The Death Knell

"Lions love honey lemonade."

After speaking the command to the gargoyle statue on the third floor, it turned around and jumped to the side. The wall behind it cracked open, revealing the stairs that spiraled upwards to the eighth floor.

All the torches in the stairwell were also lit at the same time, and the firelight swayed as if beckoning her to go up quickly.

At the end of the spiral staircase is a gleaming oak door with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin's head, which is still gleaming even after thousands of years.

Hermione adjusted her robes, knocked on the door, and then pushed the door open. Inside was a spacious and beautiful circular room. According to Muggles, it was a building-within-a-building structure. It was divided into upper and lower floors. On the second floor terrace were placed The globe and telescope, and Dumbledore's bedroom are also there.

The first floor is the main body of the reception room and office. There is an oversized principal's desk with claw-shaped legs. Candies, various books and scrolls are piled messily on it.

There is a dirty Sorting Hat on a shelf behind the table. It has not been cleaned this year. Next to it is a glass box containing the Sword of Gryffindor. On the opposite side of the box, in a black cabinet is a Pensieve, Phoenix and Fawkes. It is perched on a tall gilded dead branch.

Various funny little sounds kept coming from many corners of the room. The walls were covered with portraits of old male and female principals. A circle of sofas surrounded the fireplace in the corner of the room. There were many strange silver objects on the coffee table with slender legs. The device rotates and spits out small puffs of smoke.

Hermione suspected that it was a magical version of an air humidifier. Because her family still had some money, her father also bought a humidifier this summer. He said that the air in Manchester was too dry and put it in Hermione's bedroom. It kept blowing all night.

It was already hot in the summer, and the rising humidity made her whole body sticky. If there was one thing that Hermione was most dissatisfied with during the summer vacation, it was probably the machine.

But she also knew that her father was doing her best, so she didn't say anything directly. After all, she spent most of her time playing outside or staying at a friend's house.

She actually planned to find a way to make some money and replace some air conditioners in her home, so wouldn't the humidifiers be legitimately retired?

It won't make the father sad, it will just make her daughter grow up.

One thousand pounds is almost enough, which is equivalent to 200 gold galleons. How about taking Luna to the secret room? Let her sell the news and share some of the money with herself?

Hermione felt that there might be something wrong with her brain. She had to deal with people a lot in Beauxbatons and had to do both. This caused her brain to spin at a very high speed, and sometimes it even automatically gave some answers.

She felt weird.

"Hermione is here, come and sit over here." Dumbledore stood up and waved. His eyes behind his crescent moon glasses looked very happy. Maybe it was because the joke Flitwick told him just now was very interesting. All covered with tea.

He motioned the little girl to sit down in the sofa area. The professors were sitting around the sofa drinking tea. Not only was there black tea brewed in the magic teapot, Hermione also saw a lot of colorful plastic bottles. It must have been put by her own professor. Let's bring some Muggle drinks in for everyone to try.

"headmaster."

Hermione smiled, tried not to show her front teeth, greeted several professors gracefully and sat down. Of course, she still sat next to the physical education professor, which felt safer.

Dumbledore tilted his head, took out a handkerchief and wiped his beard: "I'm really curious about what Madam Maxime taught you? You seem to have grown a lot."

Miss Granger looked at the teapot floating in front of her and poured herself tea. In fact, she wanted to drink the 'Wilson Herbal Tea' from the red plastic bottle next to it.

She had drunk it several times before, and the professor gave her a temporary reward during class. He also said that it was a good thing he brought from other worlds and could sell 300 million bottles or something every year.

She just thought that maybe he bought a machine to fill it himself, and it was in a dark basement, like an illegal small workshop.

But her thoughts flashed by, and she quickly focused her eyes on the face of the principal who asked the question, and replied politely:

"There is a saying that both Muggles and wizards are social creatures. They will gain experience through constant contact with other different individuals, and experience will make people grow."

"I understand." Dumbledore nodded with a sudden look on his face and leaned against the sofa cushions behind him: "She taught you philosophy..."

Snape, who was standing aside, still had an expressionless face. It was as if he didn't even notice Hermione coming in. He kept staring at the fireplace, as if he was expecting someone to come out of the floo network.

Flitwick was sitting on the sofa, and the distance between the sofa and the coffee table became a chasm. He stretched out his hand several times, but could not reach the drink on the table. Finally, he took out his wand and used the levitation spell.

He took a sip of herbal tea, squinted his eyes and thought about it, then shook his head:

"Anyway, I still feel that it is too early for Hermione to use the 'Time Turner'. It is not something she should be exposed to at her age, and it is too dangerous. As her dean, I must be responsible for her."

Dumbledore held the Muggle drink bottle noncommittally, and looked at Professor McGonagall again.

Next to the female professor was another dean who did not appear often, Professor Sprout of Hufflepuff. As former classmates, the two were comparing drink bottles and whispering something, as if they were ordinary Housewives compare shopping with the same price/performance ratio.

The principal looked at her for a long time, and Professor McGonagall didn't even notice. She was smiling and whispering to Sprout, covering her mouth and shaking for a while.

Professor Sprout was wearing a robe covered with dirt and grass. This sturdy old witch always looked amiable, and no one could have imagined that she would be best friends with McGonagall, who was extremely serious in front of students.

"Hey, Minerva? If you like Muggle drinks, I think Professor Wilson will be happy to buy them for you, but right now we are still discussing Miss Granger." Dumbledore interrupted them with a smile. Discussion, indicating that there are still students here.

McGonagall was awakened and came back. She cleared her throat and looked at Hermione. Although the little girl didn't know what was being discussed, she still behaved well and was not impatient at all.

"I think we can give it a try. I believe Miss Granger has enough wisdom and will to deal with the various sequelae of time and space chaos. If you don't even dare to try, then there will never be a suitable time."

"Hmm." The old principal sniffed. He controlled the sugar bowl to fly over and grabbed a piece of Honey Squeak: "Pomona, what do you think?"

The fat witch rubbed her hands. She seemed not used to such a formal occasion. Her gray curly hair shook a few times on the edge of her hat. She spoke more directly:

"I think it is okay. She is a good child. Whether it is in class or privately, the children in our academy are willing to get along with her. I believe she has the ability to control herself."

Old Deng blinked: "So, Severus..."

"I agree."

He also wanted to ask the head of Slytherin who was watching the fire, but Snape, who had his back turned to everyone, didn't even have the intention to turn around, and just threw out the answer without any explanation.

Dumbledore nodded. He turned his gaze back to Hermione and put the sugar bowl in front of the little girl.

"Originally, I had no idea when Professor Wilson applied to the Ministry of Magic to allocate you a time turner. Now that all the work procedures there have been completed, I called you here because I thought that if you retreated, you could be with me. Minister Fudge made it clear to his face... But now it seems that I am no longer keeping up with the times after being absent for only one semester, haha... Then so be it, I have no objection, I hope you Think before using its power and don't abuse it."

After saying these words, Dumbledore seemed to have put down a heavy burden, and his eyes when looking at Hermione became much softer, as if he were looking at his own granddaughter.

Hermione blinked. The key question was, from the time she came in until the professors finished their meeting, why had no one explained to her what a time turner was? And it seemed like everyone assumed she already knew.

Before she could ask the physical education professor next to her, the flames in the fireplace suddenly burst out, and a middle-aged man in a brown suit walked out. It was Fudge, the Minister of Magic. He also held a beautiful brown wooden ball in his hand. Box.

The professor next to him stood up with a smile on his face and took out a checkbook that other wizards didn't recognize but that everyone in Muggles recognized.

"Is this ok?"

Fudge was obviously someone who knew the goods. He handed the box to Professor Wilson, patted the water vapor on his suit at night, looked around covertly at the people around him, and then breathed a sigh of relief:

"It could not be better."