Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 651 Phantom Shift Registration
As the doorway opened, Neville was just about to come out.

Clearly, Neville seemed to have arrived at Hogwarts before them.

"Oh, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny!" Neville exclaimed excitedly upon seeing them. "Come on in! We got some nice stuff in our dorm for Christmas, I think it's called—"

But just then, before Neville could finish explaining what the good stuff was, with a "whoosh," Lavender Brown suddenly appeared out of nowhere and threw herself into Ron's arms like a lioness.

Several bystanders were cutting it.

Hermione laughed too.

"We've added a TV to every dorm room!" Neville exclaimed excitedly. "There's a TV in every dorm room and in the common area now!"

"A television!?" Even Hermione exclaimed in surprise, "There's a television in Hogwarts?"

“Yes,” Neville said. “I heard that during Christmas, Tyella and Mr. Xenophilius Lovegood, the editor of The Quibbler, who is also Luna’s father, co-founded the British Magical Union Television, or CMTV for short.”

"What kind of shows are there?" Hermione asked with interest.

“There’s not much on the air,” Neville said. “Besides the usual introductions and explanations of strange creatures and phenomena from The Quibbler, there’s only The Quibbler’s The History Unveiled, The Quibbler’s The Story of Voldemort, The Quibbler’s Childhood, and The Quibbler’s The Truth of History: The Dark Decade.”

“That’s quite educational,” Harry said with mixed feelings.

“But Tierra also brought in a lot of Muggle TV channels,” Neville added. “Like Bugs Bunny, Sylvester and Tweety Bird, Blackheart and Pip Bird, and Daffy Duck.”

"These?" Harry's interest was immediately piqued. "Really?"

“Yeah, and there were some operas that looked like they were performed by Muggles but were shown on TV,” Neville added. “And some Muggle news, it was really amazing!”

"That's amazing!" Hermione seemed interested too, and then tugged at Ginny's sleeve and asked, "Ginny, want to come along? I remember there's a really good TV show called Friends that's been airing lately. Last summer, they kept replaying it on TV."

“Oh, no, thank you, I have to go see Dean,” Ginny said, sounding rather unenthusiastic.

“Let’s go then, Harry,” Hermione said, not inviting Ron along, for the obvious reason—

Lavender hugged Ron and kissed him passionately again, looking just like a zombie who hadn't eaten for three days and three nights gnawing on a brain.

They spent the rest of the evening in front of the television, and even Hermione, who had been worried about Dreamland and Cardas during Christmas, briefly immersed herself in the exciting television programs.

The new school year began on the second morning, bringing them a delightful surprise—

A huge notice was posted on the bulletin board in the common room.

"A Course in Apparition"

If you are 17 years of age or older, or will turn 17 by August 31st of this year, you are eligible to attend a 12-week Apparition course taught by Apparition instructors from the Ministry of Magic. Please sign your name below if you wish to attend. Fee: 8 Galleons.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione immediately joined the scramble for autographs as soon as they saw the notice board. Just as Ron took out his quill to sign, Lavender suddenly covered his eyes from behind with her hand and said in a trembling voice, "Guess who I am? Wow—wow!"

Harry and Hermione moved away in perfect unison to avoid seeing Lavender Brown and Ron kissing again, a kiss that even Ron found unpleasant.

However, Ron soon trotted over and, under the pretext of discussing Quidditch-related matters for the new school term with Harry, temporarily escaped Lavender Brown's insane desire to kiss him.

"So—Apparition. Hmm. That should be a lot of fun?" Hermione asked. Although she had passed through the portal created by Tierra, she had never Apparated before.

“I don’t know,” Harry said, “but it should feel the same as walking through Tierra’s portal, right?”

“I hope I can pass the exam on my first try. You know, Fred and George passed it on their first try, and if they did it, I can too,” Ron said expectantly.

“But Charlie didn’t succeed, did he?” Harry asked again.

“Yeah, but Charlie’s bigger than me—” Ron raised his arms from his sides, looking like a gorilla, “so Fred and George didn’t say much—at least not in front of him…”

When can we take the exam?

"As long as I turn seventeen, it's fine. I just need to wait until March!"

“But you can’t Apparate here, I mean inside the castle…” Hermione said.

“That’s not the point, is it? Everyone knows they can Apparate whenever they want,” Ron said.

Ron wasn't the only one hopeful about Apparition's future. Everyone spent the whole day discussing the upcoming lessons.

“That’s so cool, soon we can—” Seamus said slyly, as if he was looking forward to suddenly disappearing and then suddenly reappearing in another place. “You know, my cousin likes to use this trick to make me angry. You wait, I’ll get back at him… From the moment I learned it, he will never have a peaceful moment again…”

Lost in his dreams of a bright future, he waved his wand with slightly excessive enthusiasm, causing it not to spew forth red wine as required by today's Charms class, but instead to produce a stocking-like spray that bounced back from the ceiling and swooped straight down toward Professor Frivius, hitting him squarely in the face.

"Oh! Simofnigan!" Professor Flitwick shouted angrily, "Concentrate on practicing your spells!"

“Yes, yes, Professor!” Simon Finigan quickly apologized, though he didn’t seem to care much.

Unlike Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick is known for his good temper and wouldn't hold a grudge over such a trivial matter.

And
Compared to the time he blew up an entire desk, this time he only sprayed out a stocking, which was a very restrained mistake.

(End of this chapter)