Hogwarts: I graduated before the system came

As Douglas just walked out of Hufflepuff's exclusive wooden barrel door, the students who had been prepared for it burst into warm applause.

The entire lounge has been arranged as a banquet venue, with the long tables on both sides filled with various things.

The plants on the surrounding wall partitions also twisted their bodies wildly.

Dang Wangcai curiously poked his head out of Douglas's pocket and stared at the fat monk, the Hufflepuff's resident ghost, who was illuminated by candlelight in mid-air.

When everyone saw the Nifflers, they were very shocked. According to the professor of Care of Magical Creatures, Nifflers are rarely seen except in Hogwarts. The Nifflers outside are basically monopolized by goblins, who specialize in raising Nifflers to dig treasures deep underground.

And this animal is also on the Hogwarts pet list. The most important thing is that if you are not careful, it may tear the house apart...

I heard Professor Sprout ask the students to take good care of the silverware.

Douglas smiled awkwardly and didn't dare let Wangcai out of his pocket.

Professor Sprout prepared a glass of red wine for each of the seventh-year students who had become adults, while the rest of the students drank beverages.

She gave Douglas the opportunity to start the banquet and speak.

Douglas glanced at the seventh graders standing in front of him. There were only a few of his students here. The others were either not good enough in Defense Against the Dark Arts or their future employment plans did not require Defense Against the Dark Arts.

He paused and said:

"I'm so happy to be back at Hogwarts, and to be back with the Hufflepuff family where I lived for seven years.

The past is like a song. The passage of time will dilute many memories, but some things will never be forgotten...

Over the past seven years, you have left behind a trail of footprints, deep and shallow, bearing witness to your journey to becoming an outstanding Hufflepuff...

Please remember the Hufflepuff motto: integrity, loyalty, honesty, and fearlessness of hardship.

No matter where we are in the future, please don’t forget that we are Hufflepuffs…”

Throughout this process, Professor Sprout kept smiling...

As Douglas finished his speech, the entire lounge erupted in thunderous applause and cheers, mixed with some muffled sounds from people with full mouths.

Amidst laughter and joy, the atmosphere in the lounge became increasingly lively. Many students volunteered to stand in the middle of the lounge and perform their own magic tricks.

Douglas stood with the seventh-year students, eating delicious food while telling them what he knew about the Hufflepuff predecessors and where they went after graduation.

And the Niffler in his pocket had escaped at some point and was jumping all over the students...

Professor Douglas and Professor Sprout came out before the dinner was over. After all, they were professors, and the students couldn't have fun with them around.

Walking in the underground corridors of Hogwarts Castle, Professor Sprout asked:

"Douglas, what are your plans next?"

Douglas smiled and said:

"Of course, I'll use the summer vacation to prepare lessons, or go out and explore, and then return to work when school starts... Dean, I understand what you mean. Don't worry, if anything goes wrong, I'll make a decisive decision..."

Seeing that Douglas was so persistent, Professor Sprout did not try to persuade him any further.

After returning to the office, before Douglas sat down, Wangcai in his pocket came out directly from Douglas's pocket.

Then he covered the pocket on his stomach and walked stealthily towards the treasure bowl.

When it noticed Douglas's gaze, it immediately sped up...

Douglas snapped his fingers, and Wangcai floated in the air. Then a bunch of things fell out of his magic pocket.

Douglas took a look and saw that in addition to the original items, there were also some shiny ornaments, various silver tableware, and the Quidditch trophy (Hufflepuff won the Quidditch tournament this school year).

Douglas looked at Wangcai, who was floating in the air and desperately covering his eyes, and said with a wicked smile:

"We agreed before that if I find you taking other people's things again, I can randomly choose ten things from your original belongings..."

Wangcai shook his head frantically, blinking his eyes in grievance...

Chapter 143 There are so many harassing horseflies!

The year-end dinner the next day.

When everyone came in, everyone in the auditorium was talking loudly.

Ever since Douglas's suggestion about the basilisk was known to several teachers, Professor Snape always had a cold face when he saw Douglas. Of course, he had never smiled seriously before, but this time Douglas clearly felt that Professor Snape was really unhappy.

However, Douglas was certain that Dumbledore had never told Snape his guess about how Harry became a Parseltongue, otherwise Snape would never have been able to laugh at him so calmly at this moment.

This was something he had never been able to figure out. He even wondered at one point if it was because he was too good at occlumency.

That's why Dumbledore took a fancy to him and planned to develop him into the second Snape, or to divide Snape's responsibilities into two parts, and he would take on the responsibility of guiding Harry to the end.

There are some magical theories from another world in the system about how to deal with possessed souls, but on the one hand, Harry is his student, and Douglas cannot conduct soul experiments on his students.

On the other hand, Harry is just one of his students. Magic involving the soul is dangerous magic no matter which world it is. Since the original book has given a good solution, it is not worth it for him to take the risk himself.

Snape, who was mocking Douglas's generosity, found that after he had been talking for a long time, the other party was distracted, and he immediately became furious.

Fortunately, Dumbledore arrived at the auditorium at this time. Snape snorted coldly, turned his head away and stopped looking at Douglas. The other professors also breathed a sigh of relief.

It was difficult for them to persuade Snape to be magnanimous in this matter.

After all, it was during Snape's tenure as Head of House that the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets was discovered, which should have been a cause for celebration. However, a Hufflepuff suggested that the basilisk left by Salazar Slytherin be destroyed directly.

No dean would be happy about this. The most important thing is that the principal and the Ministry of Magic have reached a consensus. He only then knew that the method to open the Chamber of Secrets had been cracked by people from other colleges.

No one knew that after Snape knew that it was Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, he looked up a lot of information but found nothing in the end. He even suspected Parseltongue.

But as far as he knew, the last Parseltongue in the British wizarding world was still imprisoned in Azkaban, and was said to be a madman. So there was no way he could go and make a deal with him. He also had no idea where Dumbledore had found the Parseltongue recording...

With Dumbledore's arrival, the noise in the hall gradually subsided.

Dumbledore said cheerfully:

"Another year has passed. Before you enjoy these delicious dishes, I have to trouble you to listen to the old man's clichés...

What a wonderful year this has been, especially since Professor Holmes arrived. He has not only diligently fulfilled his Defence Against the Dark Arts duties, but has also provided valuable advice to the school, such as the magic study room, the end-of-term exam system, and the monthly exam system...

Oh, yes, of course I know that everyone doesn’t like the latter two systems, but the effect is not bad, right? I think you should be able to feel it...

Let us all thank Professor Holmes for his contribution to Hogwarts..."

The applause in the auditorium was very enthusiastic. Of course, not all of them liked exams, and the applause was not for the exams.

After all, other than exams, Professor Holmes is pretty good in other areas. Each grade has its own practical project, the magic study room allows them to practice magic after class, and the morning exercise time provides a new way for couples to date...

As Dumbledore raised his hands, the applause slowly died down.

"Now, as far as I know, we must first hold the House Cup awards ceremony. To be honest, the House Cup scores this school year are rarely seen in the history of Hogwarts, but it does not affect the ranking.

The specific scores for each college are as follows:

Fourth place: Gryffindor 876 points;

Third place: Hufflepuff 957 points;

Second place: Slytherin 1150 points;

First place: Ravenclaw with 1213 points.

A thunderous cheer and stamping of feet erupted from the Ravenclaw table.

At the Gryffindor table, Harry and Ron lowered their heads and quietly calculated whether they could surpass Hufflepuff if they didn't lose the 60 points in the end. The result was that they still couldn't win, and the guilt in their hearts immediately eased a little.

At the same time, they were very sad. At the last moment, Professor McGonagall did not deduct any more points from them because of the six-foot-long apology letters they wrote carefully. However, as a punishment, she assigned them a lot of summer homework. Now it seems that deducting points would be worse, as it would have no impact anyway.

George and Fred looked at everyone's unfriendly eyes and quickly explained:

"We've already made up the two hundred points we lost at the beginning of this semester..."

"As study hall tutors and class representatives, we also added a lot of points to Gryffindor..."

The most angry among them were the study tutors. After all, Professor McGonagall had said that there would be a reward for first place...

Not only them, the study instructor at the Slytherin table also glared at the students who had their points deducted...

Only Hufflepuff didn't care. After all, they had already won the Quidditch championship this semester, which hadn't been seen in years. They were content...

At this time, Dumbledore cleared his throat and the audience suddenly became quiet.

Dumbledore was heard saying:

"Yes, it's a good performance, Ravenclaw, but some things that happened this year must also be taken into account..."

As soon as these words were spoken, except for Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff who were watching the show, Slytherin and Gryffindor became excited again.

What a familiar line of speech! After Dumbledore said this last year, Slytherin fell from the top spot, and Gryffindor quickly rose from the last to the first.

So this time many people looked at Harry.

It’s just that the looks at the people at the Ravenclaw table were a little unkind.

Harry quickly waved his hands and explained: "I didn't do anything, really..."

Hermione's eyes lit up and she whispered in Harry's ear:

"Harry, Parseltongue, only you can open the Chamber of Secrets..."

Harry was stunned for a moment, a smile began to appear on his face, and then he asked in a low voice:

"Hermione, how many points do you think we can get this time?"

The other Gryffindor students saw Harry's expression and immediately felt that something was going to happen.

They all sighed, saying that he was indeed the savior, who could always save Gryffindor from danger.

Dumbledore's voice came from the podium:

“As a young wizard in the magical world, when you encounter powers you don’t understand or dark wizards you can’t match.

I hope you can clearly and calmly recognize your own shortcomings, avoid blind confidence, and learn to seek help from professors or trusted seniors as soon as possible...

In this regard, Miss Luna Lovegood of Ravenclaw did a great job.

Because she reported the situation to the professors in time, Hogwarts avoided a school closure crisis...

I hereby award Miss Luna Lovegood the Award for Special Service to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Oh, and by the way, Miss Lovegood also wins 200 points for Ravenclaw..."

There was silence at first, and then the Ravenclaw students looked at Luna, who was still watching "The Quibbler", in disbelief, as if all this had nothing to do with her.

But then the Ravenclaw table erupted in applause even more enthusiastic than before. Even Professor Flitwick, who was sitting on the staff bench, stood on a stool and applauded excitedly at the Ravenclaw table.

The Ravenclaw head girl came over and took the magazine from her hand with a smile:

"Crazy... Sorry, I wanted to say Luna, you're awesome!"

Luna raised her head, her eyes wandering as she glanced at the people around her who were clapping their hands in joy. Suddenly, she burst into laughter, shaking the necklace made of beer corks on her body. Then she said happily:

"So many harassment horseflies!"

Chapter 144 Ministry of Magic

The Gryffindor students absentmindedly applauded the Ravenclaws, then looked at Dumbledore expectantly.

But until Dumbledore announced the start of the dinner, the blue and bronze banners hanging above the hall did not change.

The Gryffindors were feeling extremely disappointed, and some of the students even looked at Harry with a hint of dissatisfaction in their eyes.

The Slytherin first glanced at the Gryffindor table and burst into laughter.

But looking at Professor Snape's cold eyes, he suddenly remembered that this year his house had another second-in-command.

Harry was also very sad. He felt that what Hermione said just now made a lot of sense. He had already figured out what Luna had given to Professor Holmes at that time. Since the other party could get a special contribution award, why didn't he have one?

Hermione and Ron whispered their comforts, and even George and Fred ran over to support Harry.

Although they didn't know why Harry was so confident just now...

Douglas sat in the staff box and watched everything that happened below.

In fact, Dumbledore originally planned to give Harry a special contribution award. After all, he provided the only Parseltongue, which was enough to win it.

But he was persuaded by Douglas, and told Dumbledore that Harry and Ron were planning to break into the Chamber of Secrets at night, and gave Dumbledore a bunch of reasons.

Douglas was not targeting Harry, he just felt that he was a little too confident. If Dumbledore continued to give him a special contribution award under such circumstances, it would be a disguised encouragement for him to take inappropriate risks.

Originally, Douglas had not expected to convince Dumbledore, because in his impression, it was all Dumbledore who was training Harry, although Harry had not gotten any opportunities this semester because of his presence.

But unexpectedly, after he made the proposal, Dumbledore actually agreed and said, Douglas, you are right, the young wizards at this stage should focus on learning magic...

This incident made Douglas feel uneasy. He always felt that something was wrong. Did Dumbledore intend to abandon his original plan and do it himself because he knew about Voldemort's Horcrux in advance?