Harry Potter: Who cares about belated motherly love?

The party was a grand one.

Since the Easter holidays had just ended, there was still some time before the usual end-of-term party, so strictly speaking, this was a completely unconventional party.

After all, a series of events that had shaken the school had finally been resolved, and in celebration, even the usually serious professors showed gentle expressions this time (even that... Professor Snape's frown was much lighter than usual).

At the beginning of the party, everyone learned again that all the students who were harmed by petrification had recovered safely. Professor Sprout, who was responsible for cultivating mandrakes, Madam Pomfrey, who prepared the "Mandra Recovery Potion", and Professor Snape all received warm applause.

Then, everyone learned that the so-called "inheritors" were actually students who were unfortunately controlled by dark objects, and the monster known as "the horror" had been defeated.

Although his name is not made public, everyone knows that the "Heir" is actually Theodore (in Hogwarts, "secrets" almost always come out). However, because Dumbledore emphasizes that he is a victim of manipulation and that his life was in danger, the students are relatively sympathetic to him.

Of course, it's a relief that no one died.

Then, Dumbledore called out our names in a mysterious way.

"Well, the people who played an important role in solving this matter should also be introduced... Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, please stand up."

The three of us looked at each other, realized that the eyes of all the teachers and students in the school were focused on us, and stood up as quietly as possible.

"In the past thousand years, successive headmasters have failed to find the 'Chamber of Secrets'. These three people saved their classmates' lives with their extraordinary wit and courage. For this, they are awarded 200 points each and are awarded the 'Hogwarts Special Merit Award'."

The Griffindor table erupted in cheers.

——To be precise, it was a cheer that was almost explosive.

We were hugged tightly by senior students such as Percy and were almost lifted up and thrown into the air, but fortunately that was avoided in the end.

"Then let the party begin."

Dumbledore watched this scene with a smile and clapped his hands gently. The table was immediately filled with delicious food even more sumptuous than Christmas.

Roast beef, Scotch eggs, shepherd's pie...and desserts include the familiar treacle pie, three-layer cake, and freshly baked pudding, piled up like a mountain.

Although Hogwarts has been portrayed as a place with terrible food in some secondary creations, it is actually not that bad. In fact, it is even better than the food of an average British family (at least better than the food cooked by my mother Molly).

The basic recipes for these dishes are said to have been devised by Helga Hufflepuff, but have been refined many times, with the Hogwarts kitchen elves carrying on Helga's ambitions, constantly refining old recipes and developing new ones.

The roast beef was very juicy, the shepherd's pie had no mutton smell, the mashed potatoes were smooth, and the crust was slightly crispy, which was a delicious embellishment.

Although my taste buds may have changed after my reincarnation, the taste of these foods is enough to satisfy me even if I were once Asian.

While enjoying the delicious food, we answered the constant stream of questions from our classmates.

Hermione cleverly concealed the fact that Harry could speak Parseltongue (Parseltongue), and Dumbledore had already ordered that the story of how the entrance was opened be kept secret, so fortunately no one asked about it.

As for the method of opening it, as soon as I mentioned that Dumbledore had a gag order, everyone immediately stopped asking questions (Fred and George seemed very curious), and everyone was more concerned about the true identity of the "horrible" monster and how we defeated it.

Since we entered the Great Hall, Harry had been vaguely recounting the appearance of Dumbledore, the story of Tom Riddle, and the elimination of the Basilisk (especially the part about Theodore). The vivid description made everyone at the Griffindor table hold their breath, some held back screams, some sighed, and the atmosphere was extremely warm.

Especially when I cleverly (even though I thought so myself) petrified the Basilisk, the older seniors applauded me, while the younger students gave me gleaming looks, which made me feel a little uncomfortable.

However, when I explained that Harry was the first to chase me down the hole and save me, the first-year girls gave him admiring looks, and when I mentioned that it was Hermione who first figured out the truth about the Basilisk, the older students made sounds of admiration. So I wasn't the only one getting attention.

———If I had paid more attention to the eyes around me at that time, perhaps that situation could have been avoided.

Looking back now, it's too late.

***

The party lasted about two hours.

When everyone had enjoyed the food and the feast on the table was cleared away, Dumbledore announced the end of the party and we returned to the dormitory.

Hogwarts is a seven-year school, and there are a lot of students in the four colleges combined, so at times like this they are usually divided into batches according to the college, and everyone is led out at short intervals.

Even within the same college, students usually start from the lower grades and are led by supervisory students.

This day was no exception, everything was arranged in an orderly manner.

———The only difference is what happened on the way back.

We were heading back to Griffindor Academy, led by seventh grade supervisors Marsha Jackson and Stanley Taylor.

By the way, Martha is half-blood (her mother is a wizard), with short hair and light brown eyes, and is a lively boyish girl; Stanley is a Muggle-born, with dark brown hair like chocolate and light blue eyes, and is tall. Both are very outstanding and have top grades, but unlike Percy, who is always serious, they are popular with lower-grade students (not that Percy is unpopular, but they are more friendly).

Led by these two people, we walked in groups with the first and second grade students.

By the way, at this time we don't line up strictly like in Asia. We will spread out a little, as long as we don't go too far.

At that time, Stanley walked in front, Martha followed behind, and the younger students walked between them.

From the Great Hall to the eighth floor where Griffindor College is located, you need to climb Hogwarts' famous "moving stairs" seven times.

Due to the changes in the stairs, people are often separated from the group, and this time is no exception.

Just as we were about to go up the stairs, they suddenly moved and we were trapped on the sixth floor landing.

At this moment, I suddenly felt a force pushing me from behind.

The space in front of me, which was originally connected to the stairs, suddenly became empty.

I was thrown out hard.

After the uncomfortable feeling as if my internal organs were floating up, I heard Harry and Hermione scream.

"'RONNY!!!'"

(Oh, no, I’m dying.)

As I was falling rapidly towards the approaching ground, feeling that I was truly doomed, I was suddenly caught by Martha, our guide.

"Stop it, stop it--Arestor Momentum!!!"

I was frozen in an instant, only three meters from the ground, and happened to meet the third and fourth grade students who were about to go upstairs, as well as the sixth grade supervisor - Fred, George and Percy. Their screams (which were not ordinary cries) were so great that my mind went blank.

After a while, I finally realized that I was injured. It turned out that when Patsy hugged me, I braked the momentum of my fall, which caused my neck to be injured (but my life was saved, so I should thank Martha instead of complaining).

I finally realized that I had almost died, and as I was crying in Patsy's arms, I heard a sudden noise from the fifth floor.

“Let me go!!!”

"Do you know what you have done!!!"

………It turned out that on the sixth floor landing, Martha was holding me back, and the one who was making a loud noise was Ginny.