It's just a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

Chapter 398 Asking for advice (two in one 4k)

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

At the end of this semester, they will formally take their first exam as a student, and it is also the most important exam—the Ordinary Wizarding Level Examination.

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

However, after the busy study, the Quidditch Academy Cup, which had been suspended for the entire school year last semester, was also reconvened.

Gryffindor's first game before Christmas is against Ravenclaw.

As an extremely good Seeker, Harry certainly wouldn't be afraid of any other academy team, but in fact, from the bottom of his heart, he was very unwilling to compete with a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff team.

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

Coincidentally, they are a couple.

It just so happens that Harry actually has a crush on Cho Chang.

So whether it was against Cho Chang and Cedric was cheering for his girlfriend in the audience, or against Cedric and Cho Chang was cheering for her boyfriend down there, Harry was in Quidditch Odd played with frustration.

Even if they managed to win the match against Hufflepuff, Harry had a sense of defeat that he had won the match and lost his life.

And Ron, who just became the goalkeeper of the Gryffindor team this year, certainly wouldn't have Harry's emotions.

After winning the match against Ravenclaw, he hugged Harry's shoulders excitedly, and Hermione was beside them, and the three of them walked to the waiting room together.

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

Harry's mind is now full of images of Cedric holding a towel and helping Qiu Zhang dry the sweat on her forehead after the game, while softly comforting him. Regarding Ron's excitement, he just mumbled Said.

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

"Of course, we can't win this game even if you catch the Snitch without you, but be happy, buddy, we won today. If people who don't know you see you like this, they will probably think we are The side that lost the game."

Ron patted Harry on the shoulder reassuringly.

For Ron this semester, it can be said that good things come in pairs. He not only became the prefect of Gryffindor's fifth grade, but also successfully joined the Quidditch team as a goalkeeper. Today is another good start.

It made him feel like he was blessed by God.

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

By this semester, Harry's various performances could further confirm her guess.

However, Hermione has never experienced such things as feelings, let alone how to comfort her, so she simply changed the subject.

"Why have you been going to Professor Forrest's office every once in a while since term started, Harry?"

Hermione's words did grab Harry's attention, and Sherlock didn't ask him to keep his Occlumency lessons a secret, he said.

"Professor Forrest taught me a magic called Occlumency in private. 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 are you asked to learn this?"

Hermione couldn't help but glared at him: "There are a lot of people who want Professor Forrest to teach them, but they still can't learn it. Harry can have this opportunity to learn from the professor. If other people find out, they can't wait to switch with Harry." Woolen cloth."

Of course, Harry himself knew that with Sherlock's current fame and influence, as long as he had the idea of ​​starting small classes after class, it was estimated that 90% of the students in the entire castle would sign up.

"It's to prevent me from continuing to have dreams about Voldemort. According to the professor, as long as I learn this, I won't have such dreams in the future."

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

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

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

Just as they chatted and walked into the foyer of the castle and stepped up the stairs, a hurried figure passed them by.

Harry was taken aback for a moment and stopped in his tracks. It was only then that Ron and Hermione noticed his strange behavior. They turned to look at him together and asked suspiciously.

"what happened?"

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

"That seemed to be Malfoy just now?"

After his words, Ron and Hermione reacted.

They all saw the man, but none of them noticed Malfoy's face. The key was that the man's behavior was quite different from Malfoy's usual behavior.

Normally, even if Malfoy wasn't accompanied by his two followers - Goyle and Crabbe, when they saw Harry, they would think of some nasty words with arrogance and sarcasm.

Especially this year he became the prefect of Slytherin, but Harry, whom he had always regarded as his deadly enemy, did not. Instead, Ron, whom he regarded as Harry's subordinate, rode on Harry's head.

But just now, he just walked over as if he didn't see them at all. This kind of behavior didn't look like Malfoy.

Hermione also said strangely.

"Did he not see us?"

Ron shrugged.

"Isn't this better? Maybe he knows that the Mysterious Man no longer has the invincible prestige in the magic world as before, and he also knows that Harry and Professor Forrest have a good relationship, so he feels scared and dare not provoke us anymore. gone."

Harry felt that things were a little weird.

He noticed that when Malfoy walked over, the expression on his face was a little flustered, and his face was also very pale, which was completely different from his usual defiant look.

But it's just that his expression is a bit wrong, other than that, Harry can't say anything.

"Let's go, Harry, George and Fred are preparing to celebrate the party in the lounge. If we go late, they will eat all the good things."

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

The day before Christmas, it snowed heavily.

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

Judging from the information in the newspaper, except on the day when a large number of Death Eaters escaped from Azkaban, Voldemort led them to victory in the battle against the Aurors, the situation after that has always been Aurors. .

It's just that the Death Eaters basically didn't have any major evasive confrontations with the Aurors.

They just frequently attacked those Muggle wizards, and they withdrew before the Aurors arrived. They didn't confront them head-on, and basically didn't lose many people.

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

With Christmas approaching, the castle, which used to be deserted due to the students returning home when the festival was approaching, was much busier than usual this year.

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

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

Harry is no exception.

Originally, they wanted to go to 12 Grimmauld Place to spend the holidays at Christmas, but Mrs. Weasley wrote them a letter and asked them to stay at the school on the grounds that during Christmas, Sherlock Neither Dumbledore nor Dumbledore will return to the Order of the Phoenix.

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

On Christmas Day, it was still snowing, but this still couldn't stop the enthusiasm of the students.

There are many students skating on the frozen Black Lake, and the grass by the lake has also become a new battlefield. George and Fred, who have already entered the seventh grade, are still not mature enough to be adults. Under the leadership, there is a snowball fight between wizards.

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

The three of Harry stayed in the lounge for a long time, and after losing to Ron in five games of wizard chess, they finally decided to go out and have a look.

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

"Snape assigned too many homework during the holidays, twice as much as Professor Forrest. He didn't even want us to have a safe and happy holiday." Even after leaving the lounge, Ron Still complaining about it.

"But although Forrest doesn't leave much homework, it's hard to write. How much have you finished, Hermione?"

"Don't ask me! I won't copy it for you again. Professor Forrest has already found out and warned me last time, saying that there are too many similarities in the homework of the three of us!" Hermione said dissatisfied.

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

He didn't want to be shown another face in such a festival. He hadn't eaten the Christmas dinner yet, but he was full of dog food first.

And just as they went down to the third floor, Hermione glanced inadvertently into the corridor, and suddenly saw a person.

She grabbed both Harry and Ron by their sleeves.

"What?" Ron thought Hermione was trying to lecture him about copying homework, but Hermione just nodded at them in the direction he was 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, as if he had made up his mind, he reached out and knocked on the door, and within a few seconds he pushed the door open and walked in.

Harry and the three of them turned their gazes back, and looked at each other solemnly.

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

Harry nodded: "That's right, that location is Professor Forrest's office."

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

"I've never seen him looking for a professor before, and this is the first time. Besides, it's still in this period."

Hermione, who was the first to discover the problem, hesitated instead.

"Could it be that we are thinking too much? 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 had a question about Potions, we'd go to Snape and ask the question?"

"It's different, Professor Forrest never made it difficult for him like Snape made it difficult for you!"

Ron shrugged.

"Maybe, but I don't think it makes a difference, especially for someone like him."

While they were arguing, Sherlock, who was arranging the magic books on his bookshelf in the office, looked at the students knocking on the door in surprise.

"Malfoy? Is there anything you want from me?"

Draco was obviously a little nervous, and he seemed to be trying to calm down. His eyes met Sherlock's, and then he quickly turned to another place, speaking hesitantly.

"Professor, can I, can I ask you something about something I didn't understand in class?"

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

"Is it about the Iron Armor Curse?"

Hearing Sherlock's voice did not show any resistance or disgust, Malfoy seemed to relax a little at this moment.

"Yes, professor, there is something I don't understand about the homework you assigned during the vacation."

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

It is wrong to generalize a group by the performance of some people, no matter what.

In particular, he is still a teacher. As a teacher, when imparting knowledge, he should teach without discrimination, and should not add special labels as a distinction. Even though he knew very well in his heart that under the current situation, Draco came to him for advice. , mostly because of another secret.

Sherlock returned to the chair, forcing a chair behind Draco at the same time.

"Sit down first, and talk about what you don't understand."

(End of this chapter)