The Admiral of Hogwarts

After discussing the new book, everyone started talking about the holidays and the new semester. As they chatted, the conversation drifted to the events that had occurred at the beginning of the school year.

"Harry, the situations you've encountered this year are definitely unusual. At least, I think the warning from that house-elf, Dobby, and being blocked on the way to Platform 9 and 3/4 were too coincidental. There might be some connection between them."

It must be said that although Hagrid is usually a bit careless in his dealings, his sixth sense is very accurate at times.

For example, last year, even though Professor Snape was so suspicious, he firmly believed that Professor Snape wasn't trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone, and that was indeed the case.

"Very likely," Hermione said suddenly, just as Hagrid finished speaking. She had found a common thread between these two seemingly unrelated events.

"Harry, have you noticed that these two events seem to have one thing in common: they both tried to prevent you from coming to Hogwarts?"

"The house-elf's direct dissuasion aside, the malfunction of the barrier at Platform 9 and 3/4 happened exactly when you were trying to enter," Hermione said earnestly, looking at Harry.

"So you really should think about what has happened recently that would make someone want to prevent you from coming to school through various means."

"Now that you mention it, I also feel like something's not right," Ron frowned beside Harry. "Before, I thought it was the work of anti-Muggle pranksters, but now that you say that, it does seem suspicious—by the way, maybe Malfoy is behind all this."

As soon as Malfoy was mentioned, Ron perked up. "Think about it, doesn't Malfoy hate you? And house-elves are a very rare existence, only found in some ancient pure-blood wizarding families. The Malfoy family fits that description perfectly—"

"Ah, well—" Harry and Hermione became suspicious after Ron said that, but Harry quickly reacted and looked at Ron.

"By the way, that house-elf told me his name was Dobby. Do you think the Malfoy family's house-elf is called Dobby?"

"Uh—I really don't know," Ron said, shaking his head helplessly. "You know our family's relationship with the Malfoy family is terrible, so naturally, I wouldn't go to their house, let alone know what their house-elf is called. Besides, outsiders rarely know the names of house-elves, except for their masters."

"I see!" Harry and Hermione nodded thoughtfully. Realizing that they couldn't get any more information, everyone quickly changed the subject.

While chatting, Hagrid quickly began to complain about Professor Lockhart.

This was very unusual because Hagrid wasn't the type to criticize others, especially Hogwarts professors.

For example, when he mentioned Quirrell earlier, he thought Quirrell was a very competent assistant and security guard.

"What's wrong with Lockhart this time?" Harry and the others immediately looked curious after hearing Hagrid's complaint. Hagrid said directly:

"He came over this morning and started teaching me how to prevent water sprites from getting into the well, as if I didn't know. He also bragged about how he exorcised female ghosts. I'll eat my teapot if even one word of it is true."

"This is really—" Everyone shook their heads, and then Harry asked directly, "If his skills are so bad, then why would Professor Dumbledore recruit him to the school as a professor?"

"Because he was the only choice at the time," Hagrid said, placing a plate of soft, baked fudge on the coffee table, and then said. "It's hard to find a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher now. People don't want to do it, think the job is unlucky. No one lasts long."

Speaking of this, Hagrid sighed. "So Headmaster Dumbledore was a bit too hasty at the time. At least, judging from Miss Halsey's performance when she patrolled the Forbidden Forest with me the day before yesterday, she's much more suitable for the position than Lockhart. It's a pity she was late when she applied."

After everyone finished their tea, Hagrid took them to the field to see the pumpkins he had planted. Compared to normal pumpkins, these obviously immature pumpkins were more than half a person tall. Clearly not the common variety.

"These are specially prepared for the Halloween feast. If nothing goes wrong, they can grow to be more than a person tall."

"This should be the effect of the Engorgement Charm. I've seen it in books," Hermione whispered to Hugo. "Normally, the Engorgement Charm can make objects expand quickly, but when used multiple times in batches during plant cultivation, it can permanently enlarge the part of the plant you want to grow."

"It seems Hagrid used magic to give his pumpkins a little illegal help," Hugo turned his head and whispered to Hermione. "But seriously, in this magical world, only pumpkins as tall as people have a festive atmosphere."

After finishing their chat, Hugo and the others said goodbye to Hagrid, thinking about the homework they had to write, and returned to Hogwarts Castle. Then they went straight to the library to complete their weekend assignments.

However, just as they started writing their assignments, Harry and Ron watched as Hugo and the other three simultaneously pulled out a pair of glasses from their robes and put them on.

"Are those the experimental glasses from the Golden Sea Harbor General Store?" Because Umbridge had already distributed the prototypes to the selected people in the school, Harry and Ron were naturally curious when they were able to get close to these magical items.

"Yes, these are the ones," Hermione said, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "They're quite useful. They can record audio and video, and they can also zoom in or out on certain images. At least, with the help of these glasses in class, we can avoid missing what the teachers say as much as possible."

"So this thing is so boring—" After hearing Hugo say this, Ron shook his head indifferently. He originally thought these magical items were so powerful or interesting, but he didn't expect them to be just magical items used to assist learning.

"Actually, I think this thing is quite useful, at least it can save the time of copying from the blackboard," Harry thought of another direction.

"Especially in Potions class, if the glasses could display the operating steps on the lenses while I'm doing it, I think I wouldn't be criticized by Snape so often."

"Uh—I think you'll be criticized by Snape no matter what you do," Ron said with an incredulous expression after hearing Harry say this. "I think he just hates you, so he'll criticize you no matter what you do."

"Quiet! If anyone talks again, I'll ask them to leave," Madam Pince walked over with a feather duster just as Harry was about to say something.