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Mr. Weasley was discharged from the hospital before the end of the Christmas holidays. Mrs. Weasley prepared a big dinner to celebrate his recovery and thanked everyone for their dedication and care during Mr. Weasley's injury.But those of us sitting in the kitchen were not very excited, and returning to Hogwarts turned out to be a scary thing—the date of the OWL exam was approaching again, and Umbridge was still showing off his power in the school, of course. What's even scarier for Neville is that he's going to his dad's office at six o'clock on a Monday night for his first Occlumency tutoring session, and although we've tried a lot to try and get him to relax, it seems like it's only having the opposite effect. .

In order to show Neville everyone's determination to advance and retreat with him, even though DA members came to Hogwarts with great expectations and asked if we would like to have a party tonight, we all insisted that there are important things tonight and the time will be notified separately. Decided to wait for him to come back from class while working on a mountain of homework in the library.

The January night still engulfed the view outside the window early, and the fifth graders were so absorbed in their writing that the rustle of quills on the parchment almost drowned out the clicks of Ms. Pince's inspections.When Neville came to look for us, his face was scarier than a ghost. He looked as if he had been severely tortured, trembling slightly from head to toe.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked worriedly, Mrs. Pince's eagle-like eyes swept over at once, and we had no choice but to pack up our half-written homework and leave the library, "You look—"

"I, I found something." Neville shook his head, looking like he was struggling to endure the pain, and said to Harry, "Do you remember when I told you that I always dreamed of a door ... Mr Weasley was also ... guarding the door when he was attacked ..."

"And you said you wanted to push it away." Harry nodded. "We remember that."

"When I was first in class...uh...Professor Snape asked me to empty my mind, I didn't really know what to do, anyway he told me to fend off his intrusion...Of course I was terrible, he saw I have a lot of memories, and then there is a memory of me going to the Ministry of Magic last summer to apply for my parents' transfer." There was no one else in the hallway but us, and Neville's whisper came clearly to all of us. , "I realized I had seen that door, and Mr. Weasley had introduced me to it as the... Department of Mysteries."

Hermione stopped abruptly, and Tallus, who was walking behind her, almost ran directly into her.She frowned tightly, obviously trying to remember something, and then let out a long breath.

"Sturgis Podmore," she said quietly, looking a little disappointed as we all looked at her in bewilderment, "he tried to break into a door at the Ministry of Magic! Remember the crime? I think that The door is what Neville said, the door of the Department of Mysteries."

"But he's from our side." Ron quickly pointed out the problem, "Why did he want to break in?"

"Remember when the grown-ups said they were on duty and had any 'weapons'?" Tallus looked excited, "Hey, so the 'weapons' are hidden in the Department of Mysteries? I never heard my mother say that department It’s like nobody knows what’s there.”

"Papa only said that the people who work in the Department of Mysteries are called the 'Silent Men.'" Ron shrugged. "It sounds like they don't say anything, does it?"

"Do you need to go to the school hospital, Neville?" I looked worriedly at Neville, whose face was pale. He pressed his lips tightly, as if he would vomit as soon as he relaxed.

"I think Madam Pomfrey might not be very good at it," he replied weakly. "I... don't like Occlumency."

"Let's go back and rest for a while." I looked at Neville and felt guilty. Although Dad is very good at studying a completely unfamiliar field from scratch to the extreme, I have to say that he is not good at teaching a student who started from scratch. ——Dad is an excellent and powerful wizard, but he never realized that this kind of excellence is a very rare and rare quality. In other words, my father has an obvious shortcoming. It is difficult to accept the mediocrity of others, and I think it is for this reason that he is not loved by many ordinary students.

However, the lounge was buzzing with people, and the Weasley twins were excitedly demonstrating to the Gryffindors the latest product of the joke shop—a skullcap for two Galleons. Hermione was distracted and began to think about how to use the improved invisibility spell to achieve this partial and continuous effect.

"I want to go back to the dormitory." Neville looked sullen, and seemed not very interested in the lively surroundings, "Professor Snape also asked me to practice...I have to think..."

"I'll go with him for a while, he doesn't look very well." Harry stood up, and Ron and Tallus, who didn't want to do their homework, also stood up. Hermione reminded them to write down the unfinished homework Planners - probably because I told her that planners are great, she bought one for each of the boys for Christmas (but they obviously didn't seem to like the gift).

"I remembered, Alice, you have an Occlumency Notebook." After the boys left, Hermione, who insisted on finishing a lot of homework assigned by Umbridge amidst the boiling noise, asked suddenly. Me, "Can the stuff in there help Neville?"

"I think it's okay." I lowered my eyes to avoid Hermione's gaze, "but that part of the notes is...not with me now."

"You left Professor Snape's things with Malfoy all the time?" I think Hermione must have tried her best not to shout out, the horror and reproach in her eyes were almost overflowing, "Did you think However, if—this is very possible! If Malfoy gave the notebook to You-Know-Who—you actually kept it in his hand?”

"He won't return it to me." I said painfully, "You know his temper more or less, and all of Dad's personal belongings have been unsummoned, so I can't summon them back directly. I was worried that he would use the recovery Ruchu restored the content of Legilimency, so he used the Shadowless Magic Curse to cut open the notebook—and then I couldn't restore it myself, and I really want to help Neville, I'm trying to find a way."

"I don't know what kind of temper Malfoy has, I just think he's an asshole." Hermione said after a moment of silence, "I think you don't want to face him, so you've been dragging this matter on."

"I can't just break into his dormitory and rummage through the boxes and steal the notes?" I replied sharply, "I'm so sorry that I didn't have the ability to foresee the development of things back then."

"I'm not..." Hermione seemed a little flustered, "It's okay, we can—"

"I'm trying to figure out a way." I was a little annoyed, stood up and started packing my schoolbag, "Don't involve those boys, they might make things...more complicated."

Things always change faster than people think. The next day Hermione opened the "Daily Prophet" just delivered while drinking oatmeal (although since the last column article implicitly hinted that Mr. Potter was suspected of accepting bribes, we Already disinterested in any of the above, but Hermione insisted on subscribing to them), she only glanced at the front page before screaming and knocking over her cereal bowl.

"What's the matter?" The boys looked like they didn't sleep well last night, and their voices were still full of sleepiness.

Hermione spread the newspaper on the table, and the front page of today's newspaper was filled with ten black and white photos, nine wizards and one witch stared at us with tangled hair and haggard faces, with arrogant or crazy smiles on their faces.

"You're kidding." Ron said weakly, his fingers slid across Antonin Dolokhov's long pale and distorted face, and the densely packed text below explained that he brutally killed the Prewett brothers.

Hermione doesn't seem to be familiar with the names on it. We all grew up listening to the names of these Death Eaters. Their names have a similar horror effect to the You-Know-Who himself in a sense.Talus's face was contorted with anger, and he gritted his teeth, cracking his knuckles while staring at the photo in the newspaper, trying to restrain himself from tearing the newspaper to shreds.

"Calm down." Harry clapped his elbow, a muscle in Tallus's cheek twitched dangerously, and took a deep breath before continuing to drink the milk from his glass.

"It's not all bad to escape." He said in a dangerous tone, "We will have the opportunity to avenge our uncle and aunt with our own hands... and cousins ​​I have never met."

"Talus!" Hermione reproachfully stopped him from saying any more inappropriate remarks.

Neville remained silent all this time, his eyes seemed to be glued to the only witch photo in the newspaper, the woman with swollen eyelids and disheveled hair looked at him contemptuously, and there was still a bit of the outline of the Black family on her face , Tallus cast a disgusted glance at Bellatrix Lestrange, who didn't want to eat anything.

"I feel dirty when I think that the blood running on my body is similar to hers," he said bluntly.

"What did the Ministry of Magic say?" Harry could only read the words in the newspaper backwards, which obviously caused him a lot of difficulty in reading.

"What can you say?" said Tallus sharply. "Fudge should be regretting getting James out of here early, it'd be great if such a disaster could end up on our side—I bet he's a dragon That's all he thinks about in his dung-made head."

"Minister Cornelius Fudge admitted that there was a large-scale prison escape in Azkaban, and informed the Muggle Prime Minister of the danger of the fugitives." Hermione read, "He thinks there may be external support for this escape, such as with the fugitives Closely related... oh no—he actually..."

"What's wrong?" Ron's voice was trembling, because Tallus looked like he might set the Gryffindor table up at any moment.

"The Ministry of Magic refuses to acknowledge that the suspension of Director of Law Enforcement Amelia Black was directly linked to the escape of Bellatrix Lestrange (Amelia Black's husband Sirius Black cousin relationship with this felon), but it is generally believed that the Ministry of Magic's monitoring of the Black couple is necessary, and it also ensures their safety to the greatest extent."

"Bellatrix Lestrange has more than one cousin," Harry sneered. "Why not protect the Malfoys at the same time?"

"Where's Tonks?" I suddenly remembered Tonks' mother, and quickly asked Hermione, "Is she also suspended?"

"I haven't seen it yet." Hermione quickly scanned the full text, "Think about it, Mr. Potter has been suspended, and your mother has also been transferred...I think they don't have enough Aurors right now, and they can't take care of Tonk for the time being." Young Aurors like Stanley who have just joined the ranks and don't have any power entanglements—gosh, do you remember Mr. Bird?"

"Excuse me, who?" Harry asked.

"We met before at St. Mungo's Hospital, the staff working in the Department of Mysteries - the same ward as Professor Lockhart." Hermione folded the tenth edition and pointed it out to us. strangled."

"Confused crab claw orchid with devil's net?" Ron frowned. "Merlin, that's unlucky, I remember the therapist kept saying that he was almost recovered."

"What if it wasn't bad luck?" Hermione seemed taken aback by her conjecture, "If someone did it on purpose... then it wouldn't be possible to find out, wouldn't it? An anonymous Christmas gift, the newspaper said that St. Mungo is currently without wires So."

The atmosphere in the school didn't change at first, most of the people didn't have the habit of reading newspapers, they were still happily discussing crackling cards, wizard chess and the latest magazine fashion.Talus has become a lot quieter—Mr. Black has stopped contacting him through the double-sided mirror since he was monitored by the Ministry of Magic, Hermione is busy writing a letter that he does not know who to send, and Hagrid has been retained for inspection Once again stimulated Harry's nerves.

"They really spared no effort." Seeing the No. 20 Education Order No. [-] that "prohibits teachers from providing students with any information unrelated to the subjects they teach" appeared on the college's bulletin board, Harry sneered: "They really have a thorough understanding of the enemy. Where exactly."

"Looking on the bright side," now Ron tried his best to shoulder the task of comforting everyone, "more people are believing what Neville told you! After we finished class that day, two little girls from the lower grades ran over Give Neville a tweed, crumpled though it is."

"And everyone's DA's training is harder." I nodded, "Although we can't meet every night according to their suggestion."

So that everyone will not be frustrated by the slow progress of the Patronus Charm, we have now divided the one-hour assembly into three parts. Let's learn some protection spells, such as the Iron Armor Curse that can bounce some small jinxes onto the opponent's body. The third 10 minutes are used to continue to study the Patronus Charm. Everyone has made great progress, especially Neville, he It even knocked me back once, causing me to fall hard on the cushion.

But the progress of his Occlumency was not so smooth. In his words, "It seems that my determination because of anger is not working at all. Professor Snape even said that I am regressing." He looked dazed and at a loss. It seems that he will collapse at any time after returning from class. January flows away from various complicated things like running water, and his state does not improve much.

"Emotions may not be conducive to closing your brain." I could simply pick up the few words left in my memory to help Neville.

"But I can't help it." Neville looked desperate, "When I think of those people... those who tortured my parents, they escaped..."

"I'll think about it again." I fidgeted, "You try harder, and I'll think about other things..."

I dare not use Legilimency to practice with Neville in my spare time, he looks very fragile, and I can't control the level of Legilimency at all. When I practiced with Draco in the past, he did it the other way around countless times Fished me out of the vortex of memory when I was in a panic. After the last summer vacation, I never opened the remaining half of the notebook.

Is it really necessary to break into the Slytherin lounge and get the notes back?I found myself thinking seriously about this ridiculous thing. Hermione said before that girls can enter boys' dormitories... Does that mean that as long as I can enter Slytherin's lounge, I can also enter Draco's dormitory? ?

"Can you meet me at Hogsmeade this weekend, Neville?" Hermione walked in from the outside holding a letter. Neville looked confused, but nodded in agreement.

"I'm not going to Hogsmeade." I said without thinking, "The progress of homework is a bit slow, and I still haven't finished my history of magic."

"Ron and the others also want to practice Quidditch." Hermione nodded, "Then Harry and I will wait for you at the Three Broomsticks, Neville."

"Location of the lounge, password, Polyjuice Potion, unoccupied dormitory." I wrote a few words on a blank piece of parchment, and then started to frown and think. I stared at the Polyjuice Potion for a while, and put It's crossed out and written on the Invisibility Cloak, I don't think it's a good idea to brew an illegal potion at a time when Umbridge is trying so hard to get back Fudge's majesty at school, maybe get caught for a whole month It might cause Dad a lot of trouble - both Hagrid and Professor Trelawney have kept it for inspection.

The first two problems may be solved at the same time, but I have to make sure that there is no one in the Slytherin boys' dormitory when I go to rummage. When will this happen?

"When was the last Quidditch match?" I asked Harry, looking up.

"Next week." Harry looked a little surprised, "Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff."

"Whoever wins Slytherin fights, doesn't it?" I thought for a while and asked, "Is it the rule of this kind of tour?"

"No, whether we win or not, Slytherin will play Hufflepuff in the next match." Harry explained, "The House Cup is the final score."

"Oh, I don't understand." I lowered my head and ticked off the dormitory item—the risk still exists, but it's worth a try.