On the other side, Felix is also sitting on the sofa in his office looking through the newspapers of the past few days.
The articles gave him a sense of time and space dislocation. The first page shows Amelia Bones being questioned by journalists and announcing the end of the Ancient Runes exchange, where Felix wasn't present, still, the journalists made sure to use his picture alongside it, so you could see him going to the next building in the picture to check out...
The other page, for example, showed the remains of the battle outside the Hogsmeade village: the earth had been ploughed up and cut into pieces, like a poorly regulated field, and there were also mounds of earth, charred stones, large pitch-black holes, and deep pits.
Felix wondered why they didn't bother to fill in the holes and pits.
At that moment Valen jumped onto the small square table with a twist and held out her tiny finger to point at him in a condescending manner.
"Kee!"
"You want to duel me?" Felix looked at Valen with amusement.
Valen nodded seriously.
She pulled out a wand from her small pocket and Felix looked at her with a surprise for a few seconds before realizing that thing wasn't really a wand but an alchemical item.
Valen waved it with a great swagger and the wooden stick in her hand made a swishing sound, followed by a whirlwind that swept through the room and lifted Felix off the couch.
Felix sat cross-legged on the whirlwind, "Huh? Kind of interesting, an improved piece of work by Fred and George from the 'fake wand'?"
Valen stood with her neck held high, no, Valen cast the spell herself!
Felix hovered over the couch, reached out and picked her up by the back of her neck, and shook her hard, and she hastily covered her little pocket, as the fake wand fell from her hand into Felix's.
"Let's alter it," Felix took it and looked at it for a while with sudden interest, he had been occupied lately with changing the magical creatures' magical gifts into runes and rune sequences for ancient magic, followed by the interaction with the representatives of various countries, and now it seemed to be time for him to relax his mind.
"I suddenly realized that some of Miss Granger's ideas are very suitable for use here, the magic frequency ... is another treasure."
Magical creatures also have magic in them, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to use their magical gifts. But Niffler is rather a weak creature compared to others, with nothing too exaggerated or bizarre about their abilities, other than a keen sense of smell and a knack for burrowing and treasure hunting; Oh, they also have a small spatial pocket to store their treasures.
But the fact that they do have magic in them is enough.
"I need to test the frequency of your magic to create an exclusive wand for you ... What kind of magic do you want to add?" Felix turned his head to look at Valen.
Her eyes gradually glowed.
"Kee!!!"
That night she got her new baby(treasure) with glee and after a few tries it worked surprisingly well, and Valen loved it so much that she even cuddled it in her arms when she slept. She can't wait to go out tomorrow to show it off, from now on she is not just a travelling merchant Valen, she is also a Niffler Wizard.
She no longer can be hugged by anyone as they wish.
Muhahaha!
The next day, Halloween finally came.
Harry walked into the great hall and was surprised to see a tall, burly figure at the entrance.
Hagrid is back.
Harry ran over excitedly; Hagrid had several bruises all over his face, but thankfully no new wounds. That seemed to indicate that Grawp had made good progress with his studies, I wonder how he's progressing compared to Valen? Harry couldn't help but think.
"Thank goodness, Hagrid, are you finally going to come out and meet with people?" Harry asked enthusiastically.
"Shhh, keep your voice down." Hagrid bent down timidly and tried to hide, but he simply couldn't, as he looks too conspicuous, and it made his behaviour look a little comical. "I've just come back to school, ok? Before there was something ..."
"Anyway, you finally remembered to show up to teach our class." Harry said.
"Yeah, I think it's a perfect opportunity." Hagrid scratched his chin and smiled back.
"What's that?" Harry noticed a large wooden box placed next to Hagrid's feet.
Hagrid was about to open his mouth to explain when Luna and Ginny walked in together, so he hurriedly changed his words, "Oh, you mean this... it's a toolbox."
"Hi Hagrid," Luna greeted warmly, "Are you finally planning on coming back to class?"
Harry poofed out a laugh as Luna asked the same question that he had just asked.
Looking a little flustered, Hagrid brought up his previous excuse and said it again, "I just got back to school, I took a leave of absence for something earlier."
"Firenze said-"
"He was mistaken." Hagrid said without thinking.
"Oh," Luna didn't press the issue, as if she'd accepted the reason, and voluntarily changed the subject, "You'd better check out the Forbidden Forest, Thestrals got themselves a king."
"Really?" Hagrid stared at her, looking doubtful.
Luna nodded solemnly.
"Then I'll ask Uwu," Hagrid said half-heartedly, "if any strange Thestral has come to settle in the Forbidden Forest, I need to know if it's aggressive ..."
"Is Uwu the liveliest one? The one with the brightest eyes?" Luna asked cheerfully, "I call it Woo-woo, that sounds similar."
"I'll go in first, Hagrid." Harry said, glancing at Ginny who smiled at him, he hurriedly slipped into the great hall and walked a dozen steps to see Hagrid and Luna still chattering passionately.
The Halloween dinner had begun.
Harry saw Hagrid sitting next to Professor Hap, the fork in his hand swishing back and forth over the dinner cloth tied to his chest as he spoke as if twirling an embroidery needle for sewing. Then Hagrid picked up a plate of fried fish, glanced around like a thief, and tucked it under the table.
"What's wrong?" Ron asked vaguely as he took a bite off half a sausage.
"I probably know exactly what is inside the box that Hagrid brought along." Harry said, thinking it must be the giant Grawp.
"Look at that, they're beautiful." Hagrid said gruffly, pointing to the bats on the ceiling that were used as decoration, "Reminds me of Thestrals, their wings are practically identical, I mean, just in shape ..."
"Oh, it's really amazing." Felix said.
He held out his hand and pointed toward a huge roasted pumpkin on the table, which quickly shrank to the size of a small lantern.
"You can take it back." He said with a wink.
"Oh, uh, thanks." Hagrid said, as he leaned over and explained in a low voice, "Little Grawp will like it."
"Who's little Grawp?" Professor Flitwick interjected and asked, the fork in his hand seemed to be under a spell, not only its length far exceeding normal standards, but the other end had taken the shape of a hook, pulling the plate over at the far end.
Hagrid looked envious as he spoke vaguely, "I know it from the Forbidden Forest. Need a hand?"
"What?" Flitwick asked.
Hagrid snatched the fork from his hand and hooked all the food around him to the side as Professor Flitwick shouted agitatedly, "That's enough." Hagrid took a few more before stopping, as he muttered, "It's okay, I can help you eat."
Felix looked around the professor's table, Snape remained silent as always, not engaging in conversation with his colleagues, Felix could guess that he might not be having a very good time these days and wondered if Voldemort had summoned him privately.
Professor McGonagall and Sirius were discussing something in whispers.
"Oh no, Probation is the least possible punishment." Professor McGonagall said with a serious expression as she put down her fork.
Finally, Felix set his eyes on the middle seat, the seat that belonged to Dumbledore.
But it is now empty.
--------------
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Towards the end of the dinner, the students who were well-fed and contented started to noisily murmur in the great hall.
An uneasy restlessness filled the air as more and more people realized the fact that Headmaster Dumbledore is not present tonight, and they all darted their eyes toward the professor's table and debated it with each other.
Felix watched the scene in silence as Professor Flitwick's shrill voice reached his ears from two seats away.
"Minerva, did Headmaster Dumbledore got caught up with something?"
"I'm not sure," Professor McGonagall pursed her lips tightly, her hands folded together as she looked torn. She looked around the great hall at the gesturing students and suddenly stood up.
"Students-"
Her voice travelled far and wide, and the great hall gradually fell silent. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and was about to open her mouth to explain when there was a sudden creaking sound heard from the direction of the entrance to the great hall.
Professor McGonagall was relieved that Dumbledore had shown up.
He stood in the doorway of the great hall with the dimly lit entrance hall behind him, and his silvery-white hair and beard glowed in the light of the pumpkin lamps.
The uneasy atmosphere that had built up in the surroundings vanished at once.
With a smile on his face, Dumbledore strides through the gap between the great hall tables, and students once again started to chatter eagerly, only this time the mood in the atmosphere is relaxed and jovial. Dumbledore made his way to the armchair in the middle that belonged to him, and Harry was keenly aware that he had once again worn those white gloves and that black jewelled ring must have been put away.
"The colour of his beard is back to normal." Hermione whispered.
Harry was simply focused on staring at the conspicuous purple robe and white gloves on Dumbledore, guessing if the hands inside the gloves are intact, without paying any attention to the beard, "What did you say?" He asked subconsciously.
"Headmaster Dumbledore's beard colour was quite different when he was fighting." Hermione whispered, stretching her neck as she glanced at the beard, " But now it's back to normal."
"There is such a thing?" Ron poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice and patted his well-stuffed stomach contentedly.
"I noticed that too," Neville whispered. "The headmaster's beard turned some shades darker during the fight, an iron-grey colour, kind of like, like ..."
"The owner of the Hog's Head Inn!"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione brought their eyes back from the professor's table and looked at Neville, who nodded at them with a serious look on his face.
"It could be a secret magic." Ron said with a confident look.
"I really hope so," Hermione said, "but I haven't read anything like that in any of the books ... ugh unless the Headmaster had used an advanced human transfiguration."
"It's definitely the case." Ron said with conviction.
"But why would Headmaster Dumbledore do that?" Harry asked in confusion, one of the important lessons he had learned in the Dueling Club was not to make extra moves while fighting. He looked over at the professor's table again.
Dumbledore didn't sit down directly, he stood in front of his chair and looked out at the students in the great hall as the voices subsided once more and people looked at him with rapt attention.
"Ah, forgive me, there were too many newspapers that have mentioned my name recently, and I was planning to cut out all the parts that mentioned my name," Dumbledore said with a wink, "and owls from all over the world have stuffed my office, and those little guys have always had a thing for things that move, and I had to gather up the silverware on my table ... I only abruptly realized that the dinner party had begun when I was done with everything."
"I hope you can understand that for an old man, time can be both the most precious and the most negligible thing at the same time. I have experienced this particularly well when playing the ten-pin bowling game ..."
He sat down, without eating anything, as he looked around the great hall with a smile on his face. After another ten minutes or so, the dinner ended when the last round of desserts disappeared from the table.
The students stood up sparingly. They moved sluggishly and lazily towards the door, like a group of sloths heading out for food. The professors stood up as well, "Severus." Dumbledore politely called out, "Can I have your company for a moment? I have something to discuss with you."
The two men left in a pair.
When everyone else was almost gone, Hagrid also pulled his wooden box out from under the table, and greeted Felix and Sirius, as he quickly slipped away.
"Everyone's acting weird." Sirius muttered.
"Are you alright?" Felix asked.
"Fine," Sirius said vaguely, "It's just a punishment ... I don't care, I'm used to it."
A muffled, distant voice drifted up from behind them.
"I'm sure I couldn't bear it if I was on probation - that would be too humiliating."
Sirius glared at Trelawney, "Sorry? I don't think I've seen you before, are you also a professor in the school?"
As if she was greatly offended, Trelawney threw her shawl violently over her body and stomped away.
"She is Sybill Trelawney, Professor of Divination, you have met her several times ..." Felix's tone was elusive, in fact, he held mixed feelings about this Professor -- the both of the significant prophecies he knew that had been made by Trelawney were somewhat fulfilled.
"I know," Sirius said without thinking, "I even helped Harry with his Divination class assignments, you know, coming up with ideas and stuff. Kids' imaginations are kinda lacking these days ..."
Gryffindor common room.
Harry slumped drowsily in the soft armchair, glancing at the old clock at the entrance of the common room; it is barely nine o'clock. There is still time before he usually goes to bed, but he doesn't want to do anything, Harry looks up at the ceiling of the common room, and his hand fumbles through the gaps between the seats to find a rolled-up newspaper.
He picked it up and looked at it; the picture on it showed Dumbledore leaning down and grabbing him by the shoulders. He stared at himself lying on the floor twisting and squirming around like a snake, as he subconsciously stroked his scar.
Ron sat on his butt next to him and the armchair shuddered twice as he stuck his head over to look at it, "Mate, you did look pretty scary back then."
Harry didn't say anything as he flipped to the page that reads "Getting to know Felix Hap again", another page that reads "The only man he is afraid of: the greatest of all white wizards, Dumbledore" and the fourth page that reads " The Dark Mark reappears again above the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"
He sat up and read the article carefully.
"After the conclusion of the thrilling duel, a lot of lagging news from abroad has reached our country. For example, the mighty wand that You-Know-Who had used during the battle has been firmly proven to be the snakewood wand of Salazar Slytherin, and this wand had been lying dormant in front of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for over three hundred years, and to be honest, it is quite surreal.
It is suspected that the wand was brought to America by a descendant of Salazar Slytherin and used by the founder of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during her youth and buried by her in her later years.
It can be concluded that the You-Know-Who had long coveted this wand, and after acquiring it he murdered the Headmaster of Ilvermorny, Professor Agilbert Fontaine, who had hurried there to stop him. Agilbert Fontaine, a descendant of the Theodard Fontaine one of the original twelve Aurors of the United States, had a good reputation during his tenure and led a delegation representing the Ilvermorny School in the first-ever Tournament of Champions of the Big Five School last year.
The people of the United States of America expressed their anger and demanded that the murderer of Headmaster Fontaine should be captured and brought over.
...
A new Headmaster has yet to be elected in Ilvermorny, and the only person who witnessed the death of Headmaster Fontaine at the time of the incident is a young Muggle professor, Jura Edmund, who was very lucky to survive from being killed.
When questioned, Edmund had stated that 'the battle was over too swiftly, and despite Headmaster Fontaine's persistent resistance, the opponent's attacks were so evil and bizarre that all defences collapsed in a flash ...'
As of today, the Magical Congress of the United States of America has not made any public statements, and there are rumours that they had sent Aurors to intercept the You-Know-Who which resulted in heavy losses. Headmaster Dumbledore and Ms. Bones have called for all wizards to unite against the You-Know-Who and his Death Eater force.
This piece of information has not been confirmed."
Harry put the paper down, and his heart felt heavy.
Ron said optimistically, "Don't worry, Hogwarts is the safest place in the whole world, so it's safe to say the You-Know-Who would never dare to come over here."
"You're right." Harry said, as his mood improved a little.
Ron glanced once more at Hermione, who had been writing and drawing on her note for a long while, and whispered, " There is nothing for us to worry about in school, so instead of worrying so much about this, we should be concerned about the trouble that is close at hand."
"What kind of trouble?"
"The Quidditch match is coming up, I asked Angelina about it and the first match is scheduled at the weekend, we are up against Slytherin. Professor McGonagall has purposely exempted our homework for this week, and we finished the assignments given by Snape in advance. Every team had booked the training ground to train this week a month in advance, Harry; everyone wants to win!"
...
On the first weekend of November, Valen went out joyfully, draped in a small scarf, and swaggered the whole way.
The ground in the yard was covered in a thin layer of snow, but it was nothing to her as Valen stamped out a trail of tiny footprints, looking around for a target.
"Whoa! Look, it's the little rich girl."
A clamouring crowd gathered around.
Valen nodded graciously and brushed aside a finger that tried to scratch her chin. She jumped over on the bench in the yard, and then the little wizards pulled out the 'treasures' they had collected.
"I found a glowing pebble near the black lake!" One boy said proudly.
Valen shook her head as the others joined in as well.
"Valen already has so many glowing stones, look at mine!" A little witch mysteriously pulled a small hat out of her pocket with little shiny round shards attached to it and Valen's eyes lit up.
"Kee!"
She fished through her pocket and pulled out a few things: a set of thousand paper cranes that could fly, a ghost food, a small bottle of super bubble blowing liquid, and a feather quill that floated in the air. The little witch looked very hesitant.
" Super Bubble Blowing Liquid is the best, pick that one!" A little witch next to her gave a tip.
"What does this quill do?" The first little witch asked curiously.
Valen picked up the quill and wrote a crooked word in the air, "This." The people around them gasped in surprise once again, "There is really a Niffler that can write!" Valen waved her hand in smug triumph at first, but as soon as she thought of the Great Demon King, she sheepishly wiped the word out of the air.
"I'll take that." Mafalda said as a gleam twinkled in her eyes.
The first trade went off without a hitch, and Valen wore that small goose yellow hat along with her scarf with joy and happiness.
"Hi Valen, do you need me to take your picture?" Colin Creevey, who was passing by, asked.
Valen nodded repeatedly.
Colin pulled the camera from his robe like a muggle magic trick and opened the lid when Valen called out. "What's wrong?" Colin asked as he paused and Valen reached into her small pocket, as she pulled out a small wooden wand and struck a handsome pose.
Then she nodded at Colin to show she was ready, and Colin took a picture of her.
"I'll send you the developed picture in a couple of days." He waved his hand as he walked away, "I'm going to the Quidditch field to watch the match, it's been a year since the last one, and I can't miss it."
Valen's eyes lit up, and she quickly completed the remaining few transactions, even the boy with the smooth pebbles got a card that would emit twelve kinds of laughter and left contentedly.
Valen returned to the castle and made her way down the entrance hall by the stone steps at the front of the castle. She looked out at the distance Quidditch pitch in the distance with a little binocular made on her hand and began to worry that it is too far to walk.
She wanted to go to the Quidditch pitch to watch the match, but it would be too tiring to walk there by herself, Valen stood at the edge of the steps glancing from side to side when she keenly heard a voice, "... Astoria, can you please stop your mischiefs..... "
"What I have done wrong?" An indignant voice asked.
"Professor Binns may be a ghost, but he's also a professor at the school, you can't just use ghost food to tease him in class ..."
Astoria was just about to retort when she saw a Niffler suddenly rush in front of her, with arms spread wide to stop them.
"It's you, little one?"
Astoria jumped happily in front of her and reached out to pet Niffler on the head, Valen jumped away agilely, as she angrily pulled out a small wooden wand and pointed it at her.
"Oops, where did you get that wand?" Astoria asked with a look of surprise.
Daphne also glanced at it carefully, "It doesn't look like the one shown in the paper, so it's not Professor Hap's wand. It can't be one of the students', can it?"
Valen shook her head repeatedly, and retrieved a quill from her pocket, scribbling a word crookedly in the air, "Mine." She then patted her chest.
Astoria tried to tease her, "Even if it's yours, can you use it?"
Valen almost jumped up and down in excitement, this is the words she had been waiting for, she waved her hand at Astoria and struck a provocative gesture.
The expression on Astoria's face froze.
"Is she challenging me to a duel?" She looked at her sister blankly and Daphne shrugged.
Astoria turned back to find Valen constantly nodding her head, and kept giving her a look that said, yes, exactly what you think. She froze for a couple of seconds and then burst out laughing, as she winked at her sister Daphne.
"Daphne, look at that, haha, so funny ..."
Two seconds later, Astoria drew her wand in a serious manner and said, "Since you are the one who requested it, I can't refuse ... snicker ... I forgot to tell you that I won the dueling tournament in my first year, and it was in my first term."
Daphne covered her face not wanting to look at her childish sister, "Are you serious?"
"Geez, I'll be lenient then." Astoria said as she waved her hand and looked at Valen out of the corner of her eye as she finished, "Don't say I am bullying you, I'll let you make the first move."
Valen spun around twice in place with her small hands behind her back, then raised her small wooden wand.
A sharp whirlwind appeared out of nowhere and lifted Astoria up, and she was swept ten feet into the air, whirling with the whirlwind. Astoria stretched out her hands helplessly - and with a little bewilderment - but found herself unable to do anything. A few passers-by pointed and giggled at her, almost making her want to dig into the ground.
To add insult to injury, Valen stood with Daphne throughout this process, sizing her up with interest as Daphne laughed her head off.
It took nearly a minute of spinning in the air before the whirlwind that had entangled her subsided and Astoria landed on the ground with stars in her eyes and dizziness, unable to even stand up, "Valen!" She shouted in annoyance and lunged at Valen with her teeth and claws wide open, only to stumble after a few short steps and land on top of Daphne instead.
Distressed, Astoria looked up from her sister's arms to find Valen's dark eyes staring hard at her, the little yellow hat and glowing shards on the top of it sparkled in the sunlight.
Ten minutes later, Valen sat on Daphne's shoulders and followed them to the Quidditch pitch.
Astoria puffed out her cheeks the whole way.
"Valen, how did you suddenly learn to use magic?" Daphne asked curiously.
"Kee!"
"Did Professor Hap help you?"
Niffler shook her head.
"Strange ... Now I think about it, I noticed your wand has a few little gems embedded in it? Is there some kind of secret within it?" Daphne spotted a hint of a clue.
Valen's body twitched, and she hurriedly hid her treasure wand inside her pocket. To make sure she will discern nothing further from it.
The Quidditch pitch was packed up to the brim, the lack of tournaments for the whole school year had increased the interest and enthusiasm for the first match of this new school year, almost everyone who could come showed up, students braving the cold and chattered with excitement.
Valen waved and bid farewell to the Greengrass sisters as he caught the scent of the Great Demon King.
He jumped off Daphne's shoulder and fished two small jars out of her pocket and handed it to them, well, as a fare for the ride.
"Ghost food? I have a share too?" Astoria asked in surprise.
Valen nodded her head cheerfully. After all, you're the first person I've ever defeated, and a 'dueling champion' at that, this is the first step of the great Niffler Wizard Valen towards the stage of history, and she already planned to write an autobiography once she triumphed over the Great Demon King, in which she will certainly describe the first battle in great detail... ...
When Valen disappeared, Daphne held out her hand with a poker face as she said, "Confiscated!" Astoria saw the situation taking a bad turn and disappeared in a flash, blending into the crowd.
--------------
Thanks for all your love and support.
Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.
Happy Reading!!!
Thanks for all your love and support.
Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.
Happy Reading!!!
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