The Death Knell

When Hermione met the professor the next day, it was during breakfast. After the owl flew over with the letter, the principal told the story he had agreed on last night in front of all the students in the school, and told both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Extra points.

The blue hourglass made a rustling sound, and the measurement unit in it increased a lot, and what she did will also be recorded in the school history.

The principal might think that Hermione had done more and gave her more points than the other two girls combined, but Hermione didn't care. The temptation of the House Cup was almost zero.

She noticed that on the long Gryffindor table, the boy-who-lived looked at her with envy, as if he was eager for scores.

In fact, Mr. Potter still felt a sense of loss at this time, because there were all kinds of signs yesterday that someone wanted to lead him to the corridor on the fourth floor.

There is a note with 4F written on it in the drinking glass. When you pass by the fourth floor, you will hear weird laughter. The birds flying past the window form a '4' shape in the air, and so on.

Of course, now that he has seen the results, he understands afterwards that when he asked Ron and Neville about these 'omens' yesterday, they both felt that he was overthinking.

Ron was completely unable to provide any valuable advice, and thought that Potter was suspicious and asked him to go to bed early.

Harry had a strange dream last night.

Hermione felt Harry's envious look, but thought he was childish, because the Academy Cup was obviously nothing good, and working hard for it seemed too silly.

But when the principal called on all the students to applaud her, the little girl still blushed and raised her head, looking very happy.

She looked at the physical education teacher at the teacher's desk and wondered what the professors had discussed after she, Hannah and the others left last night. Anyway, Professor Wilson looked radiant today.

He winked at her.

She felt that today was a really good day, and even Professor Snape on the other side seemed to look at her with a much gentler look.

It's just that she didn't sleep well last night. As soon as she closed her eyes, she would see the sight of Voldemort's head exploding in front of her. There was almost no transition from killing monsters to killing a person, it was too fast.

She needed to think about it herself.

..................................................

There have indeed been some quiet days after Halloween. Hogwarts' Quidditch matches are held every weekend. Each time, two teams compete against each other, taking turns in a round robin.

Gryffindor uses Mr. Potter as the seeker. He has a unique talent in catching the Golden Snitch, so the game in the Lions Court ends relatively quickly.

This was not the case for the game between Eagle Yard and Badger Yard. It was a snowy day, and the snowflakes floating in the sky affected the vision. It was really a nightmare.

Because the game ends only when the Golden Snitch is caught. If he is not caught, it will continue endlessly.

That game lasted until the next morning. In fact, three hours after the game started, everyone except the players left because Scotland in December was obviously not suitable for long-term outdoor sitting.

Hermione was no exception. Although she went to see the beginning at Zhang Qiu's invitation, she left early because she couldn't understand why such an unreasonable thing as the Golden Snitch existed.

She was more concerned about whether she should apply to stay in school during Christmas than that.

Hogwarts has three holidays a year, Christmas holiday, Halloween holiday, and the boringly long summer vacation.

What Hermione is facing is the winter vacation starting from Christmas. It is not long, about twenty days.

First of all, the deans of each college will start collecting lists of students who will stay at school for Christmas in the second week of December. Students who are determined to leave school and go home will start to make collective reservations for Hogwart one week later. Express train seats.

Two weeks before the end of the semester, Christmas decorations begin in the castle. Professors will decorate their classrooms. The prefects of each college are responsible for supervising the decoration of the castle and watching the children stay in the castle due to the cold weather during the break. The first and second grade students in the room also took turns patrolling the corridors with Filch, because Filch suspected that there might be an increase in fights during the holidays.

At the same time, teachers of various courses will assign holiday homework during this period, and a few courses may also have semester summaries. For example, Professor Snape hinted to Harry that he would poison him on Christmas Eve, so Mr. Potter is advised not to forget how the antidote was prepared.

There is a rumor circulating among the well-informed classmates of Badger Academy. After being hinted, the famous Harry Potter told an unnamed red-haired boy that he would not go home for Christmas and planned to stay in the campus hospital directly. Go so that you can get timely treatment after poisoning.

On the last weekend of the semester, students in third grade and above can go to Hogsmeade Village with the permission of their parents or guardians. Most students will choose to buy Christmas gifts at this time.

This is the process of leaving school, shopping, taking the car, going home, and coming back after the vacation.

The senior sister told Hermione that if you choose to stay in school, the Christmas gift packages you receive will be piled at the foot of your bed on Christmas Day, and of course some friends will decide to give them to you in person.

At noon, go to the lobby to enjoy the Christmas dinner with the students and faculty who are staying on campus. There will be Christmas tea in the afternoon, and the Christmas dance will be held in the evening, and you can enjoy the banquet at the dance.

During the Christmas period you are free to run around the school, have snowball fights in the grounds, or do whatever you want in the common room.

Hermione wanted to go home for the holidays, have dinner with her parents and watch TV. She hadn't watched TV for a long time, and she almost forgot where she was in the series before coming here.

But she wanted to stay in school. After all, this was the first time she experienced Christmas in the magical world. She could eat turkey with the principal and professors. Afterwards, Professor Wilson also agreed to take her to the village to play, and there were also The dragon-slaying project has been scheduled for a long time.

She was so confused that she couldn't help but think that it would be great if there was a way to break herself in half and use it, or to allow herself to appear in different places at the same time.

But there shouldn’t be such a thing, right?

Even if magic is amazing, there should be no tools that can control time, right?

........................................

In the last week before Christmas vacation, her dilemma continued, and she asked the dean to give her more time to decide whether to get in the car.

Professor Flitwick graciously offered to make an exception for Hermione. If she really decided to go home, she could sit in his teacher's box.

While thinking about this, Hermione was still sitting on the bench in the corridor on the eighth floor, biting her nails and preparing for the advanced potions class in her fourth year.

It's actually quieter here than the common room, and the air is better.

In her hand was an old textbook given to her by the physical education professor. There were many handwritten words in the margins of almost every page.

The handwriting either changed the original text of the book, or recorded some new potions and magic. It can be seen that the original owner of this book was very smart and thoughtful.

Hermione experimented with a few things, and indeed compared to the original method in the book, the improved configuration process was more convenient and faster, and the effect was better.

She also learned a magic trick called the 'Upside Down Golden Bell', which looks like a prank and can make people hang head down.

The little girl wanted to know the past owner of this book, but there was no name on the title page of the book, and the name column only read 'Half-Blood Prince'.

She checked the history of magic books, but this man did not exist in history.

She asked the physical education professor where the book came from, and he told her that she picked it up from a spider hole while walking in the Forbidden Forest.

The professor then told the story of his battle with hundreds of spiders, and finally got the book. He also said that it was a pity that the original owner of the textbook had been eaten by spiders long ago, and the ashes in the spider holes were scattered. It was really tragic. .

Hermione always felt that she shouldn't believe him because he was smiling suspiciously while he was talking, but she couldn't find any clues worth investigating, and she didn't want to ask a gloomy person like Professor Snape, so she could only admit it depressingly.