The Return to Hogwarts

Harry and Draco stood together again, albeit reluctantly. Harry's selfless act had indeed quieted Draco down for a few days, but that feeling of gratitude didn't last long. Once he came to his senses, Draco seemed to think that Harry's behavior was a form of contempt for him, which made him even more relentless in mocking Harry lately!

“This time things are different, Potter!”

As Draco stepped through the door, he spoke menacingly to Harry, pulling a silver dagger from his pocket. It appeared to be the kind of dagger he used in Potions class to process potion ingredients.

"If you beg me, perhaps I will take pity on you and save your life!"

Harry had heard that Draco had privately sought Professor Blaine's advice on the 'Object Manipulation Charm,' and judging from the situation, he did seem to have some understanding of this powerful spell.

"Are you sure you gave us a hint, Professor Blaine?"

Begging Draco to protect him?

This was more painful for Harry than being killed. He looked pitifully at Professor Blaine, hoping to gain some confidence from him, but unfortunately, Professor Blaine remained calm and smiling, with no intention of saying another word.

Harry's brow twitched. Professor Blaine seemed to be smiling like this when he first entered the maze. He had warned him that the maze was dark and he should be careful not to fall. Wait, very dark?

Harry suddenly opened his eyes wide, as if he had thought of something!

Chapter 75 Thief

Just five minutes later, Harry burst out of the classroom, cheering, while Malfoy followed behind him with a gloomy expression, dawdling along as well.

"I did it, Professor, I did it!"

As soon as Harry stepped out of the classroom, he rushed to Professor Blaine, who had seemed to have anticipated this, and shouted excitedly, "I understand your hint, Professor! It was indeed very simple. I took them down with just a little spell!"

"How did you do that, Harry!"

Hermione was the first to recover from her stunned state. She rushed to Harry, her fingers trembling with excitement.

"Fantastic, Potter!"

Amosta smiled with satisfaction. "The method is secondary; the most important thing is that you overcame your inner fear, which is remarkable. Undoubtedly the winner, Potter. I'll add fifty points to Gryffindor's score. Also," Amosta smiled, glancing at the somewhat neglected Draco,

"Whether or not the final kill was achieved is not so important. Facing a dangerous dark creature, you did not choose to run away, but instead mustered the courage to draw your sword and confront it. That is equally remarkable. Malfoy, you have also earned thirty points for Slytherin!"

Regardless, Harry and Draco accomplished what most people couldn't. The young wizards cheered them on with admiration. Ron happily shouted and threw Harry's backpack into the air, causing the textbooks inside to scatter all over the floor. Harry grinned broadly, showing no sign of resentment.

Draco, surrounded by the young Slytherin wizards, no longer looked so grim. He glanced furtively at Professor Blaine, and when he saw that the other was also smiling at him, Draco shyly pursed his lips and lowered his proud head.

No one noticed that Ginny's face suddenly turned pale and her body stiffened instantly after she saw the notebook fly out of Harry's backpack!

In the end, apart from Harry's group, no one else came up with a trick to defeat the Infernal. However, compared to their first encounter with the Infernal, the young wizards seemed to be in pretty good spirits, unlike when they all nearly fainted after leaving the maze the first time.

Professor Blaine used magic to repair Neville's robes, stood in front of the oak door of the classroom, and added ten points to each of the young wizards from each house who had persevered to the end. At this moment, the magical contract had completely lost its effect, and he could finally educate the young wizards on how to deal with the Infernal.

"--This is a very evil creation of dark magic that challenges people's moral bottom line. When thousands upon thousands of undead gather into a massive army of the dead, it can indeed cause us considerable trouble. However, when the number is limited, it is very easy to deal with."

Amosta glanced at Harry, who already knew the answer, and asked with a smile.

"How many people noticed my reminder before Mr. Potter first entered the classroom?"

"Most creatures of darkness dislike light—"

Hermione stammered, then slapped her forehead in frustration, suddenly realizing what was happening.

"It's fire, isn't it, Professor? Like devil's grass, inizos love darkness and dampness. We only need one fire spell to deal with them!"

Because of the 100 points Harry and his friends earned, the gap between Gryffindor and Slytherin's scores was not as large as before, making it possible for Gryffindor to win the House Cup again this year. At dinner, when Professor McGonagall came over to ask the second-year wizards about their course selections, she made a point of going up to Harry and giving him an encouraging smile.

Even older wizards know what an Infernal is, so for a second-year wizard to defeat an Infernal through his wisdom and courage is indeed a remarkable achievement.

That evening, a grand celebration was held in the Gryffindor common room. Fred and George brought a huge amount of butterbeer from Hogsmeade, and Harry, who enjoyed the mild alcoholic beverage, unknowingly became quite tipsy amidst the admiring crowd.

Even though Professor Blaine's hints were obvious enough, Hermione still hadn't realized that Inferi feared fire. She was still bothered by this, and while the crowd was celebrating, she took revenge by bringing several thick books about Inferi from the library and sitting on the sofa near the fireplace, reading them sullenly.

"Congratulations, Harry, you've accomplished another remarkable feat!"

Towards the end of the banquet, Wood squeezed through the crowd to Harry, raising a toast in farewell. But before Harry could even offer a shy smile, he quickly added...

"I suppose you haven't forgotten that this Saturday is our match against Hufflepuff, have you, Harry?"

"Hiccup—of course I haven't forgotten,"

Harry let out a loud hiccup; if Ron hadn't been supporting him, he probably wouldn't have been able to stand on his own. "I promise you I'll give it my all, Wood!"

“You only need to promise me one thing, Harry,”

Harry's nonchalance annoyed Wood, who said with a stern face, "That's about winning the game and sending those Hufflepuff idiots back home!"

"Oh my God!"

Fred and George were about to say something in Harry's defense when Percy, who had just finished his night patrol, squeezed through the hole behind the portrait of the Fat Lady. When he saw the chaos in the common room, he first looked incredulous, then roared furiously at everyone.

"Isn't it a bit too early to celebrate Easter, folks? If you haven't been messing up the days, you should know that tomorrow is Tuesday, a day for school!"

"Don't be such a spoilsport, Percy!"

In response to Percy's rant, George waved his empty bottle unhappily, "Harry and the others almost won a hundred points for Gryffindor today, we're just celebrating winning the House Cup early!"

"Clean this place up, then everyone go back to sleep, now!"

Percy acted as if he hadn't heard George's explanation, glaring menacingly at everyone who made eye contact with him.

"Even if Gryffindor wins the House Cup for the next ten years, that's no excuse for you to break the rules!"

The next few days weren't too good for Harry. First of all, Professor Snape was definitely not happy to see Harry stand out in the school. In Tuesday afternoon's Potions class, he was even more ruthless than usual in deducting points from Gryffindor. Almost half of the points that Harry, Hermione, Neville, and the others transferred in the Defense Against the Dark Arts practical class were deducted by Professor Snape.

He mocked Harry in class for brewing a swelling potion that could kill a dragon, and to teach Harry a lesson, he demanded that Harry's homework be half as long as those of Slytherin students.

In addition, Oliver Wood has officially entered the pre-match warm-up phase. Every afternoon after school, even before dinner time, he would drag everyone on the team to the court to practice until the moon was almost high in the sky before letting them go back.

Fred and George privately told Harry that if Wood continued training like this, they could not only compete in the Quidditch Cup at Hogwarts, but also in the World Cup if they persisted for another two months.

However, this also proves that the Gryffindor team is very confident in winning the championship this year.

During this time, something unsettling also happened.

On Wednesday evening, Harry had just returned from practice and walked into the dormitory building when he saw Neville rushing out of his room in a panic.

"Harry—I don't know who did it, I just found out—"

Neville looked at Harry in horror and pushed open the door.

Harry's trunk was filled with his belongings, his clothes were crumpled and lying on the floor, the sheets had been pulled off his four-poster bed, and the drawers of his bedside table had been opened, their contents scattered on the mattress.

Harry stared in astonishment, his mouth agape as he stepped on several pages that had fallen from "Walking with Trolls."

As he and Neville remade the sheets on the bed, Ron, Seamus, and Dean walked in. Upon seeing this, Dean immediately started yelling.

"What's going on, Harry?"

"have no idea--"

Harry frowned and shrugged. Ron was examining Harry's clothes closely and noticed that all the pockets were turned inside out and his backpack was upside down.

“It looks like someone’s looking for something!” Ron said gravely. “I don’t believe it’s Galleons. Harry, check if anything’s missing!”

It didn't take Harry long to discover that Riddle's diary was missing. When they told Hermione the next day, Hermione's expression was almost as good as Neville's the night before.

"But—only Gryffindors could steal it, I mean, others don't know the password."

"It's also possible that Malfoy finally figured out how to make Polyjuice Potion from Snape. Has anyone lost hair lately?"

Ron said, puffing out his cheeks.

Compared to Malfoy--

Harry said worriedly, "I think this is more like Dobkin's doing."

Chapter 76 Sudden Attack

On Friday evening, only Amosta and Professor Flitwick were in the large faculty lounge. They stood in the middle of the lounge, pointing at a chair.

“I certainly don’t know this kind of spell as well as Minerva, Amosta. If you want to make things more realistic, I think you’d better ask Minerva for advice!”

Professor Flitwick spoke in a high-pitched voice, looking quite troubled.

“As you know, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall has never really approved of me using these things to scare students, and I don’t think she’s likely to be of much help in this regard—”

Amostra scratched his head in frustration. After a moment's thought, he waved his wand and subtly adjusted the rhythm of his magic input. He added two new magic transmission corridors to the original structure. The chair between the two gradually changed shape. The seat of the chair curved upwards, and two of its four legs turned into hands and two into legs. Before long, a tall man with powerful muscles and a gloomy and terrifying face appeared in the faculty lounge.

Professor Flitwick refrained from commenting on the man Amostella had conjured up, and instead patiently continued to observe.

Amosta continued to manipulate the wand, and with the infusion of magic, the man's appearance began to undergo a dramatic transformation. His once upright back began to hunch, and thick, black hair, resembling wild boar bristles, sprouted from his smooth skin as if an excessive amount of hair-growth agent had been applied. His square face gradually transformed into a cone shape, his once white and even teeth became uneven, his canines became sharper, his eyes became more sinister, and his entire body exuded a bloodthirsty aura.

“Very good, Amosta, at least if I hadn’t known beforehand. Oh, one detail: the werewolf’s pupils also contract after transforming—”

"Oh, thank you!"

Amosta wiggled the tip of his staff, adjusting this subtle detail as he controlled the 'werewolf' to move around the faculty dormitory, mimicking its defensive stance when threatened and its aggressive hunting movements.

"How did you deal with that werewolf who only wanted to attack you, Amosta?"

Professor Flitwick nimbly climbed onto a table, watching with great interest as Amosta adjusted the 'werewolf's' movements.

"I don't think you were carrying a silver dagger with you at the time, were you?"

"You guessed it, Professor Flitwick?"