Homecoming from Hogwarts

"First, allow me to introduce to you Professor Horace Slughorn -"

At the faculty table, Professor Braine directed the young wizards' attention to a fat, bald old man with a smiling face who was sitting on the other side of Snape.

"This is the unlucky guy we got this year. Oh, at his age, it seems that he can't stand any hardship, right?"

Like many others, George Weasley looked with interest at the old wizard who stood up from his seat and bowed to everyone.

Harry knew Fred was implying something, but he didn't show it.

"Professor Slughorn will be the Potions professor for fifth to seventh graders this year. He is an experienced professor and was previously the head of Slytherin House. I believe he will get along well with you all."

Before Professor Braine could finish his words, the auditorium below erupted in discussion.

Almost everyone stared in disbelief at Snape at the staff table.

"That old man teaches us potions?"

George looked at Snape with surprise and bewilderment,

"What about Snape? We can't be optimistic and expect him to be fired, right? He has such a good relationship with Professor Brain."

Hermione glared at George and gestured to him to silence him.

"Oh, so this is where you start controlling people, right?"

George saw Hermione's warning and smiled indifferently.

"As for Professor Snape—"

Professor Brian's voice came again from the front of the auditorium.

"I will be teaching Potions to first to fourth graders."

Professor Brian's explanation left many people puzzled.

"I thought he was here to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts—"

There were undoubtedly some cheers coming from the Gryffindor table, all from students in grades five to seven.

Fred turned around and prepared to discuss this congratulatory news with Harry and the others, but when he saw their calm faces, he was stunned.
"What are you doing? Cheer up, Harry, Snape can't torture you anymore, can he?"

"Oh, we've already celebrated--"

Harry laughed.

"He invited me to an impromptu dinner in his box in the afternoon on the train."

"An impromptu banquet?"

More people leaned over and looked at Harry with curiosity, which was a scene Harry never liked.

"It's actually quite boring—"

Neville said,
"We spent the entire afternoon listening to him go on and on about his connections with famous wizards, as if he had called us over just to show off."

"Shh!"

Hermione glared at them even more harshly, but all she got was 'ruthless contempt' from Fred and George.

Professor Slughorn received some applause. After all, his smiling face was still quite pleasing to the eye.

Unlike Snape, who had a cold face as if everyone owed him a lot of gold.

"As for Defense Against the Dark Arts—"

Amosta smiled and said,
“The school did send an invitation to a well-known person, but has not received a response yet. Therefore, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes for the first and second years have to be suspended.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts class for grades three, six, and seven will be temporarily changed to physical education class."

Harry looked surprised; he had not known this news beforehand.

"Then what do we do?"

Hermione glared at the staff table angrily.
"We don't have Defense Against the Dark Arts or PE!"

"Oh, you still think you've been wronged?"

Fred's grin attracted Hermione's angry gaze.

"--This past year, Hogwarts held the Triwizard Tournament, and we had a great year with the elites from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.

This year, Hogwarts will also welcome a group of esteemed guests who will arrive at Hogwarts this weekend to spend a wonderful time with us on campus.”

Professor Brain smiled and said,
"Out of courtesy and grace, I hope that you will join me outside the castle gates to greet them at 5pm this weekend."

"who are they!"

Someone asked the question immediately.

"Oh, life sometimes needs a little anticipation, doesn't it?"

Professor Brian laughed.
"You will know by then. In short, I hope they can get your respect and care during their time at Hogwarts. If any conflict occurs, I will be very sorry--"

The crowd began to whisper, discussing the identities of the mysterious visitors. "This is a really strange statement—"

Neville held his chin up, thinking.

Harry and Ron both looked at Hermione, who had a sullen, nervous look on her face.

The identities of these mysterious visitors and Professor Brian's suggestion about who would be the famous person invited by the school to be the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts were two topics that ran through the opening dinner.

Harry and the others only knew the answer to one of the questions, but none of them wanted to mention it for fear of causing collective panic.

Of the other, they knew nothing.

After not seeing each other for a whole summer, the little wizards already had endless topics to talk about, not to mention that such a major event happened during this summer.

The topic soon turned to the war that had reduced Diagon Alley to ruins, and the gang members who were captured in the war were also the focus of attention.

"Look at those Slytherins, they deserve it!"

When Ron mentioned this, he was still extremely indignant, but when he saw the people around Malfoy at the Slytherin table, he showed satisfaction again.

Both Harry and Hermione turned to look at the Slytherin table.

Theodore Nott and the Greengrass sisters, with their wooden faces, were out of place with the joyful atmosphere in the Great Hall.

Harry could understand that they were unhappy, but Parkinson, Zabini and the others all had gloomy faces, which made Harry a little confused.

"Their family businesses may have been greatly affected by the Plaza Accord--"

Hermione said with some sympathy,
"They must be in a difficult situation."

"I still say the same thing--"

Ron hummed in relief.

"If there's a Death Eater in my family, I won't be able to go to Hogwarts to study!"

"And what do you think of Sirius, Ron?"

Hermione glanced at Ron.

"Don't forget, his brother Regulus also worked for You-Know-Who."

"That's different, Hermione—"

Harry couldn't help but argue.
"Regulus finally reformed, didn't he?"

Hermione took a deep breath.

"Even so, Harry, Daphne, Astoria and Theodore did nothing wrong. They did not help the You-Know-Who to do evil. They were just unlucky and happened to have such parents."

"I can't believe you would speak up for them, Hermione."

Ron stared at Hermione, his brows furrowed sharply.

Hermione argued with a hint of anger.

"Well, Weasley, you dare say that none of your relatives have ever broken the law, but that has nothing to do with you, right? The law has never..."

"Oh, dear Miss Granger, I can tell you that the last Weasley family member to be imprisoned for breaking the law was probably more than a century ago."

George raised his eyebrows and looked at Hermione challengingly.

Harry was about to stop the conflict from spreading, but the crashing hall helped him first.

The opening dinner has been declared over, and students from all colleges have left their seats, eager to return to their respective common rooms to start the traditional program.

"Oh!"

Hermione suddenly woke up.

"Hurry up, Ron, we are prefects and we have to lead the way for the first-year students!"

Ron, who was glaring at Hermione for her rebuttal, also reacted. He hurriedly stood up from his seat and took out the shiny prefect badge from his pocket with a red face.

As expected, this was met with some evasive remarks from Fred and George.

Ron became more nervous and his fingers became more clumsy, and he couldn't pin the badge on his chest.

"Let me help you, dear—"

Lavender left Patil with a proud look on her face, came to Ron and helped him solve the embarrassment.

Hermione was already getting impatient waiting.
"Hurry up, Ron, the new students are already overwhelmed, we have to hurry -"

"Hey, Granger!"

At this time, a seventh-year girl walked quickly to the front of the Hufflepuff table. Facing Hermione's puzzled gaze, she pointed to an empty seat at the staff table.

"Professor Blaine asked me to tell you that he wants you to go to his office--" (End of this chapter)