Chapter 278: Chapter 278: Hagrid's Problem (Edited)
"A blind box?" Hermione froze for a moment, not expecting to find something like that among the Guild's supplies.
Newt also approached to take a look, his instinct telling him that whoever came up with it was probably not a serious wizard. But to him, the blind box seemed like a good deal. The price of a single spell in the guild usually hovered around a hundred points, and some rare spells cost a few thousand. So spending five hundred points on a single spell wasn't a bad deal.
Hermione looked at Tom for his opinion. After she had chosen the precious blind box, Tom's options were very limited. But, of course, Tom couldn't object. He had already chosen what he wanted.
"Purchase!" Hermione paid 518 points in exchange for the opportunity to open the blind box.
Newt's balance decreased by 518, and at the same time, a shelf appeared in front of the three of them, neatly lined with "books" wrapped in leather covers.
"I think it means you have to choose one," Newt explained to Hermione.
Tom scrutinized the shelves, his eyes landing on the book at the far left of the second shelf.
"Hermione, I recommend this one. It should be good," Tom suggested to Hermione.
Hermione was tempted to say, "Who the hell are you to say that? If it turns out to be rubbish, can you be held responsible?" But when she thought about Tom's performance in Divination class, Hermione didn't quite know what to do.
In the end, she chose to trust Tom and picked up the book he had recommended.
When Hermione took the book off the shelf, the three of them realized it wasn't a book at all, but a package of cards: five scrolls wrapped in an outer leather sleeve.
Hermione opened the first scroll, and inside appeared a figure with a pointed wizard hat and a waist-length white beard, none other than Albus Dumbledore.
Newt covered his forehead. The wizard who had provided him with the blind box was really something else!
The image of Dumbledore took out his wand and said, "Mimble Wimble!" And then the image dissipated into a cloud of silver-white smoke that entered Hermione's head.
Hermione felt a memory emerge from the depths of her mind, as if she had actually cast the tongue-tying charm. She couldn't help but take out her wand and try to recite the spell based on the sensation in her mind.
"Mimble Wimble!"
She successfully cast the spell.
"Fantastic!" Hermione looked at the wand in her hand and felt a sense of strangeness. She hadn't been exposed to the spell before, and seconds after obtaining it, she had learned it.
She opened the remaining four scrolls. The first two taught her the Confusion Charm and the Protego Charm. The last two were no longer Dumbledore's shadow but an indistinct black shadow, which taught Hermione two strange spells: Sectumsempra and Levicorpus.
Tom froze upon hearing the words "Sectumsempra" and "Levicorpus," feeling as if he was helping his friend draw a five-star character in one go.
Hermione didn't know, but he did, that Sectumsempra and Levicorpus were powerful spells invented by Snape. The Levicorpus spell could be cast silently, suspending a person upside down in the air. Sectumsempra caused a wound on the body that couldn't be healed with magic unless a counter spell was used.
Both were very good spells.
Tom reviewed the spells Hermione had learned and discovered that those five spells, which were both offensive and defensive, were of very good quality.
"Not only were they very good!" Newt, on the other side of the table, did some calculations and found that it would take thousands of points just to purchase those five spells. Sectumsempra would require a quest, and this Granger girl got them all in one pack? Is she Dumbledore's granddaughter? With these excellent spells, would the quality of the other packs suffer? Because he saw a small note saying that each spell in the blind box was unique.
Meanwhile, a wizard opened the package he had been given with some unease.
After a while of clouds and mist, he showed a look of disbelief. "Levitation spell, illumination spell, cleaning spell, loud voice spell, and happiness spell? Are you kidding me? 518 points for these five rubbish spells?"
He roared, "Damn it, give me my money back!"
...
No, Newt's eyes turned to Tom. He remembered quite clearly that he was the teenager who had just chosen the pack of cards. Could it be...?
Newt stared at Tom for a moment, with thoughtful eyes.
Now he felt a bit curious to know what Tom would choose for his "rookie deck."
He observed as Tom flipped through the pages of his notebook, finally stopping at the end of the page.
"I can't believe he chose this, why?" Newt's mind wandered, but Tom had already made his choice and returned it.
"Thank you, sir. We'll be in touch later. It's getting late, and we have class this afternoon." Tom pointed to the wall clock, which indicated that the lunch break was coming to an end.
"Well, see you later." Newt waved goodbye to Tom but before he left, he asked, "Why did you choose this path? It's very challenging, not for you."
Tom thought for a moment and gave a smile. "For the greater good, naturally! Goodbye~" And then, he departed from the world of dreams.
Newt: !!!
But soon, he smiled in relief. Yes, the boy was truly in this for the greater good!
Back at Hogwarts, Tom and Hermione were immediately immersed in even busier tasks. Today, they had seven classes, four in the morning and three more in the afternoon. The Time-Turner could only turn back time, not help with their mental exhaustion.
When dinner time came, Tom and Hermione had finally finished their full day of classes. But as they entered the Great Hall, they heard the bombshell news that the new Care of Magical Creatures professor, Rubeus Hagrid, had gotten into trouble. The Hippogriff he brought with him had scratched Draco Malfoy from Slytherin just this afternoon!
In response, Gryffindor students and young wizards from Slytherin were on the verge of a brawl. One side believed Hagrid should be expelled, while the other believed it was Malfoy's own fault. Both Hagrid and Malfoy seemed to have disappeared, and chaos broke loose.
Chapter 279: Chapter 279: Suspension and Substitution (Edited)
"Minister!"
Cornelius Fudge, dressed in a striped robe, came to a sudden stop. He had an expression of deep and enduring weariness on his face. In the past two days, the number of magical incidents in the British Isles had multiplied several times, and leads on the fugitive Sirius Black were as elusive as snowflakes, causing unrest throughout the Ministry of Magic.
The Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes of the Ministry of Magic were already working at full capacity, but as soon as they dealt with one incident, a new one would arise. As for the news about Black, it often turned out to be some scruffy vagabond.
Many people blamed Fudge for not revealing it to the Muggle Prime Minister, and it turned out that the Muggles were not much help but rather caused a lot of problems. And that was where their assistance ended. The Muggle Prime Minister's main concern at the moment was not a fugitive from the Wizarding World but rather a general election.
All of this put Fudge under immense pressure, and he felt like his nerves would break at any moment, but still, upon seeing the face of his visitor, he managed a smile. "Good evening, Lucius. What brings you here?"
Lucius, still with his sleek blond mane, dressed in a finely tailored black wizard's robe and holding a cane in his hand, said angrily, "Minister, just now, my son was attacked by a Hippogriff at Hogwarts!"
Lucius was furious, gripping the cane so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
"My son, injured by a beast!"
Fudge pondered for a moment. "The right of a wizard is supreme. If a Hippogriff injured your son, then send some men to execute the beast. Why come to me? Wait, why is such a thing at Hogwarts? Did your son go to the Forbidden Forest?"
Fudge's way of thinking was very simple. He was completely considering the situation from a wizard's perspective. In his eyes, a Hippogriff hurting people was the same concept as a dog biting people. Both had to be eliminated if the owner of the dog was a commoner.
"That's not true! My son, the heir of the noble House of Malfoy, could never have gone to the Forbidden Forest on his own. He was taken there by the new professor of the Care of Magical Creatures class, Rubeus Hagrid!" Lucius was greatly pleased to see Fudge's attitude, and he was prepared to request to accompany the Executioner to Hogwarts immediately to behead the offending Hippogriff.
"Ah, well... it turns out to be Hagrid, who succeeded Professor Kettleburn," Fudge's expression became unnatural. "I remember him, he's a big fellow..."
Now Fudge was like a traffic cop at a DUI checkpoint dealing with someone he shouldn't. He was a bit anxious. He knew Hagrid too well. If it was just Hagrid's animal causing problems, killing it would be fine. But it was clear to everyone that Hagrid had Dumbledore behind him! Wouldn't Dumbledore be upset if they dealt with the Hippogriff directly in this manner?
Given the circumstances, it was not good to anger Dumbledore. Fudge needed Dumbledore's reputation to keep the International Confederation of Wizards afloat, and he needed his help to deal with a series of disasters... and to catch Sirius in the process.
Fudge hesitated.
"Minister, I will request the Executioner..."
"Wait, Lucius," a deep voice came from behind Fudge, "If I recall correctly, Hagrid seems to have the right to appeal. According to the procedure, we cannot execute him directly."
Fudge's spirits lifted upon seeing faithful Kingsley standing behind him, and he felt a sense of reassurance. Kingsley, well done! It was as if Fudge had found a lifeline. Yes, how could they do anything out of place?
But then a sweet voice came from behind Kingsley. "The Minister can execute him if he wishes, and the Minister of Magic holds great power!"
The voice belonged to a short, toad-like witch who was standing behind Kingsley, so well concealed that neither Fudge nor Lucius had noticed her.
"Oh, no, let's stick to the plan!" Although Umbridge's words pleased Fudge from the depths of his heart, he didn't dare to admit what he had in mind. "I am but a humble social instrument, a public servant of the English wizards, who must not be disobeyed. Lucius, you'll have to fight Hagrid before anything else."
Lucius felt somewhat offended by the softness of the encounter, but he said nothing. As far as he was concerned, taking legal action was a victory for him, just delayed by a few months. How could a rough half-giant win against the patriarch of a pure-blood family in court? Lucius was far superior, both in his connections and his knowledge of the law.
It was an advantage for Lucius that Fudge adopted this stance.
"Well, then I'll wait to see you in court." Lucius nodded, gripped his cane, and left. He was extremely efficient. Malfoy had been injured in the first lesson of the afternoon, found Fudge in the second, and before dinner, Hagrid had received a notice from the Ministry of Magic and the School Board.
...
After dinner, Harry, Ron, and Neville went to Hagrid's cabin before it got too late. When they knocked on Hagrid's door, they found that he had already had quite a lot to drink.
"It's over. I'm probably going to break the record. There has never been a teacher in the history of Hogwarts who has been expelled after just one class," Hagrid said quietly as he struggled to identify the visitors.
Somehow, the image of the brown-haired Ravenclaw girl came to Harry's mind, and if she were here, she would have told them who the least experienced professor at Hogwarts was: History of Magic, right?
Fortunately, after careful questioning, they realized that Hagrid's comment had been a drunken remark and that the school had not imposed any punishment on him so far... but he needed to face a lawsuit with Lucius.
"It's my fault. I made too much of a spectacle. I should have kept the Hippogriff in the back and started the school year with some Flobberworms or something," Hagrid said sadly as he attempted to take another sip of his drink, but Harry stopped him.
"It's not your fault. You're just trying to give us a good lesson," Harry said reassuringly.
Ron said angrily, "It's all Malfoy's fault, isn't it?" He took Hagrid's glass and carried it outside to empty it. "You've had too much to drink, Hagrid."
Hagrid fell silent for a while and burped.
"I want to see Professor Dumbledore. I want to take a leave of absence so I can focus on my case with Lucius." Hagrid made a decision.
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