HP Approaches the Magic World

Where did Dumbledore go?

What is he doing?

Over the next few weeks, Harry only saw the Headmaster twice.

Since he rarely showed up during meals now, it seemed that Hermione was right about the headmaster being gone for days at a time.

Did Dumbledore forget that he was supposed to give himself private lessons?

Dumbledore said that those lessons were ultimately related to the prophecy.

Harry had once felt encouraged and at ease, but now he felt a little abandoned.

In mid-October, they went to Hogsmeade for the first time this semester.

Due to the increasingly strict precautionary measures around the school, Harry originally thought that they would not be allowed to go to Hogsmeade.

Now that he knew he still had to go, he was very happy.

It's nice to leave the castle and relax, even if it's just for a few hours.

On the morning when he went to Hogsmeade, there was a strong wind outside. Harry woke up very early and passed the time before breakfast by flipping through the book "Advanced Potion Making".

Of course, he usually doesn't lie in bed and read textbooks. On this point, Ron is right. This kind of behavior is unsightly for anyone except Hermione, and Hermione's behavior just seems a bit unsightly.

Just weird.

However, Harry felt that the Half-Blood Prince's "Advanced Potion Making" could not be considered a textbook at all.

The more Harry studied the book, the richer it became.

Not only are there easy-to-follow tips and shortcuts that earned Harry Slughorn's warm praise,

Moreover, there are many creative little curses and magic spells written down in the margins of the book.

Judging from the scrawled and altered handwriting, Harry felt that these things were invented by the prince himself.

"Actually, you are a very smart wizard. Until now, I have not figured out why you chose to join the Death Eaters after graduation. If you had not joined their team, you would still be a very smart wizard.

Celebrity."

"Becoming a Death Eater... was a wrong decision I made at the beginning. I was still very young when I made this decision, and at that time, becoming a subordinate of Voldemort was not a very shameful thing. In a family of pure-blood wizards,

There is a great sense of accomplishment inside.”

There was nothing going on tonight, so Jon chose to have some tea with Snape and chat about past stories. After all, he was actually quite curious about why Snape became a Death Eater.

"But you are not a pure-blood wizard, and you have deep hatred against some people who are pure-blood wizards. Or is it precisely because of these hatreds that you chose to join Voldemort's team?"

"Actually, I don't know if I hate Potter that much. It's a mystery.

If he is still alive now, maybe there will be an answer, but he is dead, and so is Lily. I have always regretted not seeing him one last time before I died, but after all, this matter cannot be solved by regret.

Dumbledore can resurrect after death, but Lily is just a Muggle-born wizard. Although she married into the Potter family, she does not have such a deep foundation or strong strength, let alone the level of the Sacrifice Curse she used.

Magic... Many times I wonder, is it really worth it for a child?"

"Of course it's worth it. Why do you have a picture of your mother on your desk?

Mothers can do many things for their children, even if they sacrifice their own lives, I have never doubted this."

"Yes, mother can always do a lot of things, but it's a pity that she chose the wrong man. If she chose..."

"Of course she won't choose you. You just think that the two of you have a relationship in the past, so she should like you, but how can there be such a good thing in this world?

People always want to see what they want to see, but often ignore those things that have also happened but do not want to see."

"yes."

"Speaking of which, do you know about that?"

Jon asked tentatively.

"Are you talking about Dumbledore's arrangements for Harry?

I do know it, but what’s the use of knowing it?

I couldn't save his mother at first, and I can't change his fate now."

"Don't worry, as time goes by, everything is getting back on track. You have to protect yourself. I'm still waiting for you to become the president of my university."

"Really? I will try my best."

Snape put down his teacup and stood up.

"Speaking of which, our boy is learning the magic spells I left behind recently. Are you sure you don't want to interfere? These spells are not good ones."

"Our boy has grown up and always needs to learn to face the world on his own. It is good to let him learn some methods in advance."

After hearing Jon's answer, Snape turned back and asked him one last question.

"Will you still save people?"

"What?"

"I mean, will you still save people? Just like you saved Sirius, will you come down and die afterwards?"

"No, not unless there is a real need."

Jon drank the last bit of tea in his cup and said calmly.

"I always save people because I have regrets in my heart, but these regrets will always disappear with time. In fact, I no longer have such a strong feeling of regret. Whether those people will die or not is not a big deal to me.

I started to care less about the relationship."

"Yes, time will make these things pass away." Snape snorted: "Welcome, you have finally come to the real world."

…

…

Harry had tried several spells invented by the prince in the past two days.

One of the curses made people's toes grow wildly. He secretly did an experiment with Crabbe in the corridor, and the effect was extremely interesting;

There is also a spell that sticks a person's tongue to the roof of the mouth. The effect of this spell was tested on Filch. At that time, Filch did not try to resist. He did not discover the existence of this spell.

But when he told Jon about this, he realized that while Harry had already gotten the result he wanted, Jon was not doing anything;

Then, among those spells, the most useful one is the ear-closing spell. This spell can fill the ears of everyone around you with an indiscernible buzzing sound, so that you can chat as you like in class.

Not afraid of being heard by others, Jon was very interested in this curse, because he had always thought that this curse was a normal curse with inheritance, but ignored that this curse was originally created by Snape

of.

After all, he only used earplugs once to listen to spells on the train back to Hogwarts, and he never used this kind of spell again. The emergence of force fields replaced most of his concealment magic. Compared with

Instead of waving a wand to cast a spell, who wouldn't like a force field that's quick and convenient and can be there at all times?

On Harry's side, the only one who didn't think these magics were fun was Hermione. When Harry used these magics, she always kept a straight face and looked disapproving.

If Harry cast the Hearing Charm on someone nearby, she would simply say nothing.

Because she doesn't need to use these magics at all. To be honest, her intelligence is not much worse than Snape's, and if she wants, she can create some magic by herself. It's just a matter of time, so this time

It might be a bit long, and under such circumstances, she didn't have the time to spend on such things.

But even so, she doesn't have to care.

But Harry is different.

Whether it's Harry or Ron, neither of them are that smart. This can be seen from their results. They don't have this kind of brain. If they are in different places, Hermione

If you are a young wizard born into a pure-blood wizard family, then the results may be different.

Go back to the dormitory.

Harry sat on the bed, turned the textbook over and carefully studied a spell written in the scrawled handwriting. The prince seemed to have spent a lot of time on this spell.

After countless scribblings and corrections, finally the following words were written crowded together in the corner of the page: 

The Upside Down Golden Bell (silent).

The strong wind was wrapped with sleet, beating mercilessly on the windows. Neville snored loudly, and Harry stared at the two words in brackets.

Silent...must refer to the silent spell.

Harry didn't know if he could successfully practice this special spell, because it seemed a bit difficult.

He was still not good at silent spells, and Snape made irresponsible remarks about it in Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.

In fact, the prince taught Harry much more than Snape.

Harry pointed at a random place with his wand, flicked it upwards, and silently said in his mind: The Upside Down Golden Bell!

"Ah ah ah ah ah!"

A bright light flashed and the room was in chaos.

Ron let out a scream, waking everyone up, and Harry threw away "Advanced Potion Making" in panic.

Ron was hanging headfirst in the air, as if an invisible hook hooked his ankles, hanging him upside down.

"sorry!"

Harry shouted, Dean and Seamus laughed loudly, and Neville fell to the ground just now and was slowly getting up: "Wait a minute - I'll put you down right now -"

He touched the potion book and looked for the page in a panic.

Finally he found it, and he recognized a few words squeezed together under the spell: Harry secretly prayed that this was the break of the spell, then concentrated his thoughts and said in his mind: The golden bell has fallen to the ground!

Another bright light flashed, and Ron fell onto the bed, falling into a heap.

"sorry."

Harry whispered again, and Dean and Seamus were still laughing loudly.

"I hope you will set the alarm clock tomorrow. If you do this a few more times, I will be thrown to death by you."

They both got dressed, stuffed themselves with several sweaters knitted by Mrs. Weasley, and grabbed cloaks, scarves, and gloves.

Ron had recovered from his shock and thought Harry's new spell was very funny.

In fact, he thought the spell was so funny that he couldn't wait to tell Hermione about it as soon as they sat down to breakfast.

"...Then there was another flash of light and I fell back on the bed!"

Ron said with a smile as he started to get sausages for himself.

Hermione listened, but there was no smile on her face. She turned to Harry with a cold face and dissatisfaction.

During the recent period, she has been showing very few expressions, because Jon told her that a good politician should keep his emotions and anger hidden, and his inner thoughts should not be known to anyone, even if he has a straight face and a cold expression.

If you maintain it all the time, it will be much better than any other appearance.

Because some people are born with facial paralysis.

It's just that next to this group of people she is familiar with, she still can't achieve such a state, and she still needs to hone her skills.

But now it has begun. If necessary, she can still make corresponding disguises and emotions. For example, she should be angry now, so she can show her anger.

"Perhaps this spell is in your potion book?"

Harry frowned at her.

"You always jump to the worst conclusions, don't you?"

"Is that so?"

"Okay...that's right, so what?"

"You actually decided to experiment with an unfamiliar handwritten spell to see what would happen?"

"So what if it's handwritten?"

Harry deliberately avoided answering other questions.

"Because this may be prohibited by the Ministry of Magic."

When she saw Harry and Ron rolling their eyes, she added, "Besides, because I'm beginning to think that this guy named Prince is a little unreliable."

Harry and Ron both shouted at her to shut up.

"That's a joke!"

Ron poured a bottle of ketchup over his sausage and said, "It's just a joke, Hermione, it's no big deal, please don't make such a fuss!"

"Hook someone by the ankles and then hang them upside down?" Hermione asked, "Who would take the time and effort to make up such a spell?"

"Fred and George," Ron said with a shrug, "they just love doing that stuff.

And, um——"

"My dad."

Harry said, surprising his friends.

But actually he was quite surprised, he just remembered this.

"What?"

Ron and Hermione asked at the same time.

"My dad used that spell."

Harry said: "I - Lupin told me."

This last sentence is not true.

In fact, Harry saw his father perform this magic on Snape, but he never told Ron and Hermione about his experience in the pensieve.

However, now he suddenly remembered a very strange possibility.

Could the Half-Blood Prince be——?

"Perhaps your father used it, Harry," Hermione said, "but he's not the only one who used it.

We've seen a ton of people using it, maybe you've forgotten.

Suspend people in mid-air and make them float above them in a daze and powerlessness.”

Harry stared at her blankly. He also remembered what the Death Eaters did at the Quidditch World Cup, and his heart sank. Ron came out to relieve him.

"That's two different things." He said carelessly, "They are abusing this magic. Harry and his father were just joking. Hermione, you don't like the prince," he said seriously, pointing his sausage at Hermione, "

It’s because he’s better at Potions than you—”

"It has nothing to do with that!" Hermione said, her cheeks suddenly turned red. "I just think it is very irresponsible to use a magic without knowing what it does.

Yes, stop saying 'prince' as if that's his title, I dare say it's just a stupid nickname, and he doesn't feel like a serious person to me!"

"I don't know where you got this impression from," Harry said excitedly, "If he were an underage Death Eater, he wouldn't keep saying he was a 'half-blood', would he?

"

As Harry said this, he remembered that his father was a pure-blood, but he pushed this thought away from his mind and would think about it later...

"Death Eaters...cannot all be pure-blooded. There are not many pure-blooded wizards left."

Hermione said stubbornly: "I guess most of them are half-bloods pretending to be pure-bloods.

What they hate is only Muggle-born people, so they must be very willing to let you and Ron join the gang."

"Don't let me become a Death Eater!"

Ron said angrily, waving the fork in his hand at Hermione, and a small piece of sausage on the fork flew out and hit Ernie MacMillan on the head: "Our whole family has betrayed our blood! In the food

From a Dead Apostle's perspective, this is as bad as being Muggle-born!"

But in fact, his anger was unreasonable. Hermione glanced at him and felt that Ron was still young. She suddenly remembered what Jon had said to her. Don't worry about things like relationships, so in fact, this matter can still go forward.

Drag and drag.

She can still investigate for a while, since everyone is young now anyway.

There's no need to be bound to someone so early, right?

But some dull people obviously didn't notice that in just this short moment, the girl beside him had already undergone such a big change in attitude.

If he knew, would he regret his stupid behavior just now?

Maybe, there is such a possibility.

As for the remaining nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine percent, Hermione knew the answer very well.

"But I think the Death Eaters are very likely to want me." In terms of understanding emotions, at least Harry is better than Ron. Although he spoke in a sarcastic tone, he was really trying to lighten the atmosphere: "

If they don't always want to kill me, maybe we will become very good brothers now, right? These things are always hard to talk about, just like Snape, although everyone thinks he is not very good.

He's popular, but I think if he treated us kindly, some people would be willing to make friends with him."

"I don't think Snape would be happy to hear that. Besides," Hermione looked around cautiously, "if he hears it, you'll be in solitary confinement again."

"Who's going to be locked up?"

Ginny poked her head over from behind them, with confusion on her face.

"No, no one, we were just joking."

Hermione explained, but because of her expression, the explanation seemed a little pale.

But fortunately Ginny didn't care about this matter, she was here to deliver the letter.

"Oh, Harry, this is for you."

It was a roll of parchment, with Harry's name written on it in the familiar long, thin, sideways font.

"Thank you, Ginny... Dumbledore is teaching me again!"

Harry said to Ron and Hermione again, unfolding the parchment and quickly scanning the contents on it.

"Monday night!"

Hermione looked at his expression, and at least it could be seen from his expression that Harry was happy and relaxed now, not as worried as before.

And even his attitude and tone when talking to Ginny seemed a lot lighter.

"By the way, are you coming to Hogsmeade with us, Ginny?"

"No, I'm going with Dean - maybe I'll see you there."

After she finished speaking, she waved to them and turned around to leave.

Today, Filch stood at the oak gate as usual, checking the names of his classmates who were allowed to go to Hogsmeade one by one.

This time was longer than before, because Filch used his detector to test everyone repeatedly.

"What does it matter if we smuggle out dark magic items?"

Ron stared at the long and thin probe uneasily and asked, "I'm afraid you should check what we brought in, right?"

He made rude remarks and was poked a few more times by the spy device, grinning in pain as they walked outside into the wind, rain and snow.

"Why are you having trouble with Filch? What good will it do to you if you anger him?"

It seemed that today was not going well. From the moment they met Filch, they felt uncomfortable all the way to Hogsmeade.

First of all, because of the cold weather, Hermione followed Harry's example and wrapped her face with a scarf, but the exposed parts soon became sore from the cold, and later became numb.

On the road leading to the village entrance, students can be seen everywhere bending forward against the wind.

This made the trio wonder more than once that it might be more pleasant if they stayed in the warm common room in such terrible weather.

When they finally reached Hogsmeade, they saw that Zuko's Joke Shop was boarded up. Harry thought this further confirmed that this trip was destined to be no fun.

Ron pointed with a thick-gloved hand at the Beedukes Candy Shop. Relaxingly, the door was still open, so Harry and Hermione followed Ron as they staggered toward the crowded shop.

.

"Thank God," the warm breath filled with the scent of toffee hit his face, Ron shivered and said, "Let's stay here all afternoon."

But things always go against their wishes. The three of them turned around and saw Professor Slughorn. He was wearing a huge plush hat and a coat with a matching plush collar.

Holding a large bag of pineapple preserves in his hand, he occupied at least a quarter of the space in this small shop.

"Harry, you've missed three of my little dinner parties!"

Slughorn poked Harry's chest affectionately: "No, boy, I am determined to have you come! Miss Granger loves these parties, doesn't she?"

"Yes,"

Hermione actually didn't like it in her heart, but she could only say helplessly: "They do-"

"Then why don't you come, Harry?" Slughorn demanded.

"I'm going to Quidditch practice, Professor."

Indeed, every time Slughorn sent him a small invitation with a purple ribbon, he deliberately arranged team training.

This strategy ensured that Ron was not left alone, and they often imagined with Ginny the scene of Hermione being locked up with McLaggen and Shabini, and laughed happily.

"Okay, if you train so hard, you will definitely win your first game!"

Slughorn said: "But there's no harm in a little entertainment now and then.

So, how about Monday night, you can't train in this weather..."

"No, Professor, I-I made an appointment with Professor Dumbledore that night."

"Another unfortunate coincidence!"

Professor Slughorn exclaimed exaggeratedly: "Ah, well... you can't avoid me forever, Harry!"

He waved and walked out of the candy store without noticing Ron, as if he was just a pile of cockroaches on display in the store.

"I can't believe I let you escape again."

Hermione shook her head and said, "Actually, that party wasn't that bad...it was quite fun sometimes...if you..."

She suddenly saw the expression on Ron's face, and out of tenderness for her friend, she immediately changed the subject: "Oh, look - they have high-end lollipop quills - they can suck for hours!"

Harry was thankful that Hermione had changed the subject, and he pretended to be particularly interested in the new oversized lollipop quills, but Ron still looked sullen, and when Hermione asked him where he wanted to go next, he just shrugged.

Shoulder.

"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks," Harry said. "It'll be warm there."

They wrapped their faces in scarves again and left the candy store.

Just coming out of the warm and sweet Bee Duke's store, the biting cold wind blew on their faces like knives.

The street was relatively deserted, no one stopped to chat, everyone was in a hurry, going straight to where they were going.

The only exception was the two people in front of them. They were standing outside the Three Broomsticks. One of them was very tall and thin. Harry looked at them, squinted his eyes, and recognized them through his glasses that were wet with rain.

He turned out to be a bartender at the Hog's Head, another pub in Hogsmeade.

As Harry, Ron and Hermione approached, the waiter wrapped his cloak around his neck, turned and walked away, leaving the short man fumbling for something in his arms.

They were less than a step away from the man, and Harry suddenly recognized him.

"Mundungus!"

The man with splayed legs and messy ginger-colored hair was startled. An antique small suitcase in his arms fell to the ground and bounced open. There were all kinds of things in it, like an entire antique store.

Contents in the window.

"Oh, hello, Harry," said Mundungus Fletcher, pretending to be very breezy but not at all. "Don't let me take up your time."

He squatted on the ground and fumbled to pick up the things in the box, looking like he was eager to leave immediately.

"Are you selling these?"

Harry asked as he watched Mundungus grab a bunch of various tattered things from the ground.

"Oh, there is no other way. I have to find a way to stay alive."

Mundungus pointed to something on the ground and said, "Give me that!"

Ron was squatting down and picking up a piece of silverware.

"etc,"

Ron said slowly: "This looks familiar——"

"Thanks!"

Mundungus said, grabbing the goblet from Ron's hand and stuffing it into the box: "Okay, let's see you later - ouch!"

Harry grabbed Mundungus by the neck and pushed him against the wall outside the pub.

He pinched him tightly with one hand and pulled out his wand with the other.

"Harry!"

"You stole this thing from Sirius's house," Harry and Mundungus were almost nose-to-nose, smelling the smell of tobacco and spirits: "It has the crest of the Black family on it."

Mundungus stammered and stammered, his face slowly turning the color of pig liver.

"What did you do?

On the night he died, you went and looted the place?"

Harry was so angry that even Hermione clenched her wand. This behavior was so irritating. What the hell is this? It was disgusting to be with this kind of trash.

But the reason she held her wand tightly was because she had to be on guard against Harry killing Mundungus.

"Harry, you can't kill him, don't be so impulsive, once you kill him, you will be arrested by the Ministry of Magic!"

Hermione said it looked like Mundungus was turning blue by now.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and Harry felt his hands bounce away from Mundungus' neck.

Mundungus gasped, grabbed the box that fell on the ground, and then apparated away with a loud bang.

Harry cursed at the top of his lungs and spun around in circles to see where Mundungus had gone.

"It's no use, Harry."

Tonks suddenly appeared out of nowhere, her gray-brown hair wet from the rain and snow.

"Mundungus will probably be in London by now, and there's no point in yelling any more."

"He stole from Sirius! He stole!"

"Yeah, but,"

Tonks seemed completely indifferent to the news and looked very cold: "You shouldn't stay here in the cold."

Hermione glanced at her and guessed that Tonks was the one who knew the inside story.

After all, Sirius was not dead in the first place. According to the news I got from Jon later, Sirius had given up the Black family's house and left it to Harry, along with all the contents inside.

Harry now felt that those things were the sustenance left to him by Sirius, but in fact, Sirius didn't care much about these things. He didn't lack this kind of wealth. The wealth accumulated by the Black family for many generations was in his

He has a treasury in his hand, so why would he care about this?

Tonks didn't know that Hermione already knew, and Hermione didn't want Tonks to know that she already knew, so she didn't say anything and followed Harry and Ron through the door of the Three Broomsticks pub.

But as soon as Harry entered the bar, he yelled angrily: "He's stealing Sirius' stuff!"

"I know, Harry, but please stop yelling. People are watching you."

Hermione comforted in a low voice: "Go and sit down, I'll bring you a drink."

She had no other choice, after all, she couldn't tell Harry directly that Sirius was not dead yet.

A few minutes later, Hermione returned to their table with three bottles of Butterbeer, where Harry was still fuming.

"Can't the people in the club keep Mundungus under control?"

Harry asked angrily in a low voice, and Hermione and the others could only listen, but they couldn't possibly empathize with this emotion: "Can't they control him a little while he's at headquarters?

At least don’t let him steal everything he can move!”

"Shh!"

Hermione said anxiously, looking around to see if anyone was eavesdropping.

The two wizards sitting nearby stared at Harry with great interest, while Shabini lazily leaned against a pillar not far away.

"Okay, Harry, I know you are angry. I understand. I would be angry too. After all, we all know that he stole your things-"

Harry choked on his butterbeer.

He forgot for a moment that he was already the owner of No. 12 Grimmauld Place.

"Yes, it's my thing!"

He snorted coldly: "No wonder he felt so guilty when he saw me!

Hum, I'm going to tell Dumbledore about this, Mundungus is afraid of him alone."

"Good idea." Hermione was obviously happy to see that Harry finally calmed down and had time to turn his eyes to the other side: "Ron, what are you staring at?"

"nothing."

Ron said as he hurriedly looked away from the bar. Harry knew that he wanted to attract the attention of the charming landlady, Mrs. Rosmerta, whom Ron had secretly liked for a long time.

"Yeah?

I assume your 'nothing' guy is back there getting more firewhiskey?"

I don't know why, Hermione suddenly said such a harsh word, and after saying it, she felt a little inappropriate.

But Ron naturally ignored this sarcastic remark. He just slowly drank butterbeer without saying a word, obviously thinking that his style was very noble and profound.

Harry was thinking about Sirius again, and he remembered how much Sirius hated those silver goblets.

Hermione tapped her fingers on the table, looking at Ron and then at the bar.

She suddenly felt that such a life was so boring.

Because of some youthful emotions, she suddenly lost control of the emotions she practiced. If the teacher knew that she was like this, she would be very disappointed.

She suddenly remembered that Jon had said before that she should not go to him during this period of time, but today she still wanted to talk to someone.

So she began to secretly use magic power on her notebook to send a message to Jon.

"Teacher, can I see you today?"

Jon happened to be fine, so he thought Hermione had something important to do. After all, he had just told Hermione not to come to him if nothing happened.

Since there is something important, it is not impossible to meet.