Chapter 397 Asking for Advice (2 in 1 4K)

After entering the fifth grade, Harry's study life became extremely busy.

At the end of this semester, they will officially take the first exam of their student life, which is also the most important exam - the Ordinary Wizarding Level Examination.

The results of this exam will greatly affect their future employment, especially for students who want to work in the Ministry of Magic.

However, after the busy study, the Quidditch House Cup, which was suspended for a whole school year last semester, was reconvened.

Before Christmas, the first game Gryffindor faced was against Ravenclaw.

As an extremely good seeker, Harry certainly would not be afraid of any other college team, but in fact, he was very reluctant to play against Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff teams from the bottom of his heart.

Because Ravenclaw's seeker is Cho Chang, and Hufflepuff's seeker is Cedric.

Coincidentally, they are a couple.

Coincidentally, Harry actually has a crush on Cho Chang.

So whether it was when he was playing against Qiu Zhang, Cedric cheered for his girlfriend in the audience, or when he was playing against Cedric, Qiu Zhang cheered for her boyfriend in the audience, which made Harry full of frustration during the Quidditch game.

Even if they could win the game against Hufflepuff, Harry still had a sense of frustration that he won the game but lost his life.

Ron, who just became the goalkeeper of the Gryffindor team this year, certainly would not have such emotions as Harry.

After winning the game against Ravenclaw, he excitedly put his arm around Harry's shoulders. Hermione followed them, and the three of them walked to the lounge together.

"Did you see the balls I successfully blocked? Harry! To be honest, my hands were shaking with excitement when I went on the court today. Fortunately, I didn't make a fool of myself like I did during the previous training."

Harry's mind is now full of the scene after the game, when Cedric wiped the sweat off Qiu Zhang's forehead with a towel and whispered comforting words. As for Ron's excitement, he just said it in a muffled voice.

"Sorry, I've been concentrating on finding the Snitch."

"Of course, even if we catch the Snitch without you, we can't win this game. But be happy, man, we won today. If someone who doesn't know the situation sees you like this, they'll probably think we lost the game."

Ron patted Harry's shoulder and comforted him.

This semester was a double blessing for Ron. Not only did he become the fifth-year prefect of Gryffindor, he also successfully joined the Quidditch team as a goalkeeper. Today was another good start.

This made him feel like he was blessed by God.

Compared to Ron's carelessness, Hermione was much more sensitive. She could easily see why Harry was in a bad mood. She had already vaguely seen the problem in the Triwizard Tournament last semester.

This semester, Harry's various performances confirmed her guess.

But Hermione had never experienced such a thing as love, and she didn't know how to comfort him, so she simply changed the subject.

"Since the start of the school term, why do you have to go to Professor Forrest's office every once in a while, Harry?"

Hermione's words did attract Harry's attention. Sherlock did not ask him to keep the fact that he was learning Occlumency a secret, so he spoke.

"Professor Forrest privately taught me a magic called Occlumency. After learning it, I can protect my brain and prevent other magic from invading my mind."

Ron looked puzzled: "Are you at risk of being read? Why do you want to learn this?"

Hermione couldn't help but glare at him: "There are many people who want Professor Forrest to teach them, but they can't learn it yet. Harry has such an opportunity to learn from the professor. If other people knew about it, they would want to exchange with Harry."

Harry himself certainly knew that with Sherlock's current fame and influence, as long as he wanted to open a small class after school, it is estimated that 90% of the students in the entire castle would sign up.

"It is to prevent me from continuing to have dreams about Voldemort. According to the professor, as long as I learn this, I will never have such dreams again in the future."

Hearing the name from Harry's mouth, Ron shuddered subconsciously.

"Don't, don't mention that name."

"Sorry, I just said it casually and forgot it."

Just as they walked into the castle's entrance hall while chatting and stepped onto the stairs, a figure with a hurried look passed by them.

Harry was stunned and stopped. Ron and Hermione only then noticed his strange behavior and turned to look at him, asking in confusion.

"What's wrong?"

Harry didn't answer them immediately, but looked at the figure who had walked down the stairs and walked out of the entrance hall after they passed by, with a thoughtful look on his face.

"It seems to be... Malfoy just now?"

After his words, Ron and Hermione finally reacted.

They all saw the man, but they didn't notice Malfoy's face. The key point was that the man's behavior was quite different from Malfoy's usual behavior.

According to normal knowledge, even if Malfoy was not accompanied by his two followers, Goyle and Crabbe, they would be arrogant and think of some unpleasant words to ridicule Harry.

Especially since he became the prefect of Slytherin this year, but Harry, who he had always regarded as his nemesis, did not. Instead, Ron, whom he regarded as Harry's subordinate, got on top of Harry.

But just now, he just walked over as if he didn't see them at all, and his behavior was a bit unlike Malfoy.

Hermione also said strangely.

"Didn't he see us?"

Ron shrugged.

"Isn't this better? Maybe he knows that the mysterious man no longer has the same invincible prestige in the wizarding world as before, and he also knows that Harry and Professor Forrester have a good relationship, so he is afraid and does not dare to provoke us anymore. ”

Harry thought something was a little strange.

He noticed that when Malfoy walked over, his expression was a little panicked and pale, which was completely different from his usual arrogant look.

But it was just that something was wrong with his expression. Other than that, Harry couldn't say anything else.

"Come on, Harry, George and Fred are preparing for a celebration party in the lounge. If we are late, they will eat up all the good things."

Ron urged, and Harry didn't think about it any further. He retracted his thoughts and the three of them returned to the Gryffindor lounge together.

The day before Christmas, it snowed heavily.

Gu Jing

The situation in the wizarding world is still chaotic, and the front page of the Daily Prophet is about the battle between Aurors and Death Eaters almost every day.

Judging from the information in the newspaper, except for the day when a large number of Death Eaters escaped from Azkaban, Voldemort led them to victory in the battle with the Aurors, the situation thereafter was always dominated by the Aurors. .

It's just that the Death Eaters basically didn't have any serious head-on conflicts with Aurors.

They just frequently attacked those Muggle wizards and withdrew before the Aurors arrived. There was no direct confrontation and basically no loss of people.

Although the external strife has had some impact on Hogwarts, overall, the campus this semester is much calmer than in previous years.

As Christmas approaches, the castle, which used to become deserted as students go home as the holidays approach, is much busier than usual this year.

Because compared to the chaos outside, leaving the children in Hogwarts, with the two wizards Dumbledore and Sherlock watching over them, is undoubtedly safer here.

Therefore, except for Slytherin House, nearly two-thirds of the students in the other three houses signed the consent form to stay in school under the instructions of their parents.

Harry and the others are no exception.

Originally, they wanted to spend the holidays at No. 12 Grimmauld Place during Christmas, but Mrs. Weasley wrote them a letter and asked them to stay at the school. The reason was that Sherlock was too busy during Christmas. Neither Dumbledore nor Dumbledore will return to the Order of the Phoenix.

Harry's special status makes it safer for him to stay in Hogwarts.

On Christmas Day, it was still snowing, but this still could not resist the enthusiasm of the students.

There are many students skating on the frozen black lake, and the grassland by the lake has become a new battlefield. Even though they have entered seventh grade, George and Fred are still not mature enough to become adults. Under his leadership, a snowball fight between wizards was taking place.

Looking down from the castle, you can see all kinds of snowballs chasing people around under the power of spells, as if there is an automatic tracking system installed inside.

The three of them stayed in the lounge for a long time. After losing miserably to Ron in five games of wizard chess, they finally decided to go out and take a look.

Although a warm fireplace makes people lazy, going out in such weather can make people happy after all.

"Snape assigned too many homework during the holidays, twice as much as Professor Forrester. He didn't even want us to have a good holiday in peace." Even after leaving the lounge, Ron Still complaining about this.

"But although Forrest didn't leave much homework, it was difficult to write. Hermione, how much have you finished?"

"Don't ask me! I won't copy it for you again. Professor Forrest already warned me last time, saying that the homeworks of the three of us have too many similarities!" Hermione said dissatisfied.

Harry did not join their discussion. He was secretly praying that he would not run into Cho Chang and Cedric today.

He didn't want to be shown off again in such a festival. He hadn't eaten the Christmas dinner yet, but he had eaten his fill of dog food first.

And just when they had just descended to the third floor, Hermione glanced down the corridor inadvertently and suddenly saw a person.

She grabbed both Harry and Ron's sleeves.

"What?" Ron thought Hermione wanted to lecture him about copying homework, but Hermione just raised her head in the direction where they were looking.

Harry and Ron looked towards where she indicated and found a familiar figure standing in the corridor, facing an office, as if hesitating about something.

Then he seemed to have made up his mind, stretched out his hand and knocked on the door, then opened the door and walked in within a few seconds.

Harry and the three of them withdrew their gazes and looked at each other solemnly.

"I remember, that should be Professor Forrester's office?" Hermione looked at Harry. Among them, he was the most familiar with Sherlock's office because he was learning Occlumency.

Harry nodded: "Yes, that's Professor Forrest's office."

Ron looked puzzled: "Why did he go to Professor Forrest?"

"I've never seen him go to a professor before, this is the first time. And it's at this time."

Hermione, who first discovered the problem, hesitated.

"Maybe we are overthinking it, maybe he just has some questions about Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Harry and Ron said in unison.

"Impossible."

"Do you think if Ron and I have any questions in Potions class, we will go to Snape to ask questions?"

"It's different, Professor Forrest has never embarrassed him like Snape embarrassed you!"

Ron shrugged.

"Maybe, but I don't think it's any different, especially for someone like him."

Just as they were arguing, Sherlock, who was originally sorting out the magic books on his bookshelf in the office, looked at the student who knocked on the door with some surprise.

"Malfoy? What do you want to talk to me about?"

Draco was obviously a little nervous, and seemed to be trying to be calm. He looked at Sherlock, then quickly turned his eyes to other places and said hesitantly.

"Professor, can I ask you some questions about what I didn't understand in class?"

Sherlock put the books in his hand back on the bookshelf, looking at this Slytherin student who had grown from a boy to a teenager, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

"Is it about the Shield Charm?"

Hearing Sherlock's voice without any resistance or disgust, Malfoy seemed to relax a little at this time.

"Yes, professor, it's about this homework you assigned during the holiday. I don't understand some things."

To be honest, Sherlock has never had any prejudice against Slytherin students.

Generalizing a group based on the performance of some people is wrong in any matter.

Especially since he is a teacher, as a teacher, when imparting knowledge, he should teach everyone without distinction, and should not add special labels to distinguish, even though he knows very well that under the current situation, Draco came to him for advice, most likely for other reasons.

Sherlock sat back on the chair, and at the same time drove a chair behind Draco.

"Sit down first, and tell me what you don't understand."