"Of course," Twycross woke from his perplexed expression. "So—are there other students interested? I know in this particular situation, so parents might disregard the ban for safety reasons... the Ministry isn't planning to pursue it for now."
Harry felt a pang. He stared at Malfoy, who had bragged to him long ago about a professor privately agreeing to tutor him in spells, including the Patronus Charm.
But Malfoy didn't step forward. Until the end, guided by Mr. Diggory, he rely breezed through the Animagus transformation.
A week flew by.
The Ministry spent two days screening over a thousand Hogwarts students, leaving less than a hundred who hadn't t the requirents. According to Twycross, "It impresses
greatly, significantly reducing our workload."
"If you ca a few months later, even fewer students would miss out," Sirius, unsure if proud or complaining, remarked.
"Mrs. Bones is quite anxious," Twycross half-concealedly said.
Sirius pondered. He pulled Twycross aside, whispering, "I already know. I've been an assistant minister for almost two months; I have a good relationship with Alia, she told ... Hasn't the situation improved?"
"Ah, I stumbled upon it accidentally," Twycross replied. "Recently, Muggle victims have increased. Many cases were only discovered during private Ministry investigations. Their bodies have also been stolen... Mrs. Bones fears a significant move from the unknown individuals."
Sirius frowned.
When he approached Felix about it, Felix remained unusually calm.
"Voldemort is personally involved. He seems intent on creating a batch of Inferi."
"We should stop him!" Sirius urged.
"I wish, but—like I just said, 'Voldemort is personally involved.' He's not relying on any Death Eater's power. When he decides to do this, you won't catch him."
Sirius' face stiffened. He murmured, "We've got to do sothing."
"We've made so preparations. In fact, it might happen in these few days—" Felix turned to Angelina Johnson sitting on a bench in the courtyard. "Miss Johnson?"
Angelina strolled over. "Are you calling , Professor Hap?"
"Yeah, I wanted to remind you. Your hair color seems a bit different from before," Felix calmly said.
Angelina exclaid, pulling out a small mirror from her robe, examining herself carefully. "It is!" She frowned, and the bright pink strand in her ponytail reverted to black.
"Tonks?"
Sirius growled low.
"Hey, Sirius, long ti no see," 'Angelina' waved at him.
"And the other one—couldn't be Lemas, right?" Sirius gasped, incredulously looking at the other girl on the bench.
"Why would you think that?" Tonks rolled her eyes. "He's not here, guarding the fortress. That's Eline Vance. Kingsley and Mad-Eye are also there; they've withdrawn from the Departnt of Mysteries." ??????????Ε??
Sirius stared wide-eyed. "Since when?"
"Yesterday," Tonks cheerfully said.
For the next two days, Sirius struggled to identify any suspicious students in class, becoming sowhat paranoid. He constantly felt that one student might be Mad-Eye Moody, or Kingsley, or Mundungus.
After class, Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed to the Great Hall.
"Sirius has been on edge these days," Harry said.
"I've been aning to ask," Ron grinned, "do you two play Frisbee together when you're alone?"
Harry lightly nudged him.
"Hey, Nev, Dean, Seamus," Harry greeted, taking a seat nearby. Dean and Seamus seed to be urging Neville to do sothing. Dean eagerly said, "Teach
that daydream charm again; I've found it boosts my studying."
"Professor Hap said this magic shouldn't be overused," Neville whispered.
"Using it occasionally won't hurt," Seamus shook his head.
Harry knew this magic. During the Christmas break, Ginny got wind of so of the Auror training content from Tonks. Back at school, they attempted to replicate it based on the teachings used at the front-line observation stations. However, the results weren't ideal: the extensive training burdened the mbers, not everyone adapting well to the chanical repetition of spells.
Later, Neville stepped up, awkwardly introducing a magic he'd learned. Harry's first encounter with the "Daydream Charm" was quite impactful—a version of the cosmic starry magic he'd experienced on the golden invitation card. Of course, objectively, the effect was considerably diminished due to Harry's Occluncy constantly reminding him: everything he felt was fake. This significantly discounted Neville's magic for Harry.
But for the other mbers, this magic provided a ntal baptism. In comparison to the vastness of the starry sky, their petty worries seed inconsequential; those who underwent this magic would at least be uplifted for a while.
"Sort of like what Cedric conjured up for protection, but clearly different paths. I prefer this one," Fred remarked.
...
Coming back to reality from the mories of the last club activity, Harry keenly sensed soone watching them. He followed the feeling and saw two students sitting at the opposite table, a boy and a girl who seed like a couple. When Harry glanced at them, they knowingly smiled at him.
In the evening, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione exited the library, it was already late, almost the last ones out. The three walked through the deserted corridors, Ron creatively cursing Snape and the howork he'd assigned.
"This is sothing," Harry thought. Ron seed to have found a real use for Divination class—they could gather a continuous stream of unlucky inspirations from the class and direct them toward Snape. Suddenly, a ghostly image of a girl flashed before them.
"Myrtle?" Harry exclaid, surprised; he hadn't seen her in a while.
"Oh, it's you," Myrtle also seed taken aback. She turned as if to float away, then halted mid-air, frozen like a statue. Slowly turning around, a pair of bulging eyes stared at them from behind thick, round white spectacles. Harry felt uneasy; it was an assessing, weighing gaze, reminiscent of Malfoy.
"You'll do," she continued.
"What are you talking about?" Ron grumbled. "We've been rushing through howork all day, we're exhausted, and now we just want to go back to bed."
"You're friends with Draco, aren't you?" Myrtle asked.
"Who?" Ron perked up instantly.
"Draco, Draco Malfoy," Myrtle said. "He's in a bit of trouble, and I don't know who else to ask for help, certainly not the professors; that would make things worse..." She rambled, floating back and forth in mid-air.
"He hasn't been stuffed into a toilet, has he?" Ron excitedly said. "Accidentally blocked your ho's plumbing too?"
"Rude!" Myrtle shouted from mid-air, then descended slowly, covering her face in embarrassnt. "But he's actually in my bathroom."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged looks.
Myrtle daydread for a while before rembering her purpose. She hurriedly urged, "Will you help or not? It's getting late!"
"Who's been procrastinating... I don't want to get caught in the girls' bathroom," Ron muttered under his breath.
"You've been there quite a few tis," Hermione pointed out.
They had indeed been there more than once; in their second year, they spent a considerable amount of ti brewing a complex potion inside, until Malfoy found out, after which they relocated elsewhere.
"Perhaps, but for Malfoy's sake..." Ron hesitated, looking at Harry, awaiting his decision.
"Let's go take a look," Harry finally said.
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