The Return to Hogwarts

Amosta exclaimed, "Being a prefect must be so convenient. If I had been a prefect back then, I wouldn't have had to... Okay, I forgot I don't have a girlfriend."

Amosta joked, then answered Professor Snape's question.

"Maybe he knows, maybe he doesn't, I'm not quite sure, Professor Snape. When I came back this time, the headmaster's reaction was not quite what I expected. I thought he would keep a close eye on me, but in the end he barely paid any attention to me. Do you know why?"

Chapter 28 Opening Dinner

As night fell, the young wizards and professors gradually gathered in the Great Hall from all directions.

The ceiling of the hall reflected the dazzling starry sky outside, and the four long tables beneath it were crowded with people. The young wizards were excitedly sharing the wonderful time of the Christmas holiday, seemingly having completely forgotten the anxiety they had felt before the attack.

This situation made Harry secretly relieved. His biggest fear was being the center of attention and being pointed at by everyone.

In the professors' seats, most of the professors were already seated, and Dumbledore was already in his usual spot. Professor Lockhart was incessantly telling Professor McGonagall how many letters he had received from fans during the Christmas holidays. Professor McGonagall, annoyed by his incessant chatter, glared at Headmaster Dumbledore, but Dumbledore pretended not to see it.

This amusing scene made Harry purse his lips, but when he saw the empty seat next to Professor Snape, Harry's expression changed. He guessed at a possibility, but he didn't want to believe it.

Ron was talking to his twin brother, "You guys came back early this morning, why haven't I seen you all day?"

"Oh, dear little Ronnie, you've learned to gossip?" Fred, one of the twins, looked up at Ron and raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of which, why didn't Miss Know-It-All come to the dinner party?"

Harry quickly kicked Ron under the table, afraid he might say something wrong.

“This has nothing to do with you, Fred!” Ron said unhappily.

"And Ronnie has also learned to keep secrets!" George added, picking up where his brother left off, before the two of them stopped paying attention to Ron.

Harry noticed the uneasy gaze and glanced at Neville out of the corner of his eye. He immediately realized what Neville was concerned about, but he couldn't tell Neville that Hermione was still in the hospital treating the beautiful black hair on her face. So Harry quickly lowered his head and pretended to be interested in the silver spoon in the plate.

"I don't know, Draco, I wasn't even enrolled back then!"

At the Slytherin dinner table, Malfoy, bypassing Goyle and Daphne, was asking Marcus Flint, who bore a striking resemblance to a troll, something, but Marcus seemed quite impatient.

"I did hear about it later, and it was supposedly related to him, but Dumbledore kept the details very secret. The Gryffindor team wouldn't reveal a single word... As far as I can tell, they didn't know anything either, because they were all carried back by the professors that night!"

During the Christmas holidays, Flint participated in the Luxembourg Quidditch team tryouts, but the result was disappointing. Given his academic performance, this meant that after graduation he would have to accept his family's arrangement and become an unwanted clerk in an unpopular department of the Ministry of Magic.

The scattered young wizards quickly gathered at the four long tables, making the hall noisy as if hundreds of Cornish elves had been crammed inside. Many young wizards were already craning their necks and staring longingly at the professors' table, seemingly questioning why the meal hadn't started yet.

"Ah, here we come."

Snape heard Dumbledore mutter something under his breath, looked up, and saw Amosta striding into the hallway and quickly approaching the faculty desk.

"I'm sorry, everyone, I was so busy that I forgot about the dinner," Amosta apologized softly.

The professors smiled at him. Professor McGonagall had previously informed all the professors that there would be an extra security guard at the castle for the second semester. Moreover, Amosta had visited them one after another in the past two days, except for Lockhart, because he was the last professor to return to the school.

“Sit down, Amosta,” Professor Flitwick shouted in a shrill voice, “the young wizards are starving!”

"Do you need to say a few words, Amosta?"

Dumbledore stroked his silver beard and smiled at Amostella.

“No, Principal, I’m not a professor,” Amosta politely declined the suggestion.

Almost instantly, several long tables were filled with sumptuous food, and the noisy auditorium was filled with a joyful atmosphere. The clinking of cutlery against each other sounded like a light and cheerful melody.

Of course, this harmony was only superficial; Amosta could feel at least a hundred pairs of eyes on him.

Five minutes after dinner started, almost all the young wizards knew the name of the handsome young wizard next to Professor Snape. The information came from the older students who were in the fifth year or above, and they had all spent time at school with Amosta.

However, there are many conflicting accounts regarding Amosta's famous school days.

Some say that Amosta, on the night before Christmas in fifth grade, ran into the Forbidden Forest and started a fire, which trapped him. If it weren't for the Gryffindor team practicing their moves in the Forbidden Forest at the time, he probably would have died there.

Some people say that the fire was actually started by the Gryffindor team, and that Amosta was the one who rescued them.

Both sides have their supporters, and neither side can convince the other.

Malfoy was too engrossed in eating the lamb chops on his plate to participate in the discussion, because his father had given him a stern warning in a letter that day: never to offend Amosta Blaine.

Lucius Malfoy knew exactly who had brought Amostella into Hogwarts. Malfoy couldn't have been unaware of the name Karcus Foley. With just a little imagination, he could guess where Karcus had found Amostella. There weren't many wizards from that place whose hands weren't stained with blood.

Even without his father's warning, Draco Malfoy wouldn't dare mess with Amosta.

Because of what happened in the dormitory that noon, Malfoy has been having nightmares for half a month. Every time he closes his eyes, the image of the eight-eyed spider that was neatly cut in half, with its intestines and internal organs scattered all over the ground, will clearly appear in his mind.

"Please, Harry, can I tell anyone about these things?"

“Of course, Ron. If you want me to be resented or even retaliated against by him for revealing his secrets, then if I'm imprisoned in Azkaban, you and Hermione should remember to come visit me often!”

During the Christmas holidays, Harry, Ron, and Hermione agreed not to tell anyone that they had heard about Amostrath Blaine's past from Hagrid.

Because regardless of whether Mr. Blaine was sent by the Ministry of Magic or the Board of Trustees, his purpose in entering Hogwarts was to find the successor to Slytherin, and Harry, as the most suspicious person in everyone's eyes, wanted to avoid doing anything that might displease Mr. Blaine.

But for Ron, it was indeed a agonizing experience, since there weren't many opportunities for him to shine.

Ten minutes later, the focus of the young wizards' private discussions gradually shifted from 'who he is' to 'what he's here for'.

"Perhaps, the Defense Against the Dark Arts course will finally require two professors a year?"

Milison Burst, the kind-hearted girl who had once fought Hermione in Lockhart's dueling class without a staff, laughed meanly, shaking her thick chin.

Milison's joke did indeed cause a burst of laughter at the Slytherin table. Of course, their focus of ridicule was Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, as most of the Slytherin students had seen through Lockhart's true nature as nothing more than a storyteller.

Malfoy shrugged, glancing quickly at Amos Tower, who was talking to Dumbledore at the faculty table, before lowering his head and pretending not to know the person laughing beside him.

“You’re acting a little strange tonight, Draco?” Pansy, sitting on his other side, leaned over to observe the unusually quiet Malfoy and asked with concern.

“Shut your mouth, Pansy!” Malfoy said urgently, without even looking at her. “Unless you also want to be neatly cut in half by someone!”

"It seems you're quite popular with the children, Amosta."

Dumbledore shook his silvery-white beard, which was stained with thick mushroom soup, and turned to look at Amostella, who was dealing with a roasted sausage, with a smile on his face.

"They are simply curious about a stranger who has suddenly appeared, Headmaster Dumbledore."

Amosta nodded politely in response. He tried to avoid saying too much in front of Dumbledore, for the saying "loose lips sink ships" was certainly true.

Dumbledore didn't seem to notice his deliberate awkwardness and continued to talk to him warmly.

“Severus told me that you haven’t had a night’s rest, and I want to thank you, Amosta, for your efforts in ensuring the safety of the children.”

Amosta smiled modestly, but Dumbledore was determined to continue.

"--Although I'm quite old, Amosta, fortunately, I'm not a conservative old man. You're right; ensuring the children's safety is the most important thing--"

Professor McGonagall, sitting to Dumbledore's left and listening intently, pursed her lips, looking rather displeased.

“I think it’s a brilliant idea, Amosta. I mean, the set of alchemical artifacts you set up in your office, even though there are voices saying it invades the privacy of the young wizards.”

Dumbledore finally made his stance on Amostella's surveillance of young wizards more subtle.

“Thank you for your understanding, Headmaster Dumbledore. If you wish, I can move that surveillance system to your office after the Chamber of Secrets attack is resolved—”

Amosta nodded gratefully.

It's guaranteed to be much more effective than using portrait surveillance to monitor schools—this is what Amosta didn't say aloud.

They exchanged a few more pleasantries, and Dumbledore expressed his hope that Amosta could visit more often when he had time, and chat with the young wizards.

“The children are eager to get to know you, Amosta.”

Dumbledore ended the conversation with a trivial request.

"traitor."

As he looked away, Amosta muttered something under his breath.

Snape, who had been expressionless the whole time, sandwiched between Amostella and Dumbledore, darkened his face, clearly knowing who Amostella's words were meant for.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the faculty and staff table, Lockhart, who hadn't been able to hear the conversation but was eager to join in, glanced discreetly at Amostella, who had picked up her silver fork again, and suddenly sensed a strange sense of crisis.

Chapter 29 Inexplicable

The opening banquet ended with an embarrassing lame joke from Dumbledore, and the young wizards dispersed in twos and threes. In the end, they still couldn't figure out Amostella's purpose in returning to school. It was foreseeable that a massive detective campaign would take place at the school during the first week of school.

Amos Tower had already left before the young wizards. He hadn't forgotten that he hadn't returned to Hogwarts for a vacation. His mission would officially begin the moment all the young wizards gathered in the Great Hall.

For the next period of time, until he finds that secret room, he will probably have to live a life with his days and nights reversed, sleeping during the day and working at night. It will be a very hard period.

In the monitoring room, Amosta sat in a chair, staring intently at the screen that was gradually filling up with people. His focus was on the young wizards who were keeping to themselves, observing whether their behavior was contrary to common sense. Of course, Professor Lockhart was also one of his subjects of attention.

The secret chamber didn't appear earlier or later, but it was opened precisely when Lockhart became the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, which left him no choice but to be suspicious.

After dinner, most of the young wizards from each house returned to their respective common rooms under the guidance of their prefects. However, about a dozen young wizards sneaked out when no one was looking.

More than half of them are Gryffindor students.

Harry and Ron went to the school hospital, while the Weasleys, taking advantage of Filch's absence during his patrol, slipped into the passageway leading to the Hufflepuff common room located underground. They stopped in front of a fruit painting hanging on the stone wall, fiddled with it for a while, and then rushed inside.

Amos also saw Penelope Crivart enter the Ravenclaw common room, but then return shortly after. Around the same time, Percy Weasley also left the Gryffindor common room. It was foreseeable that another passionate kiss would take place somewhere in the castle.

Apart from Professors McGonagall and Lockhart, who returned to their offices to work overtime after the dinner, the other professors mostly stayed in the faculty quarters. Before entering his office, Principal Dumbledore turned around and playfully winked his azure eyes at the ceiling of the corridor thirty feet away, as if to greet someone.

Amosta pursed his lips and looked away from the screen.

Nothing unusual happened, everything was normal, and this result was not beyond Amosta's expectations. Unless you are extremely lucky, don't expect to make any progress in ten days or half a month.

Inside the exquisitely carved fireplace, the flames roared. Amusta, holding a cup of bitter hot tea, leaned back in his chair, his gaze occasionally sweeping across the entire wall, his expression calm.