Chapter 113: Omen

Butterbeer is a rich, hot drink, which is made by boiling beer and then adding some butter and caramel, using the sweet fragrance to neutralize the bitterness of the alcohol, while the malt aroma contained in the beer can still bloom on the tip of the tongue, overpowering the richness of the butter.

The moment the hot drink entered his mouth, even if Harry had been troubled by the long-standing grudges before, the warmth of the alcoholic drink, Madam Rosmerta's graceful figure, and Luo En, who was chattering about the harvest from Honeydukes, made him feel peaceful and relaxed all of a sudden. Harry felt that his first trip to Hogsmeade had still brought him the good mood he expected.

When they returned to the castle, the Great Hall had already finished the decorations for the Wan Shengjie feast. It was filled with piles upon piles of pumpkin lanterns, clouds were twitching crazily, and there were many burning orange ribbons, with two lazy long-horned water snakes swimming across the ceiling.

"A perfect day, from Hogsmeade to the feast." Luo En expressed his joy to the fullest while cutting his food.

"Indeed, especially since we also learned so much—old stories." Harry thought for a moment and decided not to tell about Sirius's shameless crimes yet.

Amidst the ghosts' entertainment program, the feast ended successfully. The children walked back to their dormitories separately, but they stopped in front of the Gryffindor dormitory; the entire eighth-floor corridor was crowded with students.

The Fat Lady's portrait had been torn open, and there was no sign of anyone inside.

The professors pushed through the crowd and arrived at the dormitory entrance. Deng Buliduo observed the ruined portrait.

"We must find her," Deng Buliduo said. "Professor McGonagall, go and fetch Filch immediately, and have him search for the Fat Lady in every portrait in the castle."

"You're really lucky!" a cackling voice said.

It was Peeves the Poltergeist, who was flying happily over the crowd's heads; whenever he saw someone in trouble or annoyed, he was always like this.

"Do you have any complaints, Peeves?" Deng Buliduo said calmly, and Peeves's smile stiffened slightly. He didn't dare to insult Deng Buliduo either. So he adopted an oily, slippery voice, which was no better than his cackling.

"You should feel ashamed, sir. You are in a position of leadership, yet you cannot see. She was scared out of her wits. She flew across the courtyard to the fourth floor, sir, and was flashing between those trees, crying and screaming about terrible things while running," he said happily. "Poor thing."

"Who is she talking about?" Deng Buliduo said calmly.

"Oh yes, Head Professor." Peeves said, as if he were holding a big bomb in his arms in mid-air. "As you can see, when she wouldn't let him pass, he was very angry." Peeves flipped over and grinned at Deng Buliduo from between his legs. "With that kind of irritable temper, of course, it's Sirius Black."

Professor Deng Buliduo sent all the Gryffindor students back to the Great Hall, and ten minutes later, students from other houses also came over; they all felt quite confused.

"Teachers, search the school thoroughly with me," Deng Buliduo closed all the doors leading to the Great Hall. "I am a bit worried. For your own safety, sleep here tonight. I will ask some teachers to guard at the entrance, and I require the student council to help manage order. If there is any disturbance, report it to me immediately."

He also gave separate instructions to Percy, which made Percy feel infinitely proud and important.

Deng Buliduo used Transfiguration to conjure enough sleeping bags for the students in the Great Hall, and then he closed the doors.

A buzzing sound of excitement began to emerge in the hall; the Gryffindor children were telling the people from other houses about what had just happened.

"Everyone get into your sleeping bags!" Percy shouted: "Move immediately, now, no talking! Lights out in ten minutes!"

Harry and Luo En each took a sleeping bag, and at this moment, a girl walked toward them. It took Harry a few seconds to recall that this was Lavender, who had had a dead rabbit before.

"Luo En." she said softly with worry, "Do you think Black is still in the castle?"

"Perhaps, after all, Deng Buliduo thinks so too." Luo En said.

"But," when Lavender spoke, actually the people nearby were also asking each other the same question: "How did he get in?"

"Maybe he passed through some secret passage." Harry answered. He knew Hogwarts must have secret passages.

"Well, but honestly, have we ever properly enjoyed a complete Wan Shengjie?" Lavender said with a worried face.

"First year there was a troll, second year there was a Chamber of Secrets, and third year we met Black again." She counted on her fingers, her body leaning toward Luo En unconsciously. "I'm really terrified."

"There's nothing to be afraid of." Hermione inserted herself stiffly into this conversation. "The castle has protective magic; no outsiders can sneak in invisibly; every entrance has Dementors, and of course that includes the entrances to those secret passages; even if Black could fly, he would be noticed by others very quickly."

"Black must have used some trick to fool the Dementors." Harry said. "He used this trick to escape from Azkaban, and the Ministry of Magic didn't realize this point."

"That is to say, the Dementors have no effect on Black at all." Lavender was so scared she was about to shrink into Luo En's arms.

"Lights out now!" Percy shouted: "Everyone stay in your sleeping bags, no talking!"

Percy successfully relieved Luo En, Harry thought to himself; he could clearly see Hermione and Lavender looking at each other with some unpleasantness.

The next day, Harry discovered that the portrait had become Sir Cadogan. He always wanted to duel with students and had to change the password twice a day, which made the students miserable, but perhaps it was safer than the original system. What was important was that, besides him, no other portrait dared to continue guarding the Gryffindor entrance.

Finally passing Sir Cadogan, Harry returned to his dormitory and checked, finding that nothing was missing. It seemed Black's break-in had no gains.

"Harry." Neville stared at him with a serious face. Harry felt he must be about to say something about the savior's duty again.

"I hope you can do me a favor." Neville said. "Hermione is hiding some secret, but she has been avoiding me recently."

"What secret could she have?" Harry said indifferently. "It's nothing more than a method to improve grades."

"Don't you think it's strange? She chose all the courses, and they conflict in time." Neville said. "I suspect she used some kind of clone spell... This is very important to me."

"If she doesn't want to say, then it's best not to ask." Harry shook his head. "I don't want to pry into other people's privacy, but if you insist..."

He paused, "I'll try my best to persuade Hermione to have a good talk with you."

Early Monday morning, taking advantage of the time before Muggle Studies started, Harry and Luo En tried to persuade Hermione not to always avoid Neville, saying that whatever unhappiness she had could be said out loud. Hermione looked somewhat moved.

In the following week, Harry couldn't pay attention to their affairs at all, because from the moment this Muggle Studies class ended, Professor Doudou stayed by Harry's side almost without leaving an inch. At first, he found some excuses, but later it was completely blatant, and other teachers and students also thought this was very necessary.

"You have to know, Harry, on the night of Wan Shengjie, Buckbeak was also beaten into serious injury." He said with a serious face.

"What?" Harry didn't know at all who Buckbeak was.

"The Hippogriff raised by Hagrid, a very dangerous magical creature that once shot down a MiG-29." Professor Doudou said alarmingly. "You understand now, Black's cruelty is beyond our imagination."

"Alright, it seems we have to feed caterpillars again next class." Harry thought with some disappointment; Hagrid probably originally intended to introduce this big friend.

However, Hagrid was still determined to introduce some big friends. Although there was no Buckbeak, he successfully invited Aragog. Those children who had been complaining that this class wasn't exciting enough were all startled by the giant spider; they cried and said they wanted to continue taking care of the Puffskeins.

"Look at you all." Hagrid said while dancing. "Isn't he also fluffy?"

"Fluffy." Aragog raised its pincers covered in black hair, clicking in agreement.

Although spiders weren't as likable as other animals, Harry was very happy to see Aragog becoming gentler. Hagrid told Harry quietly that Aragog didn't have much life left, and he would try his best to accompany it through this last period of time.

At noon, Wood told him again that they would be competing against Slytherin this Saturday and must practice well.

Just as they were practicing in the evening, Professor Doudou was wearing a fan hat again, holding popcorn and sitting in the stands. With such a professor in the empty stands, Black shouldn't be stupid enough to throw himself into the net, but it would be good to scare him away, Harry thought; they needed to practice well now.

After a few days under Professor Doudou's surveillance, Harry gradually got used to him. However, on Thursday night, when Harry returned to the dormitory, Neville proposed to go together to explore the secret of Hermione's course selection.

Harry subconsciously opened the wardrobe to get the Invisibility Cloak, and then he saw Professor Doudou standing inside, scaring him so much that he cast a "Riddikulus" on the spot.

"Relax, Harry." Professor Doudou walked out from inside. "I just came to check if Black was hiding in the wardrobe."

"It seems he wasn't." Harry said euphemistically.

"Your judgment is very accurate." He said, while drilling under the bed to check again. After he had drilled into every place that could hide a person, he allowed Harry to sleep.

After Professor Doudou left, Harry handed the Invisibility Cloak to Neville, while he himself sat on the bed.

"You go, I won't go myself." He said. "I'm worried Professor Doudou will come back to check again in the middle of the night." ===== CHAPTER 114 =====