Homecoming from Hogwarts

Even Harry, who had graduated from Hogwarts many years ago, couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat when he thought about the past few nights.

He had wanted to follow Snape and Malfoy into the Forbidden Forest and teach Malfoy a lesson as a punishment for his father forcing Hogwarts to close.

Unfortunately, their plan was not successfully implemented, and they were caught by Snape.

Professor Dumbledore and Professor Brainiac were not in school, and Professor McGonagall, as the head of Gryffindor, took charge of their punishment.

First of all, the angry Professor McGonagall deducted another 20 points from each student on top of the points deducted by Snape, which almost meant that Gryffindor was doomed to lose the house cup this year.

Secondly, Professor McGonagall punished them by making them go to the Forbidden Forest every night to collect raw materials for Snape.

Over the past few nights, they had followed Snape into the Forbidden Forest, catching frogs, gathering nettles and lovage, and searching for the Morthrath and collecting its venom.

Ron was bitten by a Murtra rat and spent a night in the school hospital.

There was hardly any night when they could go to bed before midnight.

While working in the Forbidden Forest, Snape just stood by and gave orders, mocking their unskilled operations, while he himself did nothing.

To be honest, the torture of these few nights really made Harry for the first time have the urge to drop out of Hogwarts.

Of course, Hermione was completely implicated. When the three of them decided to follow Snape into the Forbidden Forest, Hermione was strongly opposed, but she followed them only to prevent them from doing anything stupid.

Afterwards, Neville, who made this reckless suggestion, sincerely apologized to Hermione.

"I hope this will teach you a lesson—"

One night before going to bed, Hermione scratched her face hard from mosquito bites in the Forbidden Forest and said to them weakly,
"We are very lucky not to be expelled."

"Maybe that damn old bat knew that Hogwarts would not be open for long, so he didn't insist on expelling us. He took advantage of the last chance to torture us."

The three people who returned to the dormitory went straight to bed without even the energy to wash up. After Ron said this, he snored loudly without waiting to hear Harry and Neville's opinions.

However, the efforts of Harry and the other three could not save Hogwarts from its financial difficulties.

Since Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout had negotiated with the villagers of Hogsmeade and some suppliers, the food on the table was not as rich as usual, but at least it was not as cold.

But Professor McGonagall was clearly unable to solve the problem of teaching expenses.

On Monday noon after a weekend, Angelina told Harry that Snape actually let the students in the NEWTS advanced class of Potions study in class.

"But we got a lot of gadgets for Snape, didn't we?"

Harry asked in surprise - he was studying in Potions class, and he had never heard of such a 'ridiculous' thing happening in Hogwarts.

"NEWTS-level courses involve many advanced potions--"

Hermione said,
"It requires a lot of precious magic ingredients, which we can't get in the Forbidden Forest alone. Oh, Katie is going to take the OWLS exam, right? This kind of thing is really a nightmare for students facing the OWLS level exam!"

"You're still in the mood to worry about others, Hermione?"

Ron was scratching the wound on his arm that was bitten by a Murtra rat. Although Madam Pomfrey had removed some of the negative effects for him, the wound would still itch during the recovery period.

"We are the ones who really need to get rid of the nightmare. Oh, I really hope Professor Braine and Professor Dumbledore can quickly reach an agreement with the Board of Directors so that the old bat will not have the opportunity to torture us!"

Looking at Snape leisurely eating breakfast at the staff table, Ron felt so angry that his teeth were itching.

Harry suddenly thought of something. He dropped the apple pie in his hand, wiped his mouth, and looked at Hermione eagerly.
"Professor Dumbledore and Professor Braine are negotiating with the school board. What does the Daily Prophet say about this? Hermione, is there any report about this?"

"No--"

Hermione shook her head,

"Recent newspapers have not reported anything about this matter except criticizing the quality of Hogwarts.
Isn't this strange? After all, the Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors did something shameful. If the people in the wizarding world knew that the Ministry of Magic used such despicable means to interfere with Hogwarts, what would people say? The Minister of Magic's approval rating would be ruined." Harry bit his lip, and became even more worried about the uncertain future of Hogwarts.

He never expected that before Voldemort, who had returned, could cause any major trouble, the wizarding government, in order to maintain its authority, actually forced Hogwarts to close.

With a gloomy mood, Harry finished his afternoon classes.

When dusk fell over the gloomy sky, the mood of the few people who sat back into the auditorium for dinner inevitably became bad.

"Can't it rain?"

Ron looked angrily at the cloudless sky, tearing the bread in his hand with all his strength.

"I don't believe Snape would let us go to the Forbidden Forest in the rain to catch leeches!"

Harry was about to say something, but suddenly a man and a woman burst in from the hallway, interrupting his words.

It wasn't him who came in. Many little wizards cast their surprised eyes on the witch who trotted into the hall.

The witch was wearing a banana yellow robe, her nails were bright pink, her hair was done into delicate, stiff, weird big curls, she wore jeweled glasses and carried an alligator leather handbag.

The young man behind the witch was carrying a professional camera on his shoulder and running breathlessly to keep up.

"Hurry up, Bozo, this is a rare opportunity!"

The witch said with great excitement. She ignored the surprised looks of the little wizards and professors and rushed directly to the end of the Gryffindor table. She stretched her neck to look over the head of a first-year little wizard and looked at the food on the table with great interest.

For some unknown reason, the witch frowned in dissatisfaction.
"Oh, isn't it a bit too rich, Bozo? It won't be a topic of conversation if I take a photo like this."

The witch said, she raised her thick eyebrows, thought for a moment, and then rudely pushed the little wizards aside.
"Excuse me, give way!"

The witch said to the frightened little wizards, she pulled away the bench and looked at the food on the table again. After a few seconds, she began to move.

The excited witch pushed aside the pudding, roast steak and fried sausages that appeared on the little wizard's table again, leaving only a few pieces of greasy pumpkin pie and boiled potatoes.

After doing all this, she tilted her head to look at the messy dining table, and caught a glimpse of the half-remaining piece of bread in Colin's mouth from the corner of her eye.

"Oh, lend it to me!"

The witch reached out and snatched the piece of bread from Colin's mouth, threw it into the plate nonchalantly, and clapped her hands, startling Colin so much that he almost fell off the bench.

"That's much better now."

The witch nodded in satisfaction and stepped aside. The young man behind her, carrying a professional camera, had already set up his equipment and started taking pictures of the leftovers on the table.

At the end of the farce, the witch pulled back several first-grade wizards who had been driven aside by her, and forced the terrified little wizards to take a photo with the dining table.

"Thank you!"

The witch put the piece of bread she had taken from Colin's mouth back into his.
"Come on, Bozo, let's go upstairs first. Brian said he would wait for us in his office. It's on the third floor, right? He said so in the letter."

Harry watched the witch walk up the stairs at the side of the hall in her high heels, leading the photographer quickly, and disappear from his sight.

"Rita Skeeter, a reporter for the Daily Prophet, but what is she doing at Hogwarts?"

Ron, who was confused, asked in surprise.

"It's not important, Ron—"

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. After being tortured by Snape for several days, she regained her spirits.
"Didn't you hear what she said last? Professor Blaine is back. Oh, I think everything should have come to an end."

(End of this chapter)