The Admiral of Hogwarts

"Maybe Harry will be able to go to Hogsmeade next year." After greeting Harry, Hugo and Hermione crunched through the snow towards Hogsmeade. On the way, Hermione expressed her sympathy for Harry.

"According to the handbook I checked before, the headmaster and deputy headmaster of the school actually have the right to sign permission slips for students who lack immediate family. It's just that Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall are unwilling to take risks this year because of the dangers outside—"

In reality, Hogwarts' policies in this area are not as strict as everyone imagines. Otherwise, Sirius Black, a recognized wanted criminal, would definitely not have his signature on the form be valid.

Chatting along the way, Hugo and Hermione quickly arrived at Hogsmeade. The first stop here was naturally Honeydukes. In addition to bringing gifts for their parents, Hugo also needed to send Christmas gifts to his ship girls.

"Rum-flavored chocolate, blood-flavored lollipops—Hugo, are you sure you didn't buy the wrong things?" Seeing the large bag Hugo was carrying, Hermione looked puzzled.

"No problem, this is mainly for my friends." After paying the bill, Hugo explained to his sister on the way to the owl post office. "You know, I met some friends from foreign countries in the last match—"

Watching Hugo write addresses in Northern Europe, Germany, the United States, and even Japan on the mailing slips, Hermione, who was still a little suspicious, dispelled her doubts. After paying all the postage, the two walked into the snowy outdoors again.

Hogsmeade looked like a Christmas card: the small cottages and shops were covered with a layer of crisp snow, and holly wreaths hung on the doors of each house, with strings of enchanted candles hanging from the trees.

"Hugo, Hermione, you guys are here quite early today." Just as the Granger siblings were wondering where to go to warm up, a female voice suddenly came from behind.

Turning around, Hugo saw Enterprise running through the snow in a black cloak embroidered with gold trim, carrying a small handbag.

"Hall—Enterprise, good morning!" After recognizing Enterprise, Hermione greeted her and then looked at the handbag in Enterprise's hand.

"I just bought some firewhisky from the Hog's Head Pub." Noticing that Hermione and Hugo were focusing on her bag, Enterprise opened it to show them.

Inside the cloth bag were two gray bottles, the dust on them giving the impression that they hadn't been cleaned for at least ten years. Even after Enterprise opened the bag, a puff of dust could be seen.

"Ah, sorry." Seeing this, Enterprise quickly closed the bag and said, "That place does have a lot of aged wine, but it's a bit lacking in hygiene."

Because of Aberforth's way of running things, the Hog's Head Pub was obviously dirty and chaotic. So it gradually became a remote place, which further attracted some illegal transactions.

Obviously, illegal merchants like Mundungus Fletcher couldn't afford good wine. Therefore, the Hog's Head Pub naturally accumulated a batch of aged wine, and after discovering this, Enterprise naturally didn't miss this good opportunity to buy wine.

Because of Enterprise's joining, the three of them simply went to the Three Broomsticks Pub to get something to drink. As soon as they entered, they saw Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Hagrid, and Minister of Magic Fudge sitting at the bar.

"Let's go over there." Enterprise lowered her head slightly and pointed to an empty table at the back of the room. "Being with these senior faculty members makes me feel a little uncomfortable."

Fortunately, there were a lot of people in the Three Broomsticks Pub, and the light wasn't very bright, so Enterprise quickly led Hugo and Hermione around the bar to that table.

Just as they arrived at the table, they saw Ron also walking over from the bar with two mugs of hot butterbeer, looking like he was going to sit at the empty table as well.

"Looks like butterbeer is indeed quite popular—wait, no." After seeing Ron, Enterprise first joked, and then suddenly showed a vigilant expression as if she had thought of something.

"What's wrong, Enterprise?" Seeing Enterprise suddenly put her hand on her wand, Hermione became nervous. While speaking, she also reached out and touched her own wand.

"It's nothing." At this moment, Enterprise seemed to remember something and moved her hand away from her wand, then said to the Granger siblings standing beside her. "Let's just sit here."

So Hugo and they sat down at Ron's table. After sitting down, just as Hermione and Hugo were about to go to the bar to buy some drinks, they saw Enterprise suddenly grab at the empty space next to her.

"Harry, why did you run out at this time?" Enterprise bent down and asked softly. "It's not very safe for you outside right now."

"Professor Halsey—" Just as Hermione hadn't realized what was happening, half of Harry's face appeared in the air. From the height of his face, it could be seen that he should be squatting and hiding under the table. "How did you find me?"

"The wet footprints on the floor, the marks on the seats, the two mugs of butterbeer in Ron's hand, and a strange empty table here." Enterprise shook her head and said. "The invisibility cloak is very powerful, but in my opinion, there are loopholes everywhere."

"Sorry, Professor, this has nothing to do with Ron, I ran out on my own this time." Realizing that he had been discovered, Harry simply crawled out from under the table and said.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to investigate this matter." Enterprise said with a smile, "After all, it's too inhumane to leave only you in the castle for the entire third year."

"But I think you should also know about the current safety issues, so I'll sit here with you for a while, and then we'll go back to the castle together."

At this moment, the professors and Fudge near the bar began to chat. From their conversation, Harry learned about his parents being betrayed by Sirius Black, and then returned to Hogwarts Castle with Enterprise, feeling distraught.

"By the way, did you find your Scabbers?" After Harry and Enterprise left, Hugo looked at Ron and asked, "I heard Harry say before that your pet rat was lost."

"No, Scabbers hasn't appeared since we rested in the Great Hall that night." Ron said, looking depressed as he took out his wand. "If I hadn't bought this new wand during the summer vacation, I might still have money to buy a new pet."

"Aren't you going to look for your pet?" Hermione frowned and asked. Since raising Crookshanks, she felt that this kind of human-like pet had brought her too much joy, so she didn't understand why Ron gave up looking for his pet.

"This rat has been in my family for more than ten years. My father found it in the vegetable garden in the yard. It looked quite well-behaved at the time, so it was given to my brother as a pet, and then passed on to me." Ron explained the reason.

"During the summer vacation, I also asked a pet expert from the pet store to help me check it. As a result, the expert told me that my rat was just a very ordinary field mouse, which can generally only live for about three years, and exceeding seven years is considered very long-lived."

"Considering that Scabbers has already lived for more than ten years, and his condition hasn't been very good since returning from Egypt, I think he probably felt that his end was near and was afraid of making me sad, so he left my side."

Obviously, without Crookshanks this year, Ron's thinking is significantly more rational than in the original text. So naturally, he has a different view on the disappearance of his pet rat.

"Well, I hope Scabbers can live happily in the rat's paradise." Hugo patted Ron on the shoulder and said, "Just like you said before, leaving quietly like this may not be a bad thing for him who is suffering from illness."