Chapter 268

Jia Jia Siting was taken away by someone completely unexpected.

When the figure in the wide black robe appeared, Harry and Luo En felt as if they could hear their house points dwindling.

“Jia Jia Siting said he was staying at school for a month; a professor would come to bring him back to Hogwarts later—but who could have guessed it would be Professor Sineipu?”

Luo En hid in the shadow of the shop, watching Professor Sineipu approach.

“Harry, you were absolutely right not to apply for a detention.”

Harry shrank back.

Just as he didn’t know why Professor Sineipu had helped him against Qiluo, he didn’t know why Professor Sineipu hated him so much.

Professor Sineipu’s behavior was shrouded in mist.

“Do you think staying at school is that easy? Jia Jia Siting is the first student in a hundred years at Hogwarts to be granted permission!”

Hemin was also surprised, but hearing Luo En’s arrogant words, she couldn’t help glaring at them.

“Of course, he’s still the greatest future…”

Luo En cut himself off, clapping a hand over his mouth.

“What?”

Hemin asked immediately.

“N-nothing.”

Luo En stammered.

Hemin’s suspicious gaze lingered on his face, then she snorted and turned away.

On Diagon Alley.

The two professors exchanged glances, as if performing a special handover ritual.

“He’s undergoing Animagus transformation, Severus.”

Professor Maige said calmly.

“I know.”

Professor Sineipu’s voice remained as low as ever.

“Until the steps before the storm…”

Professor Maige handed over a note, but her words were cut off.

“I—will handle it.”

Professor Sineipu took it, his tone like an announcement.

“In two weeks, or on the night of the storm, I will return.”

Professor Maige spoke slowly, inexplicably regretting having agreed to let Ma Ma Kusi stay two extra weeks.

They hadn’t lived together in years, yet the places she was needed seemed to have long since expanded beyond Hogwarts and beyond Maige Villa…

Sometimes, the meaning of home changes with the person.

The evening glow filled the sky; even during Voldemort’s dormant era, she noticed the world growing more beautiful.

“As for Felix Felicis, decide for yourself when to tell the child.”

After speaking her final words, Professor Maige walked away without looking back.

Professor Sineipu turned and left as well; Jia Jia Siting hurried after him.

“Some fools, even given an opportunity, cannot seize it. Isn’t that right, Jia Jia Siting?”

Professor Sineipu spoke darkly.

“Can I drink Felix Felicis now?”

A mature voice came forth.

Professor Sineipu suddenly looked down, coldly fixing his gaze on Jia Jia Siting’s brooch.

“Hah—”

Professor Sineipu stared for two more seconds, then remained silent for now.

“What did you see on the fourth floor…”

He suddenly blurted out.

“Voldemort…”

Jia Jia Siting quickly touched his brooch.

Professor Sineipu had stopped moving; his eyes blazed with suppressed rage, his voice trembling slightly:

“Ah—our Mr. Jia Jia Siting, always thinking his few simple and ridiculous tricks can accomplish something earth-shattering… even showing no respect for the Dark Lord…”

Professor Sineipu’s icy, mocking voice rang out,

“Very well. For your courage, your detention will begin on September first and last… until September first… no holidays, and…”

Jia Jia Siting stood still, silent; Professor Sineipu had not finished speaking.

“Every year.”

Jia Jia Siting was stunned.

Stay at Hogwarts every year?

Is… this a good thing?

…

When they returned to Hogwarts, the sky was completely dark.

Professor Sineipu’s mood had sunk to its lowest point; he could not imagine what would happen next.

Voldemort was plotting a comeback; his brutal methods against those who obstructed his plans were well known.

He had assumed the young wizard before him was merely an organizer, but he hadn’t expected him to have faced Voldemort directly.

“What exactly have you done? Tell me—the entire process!”

In the dungeon, Professor Sineipu cast a spell to block eavesdropping, speaking with icy venom.

Jia Jia Siting briefly recounted Qiluo’s odd behavior through his brooch, ending with how they stopped Qiluo.

Fortunately, though the brooch couldn’t conceal facts—it revealed even the thoughts meant to hide them—Jia Jia Siting could choose what to say.

He minimized his own role, describing only Qiluo’s strangeness, the plea for help, and Headmaster Buliduo’s expulsion of Voldemort.

“Who do you think you are?! Who do you think you provoked?! It’s laughably naive!”

Professor Sineipu nearly roared.

He felt a wave of dread: Voldemort had slipped into Hogwarts clinging to Qiluo’s nape, and it was the inexplicably involved Greens who had stopped him.

His excuse? Ridiculously, he wanted to help Qiluo?

Because of a single letter of recommendation?!

His trembling body suddenly grew still; he looked at the young wizard—barely two heads taller than the desk—with heavy eyes.

Those green eyes, rare against the dungeon’s gray-black gloom, left Professor Sineipu speechless.

He… was too foolish. Such fools never met a good end.

“Leave—”

He said at last.

As his words faded, distant thunder rolled; a lightning bolt split the night sky.

“Come back!”

Professor Sineipu shouted.

He didn’t even know what he was angry about.

The storm was coming.

Through cracks in the dungeon, the gloomy sky could be seen.

Jia Jia Siting felt a second heartbeat, stronger than his own.

It meant the moment he had waited for had arrived.

At the instant the lightning split the sky, he must rush to the place where the tiny glass vial was buried. If he had completed all prior steps correctly, he would find within it a single dose of blood-red potion.

“Where did you bury it?”

The storm arrived too quickly; Professor Sineipu could only demand sharply.

“The note, Professor…”

Professor Sineipu, momentarily confused, remembered the note with the location.

Following Mi Er Wa·Maige’s cautious style, it would be a place he knew well.

When he opened the note, he saw a glaring name.

—Spider’s Tail Lane.

He froze. During the Hogwarts summer break, he rarely returned there; Mi Er Wa·Maige sometimes sent owls with letters. But that didn’t mean he welcomed intruders.

“Follow me!”

He led Jia Jia Siting swiftly out of the castle.

This fool was ultimately different.

Night. Rain. Wind. Storm.

The rolling hills blurred; Hogwarts lay in darkness.

During their trek, only the faint light from Jia Jia Siting’s wand provided any illumination.