on Friday night.

Kanna was originally quite curious about this party, but now she suddenly doesn't want to attend it anymore.

"It's up to you whether you go or not." Kyle poured a glass of pumpkin juice. "To be honest, this kind of party is just for chatting, eating, drinking, and praising each other. It doesn't have any substantive meaning. You don't have to expect to learn anything about potions at the party."

"Ah? Then I won't go!" Kanna said immediately.

Because she didn't know Slughorn and had never attended the dinner on the train, she always thought it was an academic exchange meeting on potions.

It was just like the parties Snape took her to during the holidays... everyone got together and told each other about their latest discovered potion ingredients, or the pros and cons of different models of crucibles.

"Okay, if you don't want to participate, then don't participate. It doesn't matter." Kyle took a bite of the fried pork chop. "But, have you thought of an excuse?"

"Excuse?"

"Yes," said Kyle. "Slughorn is still a professor after all. You must have a reason to refuse the invitation."

"Well...does it count if I have to do my homework?" Kanna asked tentatively.

"Yes, but it may not work." Kyle said, "Harry used this trick, but the next day, Slughorn organized a mutual help group and asked several people to help Harry with his homework.

"You don't know. Harry was stunned. He didn't recover until the next day."

Kanna shuddered subconsciously. If she was surrounded by a group of people to help her with her homework, she would be stupid.

No, I have to find another excuse.

"I have an idea..." At this time, Kyle suddenly said: "Well, you go to Professor Snape and ask him to find a reason to put you in detention on Friday night. This way you have enough reason to refuse Slughorn's invitation."

Kanna's eyes lit up.

Yes, detention, why didn't she think of it? This is simply the best excuse. Slughorn can't chase her to the detention room.

"It just so happens that there is a Defense Against the Dark Arts class tomorrow..." Connor said happily, "Then I will go find Professor Snape and ask him to put both of us in detention on Friday..."

"No, don't!" Kyle quickly stopped her from having this dangerous idea and warned her, "Just lock yourself up. Don't take me with you. This is very important."

Connor was put in detention by Snape, but that was different from going home, going home in the true sense of the word.

But he was different.

Kyle believed that Snape would definitely not mind giving him some special treatment during detention.

Like picking out the unusable ones from a bucket full of philoprogenitor caterpillars without wearing gloves... It is said that Harry earned this detention after his first Defense Against the Dark Arts class and stayed in the dungeon for a whole night.

Kyle felt that Snape would certainly not be short of ferobacterium caterpillars, especially when he was in detention. He might even have to pay to buy a new bucket of caterpillars from outside.

So it would be better for him to find another way. Besides, compared to being put in detention by Snape, attending a party occasionally was actually nothing.

But this reason soon came to me.

On Friday afternoon, Kyle received a letter from the Ministry of Magic. It was written by Fudge, asking him to go to the Ministry of Magic as soon as possible to discuss something.

The Potions class had just finished, and Kyle just showed Slughorn the name at the end of the letter, and he immediately stopped talking.

"Oh, go quickly, go quickly..." Slughorn's eyes sparkled, "The Minister wrote to me specially, there must be something good."

"That's not necessarily true..." Kyle thought to himself.

Fudge never thought of him when good things happened. It was probably because Fudge wanted to reverse his worsening reputation but couldn't think of any good way.

Ever since Madam Amelia Bones was attacked by Death Eaters at the Ministry, trust in the Ministry has plummeted.

The reason is easy to understand... If the Ministry of Magic can't even protect its own people, how can it protect others?

But Kyle didn't have any particularly good ideas. The most effective way he could think of was to let Fudge resign and replace him with a more capable person as the minister.

For example... Dumbledore.

Unfortunately, neither Fudge nor Dumbledore would agree to this approach.

Kyle dawdled until he reached the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office... not Snape's office. He had too many things, and some potion materials had very strict requirements on the environment and were difficult to move, so he was still in the original underground classroom.

Kyle came to what used to be Umbridge's office. She had previously opened a dedicated line to the Ministry of Magic for the fireplace here.

Although she had left school a long time ago, last year Hogwarts had many outstanding students who were admitted by the Ministry of Magic as exceptions. In order to facilitate their internships on weekends, this route was retained.

It’s just that Dumbledore arranged an armored guard at the door, and only those who knew the password could enter.

"Bibi Every Flavour Beans!"

Kyle gave the command, and the guard in armor creaked as he turned around and moved to the side.

I can only say that they are worthy of being guards arranged by Dumbledore. Even the passwords are in the same series as those in the principal's office. Fortunately, Honeydukes has a wide variety of products, otherwise they would not be enough.

Kyle lit the fireplace and threw in a handful of Floo powder from the bucket next to him.

But strangely, the flame did not change color. Instead, a head popped out from it, and Kyle could clearly see the other person's delicate mustache.

Although he didn't know what happened, Kyle was not too surprised. He just took out the letter he had received from his pocket and said:

"I need to go to the Ministry."

The man in the fireplace glanced at the letter and Fudge's signature on it.

"Sorry, this Floo has been blocked."

He acted as if he hadn't seen Fudge's signature, and said in a businesslike manner: "According to the request of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, the entire Hogwarts will be on the highest alert. Except for the fireplace in the Headmaster's office, all other Floo networks will be closed, including this one.

"After that, the fireplace will be completely sealed. No one will be able to use it."

"Okay." Kyle said, he glanced at the letter in his hand, "What about this? The minister asked me to go there as soon as possible."

"You are still a student..." the man continued expressionlessly, "You don't need to meddle in other matters."

After saying that, the other party disappeared.

The only sound in the room was the crackling of the flames.

Kyle looked at the letter in his hand again, threw it into the fireplace, then found a chair to sit down and watched the parchment gradually burn up in the flames.

He guessed that the Floo Network was closed because of Amelia Bones' incident...

Although it is not known how those Death Eaters entered the Ministry of Magic, this also suggests another possibility.

They were able to use the fireplace in the Ministry of Magic and enter Hogwarts through the Floo network in front of them.

Dumbledore probably thought of this and insisted on sealing the fireplace.

But Kyle was quite happy with the result... He got rid of Slughorn's invitation and didn't have to go to the Ministry of Magic to face Fudge. It was perfect.

A minute later, Kyle put out the fire and walked out of the classroom again.

This was a good excuse. Next time Slughorn invited him, he could just say that he was going to the Ministry of Magic. Anyway, he couldn't go to the Ministry of Magic to verify whether he was going or not.

Of course, the prerequisite is that he doesn't see me during this period of time.

Kyle went downstairs and made his way to the Hufflepuff common room.

Kanna is here too.

"Didn't you go to the Ministry of Magic?" she asked in surprise as she saw Kyle coming in.

"The school's Floo network is shut down and I can't get out." Kyle roughly explained what happened before.

"What about you? Aren't you in solitary confinement?"

"I'm just doing detention." Connor said seriously, "Professor Snape told me to finish reading this book."

She picked up the book "Powerful Potion" on the table, "I asked if I could come back and read it, and he agreed."

"Uh... okay..." Kyle smacked his lips.

Sure enough, Snape's confinement was no different from going home for Connor. Apart from her, who else could make requests during the confinement?

"I remember you finished reading "Powerful Potion" two years ago." Kyle walked over to an armchair next to her and sat down. "Why are you reading it again?"

"I only read half of it at the time," Connor said. "Professor Snape thought I was not suitable for some of the potions in the second half, so he took them away from me."

She opened the page she was reading and pushed it to Kyle.

It depicts a person with a distorted body and seriously unbalanced body proportions.

The Giant Potion... can make ordinary people become as big as a giant, but they will also suffer great pain, just like a person being blown up.

In addition, there are also boiling blood potions and crazy potions...

To put it simply, it is the dark magic in potions... It is not pleasant, but some of the unique herbal combinations are necessary to know when learning potions.

This is also the main reason why the book "Powerful Potion" was placed in the restricted books area. As for the polyjuice potion... that is only the most insignificant part of the content.

The two of them were just killing time in the common room.

The next day, the first weekend of October, was the Hogsmeade Visiting Day that everyone had been looking forward to for a long time.

Because the protective measures around the school were becoming increasingly strict, they thought they could not go to Hogsmeade. Now after seeing the announcement, everyone was very happy.

Although they knew it was dangerous recently, no one wanted to stay in the castle all the time.

The professors seemed to think it would be nice to let everyone go out and relax occasionally, so they arranged the Hogsmeade Visit Day.

A strong wind suddenly blew outside in the morning, accompanied by heavy raindrops, but this did not dampen everyone's enthusiasm.

Everyone seemed very excited during breakfast. Mikel and Ryan were discussing what to buy when they went to Hogsmeade. They made a long list that included almost all the shops.

At this time, there was a quarrel coming from the door, and I knew it was Harry and the others just by listening to the voices.

"Hermione, haven't we tried this? There's absolutely nothing wrong with what's in the notes." The familiar trio walked into the hall.

Harry was saying excitedly: "I never thought I would get extra points in Potions. It's incredible."

"But that's not your thing!" said Hermione stiffly.

"But there must be a part of it!" Harry retorted: "Although I read the notes Kyle gave me, I did all the processes by myself. Aren't you also following the contents of the book?"

"That's different!" said Hermione.

"What's the difference?" Ron said nonchalantly, with excitement still on his face, obviously he had just experienced something happy.

"I know, Hermione, you must be jealous that our Potions grades are better than yours..."

"That has nothing to do with it," Hermione said, her cheeks turning red. "I just think you shouldn't cut corners."

"But our potion is perfect, isn't it?" said Ron. "Even Slughorn couldn't find fault with it. If the result is the same, wouldn't it be better to make the process simpler?"

The three of them were arguing, no one could convince anyone else, and they didn't notice that they had become the focus of everyone's attention.

"What notes did you lend them?" Kanna asked curiously.

"It's just some tricks that Professor Snape taught me." Kyle shrugged. "I guess none of them noticed in the previous Potions class that the process Professor Snape wrote on the blackboard was a little different from the one in the textbook."

This is not difficult to understand, Hermione is definitely textbook-oriented.

As for Harry and Ron... they hardly dared to look up during Snape's Potions class, let alone compare the contents of the textbook with the blackboard.

…

(End of this chapter)