cycle

To be honest, that bottle of Felix Felicia didn't bring me any good luck—at least in the few days I just got it, a strange person would pop out from around the corner or from an empty classroom after walking a few steps. The faces asked me how much Garen would be willing to sell it, some of them turned and left after hearing the answer of no sale, and the most feared were those who walked and chattered all the way until I walked into the classroom.I don't understand why all of a sudden it seems like the whole school knows I won a bottle of Felicia from Professor Slughorn, and quite a few people are cursing at him for partiality, since he seems to only be set in our advanced classes this reward.

I was sitting in the library on Saturday night trying to finish that The Principles of Apparition, Harry and Neville needed to meet Dumbledore in the headmaster's office at 08:30pm, and from their scattered conversations I judged that it was Dumbledore Professor Lido wanted to use some time this semester to teach them something - but no matter what it was, it fell into the category of "Miss Alice Snape doesn't need to know for the time being".I have to admit that what Dumbledore said to me during the summer vacation was very considerate, otherwise I would definitely think that I am not qualified to be trusted because of this feeling of being abruptly excluded, but even knowing that there are "some You'll understand someday," I still feel frustrated and lost.

I don't want to stay in the Gryffindor common room and they guess what Dumbledore taught, Hermione insisted that Dumbledore would teach Harry and Neville some advanced things, at least not recorded in the library Defensive spells and breaking spells, but I really can't think of any reason why these things need to be hidden from me - anyway, no matter how I guess, I can't get the answers when Harry returns like them, it's better to do it alone in the library The homework comes clean and comfortable, and it can also avoid the embarrassment of me returning to the girls' dormitory without squinting when they put their heads together and mutter.

The homework in the sixth grade is very difficult. It is not at all what the senior students said in the fifth grade, "you can get a whole year of leisure and good time after a year of hard work". Although our schedule is no longer full to the point of explosion, but Gone are the days when a fourteen-inch dissertation could be dug out in half a day, and five sentences might not come out of a parchment after rummaging through a library's entire shelves.

Even if all the free time is used to deal with the exercises and homework assigned by the professors, not previewing the textbooks in advance means that in class, you will be distracted by looking at sentences that you know every word but don’t understand the meaning when you connect them.Even if I don't have to put a lot of effort into practicing silent spells, I don't feel like I have the time to do it—and I know that the only spells I'm proficient at right now are the simple ones, and that advantage will wear off soon.

As I was poking my face with a quill pen and pondering how to finish the dissertation in front of me in a satisfactory way, I saw Draco walking among the library shelves, scanning the signs on the side of each shelf ( Hermione said that it was recorded in "Hogwarts, a piece of school history", because in the past, students used the Flying Curse to hold books and caused many accidental injuries, so the school regulations clearly stipulate that the library prohibits the use of Flying Curse and other spells), see It seems that I am looking for a book in a certain field.I watched for a while and finally found out where the sense of incongruity lies. It's a little strange that he doesn't have Crabbe and Goyle by his side.After all, I once had the crazy idea of ​​following them to the bathroom in order to find the lonely Crabbe or Goyle. Did he choose to act alone because he was looking for something that no one else could know?

Thinking of this, I lifted my spirits. Although my father warned me not to mention that crazy conjecture to others, my father's reasons did not convince me.Dad said I made a serious accusation without evidence, so if I find enough evidence, or if I find out what the "task given to him by the mysterious man" he was showing off to the other Slytherins on the train, he Should he take this matter seriously and tell Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix?

After the fourth volume began to be serialized, I have received some letters from readers who were selected and forwarded to me by magazines one after another. Several of them asked me about Draco's left hand at Madam Malkin's robe shop. Is there anything that confirms the obvious "duplicity" that I wrote in the third volume that I no longer have feelings for him.

I think this kind of question may run through the content of this volume, because I really spent a lot of time in the sixth grade to find out what Draco Malfoy is doing, so I simply told everyone at the beginning Let me explain it, so as not to make readers have more unnecessary questions.

It would be too much to say that I am eager to know whether Draco Malfoy really became a Death Eater just for the benefit of the Order of the Phoenix, or whether he will not be caught off guard in future confrontations with You-Know-Who. Cold and ruthless, although this is indeed a very important starting point-I want to do my best to ensure the safety of my parents, relatives and friends, we have lost too many things, although at that time I still underestimated the fate of our group level of cruelty.

It is also inappropriate to say that I no longer have any feelings for Draco. As I mentioned at the end of the last volume, cutting all ties between us is more complicated than imagined.When people get along with each other, they will inevitably leave traces in this world. Even if we erase all the objective things that can be erased, we still have memories. Only then will it be done deliberately.I don't deny that I was desperate to find out if Draco had really become a Death Eater with a glimmer of hope to save him, I didn't want to sit and watch my first friend in my life doing nothing Walking into the abyss of eternal doom, this kind of mood has nothing to do with love. I don't know if anyone can understand this feeling.

I noted down the approximate location of the row of bookshelves that Draco walked into last, and when the curfew was approaching, Mrs. Pince began to chase people away with a serious face, so I hurriedly packed my schoolbag and ran towards it. The row of bookshelves was near the end of the library. The inside is not far from the restricted book section, but I was dismayed to find that the range of books in those rows was much larger than I imagined, and the books were sparsely arranged without knowing where they were borrowed, and I wanted to rely on other books on the shelf It seems hopeless to guess what content the book he borrowed is related to.

These books seem to be thick and old tomes, and few students usually come to borrow them, but Mrs. Pince keeps the library in good order, even the books that have not been opened for several years It doesn't leave dust either, so even if Draco returned the books, I wouldn't be able to tell from the dust which books had been opened recently.

"Hey! Didn't you hear me!" Mrs. Pince, who was carrying an oil lamp, shouted at me, with an angry expression on her wrinkled face, "Hurry up and leave!"

"Oh, I'm sorry I forgot the time." In order not to look too suspicious, I took a book from the shelf, "Uh, sorry ma'am, it took me a long time to find this... er, "Space Class" Advanced Magic: Untraceable Stretching Curse."

She gave me a suspicious look, then chased me out of the library like an impatient hawk flapping its wings.I hurried through an empty corridor, and when I stopped to put the thick book in my hand into my schoolbag, I smelled an unusually strong smell of sherry cooking wine, accompanied by a woman's faint whisper.

I was startled, and without fastening my schoolbag, I took out my wand and ran towards the direction where the smell came from. I saw a large pile of shiny fabrics piled up in the corner of the corridor. I squatted down and opened several layers of scarves before I saw Te Professor Lilawney's face.Her eyes were closed tightly, and only one leg of her glasses was hanging from her ear, precariously.Without those eyes magnified like insects by the glasses and the white smoke of the divination classroom, she no longer looks hazy, just like the night when Umbridge was almost kicked out last year, she She looks like an ordinary and down and out woman.

At first I thought she was being teased by Peeves, but it turned out that she seemed to be just drunk, and when she grabbed my hand and struggled to sit up, her other hand was still tightly clutching a bottle. A dirty deck of playing cards.

"Professor?" I watched her stare blankly into my eyes, as if she didn't know why I was here, "Are you okay?"

"I'm not good!" She muttered as she approached me, "That centaur... the centaur stays in the castle for a day, and I won't be well!"

"Uh," I wanted to avoid Professor Trelawney's approach, because the smell of sherry cooking wine became stronger when she opened her mouth, as if it was about to spray on my face. "Professor, can you still stand up?"

"Destiny, Destiny instructed me to be here and now." She seemed to have drunk too much to the point of insanity, let go of my wrist and stretched out her fingers in front of my eyes, "I see, Heavy rain... heavy rain is coming."

She hiccupped loudly and fumbled for her glasses, which had fallen to the floor.After refusing my support, she leaned on the wall and stood up unsteadily. The colorful shawls and scarves were still dragging on the ground, but miraculously, she was not stepped on every time.

"2 Hearts: Goodwill; 7 Hearts: Abyss; 10 Hearts: Variable; Queen of Hearts: A red-haired young woman...walking on an old road that has not been traveled." She hiccups and washes her hands. The deck of playing cards walked away, murmuring meaningless words, "Hey, contradict yourself, it must be wrong!"

I watched Professor Trelawney disappear at the end of the corridor, and then I realized that it was almost curfew time. I ran a few steps in a hurry, but the things in my schoolbag fell to the ground because the buckle was not fastened, and I was still trying to save it. The cracked ink bottle polluted more than half of the thesis, and heard Harry's voice: "Alice?"

"Where's Neville?" He knelt down to help me put the book that wasn't stained with ink back into the bag, and I asked him while absorbing the ink with my wand, "Why are you alone?"

"Professor McGonagall asked me to go to her office to get the list of Quidditch trials. Neville should have returned to the lounge." He showed me two rolled-up parchments, on which were densely written the name and the location of the application. .

I widened my eyes: "There are so many people? Isn't the trial competition very troublesome?"

"Yeah." Harry stuffed the list into his pocket, and used his wand to clean up the ink and glass residue on the carpet in the hallway, "I think it would take a morning even if the arrangements are good, and I was thinking of going to Hayes next Saturday." Let me explain to you, it seems that the plan fell through."

I looked at the paper that I had written all night to the torch in the hallway, and after confirming that no ink had been spilled, I folded it up and put it back in my schoolbag: "I don't think Hagrid has come to the staff table for dinner recently, Could it be that Professor Dumbledore gave him some mission?"

"I don't think so." Harry looked a little anxious, "Me, Tallus and Ron met him in the corridor several times, and he acted as if he didn't hear us say hello to him. He should be angry that we didn't choose him." class."

We walked up the stairs, and now only the seniors were left to walk in the hallway. Passing by a couple kissing in the shadow of the corner, I said a little uncomfortably, "Then find another time Go and explain it to him, after the Quidditch trials are over—so many applicants, do you have any favorite candidates?"

"I can't even see the names of a lot of people in the lower grades. Let alone understand their performance on the Quidditch pitch. I plan to let everyone fly around the pitch first." Harry shook his head. , "I don't know why the team suddenly became very popular."

I thought of Romilda Vane, whom I had just glanced at the roster, and muttered, "Maybe it's not the team's favorite."

"What else is popular?" Harry shrugged. "Quidditch will always be Quidditch, and the rules won't change."

"Let's think about it, maybe it's someone...under the heavy pressure of the Ministry of Magic, he still insisted on accepting newspaper interviews to tell the truth, and told everyone with the savior that the mysterious man has made a comeback. Dad is now the captain of the highest leader of the Ministry of Magic. Welcome." I shook my head with my hands behind my back, "The last time I went to Weasley's Wizard's Wheezes, George and Fred told me—"

"Told you what?" Harry laughed. "Why didn't you go on?"

"I suddenly forgot." I coughed a few times and looked aside, "Forgot."

"Oh! I didn't expect to meet you two here during my evening walk!" Just as I was racking my brains to get the topic out of this strange atmosphere, Slug suddenly came from the top of my head. Professor Horne’s voice, he stood on the landing on the upper floor and waved to Harry and me enthusiastically, but the stairs turned around, and we waited for a long time before we walked up to him with puzzled faces.

Slughorn has changed into the same velvet nightgown we wore when we visited his house, and a bright ginger shade that makes him look like Crookshanks inflated a dozen times.He looked from me to Harry with a smile, like a fat dragon gazing contentedly at his gold pile, smiling at us while playing with the tip of his walrus whisker: "Of course, I know now Unlike in the past, you young people are very busy and have your own ideas. So I would like to book your time in advance, Alice, how about you and Harry coming to my place for a potluck next Saturday night? I can It's a whole week in advance, so I don't think you're scheduled for that day? Don't worry, it's just a very simple little party with a few rising stars, McLaggen, Zambini and the charming Alice may know Melinda Poppins, her family owns a large chain drugstore—by the way, I also want to invite the lovely Miss Hermione Granger, but I haven’t met her to send an invitation in person!”

"Uh," I didn't want to go when I heard McLaggen's name, but it was true as Slughorn said, insisting that I don't have time a week in advance seems too evasive, so I agreed first and then made other excuses how? "Uh, I—"

"I'm not sure, Professor." Harry replied, "Professor McGonagall asked me to arrange the selection of the Quidditch team for next Saturday. If the weather is bad in the morning, it can only be postponed to the afternoon or even evening. If you agree But it would be too rude to miss the appointment because of the team, I promise you that next time if there is no time conflict, I will definitely go, okay?"

"Oh," Slughorn looked a little disappointed, "Quidditch... is not incomprehensible, McGonagall has always valued this - what about Alice?"

"We were still arguing just now, Professor." Harry's face showed an extremely vivid annoyance, "She said she must go to the scene to watch me, and said that if she wasn't there, I would choose a lot Pretty girls on the team."

"Ho! Really Alice?" Slughorn looked at my flushed face with interest. "I didn't expect you to have this side of you—but don't quarrel, young girl mind." It's normal to think more delicately. When I am this age, I want to find someone to take care of me, an old man, but I can't find anyone."

"I, I'm really worried." I could only continue Harry's words through gritted teeth, "I think it's only next time, Professor, I'm sorry."

"It's fine if you don't want to go to the Quidditch pitch next week," Harry said to me after Slughorn walked away with his belly out, "just make up an excuse, have a cold or something—"

"Why don't you go?" I asked viciously while grinding my back molars, "Are you really worried that I'll find out that you're sneaking beautiful girls into the team?"

Harry laughed out loud, and the flickering light of the torches in the corridor was reflected in the black-rimmed glasses. I was embarrassed by his laughter and quickened my pace to return to the Gryffindor tower.After returning to the tower, as expected, Ron and Hermione were still muttering around Neville that Talus might not be back yet, and he didn't know where to go to relax again.I watched as Harry took a deep breath after joining them, turned around and went back to the girls' dormitory.

"The danger of Legilimency lies not only in the fact that the caster may lose himself when entering the mind of others, but also in the objective decline of his own ability to resist intrusion when entering the brain of others. In other words, invading others means exposing himself."

I stared at the few words in my father's notes that were easy to understand for a while, until Hermione returned to the dormitory and took the "Spatial Magic Advanced: Traceless Stretching Curse" that I borrowed casually and flipped through it. Turn it over and ask me if I can lend it to her after reading it before waking up from a dream.

"Take it away and see." I waved my hand and smiled at Hermione, "My Transfiguration is not good enough to study space deformation yet."