cycle

I was leading Greenglass through the woods with difficulty, and to be honest, I had almost lost all sense of direction in the dark, and the night sky was so infiltrated by the Dark Mark that it was hard to see the stars, even though Greenglass kept I tried my best to keep my balance, but her weight was inevitably on my arms. We had just stepped into a swamp and had to light my wand brighter to see my surroundings.

"Squat down!" I just pressed Greengrass's head down to signal her to hide herself in the small bush in front of us, when several people spoke in front of me.

"Ron—Hermione—"

"Is it really useful to shout Percy? I think it might be more efficient if we split up the search."

"As the only adult among us, Fred, I strongly disagree with our separation."

"We're only two months away from turning 17, Wetherby."

"No--"

"Armor protection!" Before I jumped up, I cast a protective spell in front of myself. This is really a smart move. I couldn't help but praise myself, otherwise I might be cursed by three kinds of evil spells at the same time when I poked my head out. Hit, in this kind of high-stress situation, people always tend to attack first instead of figuring out the situation-after all, after figuring out the situation, you are likely to be dead too.

"Alice?" George lowered his wand after seeing me clearly, "Why are you here? By the way, have you seen Ron or Hermione?"

"No, we've been walking through this forest just now, and we haven't met anyone along the way." I helped Greenglass up with difficulty, "Do you know which direction the Malfoy's tent is? I want to put Greenglass Sent it there, but we seem to have lost our way."

"You two underage wizards shouldn't be running around at this time, you'll only cause us trouble." Percy frowned and looked at the girl who was hiding behind me, grabbing my arm timidly, "and You're bleeding, don't you notice?"

He pointed to my right arm, and I looked down to see that the clothes that had been cut by the branches had been smeared with blood.

"I don't think we both mean to hang out at a time like this, Chairman," I said gruffly.

"Malfoy's tent is over there. We saw the roof of his tent when we came here - the fact that something so conspicuous wasn't burned is a big indicator, right?" One of the Weasley twins pointed us in a direction , "When we came from there, the Ministry of Magic was searching tent by tent. Of course, it would be strange if we could find anything. It's not far away. There shouldn't be any danger there. It stands to reason that we should send you two girls there—"

"No need," I said quickly, "Hurry up and find Hermione and the others. Uh, if you meet my mother, can you tell me I'm safe? Thank you."

"Always at your service, ma'am," said the two of them in unison.

We quickly walked to the open area in the direction they pointed, and Greengrass finally recognized the way-I was relieved when I saw two white peacocks still walking leisurely in the mess around them.Mrs. Malfoy stood expressionlessly at the door of the tent and talked with several Ministry of Magic officials. She seemed to be firmly opposed to their house search, and called this behavior "slander full of insults".

"Astoria!" She pushed aside those people and walked towards us, "Your parents are so anxious that they went out to look for you and haven't come back yet—look, am I wrong? Our old family friend My daughter is missing, and my husband went with them to look for her and has not returned!"

"So offended, ma'am." A wizard with a thick voice apologized to her, glanced at us and motioned for those behind us to leave.

"Our family was invited by the Minister of Magic to watch the game." She wrapped her shawl around Greenglass' shoulders, "My husband will definitely inform the Minister of your rude and rude behavior tonight."

"Miss Snape sent me back," Greenglass whispered to her. "She's hurt too, ma'am, can you help us—"

Narcissa Malfoy looked at me, as if she had just discovered my existence, I shook my head at Greengrass and was about to turn around to leave when I heard her say, "You shouldn't be wandering outside at this time, come in."

"No need," I looked up at the Dark Mark that was still there, "Thank you Ma'am, but I still need to find my mother."

Mrs. Malfoy's mouth twitched, as if hearing something unpleasant.

"Your mother should be very busy tonight." She also looked at the Dark Mark with a very calm expression, "The group of Aurors just saw you, so she will naturally know where you are soon."

The layout of the tent made people suspect that the Malfoy family had moved their entire manor here.Mrs. Malfoy took out her wand and gave Greengrass a sprain, and a house-elf came and poured me a cup of hot chocolate.I just sat down to check the wound when someone came downstairs.

"Mom, I want to go out and see - I won't run around!" Draco yelled impatiently, "I'm not a kid anymore!"

"Show me your arm, Miss Snape." Mrs. Malfoy turned to me as if she didn't hear her.

Draco ran down three steps at a time as if someone had cast a silent spell: "Alice?"

"Get out if you want to get out." Mrs. Malfoy looked tired, and she tapped my arm (but kept a distance between us, as if touching me would dirty her), scratched by a branch. The wound began to heal slowly, but still left a very shallow scar, "Do you still want to go out?"

Draco sat next to him and said nothing.

"Miss Snape saved me." Greengrass, who was holding a cup of hot drink, seemed to have finally regained some color on his face, "I'm lost - if it wasn't for her help, I wouldn't be able to get out of that forest."

Greengrass was very sleepy, and Madam Malfoy rushed him to wash up and go to bed before he could say a few words.I noticed that although her expression was calm, she had been pacing back and forth, looking out the door from time to time. I thought Lucius Malfoy probably didn't look for Greengrass.

"I'll go out for a while." She finally stopped pacing, looked at me and Draco, "Senna—"

A house-elf appeared at her feet, bowing tremblingly to her.

"Look at Draco, don't let him leave this tent - as for Miss Snape, you also seem to need a rest, Senna can take care of you."

"Senna remembered what the mistress said!" the house elf screamed, "Senna will not let the young master leave the tent for half a step!"

"I want to wait for my mother to pick me up." I rubbed my eyes and said to Draco, "I don't want her to come across - she may come over later."

Draco made no objection, poking lazily at the Krum model on the table with his wand, frowning as the little figure made various broomstick movements.I sat there watching the house-elf walking around, looking at the exaggerated decoration of the living room, silently calculating how many rules of the Ministry of Magic this tent violated, and thinking that the house-elf had turned into two , the light source on his head also blurred, and the small voice gradually faded away.

The pillow is uncomfortable, I yawned and thought vaguely, but it has a very familiar smell - not an unpleasant smell, but this pillow will play with my hair, I reached out and hit it, and went back to sleep past.

Mom probably came here with a few Ministry of Magic staff around dawn. It seemed that the chaos at night made everyone feel uncomfortable. Several people looked like they had rolled in the mud and didn't even have time to clean it up for themselves. new.Mrs. Malfoy didn't know when she came back. She still answered the staff's questions with the attitude that no one should talk to her on an equal footing. She said that Mr. Malfoy was accidentally on the way to find Greengrass last night because Injured by the evil curse fired from somewhere, she chose to go home early to recuperate, and coldly emphasized that if she felt that what she said was not true, she was welcome to visit Malfoy Manor.

"Thank you for taking care of Alice, Mrs. Malfoy." Mom thanked her politely, holding a hand tightly to me who was in a daze.

"It should be," Mrs. Malfoy turned to look at her mother, "it's just because Severus takes care of Draco at school."

Draco should have gone upstairs to bed long ago, and I didn't have time to say goodbye to him.All the way back to the tent, I was removing a few ugly braids that appeared on my head. My mother seemed a little angry at my unauthorized actions, but after listening to my explanation, she gently praised me for helping me. Greenglass' behavior.

"But pay attention to your own safety." She held my hand tightly, "Liz, Mom knows you are willing to help others, but you don't understand what dangers you may face in the future."

"Mom, that sign." I looked at the still dark sky, the atmosphere of carnival was gone, and everyone I met around was speeding towards the assembly point with the portkey with expressions of fear and vigilance. Some people blamed each other hysterically and even attacked each other because of being pushed and shoved, "Does it mean... no, right, You-Know-Who is dead, and no one will come back to life after death."

"We have to be on our guard, my dear," she replied, obviously evasive, "although people take Alastor's words as madness and say he is a mad-eye-but mother thinks he is right, and always keep alert."

The rest of my summer vacation was basically spent at home reading my dad's notebook. I hardly knew when my mother came home and when she left every day. There were days when she didn't even come home.The Ministry of Magic was in a mess, the Daily Prophet spared no effort to report the chaos after the Quidditch World Cup, the Dark Mark repeatedly appeared on the front pages of the newspapers, and every day brought more sensational conjectures—— Reports are all credited to Rita Skeeter.The Department of Magical Sports and the Department of International Magic Exchange and Cooperation bear the brunt. The two departments receive a storm of complaints and letters demanding compensation every day, as well as all kinds of strange and dangerous items.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't wait for the train to leave this year." At the end of the holiday, my mother managed to squeeze me in a little time to drop me off at King's Cross station, and she only had time to give me a quick hug. "No accident, Liz. Mum will be visiting Hogwarts soon, and it's going to be a fantastic year - look forward to it."

I don't know anything about what's going to happen this school year, but I always feel that it may not be smooth.It was the first time for me to arrive at the station so early in advance, and I didn't see a familiar face, so I randomly found an empty carriage and sat down.Then Cormac McLaggen, the Gryffindor boy who was a year older than me and who always made people think that he could knock out a troll with his fists, opened the door of the carriage and sat down without asking my opinion. Came across from me.

"I heard you went to the Quidditch World Cup too?" he asked me, leaning over (I had to lean back or think he was going to blow in my face).

I regret that I didn't lie, because in the following time he began to comment on the entire World Cup final process, what room for improvement in the Irish team's tactics, and what fatal mistakes the Bulgarian team made.From time to time, he would ask for my opinion and force me to agree with the content that I didn't understand or was interested in understanding. After I tried to tactfully express that my attention to Quidditch was limited, he started talking about the OWL exam again. To share his review experience with me.

I was on the point of crying when I saw Draco at the door, almost gesticulating to him that I was here, and almost screaming for him to save poor me.

"I think there should be a lot of empty carriages now?" McLaggen was very dissatisfied with Draco who opened the carriage door, "Didn't you notice that there are two Gryffindors sitting here?"

Draco turned around and said a few words to Crabbe and Goyle who were following him, pointed to the carriage behind him, then sat next to me and asked with a bad attitude: "So? If you buy this place There should be a sign on the door, but apparently your close relationship with your Uncle Tiberus only allowed him to buy you the lowest seat at the Quidditch World Cup - the kind that only listens to the voice, Why don't you please him any more, huh?"

"All my family property is at least clean." McLaggen's face flushed, which made him look swollen a few more dimensions.

"Really?" Draco sneered. "It's admirable to be able to tell where each Nat comes from, after all, I don't even know how many vaults there are in the house."

Anyone else would have thought Draco's words were too harsh, but since McLaggen was trying to touch my hand just now, it's kind of fun to see him blushed and speechless right now.He stood up suddenly, and I thought he was going to punch Draco in the face, and reached into his pocket to grab his wand.

"Aren't you coming with me?" McLaggen asked me gruffly. "Don't you want to hang out with the Slytherins?"

"She's been with Slytherin bastards for at least ten years," Draco yawned, wrapping his arms around my shoulders.

"Where is there more than ten years?" After McLaggen slammed the door and left, I counted on my fingers. "Is there nine years? I don't remember..."

The rest of the train journey was uneventful, I huddled in a corner reading Dad's notes (which I disguised as a potions book), and Draco and Crabgore got bored after playing wizard chess for a while (required I and I will also be bored, playing chess with two people who can’t even remember the basic rules, even if you win, there is no sense of accomplishment), he is in a good mood after going out for a circle (I don’t know who I’m playing tricks on again, I feel uneasy The letter of commitment he wrote to me has expired), and then I came over to see what I was reading, so I briefly told him about my research progress this summer.

He looked very interested, which surprised me, after all, when I tried to share the potion knowledge with him before, he only picked up the shortcuts and memorized, and didn't want to listen to the theory.And he is different from Hermione, before he got off the car, he was eager to experiment with Goyle, but I quickly stopped him.

"Draco—Miss Snape!" While waiting for the carriage, Greenglass came over to greet us in the heavy rain. Hermione and I passed by, and we gave each other a look.

"I've always wanted to thank you," Greengrass said, sitting next to me, "but Draco won't give me your home address—I drew it myself."

Her cheeks were flushed, and she carefully took out a small photo frame from her arms and handed it to me. I saw myself sitting in a large field of irises in the painting, with my hair scattered by the wind.

"Thanks, it's beautiful—much prettier than I am," I admired heartily, putting it away so it wouldn't get wet in the rain.

If meeting McLaggen on the train gave me a hunch that the new school year was not going well, then meeting Peeves certainly pushed it to the top.Countless red balloons filled with water hit us from the top of my head. I felt that my clothes were soaked from the inside out, and the floor was full of water.Professor McGonagall, who rushed to stop Peeves angrily, fell down if he didn't catch Hermione in time. Peeves turned a deaf ear to her loud warning, but became more and more interested.

"What kind of spell is there to steam the clothes dry—first go to the auditorium! No matter how you cast the spell here, Skin Ghost will still make you drenched in the next second!" The less clingy girl said, "Professor McGonagall let's go!"

Finally everyone entered the auditorium in the chaos, I managed to fish out the wet, dripping hair at the neck, Professor Dumbledore waved his wand, and all the clothes on us became dry and floppy. As if just washed and dried.

"Come on, tell us exactly what's going on," Ron Weasley muttered grimly. "No one in the family ever tells me about a holiday - now we can!"