Harry Potter and the Burnt Badger

not to mention……

Maybe this is a good thing?

Chapter 36 Afternoon gathering

The first weekend after the start of school came quietly like this.

In Hagrid's teahouse, Moon, Violet, and Harry sat together, drinking black tea and basking in the sun, while admiring the heroic figures of Arlin and Gal writing and copying homework.

"So, won't the school newspaper office be recruiting new students this year?" Harry asked curiously, "I thought you would be busy with recruiting new students and working in the school newspaper office this weekend, so you wouldn't have time to come out."

"There are no new recruits this year. Qiu recommended a friend of hers to join, which happened to fill the vacant position after Garforth left." Moon squinted and leaned on the back of the chair, rarely taking out his book to read. Instead, he quietly enjoyed the afternoon sunshine.

When she heard this, Hermione turned a page in her thick old book.Ron shrugged helplessly at her, but Hermione felt that Ron was saying, 'You might as well do what I said.'

"The work of the school newspaper does have to be done, but Hesper and Quaid took over the work, and with Angelina and Doreen there, Violet and I were directly arranged to be the final gatekeepers. .The most important thing is that there are relatively few things in the first week and there is not that much content to write, so there is not that much work.”

Violet poked the sugar cubes on the plate and said with a smile: "Otherwise Gal and Arlin wouldn't be able to sit here and finish their homework in peace."

"Indeed - and I have already finished my homework." Gal stamped a period on the paper vigorously, then let out a comfortable breath, and glanced at Arlin's parchment. "Huh? Why are you writing so slowly?"

Arlin chose not to answer and kicked Gal's calf.

"Hey, hey, you copy slowly." Gal responded by patting Yaerlin's shoulder hard, and then handed Munn's homework back to him. "Okay, you guys chat slowly, I'll go first - "

He almost said the next sentence while running out, so in fact, no one heard the last few words clearly at all.

Ron stared at Gal, who seemed to be in a hurry to go to the cafeteria to eat, and asked in confusion, "Why is he going there? Why is he so..."

"Why else should we go?" Arling's teeth were almost broken. "Cedric and the others were training on the Quidditch field. Demi was dragged by Keilara to watch the fun. Of course he was anxious to go find Demi. of."

Munn and Violet could only do nothing to help Yaerlin's miserable situation - there was nothing they could do, why did he become the only single dog in Munn's dormitory?

Fortunately, the three Harrys didn't know much about this matter, so they didn't ask any more questions, but talked about their elective courses with great interest.

Harry and Ron chose the Care of Magical Creatures and Divination classes together, while Hermione chose an additional Ancient Runes class on top of this - yes, it is a pity, because Minister Bones recently After the order was issued, Hermione failed to successfully apply for a time turner, so in the end she could only choose three elective courses as much as possible.

After learning about the three elective courses chosen by Hermione, Moon and Violet looked at each other and felt helpless at the same time.

It seems that Hermione is still determined to catch up with Moon academically.

Of course, in reality, this is not wishful thinking. At least judging from the grades of first and second grade, Hermione is not much worse than Moon.However, Moon still wanted to advise her that in terms of academics, Moon really couldn't be considered the top person at Hogwarts - even if we only looked at the current students, he couldn't be counted.

After all, there is another Percy above, and their test scores are exactly the same, with O's in all subjects.But the problem is that Percy got OWLs certificates in all subjects when he was in fifth grade, while Moon was destined to only get ten.

But it was obvious that Hermione would never listen to such words without even thinking about it.

"I think the ancient runes course is quite interesting." After chatting about the elective courses, Hermione finally put down the old book she had used for entertainment and muttered: "Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures course should be good too. , at least that's what Fred and George said. But in the Divination class, God, I asked about it, and at least half of the people in Gryffindor firmly believe that Professor Trelawney is a liar. To be honest, I have already I’m starting to regret choosing this course.”

As she spoke, she looked up at Moon and asked curiously: "So, is Professor Trelawney really a liar?"

"No, Professor Trelawney really has the gift of prophecy and the ability to predict." Moon took a sip of black tea and suddenly felt that the taste had become a little sweeter for no reason. He lowered his head and looked at the small plate next to him and realized that , the sugar cubes in his sugar tray were suddenly missing by half.

He took another sip and suddenly felt that adding some sugar to the black tea didn't taste so bad.

"However, I think you can really talk to Professor McGonagall and see if you can change your elective course to something else before class starts."

Hermione's brows suddenly raised, "Why?"

"Because Divination is a subject that purely depends on talent - don't get me wrong, this is not the same as 'magic talent', but a pure prophecy talent, which is the so-called 'Celestial Eye'. Therefore, Trelaw Although Professor Ni is not a liar, she really can't teach you anything. If you have the gift of prophecy, you can learn it by reading books. If you don't have the gift of prophecy, then taking classes for several years is just a waste of time."

Hearing Moon's statement, Hermione was not in a hurry to refute, but she still pressed her lips into a thin line. After a while, she continued: "Then is there any way to know whether she has this... ...a gift of prophecy?”

"There is no particularly good way." Moon shrugged and put the teacup back on the table. "That's why I don't recommend you try this luck."

Hermione began to fall into a long silence. On the lawn not far away, a large ginger cat suddenly jumped over quickly, causing several young wizards sitting in the teahouse to look over there.Ron and Harry naturally discovered the figure, so the next moment, Ron immediately waved over there, "Crookshanks!"

The big ginger cat, which was chasing something unknown, stopped suddenly, turned its head this way, and after looking at it twice, it slowly walked over.

"That's Hermione's new pet during the summer vacation. She named it Crookshanks. When she came over at noon, I heard Hagrid say..." Harry lowered his voice slightly, "Crookshanks probably has Of catnivet blood."

Although the pace was like walking, since the distance was not far, Crookshanks quickly walked over and immediately started rubbing against Hermione's legs.

After being nudged by Crookshanks, Hermione finally recovered and made up her mind.

"I think I'd better take two classes and give it a try. If it doesn't work, I'll go to Professor McGonagall and ask about changing classes." She leaned over and held Crookshanks on her lap. He also shared Crookshanks’ furry head with Violet, “Maybe I really have the gift of prophecy?”

"About that... I think you might be a little too optimistic." Ron muttered. "That thing is rare, Hermione. Most people don't have it."

"I'm not necessarily most people." Hermione turned her head suddenly, and Crookshanks stared at Ron in sync with his master.

At this moment, Hagrid, who had been busy before, finally became free. He walked over to a few people and sat down with a large glass of cold beer in his hand. "Ha, what are you talking about?" ?”

"We were talking about elective subjects -" Harry very wisely spoke first, blocking out what Ron had just said. "Hagrid, our first Care of Magical Creatures lesson in third grade will be What are you studying?”

"Well... well... this." Hagrid raised his large beer glass. "You will know when Monday comes. Anyway, don't worry, I won't drag a giant dragon to teach you."

As soon as these words came out, not only Munn and the others, but also the little wizards sitting at other tables nearby laughed together.No one expected that just a few days later, Hagrid himself would actually know this joke.

As if something suddenly occurred to him, a young Slytherin wizard at the other table suddenly asked Munn: "Hey, Fox, will there be assessments and activities in the first week of the Duel Club?"

"Yes, tomorrow afternoon." Moon responded, "I guess you will see the notice tonight."

"Will there be an assessment for the Duel Club tomorrow?" Harry's eyes widened when he heard this. "Then I can't go directly to participate in the evening Quidditch training later. I have to go and tell Neville first."

"What, Neville has to take the exam again?"

"Yes, and he has been practicing hard all summer for this." Harry nodded, and Ron also echoed: "You don't know, when you saw him on the express train, he was so nervous The person was so thin—I almost didn’t recognize him.”

Hagrid, who had just put down his glass, was probably really thirsty. He raised his glass and waved it to a few people, "Ha, I wish Neville can pass the test tomorrow and don't waste his efforts." .”

"Indeed, otherwise Neville would have completely lost confidence." Harry and Ron looked at each other again and said with concern.

The afternoon sun became warmer and warmer, and what did everyone talk about later, and when did Yalin finish his homework... Moon could hardly hear these things clearly anymore - he leaned there , and fell asleep like that in a trance.

Chapter 37 assessment begins

On the way back to the castle, Harry still couldn't hold it back and chatted with Moon about Potions class.

"To be honest, it feels so good to not have Professor Snape staring at me in class. I even feel that I feel a lot smoother when mixing potions." Harry's expression was obviously very happy when he said this, but There was a hint of regret in his words, "However, it seems that my talent in Potions may not be that good. Although I successfully completed the exam of Professor Slughorn's first class, it took me too long. Time, otherwise, maybe I can get the bottle of fire dragon blood."

"But at least Professor Slughorn did realize that Hermione is even better than I said." He shrugged, glanced at Hermione who was whispering to Violet in front, and smiled happily. got up.

"Very good..." Moon said lazily. He had just woken up not long ago and his energy had not yet fully recovered. "I thought you would be very annoying to Professor Slughorn."

Harry blinked his big green eyes: "Professor Slughorn is indeed a bit over-enthusiastic, and I don't really like some of his ideas - but at least he doesn't use these in class. Show it, so I think...it's still acceptable."

They walked up the steps together and entered the gate of the castle. However, before they could part ways, they bumped into Neville who was trotting towards the outside.

"Hey, Neville, what are you doing here?" Ron, who was walking on the other side, quickly stopped Neville, "Isn't it almost dinner time?"

Neville paused and said breathlessly: "I, hoo, I'm going to the Owl Tower. There's, there's, there's a letter that I - forgot to send."

Seeing how he couldn't even form a complete sentence and his face was red, it didn't take much to figure out that this guy probably ran straight down from the Gryffindor Tower.

Yes, just think of it as training in advance for the semifinals, which is pretty good.

"Oh..." Ron glanced at Neville's pocket, then at Neville's hands, and then frowned, "Neville, where's your letter?"

"Letter? The letter is here -" Neville raised his hand, and then his expression suddenly froze.Two seconds later, his expression immediately became extremely sad, and his other hand grabbed his hair directly. "It's over. I must have left that letter, huh... in the dormitory."

Hearing this, Munn and others looked at each other and shook their heads helplessly.

"Come on Neville, we'll go up with you to get it."

Neville nodded with a sad face, and as soon as his eyes fell on the steps, he felt that his legs were beginning to weaken.However, he had to send the letter, so he had no choice but to say goodbye to Moon, Violet, and Arlin along with Harry, and then took a difficult step forward, starting over the path he had just walked.

Looking at the backs of several people going upstairs, Arlin scratched his head and couldn't help but muttered: "Do you think Neville can really pass tomorrow's assessment?"

"I don't know..." Violet shook her head, "I hope he can pass, otherwise all the hard work during the holiday will be in vain."

"We'll know tomorrow whether it passes." Moon rubbed his neck. "You won't be able to guess anything just by guessing. Let's go and eat first."

Arlin and Violet responded and followed Moon into the auditorium. Almost at the same time, light rain began to fall outside the castle.Then, after about an hour, Oliver, who originally wanted to take the Gryffindor team members to practice in the rain, had to announce that the training was suspended.

There was no way, the rain was really too heavy, it was so heavy that it was difficult to see other people clearly from three to five meters away.Although Oliver didn't care what his team members said about him being "Captain Devil," the problem was that they couldn't train at all in this kind of weather.

In response to this heavy rain, many little wizards joked that it was the rain that did not fall on the day back to school that was transferred to today.

It has to be said that this possibility is not completely impossible - just like the thick clouds covered the whole day on the day of returning to school, today's heavy rain fell continuously all night, and even until Sunday morning, it did not It didn't stop completely, but there were still raindrops falling from the sky, but the rain was not as heavy as last night.

Thinking about it, only such violent rainfall could match the clouds that day.

If there is anyone in Hogwarts who hates rain like this the most, it must be Mr. Filch.It's not that he prefers sunny days, but whenever weather like this comes, there are always some little wizards who will walk out of the shelter of the castle in the rain, go outside and step on the mud on their feet, and then return to the castle to give Mr. Filch Leaving muddy footprints all over the ground.

Mr. Filch, who was holding a mop, really wanted to give each of the little wizards a mop so that they could wipe away all the footprints they made.

This was obviously completely impossible, so he could only hope that some little wizard would cause trouble in the corridor and be caught by him personally - in this way, he could confine them and punish them as a matter of course. Help yourself to clean up the ground.

He couldn't have been happier when he heard banging coming from one of the classrooms.

Until he opened the classroom door and discovered that the "person" inside who was holding a cane and knocking on the broken iron basin was not a little wizard, but the hateful, annoying, and desperate Peeves.

Just like that, one person and one "ghost" started a brazen war on the fourth floor.Without even thinking about it, I knew that as long as no professor stepped in to interfere, Peeves would definitely win in the end.After all, Mr. Filch can't do anything to Peeves, and Peeves has [-] ways to prank Mr. Filch.

Unfortunately, the only two professors who are not in their offices are all upstairs.

That's right, it's Sirius and Professor Flitwick, because the Duel Club's first assessment of this semester has officially begun.

"Come on Neville, believe in yourself, you will definitely pass this time."

Ron patted Neville's shoulder hard and cheered him up.Hermione stood aside, constantly trying to instill a little more knowledge of spells into Neville at the last moment, although she herself was not yet completely out of the stage of talking on paper.There was no other way. She could only catch up with the duel for a short period of time last semester.

Neville kept taking deep breaths, and Violet handed him a piece of chocolate from the side at the right moment. In fact, Hermione's way of cheering up was completely making Neville more nervous. Looking at his look, I'm afraid even I'm almost sweating.

"Don't worry, Neville, just do as you practiced during the holidays."

Ginny very much agreed with this, but to be honest, she was a little nervous herself, because she would also go in with Neville to take the assessment later.

Harry, who was not far away, looked at everything happening here with envy, wishing he could hurry over.Even if he may not be able to help, at least he can provide some encouragement to the two of them.But he can't, because Colin Creevey is constantly "interviewing" him.

"Harry! Do you have any advice for me? I heard that you passed the exam very smoothly and was praised by Professor Flitwick." Colin stared at Harry with burning eyes. In order to take the exam, he I didn't bring a camera with me today, but Harry felt at this moment that Colin's eyes seemed to be able to take pictures.

"Well, you know, it's what Moon once said. Well, it's about using the spells you've learned flexibly and not being too rigid."

As Harry spoke, he was also trying hard to keep his smile from being too rigid.

Colin admires him and likes him - although Harry himself is not sure what it is about him that makes Colin admire him so much, he still feels that he should try not to treat Colin too badly.After all, there was someone who regarded himself as an idol so stubbornly, which made him feel a little happy in his heart.

Of course, it would be better if Colin could stop being so exaggerated.

Fortunately, Penello saved him. Just when Harry felt that he could no longer maintain his forced smile, the door of the large classroom slowly opened, and Penello announced loudly: "You are going to be assessed. The little wizard can enter."

At this moment, Harry finally had a suitable excuse. "Hey, listen, Colin, I think you should be well prepared. Don't delay for too long. The further you go, the more nervous you will become. It would be better to go in earlier."

Colin nodded solemnly, and Harry was able to take the opportunity to escape and return to Hermione and Ron.However, at this time, Neville had already walked into the large classroom with Ginny and one of Ginny's roommates, becoming the first three little wizards to receive the assessment this semester.

"Have you finally dealt with your fan leader? Harry?" Fred and George suddenly emerged from nowhere, standing on either side of Harry like bodyguards. "The price you paid is What? Did you give him a signed photo of you?"

"Come on, stop teasing me, both of you." Harry sighed with a speechless expression on his face: "I'm tired enough."

"Ha!" The twin brothers let out a short and powerful laugh together, and then patted Harry on the shoulder. "This is the price of fame, Harry."

"I don't think so..." Harry glanced at the large classroom and said worriedly: "But compared to this, I think what we should pay more attention to now is the assessment results of Neville and Ginny, right?"

Fred and George looked at each other, and then Fred was still the first to say, "We don't know Neville."

"But Ginny will probably get through."

"Unless the test is more difficult than what we had then."

"So, you just have to pray for Neville."

Chapter 38 The Day of Fall

Harry didn't know where Fred and George got their confidence, but he didn't ask any more questions. Anyway, the assessment didn't take long, and he would be able to see the results in person soon.

Just like that, 2 minutes later, the three Nevilles walked out of the door again - judging from their expressions, it was the classic three people entering and two passing through.But to everyone's surprise, one of the two people who passed was Ginny, and the other was Neville.

Neville, whose face was already slightly thinner than last semester, was almost ecstatic. As soon as he returned to Harry and others, he immediately loudly said happily: "I succeeded! I passed Professor Black's assessment!"

At this moment, everyone was almost sincerely happy for Neville, because this at least proved that his efforts throughout the summer were not in vain.

Of course, Fred and George's previous conclusive predictions about Ginny were temporarily forgotten by everyone at this time.

Cedric and Arlin, who had never had a smile on their faces, also smiled with everyone, but their smiles did not last as long as others, and instead quickly disappeared without a trace.Qiu, who had already noticed that Cedric was in a bad mood, gently tugged on Cedric's sleeves, pulled him to the corner of the corridor, and then asked in a low voice: "Cedric, what's wrong with you? I feel like there's something wrong with you. happy?"

Cedric shook his head slightly and said "No" first, then glanced in the direction of the large classroom, hesitated for a moment, and then said softly: "Moon had a nightmare last night."

Hearing these words, Qiu was stunned for a moment, and then his face showed confusion.

"What's wrong with having nightmares? Isn't this normal?"