Magical Studies at Hogwarts

Life at Hogwarts has become increasingly difficult, both for students and professors.

With Dumbledore basically absent, it can be said that Umbridge has completely taken control of the school. No one is going to contradict her or stop her. This depressing atmosphere makes many young wizards breathless. .

"You can't come here anymore," Hagrid said after sneaking to Hagrid's hut once. "If she catches us, we'll all be doomed."

This is a fact. Several people are Umbridge's key targets. No matter who is caught, there will be no good consequences.

Under such circumstances, DA's party turned out to be a rare respite for Harry and the others.

The gold coins created by Hermione made their gathering more secretive. Even though Umbridge knew that there was a secret society, she was never able to find it.

Xu's escape from prison as a Death Eater gave everyone a great sense of urgency, and everyone worked harder when practicing.Especially Neville, the news of Bella's escape caused him to undergo an astonishing change. Like Stewart and the others, he hardly said a word and just immersed himself in practicing various spells without even considering his own safety.

According to the practice plan formulated by Harry, each spell must go through three steps: watching demonstrations, practicing on targets, and practicing with real people. In the previous live training sessions, everyone would pay great attention to the safety of themselves and their opponents to avoid injuries.But now Neville doesn't care at all, especially after learning the Iron Armor Curse.

"This can't go on like this. Neville will get hurt sooner or later." After a party, Hermione said with a worried face, "He must be thinking about revenge now."

"It would be the same for me," Ron said. "If I knew where the snake that hurt Dad was, I would definitely kill it no matter what."

"This is wrong!" Hermione still retained her rationality, "We cannot solve those guys alone. Impulsiveness will only lead to people's lives being in vain..."

Harry quietly listened to the quarrel between Hermione and Ron, saying nothing and not knowing how to speak.He felt that what both of them said was reasonable, but now he didn't want to solve Neville's problem, and his own problems were also serious.

The learning progress of Occlumency was very poor. Snape could always easily break through his defenses and see the most disgusting things in his deepest memories.

It was even worse than before. During the last teaching, Snape saw the scene of "him" attacking Mr. Weasley, which made him very angry.

"You are the stupidest student I have ever taught. If you can't stop me from entering your dragon dung-filled brain, one day someone will die because of this!"

Harry certainly knew the seriousness of the matter, but some things couldn't be solved by hard work.He really wanted to learn Occlumency, but he made little progress and even got worse.

Now his scar hurt almost all the time, and he often felt bouts of emotions that had nothing to do with his current behavior.Every night he dreamed of walking down the corridor to the Department of Mysteries, longing for what lay within.

"No doubt it was aggravated by Snape's teachings," said Harry. "The scar hurts so much and I hate dreaming about that corridor all the time!"

"You still have to work hard. Dumbledore definitely doesn't want you to continue dreaming about that corridor, otherwise he wouldn't let Snape teach you Occlumency." Hermione advised sternly.

"Of course I know, but I can't help it. It's not a happy thing to have Snape in your head!"

"Maybe..." Ron began, "It's not Harry's fault that he can't turn off his brain."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Snape may not really want to help Harry. As you know, he is a Death Eater. Maybe he wants to open Harry's head further to make God..."

"That's enough!" Hermione interrupted Ron rudely, "You have doubted Snape many times, but not once was he right! Moreover, Dumbledore believed him, and he was a member of the Order of the Phoenix. That’s enough explanation!”

Harry watched helplessly as the two argued again, and he was already a little numb to it.This kind of thing has become somewhat common this year, and they always quarrel for various reasons.Harry knew exactly what was causing this, but he couldn't do anything about it, which made him feel even worse.

Luckily, it won't be long before I can relax because it's time for Hogsmeade to open again.

In the morning, Harry and Ron arrived at the Great Hall early. They had already planned to go to Zuko's Joke Shop first, then Honeydukes, and then have a nice glass of butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks.They desperately want to relax their frayed nerves.

"Can you come to the Three Broomsticks at noon, Harry?" The two were chatting when they saw Hermione running over in a hurry, holding a letter in her hand.

"No problem, that's our original plan." Harry nodded and agreed directly.

"Great!" Hermione was very happy and ran away in a hurry, "See you at the Three Broomsticks!"

After the two had breakfast, they followed the large army to Hogsmeade.Along the way, everyone had smiles on their faces, which was rare. Harry couldn't even remember the last time he saw so many smiling faces.

When they arrived at Hogsmeade, Harry and Ron finally let go and played wildly in Honeydukes and Zuko's joke shop all morning.Fortunately, Harry still remembered to go to the Three Broomsticks to meet Hermione at noon, but Ron forgot.

"Harry, this way!"

When they entered the bar, Hermione saw them immediately and waved to the two of them inside.The two struggled through the crowded crowd, and when they got closer, they discovered that Hermione was not the only one, Luna and Rita Starkey were also there.

Harry hadn't seen this annoying reporter for a long time since the Triwizard Tournament, but she didn't look in very good condition. Her hair, which had been carefully permed before, had become straight, and her nails had lost their bright colors. The earrings were also replaced with cheap mass-market products.

Only then did Harry suddenly realize that he had not seen Rita's article in the Daily Prophet for a long time.

"I have thought of a way!" Hermione looked very happy. "The final analysis of the current situation is that no one believes what you and Dumbledore say. They have controlled public opinion. The Daily Prophet is all about what they want the people to say." Things to know.”

"This is normal. The Daily Prophet sells sales. They want to make money, and now only the Ministry of Magic can meet this demand." Rita said expressionlessly, pushing up her glasses, "People like to see the former savior. And the reputation of the great White Wizard has become bad, not to mention that such an article is very easy to write without my help."

As he spoke, he looked at Harry and asked, "How do you feel about this? Is it anger at being betrayed, or resentment at being misunderstood?"

"Angry! Of course!" Hermione said, "He told the minister the truth, but no one believed him!"

"So, do you really think He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back?" Rita asked, "Do you believe Dumbledore's nonsense?"

"That's right, because that's the truth, I saw it with my own eyes!" Harry shouted, "I was at the scene. He was resurrected and recalled his servants, a dozen of them!"

"Do you want to know their names?"

"Of course, this is big news." Rita took out her quill and started writing quickly on her notebook, "A catchy title: Potter Accuses. The subtitle could be: Harry Potter Points Out Among Us Death Eater. Put a big picture of you on the front page and write below: Survivor of the You-Know-Who attack - 15-year-old Harry Potter accuses prominent figures in the wizarding world of being Death Eaters..."

"Tsk tsk tsk, a very good subject!" Rita looked intoxicated, but then glanced at Hermione who was smiling happily next to her, "But you definitely don't want this article to be published, right?"

"No, no, no, in fact I was hoping it would be published!" Hermione smiled sweetly, very charmingly.

Rita was suddenly stunned, her face full of disbelief.

"Really? Are you sure? You really want me to report on He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

"That's right!" Hermione said, "Like I said, the Ministry of Magic controls the direction of public opinion. No one believes what we say is the biggest problem!"

"Besides, there is no doubt that there are loopholes in what they are saying now. Look at that Azkaban article, eh... can that guy really make Death Eaters follow him? Can he really make that A bunch of guys get together?" Hermione slapped the table and said, "This is inherently flawed, and what we have to do is let everyone see the things in their words that cannot withstand scrutiny!"

"crack, clap, clap"

Rita clapped her hands, but her face was full of disapproval.

"A very good idea, but I gotta tell you, the Daily Prophet isn't going to let this happen."

"Like I said, the most important thing for them is to sell the paper, and the public today doesn't like that kind of content."

"No, no, no, the Ministry of Magic thinks that the public doesn't like this kind of content, but in fact no one knows what people like." Hermione said, shaking her head.

"You think people will like to see this news that scares them?" Rita said with contempt.

"Of course!" Hermione said decisively, "As I said, their statement has loopholes and cannot withstand scrutiny. I think someone must want to see a new interpretation."

"But the Daily Prophet will not publish it."

"I didn't intend for it to appear in the Daily Prophet."

"So where do you want it to run?" Rita asked. "The sleazy tabloids? Trust me, no one cares about that stuff."

"We could get published in The Quibbler," Hermione said. "It's also selling very well, with a lot of people subscribing. And..."

As she said that, Hermione glanced at Luna, who had been sitting quietly next to her. Luna nodded and said, "Well, my dad is the editor-in-chief of The Quibbler. It's easy to publish this article."

"The Quibbler? Ha!" Rita's face was full of sarcasm, as if it had "You're kidding me" written all over it.

After staring at the determined Hermione for a while, Rita suddenly asked: "Okay, assuming I agree to write, how much can you pay me?"

"I don't think my dad would pay anyone to write an article." Luna held her cup, as if she was in a fugue, "And "The Quibbler" never seemed to pay anyone, they all wrote it because they wanted to Write and get your name in the paper.”

"What?" Rita's face was full of disbelief. She looked at Hermione and asked, "You want me to write in vain?"

"That's right." Hermione took a sip of butterbeer and nodded calmly, "You know in your heart, if not, I will report that you are an unregistered Animagus. Maybe, "Prophecy" Home Daily will pay you a lot of money to write about your life in Azkaban..."

Hermione was very calm. She believed that Rita would be obedient because she had no other choice.

This was indeed the case. Even though Rita wanted to scratch Hermione's face with her nails, she could only agree.

"It seems that I have no choice but to agree." As she said that, she picked up her notebook and shorthand quill.

"Very good, then Harry, are you ready to tell the people the truth?" Hermione looked at Harry and asked.

"of course."

"Then, start asking, Rita." Hermione said calmly, winking at Rita.

Although this scene made Rita furious, she had no room to resist when someone took advantage of her.After taking several deep breaths and suppressing the urge to lift the table, Rita once again had a sweet smile on her face and started the interview step by step.

The interview went very quickly, and even Rita had to admit that this was the most relaxed interview in her career.Without her having to ask any questions, Harry told everything himself. All the details and the story of the matter only needed to be sorted out in a very simple way to complete the manuscript.But apart from that, this was also the worst interview of her career. She couldn't wait to leave as soon as it was over. After a while, she was afraid that she would really be unable to help but scratch the face of the hateful little witch next to the flower.

"Is this...really okay?" Ron, who had been sitting next to her like a transparent person, asked aloud after Rita left.

"It should have some effect, but we can't place our hopes on it." Hermione was very calm. "Our purpose is just to let more people know the truth of the matter. Whether they believe it or not, there will always be an impression."

"There are many idiots in this world, and there are also many smart people. All we have to do is give people a choice..."

"Believe me, when people have even the slightest doubt about the Ministry of Magic's claims, our purpose has been achieved."

"Okay, I hope it will work." Harry nodded. It felt very good to tell the truth. This was enough for him, and he didn't think about anything else at all.

"Of course it will work." Hermione said, turning to look at Luna next to her, "Do you know when this article will be published in the newspaper?"

"I don't know." Luna shook her head, "Maybe we have to wait for the next issue. In the past, Dad had already finalized the draft."

"Next issue..." Hermione muttered, but then put it behind her, "It doesn't matter, as long as it is published, that's enough!"

"Well, this can still be guaranteed." Luna replied.