章 229: A Day in Hogsmeade: Uncovering Mysteries and Sweet Surprises
The next day was Saturday. After getting out of bed and pulling back the curtains, Ryan bathed in the golden sunlight. Today, he was going to Hogsmeade, which was his first visit to Hogsmeade Village in this school year. He hadn't been able to go in previous years because he was an exchange student in Brazil. This made Ryan quite excited because he hadn't explored this wizarding commercial center, which was often compared to Diagon Alley, before. He was eager to see how it differed from what he had seen in the movies of his previous life.
When he finished getting ready and arrived in the common room, he saw the Weasley twins and Ron, all looking excited. Ron, in particular, seemed to have recovered from his bad mood after losing his pet rat. Since Professor Dumbledore had forbidden Ryan and Percy from revealing what had happened, they could only tell Ron that Dumbledore had borrowed the rat temporarily.
After exchanging greetings, they all went to the dining hall for breakfast. While Ryan was drinking milk, a large flock of owls flew in from the ceiling. Soon, the surrounding chatter grew louder, almost as if they were in the middle of a Quidditch match.
"What's happening?" Ryan curiously looked at his fellow students, and at that moment, Lee Jordan, holding a copy of the Daily Prophet, shouted, "Merlin, Sirius Black was wrongfully accused, and it was discovered by students from our school!"
"What? Is it true?" "Who did it?" "What exactly happened?" All the students now knew about the incident, and they started talking excitedly.
"Hey, I can't believe it was our own older brother and you who did something this big," someone patted Ryan on the shoulder, and he turned to see the Weasley twins standing behind him.
Taking the newspaper from the Weasley twins' hands, Ryan finally understood what had happened. The newspaper reported that, under the wise leadership of Minister Fudge, the Ministry of Magic had decided to re-examine suspicious old cases according to the law. The Director of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Amelia Bones, had listened to the doubts reported by two Hogwarts students during her visit and had successfully captured Peter Pettigrew, Voldemort's henchman who had been lurking in the school. This cleared Sirius Black of any suspicion.
Minister Fudge, in a morning interview, claimed that this was part of the Ministry's effort to rectify past mistakes and shortcomings, ensuring better leadership in the British wizarding world. He also urged everyone to find Sirius as soon as possible and inform him that the Ministry's misjudgment had been corrected, and he was now free and owed an apology from the Ministry.
"Turning a bad situation into a good one, that's what Ministry bureaucrats are good at," Ryan sneered at the article in the Daily Prophet. However, the subsequent reports did contain some useful information. For instance, they announced rewards for Percy and Ryan for their assistance and the recall of all Dementors, as well as the lifting of curfew in Hogsmeade.
"At least those annoying Dementors are gone; that's really good news," the twins said with a smile.
Ryan also received a notification from the system: he had earned 20 points for changing Sirius Black's fate. It seemed that the things he had done to clear Sirius's name had not gone unnoticed.
The news from this morning quickly spread throughout the school, and as they walked towards the front door after finishing lunch, Ryan could feel many people looking at him.
"The book on wizarding history says that the village inn was the headquarters of a fairy rebellion in 1612, and that screaming shack might be the most haunted house in all of Britain," Hermione muttered as she looked up at the haunted house while leaning against the fence.
"Come on, relax a bit. You've been busy with the book club lately, but you should know that a balanced life is the best way to get things done. Being too busy all the time is not a good idea," Ryan advised.
Hogsmeade was a beautiful little village, and the historical sites were not as professionally presented as Ryan had imagined. After all, there weren't that many wizards in the magical world, so turning these places into elaborate museums would probably not attract many visitors.
For example, the historical significance of the village inn as the headquarters of the fairy rebellion was only represented by a small room inside, with a bronze plaque next to it detailing the events.
So they quickly finished visiting these historical spots, and the rest of the time, Ryan and Hermione used to explore the entire Hogsmeade Village. There was Dervish and Banges, a stylish wizard clothing store, a stationery store called Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, and an owl post office with hundreds of owls. Each of these places left a lasting impression on them.
At noon, they had a simple meal at the Three Broomsticks and tried the famous Butterbeer (everyone was cheering for the Dementors' departure), then they followed a path up a slope to reach the Shrieking Shack. It had to be said that Butterbeer was indeed a good thing. Even though the wind was quite strong on the hill, making their clothes rustle loudly, they could still feel the warmth from the Butterbeer they had just drunk.
The Shrieking Shack was located slightly higher than the other houses in the village, with its windows boarded up, a damp garden, and overgrown weeds. Even in broad daylight, it gave people an eerie feeling.
While Hermione was looking up at the haunted house leaning against the fence, Ryan picked up a sharp stone and engraved the word "Dog" on a pillar by the entrance to the Shrieking Shack's garden. According to the plan he had discussed with Black in the common room, once Ryan successfully cleared Black's name, he would engrave this word on the pillar to let Black know that he could reappear in the public eye.
After carving the word, they quickly returned to the village along the path. After all, the Shrieking Shack didn't look very appealing from the outside. As they passed Zonko's Joke Shop, they could see Ron and his twin brothers buying all sorts of joke products inside.
"Wizards may have limited imaginations when it comes to magic, but I've never understood what's so fun about throwing stink pellets at each other," Hermione commented as she watched Ron and his twin brothers purchase a large number of stink pellets. "This might be a tradition like Scottish men not wearing underwear and wearing kilts."
"Can you really take them to your parents? Then I want to buy some too," Hermione said.
When they entered the shop, they saw shelf after shelf filled with the most enticing candies one could imagine. Large pieces of creamy peanut brittle, glowing pink coconut ice, neatly arranged rows of hundreds of different types of chocolates, a bucket of Every Flavor Beans, a tub of fizzing whizbees. Against the wall were various candies with "special effects": exploding bonbons, oddly shaped peppermint patties, tiny pepper Imps, ice mice, frog-shaped creamy mints, crispy sugar quills, and fizzing whizzbees.
The two of them spent an hour in the shop, and when they returned to school, Ryan and Hermione each had a large bag of candy. It could be said that their trip to Hogsmeade that day was quite fruitful.
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット