HP Starlight

"It seems that your conflict has been resolved, isn't it?" A cheerful voice came from behind, and the three of them looked at the voice at the same time. Principal Dumbledore was looking at them with a smile, his blue eyes shining behind the half-moon glasses shine.Contrary to him, the two deans behind him, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape, stared at them with stern faces and the other with sullen faces. Obviously, the two deans were not as relaxed and optimistic as the headmaster.

Esther shrank his neck, tried his best to resist the silent pressure from Professor Snape, and continued to work until he wiped off the eyes and mouth except for the nostrils, then he and Orion walked in front of the three professors Pending punishment.

"Bobby, how are they doing?" Headmaster Dumbledore asked Madam Pomfrey.

"There is no irreversible damage, it's just that different spells collided and caused confusion. They will fully recover in two days," Madam Pomfrey said.She looked at Dearborn and added, "The ointment is applied well, evenly and in the right amount. You two have a talent for medical work." She nodded at them after she finished speaking.

"Would you allow us to make another brief inquiry?" asked Professor Dumbledore.

"It's best not to take too long, the patient needs to rest." Madam Pomfrey agreed.

The three professors briefly asked about the process at Dearborn's bedside, and then led Esther and Orion to the principal's office.

They followed the three professors to a huge stone monster on the third floor, "Fudge." Professor Dumbledore said to the monster.The monster suddenly jumped aside when he heard the sound.The wall behind it splits to either side, and behind the wall is a spiral staircase that is slowly moving upwards.Esther and Orion followed the three professors to the spiral staircase, and the wall behind them closed again with a bang.They whirled higher and higher, higher and higher.After an unknown amount of time, they saw a shiny oak door ahead, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin.

As Esther entered the room, a large golden-red bird uttered a joyful chirp.It seemed to attract her eyes magically, making her walk over unconsciously.

"Looks like Fawkes is happy to see you." Dumbledore's blue eyes looked into Esther's from behind his glasses.Esther subconsciously avoided his gaze.

Professor Dumbledore took out his wand and flicked it lightly, and two soft chairs and two high-backed chairs appeared.After everyone sat down, he said, "Although we have learned something from Mr. Dearborn, we still want to hear what you have to say."

There was a moment of silence, and no one spoke.

"Mr. Dearborn admitted that they stopped you first, but you did it together. Can you tell me the reason?" Professor Dumbledore guided them patiently.

Esther looked at Orion, who pursed his lips in a defensive manner.She tugged on his robe lightly and gave him a supportive look

"Because my father is a Death Eater." Orion finally said, "They have troubled me more than once. We know they will attack, and it is impossible to sit still."

"But they're badly hurt, and you're sitting here," Professor Dumbledore pointed out sharply.

"It's my fault," said Esther, biting her lip. "I was so nervous, so I did a lot of random magic."

"Is it really unintentional?" asked Professor Dumbledore.

This time Esther did not avoid Professor Dumbledore's gaze, she looked directly into the old man's eyes and nodded seriously.

Professor Dumbledore finally returned to his usual gentle face, "I hope you don't have similar situations in the future. Of course, Mr. Dearborn has also realized his mistake, and I don't think they will look for you again Trouble. But I want to write a letter to inform your parents about this matter, and you will be punished accordingly. After all, you violated the school rules, do you agree?"

"Won't we be fired?" Esther asked in surprise.

"Can I not write to my mother? She has enough things to worry about..." Orion whispered.

"You don't want to be expelled either, do you, Miss Collins? Of course it depends on your future performance. As for Mr. Wilkes, I think your mother needs to know about your school situation." Professor Dumbledore told the two The dean said, "Severus, you will be responsible for their punishment. Minerva, Mr. Dearborn and Mr. Meadows will be arranged by you. Also, tell Felius to let him Decide on the punishment method for Mr. Fenwick of their college." After speaking, Professor Dumbledore signaled that they could leave.

But they couldn't go back to rest yet, Professor Snape led them to his office.

"You two are locked up for a month, because of your poor fighting skills. It will start the night after tomorrow. Come to my office at six o'clock. Don't be late. Go back now." Professor Snape announced the punishment in an emotionless voice.

"No more?" Esther couldn't believe it, it seemed a bit too relaxed, even though Professor Snape was in confinement himself, it was much better than expected.

"What punishment does Miss Collins wish for?"

"No, no more." Esther blamed himself for blurting out.

"If you don't have any more, go back to sleep." Professor Snape rushed the two students away impatiently.

After the start of the term, they became a hot topic in the school.The focus of the students' discussion is nothing more than two: one is Slytherin's combat effectiveness, two second-year students actually sent three third-year students to the school hospital without any injuries; the other is that Professor Snape is too partial, only Give two people a month of confinement.You must know that Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick gave 20 points to each of the students in their college, and they were punished by confinement until the end of the semester.

In fact, Esther's mood was very complicated. She complained that the other party had made trouble for them to be punished, and thanked them for not mentioning the Death Eaters again for protecting Orion.

As for Professor Snape, Esther still felt very guilty, after all, because of them, his reputation for favoritism was even greater.But it didn't take long, not more than 48 hours to be exact, when they started confinement and her guilt disappeared.

"When will you go back when you're done with it?" Professor Snape raised his chin at the two barrels of longhorned toads in the corner, and added, "You don't need to wear gloves."

By the time they finished disposing of the toad, they couldn't lift their arms anymore.The nasty toad smell radiated from my hands and couldn't be washed off.

"Tomorrow is Billywig, don't be late." Snape cocked his lips, satisfied with their expressions now.

"Are you two okay?" Leona asked Esther during the Potions class.She hadn't been able to get a chance to speak to Esther for a week.

"It's okay," Esther looked up at Professor Snape, who was patrolling the smoky classroom, mocking the Gryffindors' crude production methods from time to time. "It's acceptable. The materials we're dealing with are almost piled up to the storage room door, and we're used to it."

Leona gave Esther a sympathetic look, "I don't know who is worse, you or Dearborn. They are not allowed to use magic to clean the toilet. It is said that they have already started to clean the fourth floor."

Esther smiled, "It's even worse for them. We have already processed all the materials for next year, and we don't need to do such disgusting work anymore. We started replenishing potions for the lockers in each potion classroom yesterday. The raw materials are much better than before.”

Leona couldn't believe it and said, "You provide materials for the classroom? I've never heard of this kind of punishment. Isn't it all about internal organs?"

"That's because I can't rely on those Gryffindors who can't tell the difference between salamander blood and pomegranate juice to do the work of supplementing medicinal materials. After all, I have enough troubles in class to deal with." A cold voice came from Came from behind, "Classroom speech, five points deducted from Gryffindor. Miss Collins, add another week of confinement. I hope you focus on your potion instead of chatting, otherwise judging by the state of your potion now , you're probably going to get a P in this class."

Both Esther and Leona quickly lowered their heads, pretending to be serious about brewing the potion.

For Esther's confinement, Quidditch Captain Rivers collapsed.It seems that the last game is about to be played, but his Seeker has been unable to participate in training for a long time.Rivers personally pleaded with Professor Snape, and Professor Snape reluctantly agreed to postpone the confinement time and let Esther participate in Quidditch training first.

But Esther was not so happy in her heart, because it meant that her confinement time was almost over with Dearborn and the others.

Although the weather in May is still a bit cold, it is much milder than the ice and snow.Esther was caught by Rivers early in the morning, and his ears were filled with precautions.

"Hufflepuff's Seekers react very quickly, you have to think about the countermeasures. We have to pull the score to more than 120 points before you can catch the Snitch, otherwise we won't win the Quidditch Cup even if we win the game. This is They may target you in the field, move more, don't be disturbed..."

Esther was happy to be on the court because she finally didn't have to hear Rivers talking about her.Because of the better weather, she quickly determined the location of the Snitch, but this time she couldn't catch it. She had to wait for the Chaser to open the score.To be honest it was harder than asking her to find the Snitch, because she was trying to get the Hufflepuff Seeker's attention, but the Hufflepuff Seeker was unimpressed and focused on finding the Snitch.This makes Esther very tricky, and sometimes it's harder to fool a simple person than someone with more ideas.

Esther had to follow him, and she made trouble every time he wanted to find the target.Hufflepuff looked very angry, but still ignored her, looking for the snitch on his own.Esther could only pray silently, hoping that Merlin would stand on Slytherin's side today.

Finally, two hours into the game, Esther received a signal from Rivers and was ready to catch the snitch.She started to get active, and soon saw a golden flash on the edge of the stands this time, and she flew straight over, Hufflepuff thought she was deliberately misleading again, and ignored her movements at all, waiting for her to fly out of three broomsticks It wasn't until the distance came back that she realized that she had really found the target this time.Hufflepuff hurriedly drove the broom to catch up, but Esther had already flown enough to lead.He could only watch as Esther clutched the little golden ball with wings in his hand.Slytherin eventually won the game with a lead of 280 points and almost secured the Quidditch trophy.

In the evening, Esther did not participate in the celebration ceremony, but was called out by Professor Snape to continue the previous confinement work.Orion had come out of a month of confinement, and now she was alone.She sighed, tidying up from classroom to classroom.When tidying up the locker in the advanced class, she took out all the contents, various raw materials, copper balance, gloves, knife, crystal bottle, and two old senior potion books.

It's old enough, I don't know how long it's been here.Esther shook the dirt on the potions book.On the cover of the book it says "Advanced Potion Making".She opened one of the books, and in addition to the printed content, there were also a large amount of annotations densely written in the blank space.The thin, sharp notes made Esther feel a little familiar.She flipped through the pages one by one, carefully identifying the contents inside.The annotations are very rich and interesting.Some are to modify the formula of the potion, some are to modify the operation steps, and some are some small spells.

Esther suddenly remembered that when she was locked up in the first grade, Professor Snape commented on her copying, saying that her annotations had no insight, and she was still not convinced at the time.Now it seems that this senior fully meets Professor Snape's requirements, and these comments are enough to compile another book.Not knowing whose book it was, Esther was suddenly very curious.She flipped through the front cover and back cover, and finally saw a line of tight small print on the bottom of the back cover—this book belongs to the Half-Blood Prince.

Borrow this book and study it first, Esther thought to himself, putting the book in his bag.

The end of the Quidditch match means there is still a month to go into exams week.Professor Snape was so gracious and allowed her to review during the confinement time after finishing her work, she almost doubted whether the person in front of her was Professor Snape himself.

The most work is to register the grades of the papers, and sometimes he also works as an assistant to Professor Snape who brews potions.But I don't know if it's an illusion, the work arranged is getting easier and the remaining time is getting more and more abundant.But she thinks it is more likely because there are fewer things at the end of the term, and there is not so much work to do.

Thanks to her first-year experience, even Leona was not so nervous about her test scores this time.Both of them and Orion had good grades.History of Magic and Astronomy still held Esther back, but her usual grades in other subjects gave her extra points, and she finally got the first overall score once.Everyone was surprised that Esther could do so well in the exam while in confinement. Esther was secretly proud, so she would not tell others that she spent most of her confinement time studying by herself.

After coming back from summer vacation this time, Esther didn't go out anymore.Except for occasionally sitting with Harry and secretly giving him a birthday present on his birthday, he took the Half-Blood Prince's potion book and took notes every day for the rest of the day.She first copied the book completely, and felt that it was not enough, so she took out her mother's potion textbook and copied the modified formulas and steps again.Finally, I sorted out the little spell created by the prince again.By the time I had copied this book three times, the holiday had come to an end.

On the morning of the second day back to school, they received a suffocating schedule.The expression of every third-grade freshman is not happy, and the process of accepting growth always takes some time.The only good news is that her three electives are taken with Gryffindor, which means that she and Leona finally don't have to worry about halfway through the chat, Professor Snape suddenly appeared to Gryffindor Deduct points, or give Esther a confinement.

However, the third grade courses are obviously much more interesting than before.The first thing that surprised them was Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class.When talking about Animagus (a wizard who can turn into animals), Professor McGonagall suddenly turned into a tabby cat and jumped onto the podium, and then jumped down to become Professor McGonagall, which surprised everyone twice. Seconds later, there was enthusiastic applause.And Professor McGonagall smiled rarely.Esther was even sure that he saw Professor McGonagall's cheeks flush slightly.

Another surprise for them was Professor Babazi, the teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts.Professor Babazi, a wizard from Ouagadu (African school of wizards), was the first normal Defense Against the Dark Arts professor they had encountered in three years.He showed the students their characteristic wandless magic.Although fingers or hand gestures are required to cast spells, Esther is still very surprised that magic can be released by waving his hands.He also introduced their alchemy and self-transfiguration afterward.Unlike Animagus, although their self-transformation can only become specific types, it is easier and more random than Animagus.But this depends on their culture, and Esther feels that it is impossible for him to practice self-transformation.But for Animagus, Esther still wants to give it a try.

However, as a student who has just entered the third grade, Esther really doesn't have extra time to study wandless magic or Agmanis.She was tired of running between classrooms with her classmates every day, and at the same time, she had to beware of Filch's various faults.Especially last semester, Esther contradicted Filch in public, and he was kept in confinement without giving him a chance to get revenge.So this semester he pays special attention to Esther.

"Ms. Norris still follows you every day?" Before Leona entered the library, she saw the cat in the corner of the corridor. She was Filch's pet, and she had a good relationship with the owner. trouble.

"Well, let it follow, anyway, I don't have time to violate the school rules now." Esther said to Leona without raising her head, writing non-stop with the pen in her hand. "There is a lot of homework in the original class, and there is also a lot of homework in the new class. Rivers has notified me to start training next week. I have no chance for him to catch it."

"Don't be too optimistic, he can always find an excuse to punish you." Orion said.

Esther stopped writing and looked at her friends, thought for a while and said, "Well, that's right, maybe I should spare some time to learn the Oblivion Charm or the Confusion Charm first."

The unchanging busy days are finally broken as Halloween approaches.After Potions class on Tuesday afternoon, Professor Snape asked the Slytherins to stay.

"I think you probably know that you will be arranged to go to Hogsmeade the day after tomorrow. I hope to receive your signed permission form before tomorrow night. It will not wait until later." Professor Snape let them lazily finish left.

Esther took out the clean permission form only to realize that he had forgotten about it as cleanly as that form.Hogsmeade, near Hogwarts, is the only wizarding village in the UK.Only students from the third grade and above are allowed there, provided that a parent signs a permission form.But Esther spent the whole summer vacation copying the Half-Blood Prince's notes, and was so busy after returning to school that she didn't even remember that there was no Aunt Connie's signature on the parchment.

Esther had no choice but to carefully ask Professor Snape with the blank form, "Professor, can you come back and make up the permission form? I forgot to sign it. I'm afraid I won't be able to come back one day."

"Miss Collins, I think you should have heard me clearly and hand it in by tomorrow night. You can't go to Hogsmeade without a permission form, that's the rule. You can pray your owl flies faster." Professor Snape said.

Esther knew that Professor Snape would not be accommodating.She made a quick dash to the owl shack, strapping the permission form and a letter with simple instructions to the leg of the fastest-looking owl.The owl uttered a soft hoot, spread its wide wings and flew out of the window, soon out of sight.