cycle

The next few weeks passed fairly peacefully, but even Harry and Neville never saw Professor Dumbledore in the castle again, which meant he had probably been elsewhere during this time.From the Daily Prophet we read that Mr. Weasley went to Malfoy Manor for a second search, reporting that "the second search of the Death Eater's residence appears to have yielded nothing. But the shoddy defensive spell The director of the Office of Detection and Confiscation of Protective Equipment, Arthur Weasley, personally issued a search warrant for the operation by the Minister of Magic, James Potter. Action was taken and declined to comment further on the matter."

"I wrote a letter to Dad later, telling him what I heard on the train." Harry leaned back in his chair after Hermione finished reading, and said, "But it's not all progress, he If the thing he wanted to fix wasn't in his house, he must have taken it to Hogwarts—"

"That's impossible, Harry," said Hermione in an almost resigned tone. "We're all checked when we come in."

"Huh?" I blinked in confusion, "What test?"

"Oh, yes, you two are late." Hermione folded the newspaper and put it aside, "When all the students entered the hall, Filch went all over us with a spy machine, and all the dark magic items They'll all be searched. I remember Crabbe having a withered head confiscated, so there's no way Malfoy could have smuggled something dangerous into Hogwarts."

"Where's the owl?" Harry demanded, "to have his mother send something in—"

"All owls are also subject to inspection, that's what Filch said at the time." Hermione obviously felt that Harry was being too stubborn on this matter, and threw me a "convince him with me" eyes.But I was still lost in my own thoughts. In fact, I thought for a moment that this "someone" in the report might be my dad, but given the probability of him actively exchanging messages with Mr. Potter and the mysterious man singing at the Ministry of Magic The probability of "love and peace" is about the same. This conjecture seems too absurd.

My investigation didn't make much progress - I borrowed his camera from Colin Creevey before, and my idea is simple: as long as Draco returns the book to the library, I can compare the photos with the book. Find out this book, and then you can lock in what he wants to study.But in the past few weeks, I only got a bunch of photos of the bookshelves that were exactly the same and did not change, and because I was always wandering around here, I was suspected by Mrs. Pince that I wanted to secretly go to the restricted area, and I was stared at many times by her.

I even feel that I don't need a camera anymore. I seem to have memorized the titles and locations of all the books on that shelf. Another day when I made no progress, I frustratingly threw away the undried photos and stuffed the camera. Into the bag.Tomorrow is the first day of going to Hogsmeade this term, and even though the cold wind howling outside the window indicates that the weather will not be much better tomorrow, even the library has sporadic whispers of uncontrollable excitement—— After all, there have been rumors since the beginning of school that "for safety reasons, all arrangements to go to Hogsmeade this school year have been cancelled."

Just when I was in a bad mood and was about to go back to the Gryffindor Tower and warm my cold fingers by the fireplace, I heard someone approaching here.The familiar footsteps that I could immediately tell who it was made me refreshed immediately. I stood on tiptoe and hid in the gap formed by the end of the bookshelf and the wall without making any noise. Here Just avoiding the illumination of the light, a shadow was formed.

The footsteps gradually approached, and I tried to hold my breath.Wishing Draco would put the book down and leave immediately, he started walking towards the place where I was hiding at a very slow speed, but I didn't think he spotted me because I heard his fingers slide There is a very slight rubbing sound on the spine of the book, do you still want to borrow a new book?

I can already see his shadow projected on the ground approaching my hiding place. At this time, if I get up rashly or run back, I will definitely be discovered, but if I continue to stay where I am, I will be discovered after he takes a few steps. easy.He stopped suddenly just as I was clenching my wand tightly to struggle with my thoughts, but I didn't hear any sound of putting down the book. I stayed stiffly in the shadow and watched him motionless, maintaining the shadow of raising his hand , only the sound of the heartbeat gradually speeding up could be heard in the ears.

After a few seconds, he turned and left.After confirming that the footsteps had completely disappeared, I turned around and went back to my seat from the other direction as lightly as possible.Before the library closed, I went back to this bookshelf again to confirm that he hadn't returned any books just now.I stood still and let out a long breath, feeling a dull pain in my temple: Is it because he didn't want to return the book in the first place, or because he actually noticed someone hiding not far away when he paused?

The next day was indeed the worst weather. The wind and sleet slapped the windows, and the mist that condensed into water droplets rolled down from the glass, leaving long traces on the windows. .The girls in the dormitory were not affected by the weather, they were still chattering about where to meet their friends later, and planned which store in Hogsmeade to buy something.

"I'm not as optimistic as you." Hermione frowned after listening to what I said to her, "If Mrs. Pince finds out using jinxes in the library, Malfoy will be in big trouble. Prefect."

"So you think he's found out someone's hiding there?" I felt a little dejected.

"Why do you and Harry think he has some secret plan?" I think Hermione didn't lose her temper because of the friendship between the two of us. She has been very impatient with Harry's chatter these days, " And to be honest, do you really think your dad can't find out about Malfoy's little tricks? Even if he did have some way to hide from Professor Snape, I don't think he could have fooled Dumbledore."

I wanted to refute her, but I had to admit that she had a point, so I stretched out my fingers and scratched on the pillow in frustration.

"Even if you tell Harry about this, he won't be able to draw any conclusions. As long as the books are not in the restricted area, they can be borrowed freely. Interesting," said Hermione sensibly, seeing what I was thinking, "and you're sneaking up on Malfoy all by yourself—"

"I didn't sneak around—"

"Alice," Hermione shook her head, "You didn't tell Harry the first time but chose to tell me, which means you know that Harry might mind this matter."

She grasped the point precisely, I opened my mouth and didn't make another sound for a long time, and convinced me that Hermione, who was in a good mood, stretched out her hand and rubbed my face hard until I was so itchy that I hid in it. Only when he was under the quilt did he stop.Since I couldn't find the gloves, she went out to have breakfast with the boys when she was fully dressed. She had to queue up for Filch's inspection before going to Hogsmeade today, so everyone left earlier than usual.

When I gave up looking for gloves and ran to the auditorium to meet them while knotting my scarf, I unexpectedly met Professor Dumbledore in the corridor in his traveling cloak. He seemed to have just returned from outside the school, with a long There are also tiny drops of water on the beard from melting snowflakes.

"Good morning, Miss Alice." He stopped me and handed me two tightly sealed rolls of paper with a kind smile, "Can you help me take them to Harry and Neville? Thank you very much. "

"Of course, Professor." I took them carefully.

"How are you doing recently?" Dumbledore asked me casually.

I looked up, saw his blue eyes under half-moon glasses, and felt a familiar feeling of being scanned for the soul.

"It's okay, Professor." I replied frankly, "Sometimes I can't help but worry about my mother."

He sighed softly, stretched out his good hand and patted my shoulder gently: "Go."

"Dumbledore said that we will continue to teach us on Monday." After I brought the parchment to Harry and Neville, both of them seemed very happy, and Harry turned to Neville and asked, "Come to Hogsmoor with us later." Germany?"

"Oh, what did Luna say this weather is suitable for catching... what?" Neville scratched his head, "I already promised her."

Filch's black magic detection caused complaints from the students queuing up. Seeing that there was not much time left in the morning, he still dragged the long needle-like detector to poke everyone's body. His roar resounding throughout the hall could be heard with just a little sound, and Mrs. Norris sat aside dignifiedly, wrapped her tail around her feet, and raised a paw to lick it leisurely. irritable.Ron was poked viciously by Filch several times for asking, "What's the point of taking dark magic items out? Why don't you check what we brought in from Hogsmeade later?", and he was on the road for a long time They were still grinning and rubbing their ribs through thick sweaters.

Talus clicked his tongue after seeing the condiment and joke shop nailed to death from a distance: "I said, maybe all the shops are closed?"

"No, no, no, no," said Ron, trembling, "At least Honeydukes and the Three Broomsticks can't be closed! We might as well be in the lounge!"

As he wished, the Honeydukes Candy Store was still open, but it was already full of Hogwarts students who came to shop, but when the warm breath filled with the smell of toffee hit his face, it seemed that all the snowflakes It's worth it to move forward, and the sweetness of sugar is such a reassuring magic.

This year's new Volcano Chocolate launched a small gift box with random mixed fruit pulp. A large group of people squeezed in front of the counter and took out Silver Sickles and Copper Knuts from their pockets. Already half gone.When we were about to join in the fun, a bell-like voice sounded behind us: "Harry, Alice—and Miss Granger and Mr. Black?"

"Oops," Harry muttered, turning around with a small smile: "Professor Slughorn?"

Slughorn was wearing a huge plush hat, which well covered his bald head and also matched his plush collar coat. He was carrying a large bag of pineapple preserves, and the clerk next to him Staring at his waving hands in fear - because he is so big, he can knock all the cream bubbles floating in the air with a slight movement.

"Harry, Harry, you are so hard to please!" Slughorn patted Harry on the shoulder with a little reproach. "Are you busier than your busy father? A whole three small dinners You can't even come, this is not allowed, this is not allowed, child! Do you remember how you promised me at that time?"

"I'm going to participate in Quidditch training, Professor." Harry replied with some helplessness. We did promise to join the Slug Club when we followed Dumbledore to visit him. "You know, we have changed several players this year." -"

"Okay, I'm as addicted to Quidditch as your father, and I'm sure I'll win the first game after working so hard!" Slughorn patted his chubby stomach, "But you have to have some entertainment once in a while, right? Liz and Miss Granger have been there a few times, and our party is a lot of fun, isn't it?"

Unable to give a negative answer at such a time, Hermione and I nodded casually. Although at those dinner parties I either stayed in a corner in a daze or tried to help Neville change the subject, at least Neville has seriously considered passing the no-communication agreement. Defense Against the Dark Arts assignments to get confinement to escape Slughorn's invitation - it's not easy to make such a determination, especially for Neville.

"This is a great opportunity to meet young talents." Slughorn winked at Harry, "If you want to follow your father's path, connections are sometimes even more important than strength, or connections are strength Part of it. Well, what about Monday night? There's no training in this weather—"

"Not on Monday," said Harry immediately, "Professor Dumbledore has an appointment with us, I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry again!" Slughorn yelled exaggeratedly, "Of course, of course, the appointment with Dumbledore is more important, but you can't keep enjoying my appointment, boy! Then Alice and Greg Miss Ranger must have time, right? Well, I won’t force you to invite you, Mr. Black, take a good rest and adjust, but if you want to come, I welcome you anytime!”

With a terrific wave of his hand (just avoiding a cloud of strawberry-flavored cream bubbles), he swaggered out of the candy shop, oblivious to Ron the whole time, as if he were just a bunch of cockroaches on display.

"I let you dodge it again." I said to Harry in an envious tone, "I knew I—"

"Knew you wanted to join the Quidditch team?" Harry asked with a smile. "It's too late to know the benefits now!"

I rolled my eyes: "I was scared because I fell off a broom when I was a child... If it wasn't for the hard fall that time, maybe I could really fly well."

"Those parties aren't that bad, actually," said Hermione, "and they're kind of fun sometimes."

"For example, do you want to make friends with all kinds of young talents?" Ron, who had been silent all this time, suddenly asked full of gunpowder. Horn, it's not good to always shirk—”

"Premium Candy Candy Quill!" Tallus yelled as if he had just seen the big shiny sign in the store. "It can be sucked for hours!"

We immediately pretended to be very interested in the quill, but Ron still looked unhappy until we asked the Three Broomsticks for a drink to warm up before nodding reluctantly.

When we approached the Three Broomsticks, we saw a man with curly ginger hair not far outside the store. He was talking to a tall, thin man with a long beard, but we hadn't fully seen it yet. The fat, Mundungus-like man looked up at us, then spun around as if he had seen something horrifying, and Apparated away.

"Is that Mundungus?" Hermione asked my question, "The person talking to him... seems to be the owner of the Pig's Head Bar?"

"It must be Mundungus." Talus snorted. "It was discovered that he secretly sold the things at 12 Grimmauld Place. He should be glad that there is only Some of the Black family's old trash, Mom's stuff isn't there, otherwise Dad wouldn't have let him go so easily."

"How could he do that?" Harry asked in shock, "I didn't even know!"

"Few people know that he is a thief through and through. When he was discovered, he knelt there and begged for forgiveness." Talus pushed open the door of Three Broomsticks, "My dad and I don't care about the rags, It's enough to teach him a lesson."

Having said that, Talus's mood was obviously spoiled by the chance encounter with Mundungus, and he showed a gloomy and melancholy expression again, sipping the butter beer Hermione and I bought bit by bit and stopped talking.Ron was also silent all the time, just staring in a daze at the charming proprietress Rosmerta behind the bar. The proprietress was smiling coquettishly and selling her family's best oak-aged mead to a wizard.In this atmosphere, there was nothing to talk about. After hastily drinking the beer in the bottle, Hermione proposed to go back to school, which was unanimously approved by everyone.

Seeing that the weather was getting worse, we walked out of the bar behind two Gryffindor seventh-year girls.All the snow on the road had been trampled down and mixed with the mud, freezing the whole road hard and slippery.I had both of my hands in the pockets of my robes, and I couldn't hold them open for balance like they did, but I'd rather roll straight back to Hogwarts than have my ungloved fingertips freeze.

"What's the matter?" Harry, who noticed that I was walking slowly, also slowed down, "Are you feeling unwell?"

"No." As soon as I opened my mouth, I was choked by the cold wind, "I didn't wear gloves."

"Don't tell me sooner." He took off the glove on his right hand and handed it to me to put it on.

"Then neither of us will be warm." I pointed to his bare right hand with my bare left hand.

"Who said that?" He stretched out his right hand to hold my left hand, and put it in his pocket, "Let's go."

The rain and snow became denser and more urgent. We quickened our pace to catch up with the three people in front, but fortunately they were not walking fast.Talking in this weather would only eat a mouthful of snow, so we walked forward in silence. I don't know why Harry's pocket is so warm, and I even feel that the palm of my left hand is sweating slightly.

"It's none of your business, Lini!" I heard the two girls walking in front of us arguing all the time, their arguing getting louder, as if it was about something in one of the girls' hands.

"That's a member of your Quidditch team." I barely recalled where I saw the girl holding the thing.

"Well, Katie Bell." Harry didn't pay much attention, "She has a good temper, I don't know how to-"

Another girl suddenly stretched out her hand to grab the package in Katie's hand, but Katie yanked it back hard, and the bag fell to the ground.In that split second, before we knew what was happening, Katie rose into the air with a deadpan expression, her eyes closed, her hair blown in all directions by the wind, as if being gracefully swept away by something invisible. The floor was held up.

"Don't touch that!" I yelled at the girl who was bending over to look at the bag, and the bad feeling was fulfilled when Katie started twisting and screaming in the air, "You gloved ones drag her down! Be careful not to touch her with your skin!"

Ron, Hermione, and Tallus rushed towards Katie before I could speak, and they walked closer to her.Katie, who was dragged back to the ground, began to struggle violently. After Talus grabbed her entire shoulder, her neck began to twist dangerously, her limbs waved wildly, and she slapped him and Ron several times.

"I'm going to get help!" Harry threw the rest of the gloves to me, "You stay here and watch her!"

"Is there any way to calm her down!" Hermione drew out her wand but kept shaking, because Katie kept screaming horribly, as if being tortured by something invisible, "or hit her Dizzy, she looks so miserable—"

"No, we'd better not do anything." I bent down and looked at the soggy brown paper bag on the ground, which is now cracked and glowing green, "We don't know what curse is on this thing , don’t act rashly.”

There were more and more people watching, I drew a circle with my wand to stop those people from approaching.Harry arrived a few minutes later, panting with Hagrid, and he quickly picked up Katie and ran towards the castle, before Talus and Ron stood up.

"How did you get this package?" Harry walked over and looked at the paper package. "This is the opal necklace from Borgin-Bock store. Do you remember Talus? We met during the summer vacation."

"Yeah." Talus nodded and touched his face. There were at least five bright red slap marks on his face. "The label says there's a jinx on the necklace."

"You're Lini." Hermione stretched out her hand and gently hugged another girl who was shaking and crying, "Katie's friend, isn't it?"

The girl nodded: "We were arguing about this package just now! An accident happened as soon as the package was torn open... I knew this thing must be weird. She was holding it in her hand when she came out of the toilet of the Three Broomsticks. The expression is so weird, I should have realized at that time—realized, she should—no, she must have been under the Imperius Curse!"

Hermione patted her shoulder lightly, stopped Harry's impatient question with fierce eyes, and asked in a very gentle tone: "Did she say who gave it to her?"

"No, no. She refused to tell me anything, and I felt weird, and wanted to grab that thing and throw it away, and then———" Lini let out a desperate scream, seemingly on the verge of collapse .

"It's okay, it's okay, let's go back to the castle first. Katie has already returned to the castle, Madam Pomfrey will cure her." Hermione immediately stopped asking questions, and hugged the trembling Linny tightly, Hermione and I Min helped her up from left to right.

"Be careful!" I saw Harry take off his scarf, wrap the necklace around it, and picked it up, I yelled in fright.

"This thing can't be left here, it's too dangerous, and if you give this to Madam Pomfrey, she will know how to treat Katie," Harry explained.

"Gloves, gloves." I hurriedly returned his gloves to him.

As soon as I walked into the school grounds, I saw Professor McGonagall hurried down the stone steps in the rain and snow whirling with the wind, and walked straight towards us.

"Come with me," she said to all of us seriously. "What's that in your hand, Potter?