Chapter 596: Back to School

In Black Villa, Black, Ron and Hermione were sitting on the sofa in the living room drinking tea.

Although they were drinking tea, the three of them were in low spirits, lowering their heads and holding their teacups without saying a word, looking like they were not in a very good mood.

At this time, Lupin, wearing an apron, came in with a baking tray of cookies. He carefully placed the baking tray on the coffee table, and sighed deeply as he looked at the three people on the sofa.

Since Black left the Ministry of Magic, he had summoned Ron, Hermione and others to start the journey to find Harry. As for Lupin himself, although he had clearly rejected Black because of Tonks' pregnancy, when Tonks learned about Harry's disappearance, she still forced Lupin to come to help Black.

Of course, because he had to take care of Tonks, as a prospective father, Lupin could not follow Black all day like Hermione and Ron. He was more responsible for the logistics of the Black team, and was also responsible for some intelligence gathering work.

With the cooperation, Black led Hermione and Ron to almost run all over the country of Ying in just one week. This process was extremely arduous, but they still couldn't find even the shadow of Harry.

Black had actually expected this result a long time ago. Even Mike, the current Minister of Magic and legendary wizard, couldn't find Harry. How could they get anything if they just ran around like headless flies?

But he still went to look for it.

Black couldn't explain why he did this. Maybe it was to dispel the guilt in his heart, or maybe it was for that little bit of slim chance. In short, Black just didn't want to stop.

This was his persistence.

But today he had to stop.

Because today is the first day of school at Hogwarts. Due to the many riots in Hogwarts last year, the students were unable to attend classes properly, so all students need to repeat a year this year, and Hermione and Ron are no exception.

Black came back this time to send Hermione and Ron to school.

As for going to school, Hermione and Ron were obviously not very interested, and they didn't even have an appetite to eat the cookies made by Lupin himself.

Looking at the two dejected people, Lupin pursed his lips, and then cast his eyes on Black.

Compared with the two children, he was more worried about Black.

Just look at Black's messy hair and beard like weeds, dirty clothes that have begun to emit a foul smell, and his empty eyes. It can be seen that Black's body and mind are already in an extremely weak state.

If possible, Lupin really wants to force Black to stay for a while.

But he also knows that this is impossible. Black has decided to go to France alone to find Harry after sending Ron and Hermione. Based on his understanding of Black's character, he can't keep Black by himself.

Shaking his head, Lupin finally couldn't say anything to keep him. He glanced at the clock on the wall and said to Ron and Hermione:

"It's almost time, go to the station."

Ron and Hermione didn't reply, but just nodded gently.

Then, like a zombie, he changed his clothes with the help of Lupin, picked up the suitcase that had been prepared long ago, and finally walked slowly into the fireplace.

There was a sound of fireworks exploding, followed by a dizzy feeling. When the two opened their eyes again, they were already at Platform 9 3/4.

It was a cloudy day today. Although it didn't rain, the sky was still gray, just like Hermione and Ron's mood at the moment.

However, this did not affect the high spirits of others at all.

The platform was bustling with people coming and going. There were students who were going to Hogwarts and their parents who had come to see them off. Of course, there were also some young new faces who looked around and seemed to be very curious about everything.

Logically speaking, there was such a serious incident in the school last year, so there should be fewer students coming to Hogwarts this year.

But at this moment, the flow of people on the platform was no less than in previous years.

Although some of the reasons were that the graduates had to repeat their studies, the main reason was that after Michael took office, he further increased the support for education, so that many children who could not go to Hogwarts for various reasons before also had the opportunity to become wizards.

In addition, Michael also made changes to many other places after he took office. The reason why Hermione and Ron could directly reach the station through the Floo network this time was one of them.

The exit outside the station will only be used as a passage for students from the Muggle world to go to the station.

In front of the fireplace, Hermione frowned in annoyance. She really couldn't empathize with the happiness of these people. She just thought they were noisy.

Ron beside her sighed softly and patted her gently, reminding her that it was time to get on the train.

The two of them then walked towards the Hogwarts Express.

Thanks to the prefect badges hanging on their chests, they came to the prefect's box on the train without any obstacles.

Many people have already taken their seats in the box. Draco, the prefect of Slytherin, is sitting in the innermost position. Next to him is a girl with a mushroom head, Pansy.

They both seem to be in a very good mood. Hermione is not surprised at all. You know, although their families only played a small role in the war between Mike and Chris and did not make any outstanding contributions,

Mike still fulfilled his promise after the war and gave some rewards to the families of Draco and Pansy.

With these rewards and the wealth accumulated in the past as the initial funds, and the current rapid economic development of the entire wizarding world in Yingguo, the two families will soon be able to recover.

In addition to them, there are also prefects from other colleges in the carriage. Among them, there are many new faces in the Slytherin team. Most of the old prefects were purged in the previous Hogwarts raid, so so many new people were selected.

Perhaps because the newcomers are more nervous, they all gather around Draco, the senior, and look attentively.

But Draco didn't seem to care about their advances. He was just flirting with Pansy.

The prefects from the other three houses sat at the other end of the carriage. They were laughing and chatting happily, and looked like they were living in harmony. Somehow, Hermione always felt that the prefects from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were trying to curry favor with Ravenclaw.

At this time, the sound of the carriage door being opened also attracted the attention of everyone in the carriage. The prefects from the three major colleges were very enthusiastic when they saw that the visitors were Hermione and Ron. Draco and Pansy from Slytherin just nodded at them, and the action was extremely impatient, as if he was not greeting Ron and Hermione, but was just throwing away something dirty!

This move caused Ron's dissatisfaction. He frowned and beeped carefully, but when he lowered his head, he saw the engagement rings on Draco and Pansy's ring fingers.

He stopped talking immediately, but his mood seemed to become even more depressed.

Hermione would not care about these boring things. She was exhausted from running around with Black some time ago.

She took Ron and found an empty seat to sit down, and then cast a soundproofing spell on herself and fell asleep.

I don't know how long it took, with the violent shaking of her body, Hermione finally woke up.

At this time, the sky outside had completely turned dark. She rubbed her eyes and looked at Ron, who was looking at her anxiously while opening and closing his mouth quickly but making no sound. Then she reacted and raised her hand to remove the silencing spell.

"Merlin's beard! You finally woke up! Get off the train with me, we're already here!"

As soon as the spell was lifted, Ron's loud and piercing roar came over. Hearing this, Hermione didn't care about her ears that were a little painful from being yelled at. She jumped up from her seat and ran out of the train like a fly, leaving Ron behind her in a daze.

"Damn it, why didn't you wake me up earlier!" Hermione complained as she ran, "Professor McGonagall will kill us if we're late!"

Ron ran faster than Hermione, and soon caught up with Hermione. After hearing Hermione's complaints, he rolled his eyes and retorted:

"I've been calling you! But you're sleeping too soundly!"

Hermione didn't reply. She shook her wand, cast a lightening spell on herself, and then sped up to the carriage assembly area.

When they arrived at the assembly area, the wide open space was empty, with only a night unicorn carriage standing alone.

Hermione jumped on the carriage without saying a word, and then pulled Ron, who was panting.

The carriage started to move, and Ron slumped in the carriage, his chest heaving violently.

His face flushed, and he pointed his finger at Hermione, as if accusing Hermione of not casting a lightening spell on him, but the violent pain made him unable to say a word.

Hermione was not interested in talking to him. She quickly fumbled in her pockets with her hands to check if her belongings were missing. After confirming that everything was correct, she breathed a sigh of relief and sat on the front of the carriage to enjoy the night view outside.

Because it was cloudy, the moon was firmly covered by thick clouds, making the outside world dark.

The only thing Hermione could see clearly was the Hogwarts Castle, which was getting closer and closer to them in the distance.

The lights there were bright, and it looked particularly spectacular against the backdrop of the night.

Looking at the familiar scene, Hermione's face was full of endless melancholy.

Ron, who had recovered, opened and closed his mouth twice, and finally had to close his mouth.

The carriage gathering place was not far from Hogwarts Castle. Not long after, the two landed in the hunting ground next to the castle.

"Merlin! Why are you here so late?"

Just after getting off the car, a familiar voice with a little anxiety came into their ears, and then a huge face, almost completely covered by hair and beard, appeared in front of them.

"Hagrid!"

Ron shouted excitedly. Even Hermione, who had been in a bad mood, smiled when she saw Hagrid.

But Hagrid obviously had no intention of reminiscing with Ron and Hermione. He picked up Hermione and Ron in one hand, turned around and started running towards the castle gate.

While running, he kept muttering:

"I hope I can catch up. Today is the first day of the new headmaster's appointment. You are too brave!"

It was not a good experience to run with Hagrid. Hermione was almost vomited.

But she raised her eyebrows and said:

"The new headmaster? Is it Mike?"

"Of course not." Hagrid tilted his head and made a funny expression with his little eyes, "Guess again, you also know the new headmaster. It's your acquaintance."

"Could it be Professor McGonagall? That's great!"

Ron shouted excitedly.

However, Hagrid shook his head and said,

"Wrong answer! Well, we are here! You will know for yourself when you go and see for yourself!"

After that, Ron and Hermione felt that they were suddenly flying up, and then the light around them suddenly turned from dark to bright, and there were bursts of heat in the air.

Then they fell to the ground.

"Ah! It hurts so much..."

Hermione rubbed her buttocks that were hurt by the fall and sat up, complaining in her mouth, but she was stunned as soon as she opened her mouth.

Because she found that they had arrived in the castle, and because Hagrid used a lot of strength, the two of them were directly recognized in the center of the hall.

The most important thing is that at this moment, the hall was full of people,

and they all had dull expressions and were looking at them silently.

Hermione's face flushed.

At this time, everyone in the hall also reacted and laughed out loud.

For a while, the violent laughter kept echoing in the hall, exciting Hermione to lose her mind.

Professor McGonagall stood up from the long desk with an unpleasant expression, and nodded to the professors around her, then stepped forward quickly to pull Hermione and Ron up.

"Thank...thank you, Professor McGonagall."

Hermione thanked her in a soft voice, but Professor McGonagall didn't seem to appreciate it. She gritted her teeth and said in a suppressed voice:

"Go back to your seats!"

Hermione and Ron shuddered instantly after hearing this, and quickly ran back to the Gryffindor table.

Ron's roommate Seamus naturally pulled out the two chairs next to him and let the two of them sit down, and then said to Ron excitedly:

"The new headmaster is late on his first day in office! This is so cool!"

"Do you think I want to? It's because..."

Ron blurted out his explanation, but just after he said a few words, Hermione looked at him threateningly. He could only curl his lips and roll his eyes at Hermione.

Hermione nodded in satisfaction, rubbed her hot cheeks, and then asked:

"Who is our new headmaster?"

"You don't know?" Seamus said in surprise, "The new headmaster is of course Professor Flitwick!"