days at Hogwarts

Chapter 525 Goodbye Professor Lupin
The second Thursday in August happens to be a full moon day.

The sun, as bright as salted egg yolk, had not yet completely set. Loren pulled Hermione's suitcase and turned back to wave at the three parents following behind him. He said casually, "Go back. We will write back on time."

Monica stopped, pursed her lips and nodded to the two of them, her concerned eyes resting on them.

Wendell didn't look very happy. He followed Monica closely. He looked up at his daughter, then at Loren beside him, and curled his lips in displeasure.

Bates continued to follow behind, muttering: "Be careful when you use magic to leave, some neighbors will go out for a walk at this time... Although you always say there is no danger, you should still be careful and think more when encountering things... Hermione, this guy's brain is not working well, please take care of him."

"Yes, I will." Hermione responded obediently.

Loren couldn't help but narrow his eyes. He suspected that these two people were saying bad things about him to his face, but he had no evidence.

After a moment's hesitation, Loren decided not to confront them head-on. He turned to Monica and gave her a brilliant smile: "Mrs. Granger, I will take good care of Hermione and make sure she doesn't stay up late reading or do anything stupid or risky."

Wendell rolled his eyes at him. Monica smiled gently and stroked his hair gently. Her voice was also very gentle: "Thank you very much. Hermione needs this kind of care. Please keep an eye on her for me and make sure she goes to school well. She should stay up late to read books less often. When you are free on weekends, go outside to look at the green plants and breathe fresh air..."

"Mother……"

Hermione's cheeks felt hot.

Monica tilted her head to look at her, touched her hair, pinched her face, and pulled them both into a tight hug.

Loren was silent for a moment, then promised in a muffled voice: "Don't worry, I will definitely do it."

"Okay, that's it. Remember to write to us."

"Ah."

The three parents stopped at the steps at the door and looked at them with eyes as soft as the sunset.

Hermione sniffed, and then noticed that Loren was looking at her. She glared at him with a stern face, "Who asked you to supervise and take care of it?"

Loren smiled slightly and held her hand despite her awkward look in front of her parents.

The magic wand swept across the afterglow of the setting sun, making a space-shaking explosion.

……

Privet Drive, Little Whinging.

The Dursleys' second-floor bedroom.

Harry lay flat on the bed, staring at the ceiling with wide eyes. His expression gradually changed from full of anticipation to listlessness, and his tired mind was almost blank.

Loren's letter said that someone would come to pick him up today, but the day was almost over and he still hadn't heard any news.

In the cage next to her, Hedwig's big round amber eyes kept blinking, her mouth was stuffed with frogs, and she made an indistinct cry from time to time.

He had been lying here for nearly a week, staying in this bedroom all day long, leaving only to go to the toilet. Uncle Vernon opened a little trap door under the room door, and Aunt Petunia stuffed meals in three times a day.

In fact, he could leave at any time, but every time he picked up his wand and walked to the door, he walked back.

For a long time Harry was restless and couldn't concentrate on doing anything. He just paced around the bedroom. Sometimes he was completely listless and lay in bed for hours like this, with a thousand thoughts in his head, but he couldn't figure out a clue.

After being attacked by Dementors that night, Harry received two letters. Both Mr. Weasley and Sirius told him to stay at the Dursleys' house and not go anywhere, but it was not up to him to decide whether to stay or not. What really made him stay was Aunt Petunia, or to be more precise, a howling letter sent to Aunt Petunia.

The letter caught fire because it was not opened in time. The unfamiliar and scary voice only left one sentence: "Remember my last..."

The last what?
Who actually wrote a Howler letter to Aunt Petunia, a Muggle? Who wrote it?
Every time Harry heard Aunt Petunia's footsteps approaching, he wanted to ask her what the Howler was about, but it was better to ask the doorknob than to ask her these questions...

A series of footsteps approached.

The voice was heavy, belonging to portly Uncle Vernon.

"Ok?"

Harry's ears twitched and he stood up from the bed, turning to watch Uncle Vernon push the door into his bedroom.

"We're going out."

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"We mean that your aunt, Dudley, and I are going out."

"Ok."

"You are not allowed to leave your room while we are away."

"Ok."

"Don't touch the TV, the stereo, or anything of ours."

"Row."

"..."

Then heavy footsteps walked out of the room, the door hit the door frame with a heavy sound, the footsteps gradually went downstairs, and a few minutes later, the car engine rumbled and slowly accelerated out of the Dursley's yard.

The only sound in the empty house was the gurgling of water in the pipes. The sky gradually darkened. Harry lay on the bed, as if in a state of numbness, with nothing in his mind and feeling anxious.

Suddenly, there was a rustling sound from the kitchen downstairs. A few minutes later, Harry stood on the stairs, staring at the seven or eight wizards below in the hallway, and they could not help but remain silent.

Why so many people?
……

"Number 4, Privet Drive... right here..."

Loren glanced at the door number, breathed a sigh of relief, and pulled Hermione forward. Before he could knock on the door, the half-closed door opened quietly.

The room was filled with furniture neatly arranged, and the not-so-spacious space was packed with people.

A group of wizards were crowded at the end of the hall, their outlines illuminated by the slightly aged light bulbs. Leading them was none other than Alastor Moody, and next to him was the familiar Professor Lupin. There was also a woman who was looking at them with interest, and several people behind her were craning their necks.

Loren and Hermione looked a little weird for a moment.

"Long time no see, Loren, Hermione." Remus Lupin walked up to them with a smile. He looked much better than when he was in New York. Although his face was filled with fatigue, his eyes were calm and he had a bright smile on his face.

"Long time no see, Professor Lupin."

"Harry is packing upstairs, we can leave when he comes down..."

As they were talking, Loren and Hermione also learned about the wizard team that came to escort Harry today.

Nymphadora Tonks, a new Auror member of the Ministry of Magic, is also the famous Metamorphmagus in Loren's memory. The violet-haired witch is the youngest member of the team, with a fair face and sparkling black eyes.

Kingsley Shacklebolt, the head of the Auror Office, is dark-skinned, tall, bald, and has a deep, slow voice.

As for the ones who came after him, including Elphias Doge, Dedalus Diggle, Emmeline Vance, Sturgis Podmore and Hestia Jones, there were too many of them and their names were too long to remember, so Loren marked them all as ordinary members of the Order of the Phoenix.

Leading the team was Mad-Eye Moody, who had long grey hair and a bald spot above his right ear, which seemed to have been plucked out by Crouch Jr. last year. One of his eyes was small and black, and as bright as a pearl, while the other was big and round, flashing electric blue. There was a large piece of flesh missing from his nose, and he was squinting his asymmetrical eyes, staring at the two of them suspiciously.

"Can you guarantee it's them, Lupin?" Moody growled gruffly. "If we bring back two Death Eaters pretending to be them, we'll be in big trouble. We'd better ask them some -"

"Things only I know..."

Tonks drawled out her tone, sounding a little sarcastic. She shook her violet hair and said, "I have to do this every time I meet someone. If I hadn't forged the winning letter to trick the Dursleys away, they would have been given a bottle of Veritaserum. I can't stand it anymore. You guys take your time questioning me. I'll go upstairs to see Harry."

Watching Tonks running up the stairs briskly, Hermione didn't understand what was going on for a moment. She just scratched her hair in confusion and looked at Professor Lupin in front of her.

"Mad-Eye also had his doubts when he saw Harry just now, so Tonks said that... It's all for safety." Lupin looked at her back as she swiftly went upstairs, and asked with a smile, "So, is there any secret that only we know?"

"We once suggested that you use Animagus to deal with werewolf disease." Loren paused and couldn't help asking, "What are the results of your promotion among the werewolf group?"

"The situation is a bit complicated, but overall it's going smoothly." Lupin gestured to Mad-Eye, indicating that the verification had been passed, and then patted Loren on the shoulder, "There are too many people here, let's talk outside. Anyway, we will leave on a broomstick soon."

"On a broom?" Hermione asked in confusion.

"The Floo Network is under Ministry surveillance, Harry hasn't passed his Apparition test yet, and we don't have the right Portkey."

Lupin looked back, confirmed that the people inside couldn't hear them, and quickly added, "Mad-Eye wants to check if there are any traitors among these people. Only we and Dumbledore know about this operation. We have enough time to pass the message. If we are attacked, it means that there are traitors among them..."

He didn't finish the rest of the words, but Loren and Hermione both understood what he meant. They subconsciously wanted to look into the crowd, but immediately restrained themselves.

Loren said tactfully, "Let's talk about the werewolves. Is the plan going well?"

"The idea and plan are both feasible, but it is difficult to implement them." Lupin leaned against the wall beside the door and looked up at the clear night sky. "Most people infected with werewolf disease have not received normal magic education. They know nothing about the principles and applications of Transfiguration. It is very difficult to teach them from scratch. Fortunately, Dumbledore contacted Ilvermorny for us. They have opened a special teaching class for werewolves."

"The more troublesome are the extremely few Muggle werewolves. They have no magic power and cannot learn Animagus. The Magical Congress of the United States of America contacted the Muggle government to build a special hospital and also funded a large amount of supplies. They can get through the full moon night with a large dose of sedatives, which is considered easy. However..."

Lupin rubbed his brows, fatigue visibly spreading. "They asked for some limited research. We were worried about the leakage of lycanthropy, so we signed complicated magical contracts with every hospital employee. It was very troublesome."

Loren and Hermione were silent after hearing this. These phenomena were actually not unexpected.

There are countless similar novels and movies. Not to mention the contagious werewolf disease, even the completely uncontrolled coronavirus can be studied and spread after a few years...

After thinking about the principle and transmission route of werewolf disease, Loren shook his head slightly and said, "Don't worry too much. The infectiousness of Muggle werewolves has been weakened. Without understanding the basic principles of magic, they can't research anything."

"That's true. We consulted many magical animal experts, therapists, and werewolf researchers, and only agreed to it after confirming that the danger was controllable. Otherwise, we wouldn't dare to take the risk..."

Lupin sighed and took a long breath. "I'm sorry, I stayed there for too long, and my mind was full of these things. I made you worry... Let's not talk about these anymore, let's talk about the mysterious man. I still don't know why that person suddenly resurrected, and the Ministry of Magic still has no response plan."

"Well..." Loren spread his hands, "It's a long story, and the situation is a bit complicated. I can only tell you some of the things I can say. You have to ask Dumbledore for the details. This starts with Crouch father and son..."

A few minutes later, wizards led by Moody walked out one after another and came to the beautifully mowed lawn of the Dursleys. When the Metamorphmagus witch appeared again, she had changed into bubble gum pink.

Harry was even more delighted when he saw the two of them, his expression unable to conceal his excitement, but in front of a group of wizards, he still resisted the urge to rush over and speak loudly, and winked at the two of them: We'll talk when we get to the place...

"It's a clear night sky. It would be nice if there were some clouds to provide cover."

Moody muttered something, his blue eyes scanning the surrounding sky, and he arranged the tasks in a gruff voice: "We fly forward in a tight formation. Tonks breaks the wind, Lupin pays attention to the ground, and the others stay behind. No matter what, we must not disrupt the formation. Do you understand? If any of us are killed along the way, we will come back to look for the bodies after the mission is completed. If we are all dead, you will fly east and someone will come to pick us up..."

The atmosphere was somewhat tense, except for Tonks who was happily tying Harry's empty trunk and owl cage to her broom. If Loren had used Legilimency on her at this time, he would have heard her humming a little tune in her heart:
I thought I had a tough job hauling goods, but it turned out to be so easy and enjoyable!
After deciding that the time was right, Tonks and Harry, who was hidden by the Disillusionment Charm, got on their brooms, took off one after another, hovered in the air, and lowered their heads waiting for Loren and Hermione to join them.

"I have a little question..."

Hermione silently raised her right hand and whispered, "Loren and I don't have brooms..."

(End of this chapter)