Chapter 130: End of Term

Harry didn't even care about breakfast and hurried to read the front-page headline.

"Last night, a large number of terrorists launched an attack on the prison, causing many prisoners to escape, including dozens of Death Eaters led by the notorious Antonin Dolohov, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Augustus Rookwood. We have reason to believe that this is an organized and premeditated action, and a precursor to the return of dark forces.

In this regard, Head of the Auror Office Lestrade stated that due to the vicious Sirius Black escaping from Azkaban recently, the Auror Office had to draw a large number of personnel to launch a search and arrest, and in order to guard against his attack on Hogwarts, a large number of guards were deployed around the school. This made Azkaban's defenses slightly lax, providing an opportunity for evil forces.

Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Jim Hack also believes that Sirius Black's escape was paving the way for the subsequent major prison break, but fortunately, thanks to the exquisite cooperation of the Auror Office, we recaptured Sirius Black and hope to obtain more information about this prison break from his mouth.

It is reported that Sirius Black is proficient in Animagus and Transfiguration. He is an illegal rat Animagus. After escaping from Azkaban through the drainage system, he used Transfiguration to disguise himself as different appearances for activities. Investigation found that his most commonly used image is that of his childhood friend Peter Pettigrew. Even until we arrested him, Sirius still argued that he was Peter Pettigrew himself. However, he may not know that Sirius's crime of brutally murdering Peter thirteen years ago was also clearly recorded in the Ministry of Magic's files, and the Aurors quickly exposed his lies.

Here, add Peter Pettigrew's deeds. He tried to pursue Sirius Black after he committed heinous crimes, but unfortunately died in Sirius Black's explosion spell, and thirteen innocent Muggles also died. To recognize his courage, the Ministry of Magic posthumously awarded him the Order of Merlin, First Class."

The Ministry of Magic's report used a technique of suppressing first and then praising, by first talking about the prison break, then talking about Peter's arrest, and then connecting it to a heroic deed thirteen years ago (although it was a lie), which well alleviated the public's panic and preserved their face to the greatest extent. Harry could read this meaning.

However, this could not change the fact that a large number of Death Eaters escaped. It seems this was Voldemort's big move after two years of silence. Harry thought hard. The context of Voldemort's plan was actually not complicated, but rather quite simple.

Because besides Sirius and Peter, Voldemort actually knew the truth—he of course knew who informed him. Then he also knew Sirius was innocent. In this way, how much of Sirius's prison break was a coincidence, and how much was in Voldemort's calculations?

But in short, Voldemort spent nearly a year contacting his old party members and using those limited cooperation or disloyal allies to organize a part of his strength, taking advantage of Azkaban's weak defense to rescue his core subordinates.

This was definitely not good news. Harry stared at the newspaper silently. After Voldemort almost regained all his strength, what was the next step? Would he target Hogwarts?

"Harry, you know this news too, right." Professor Doudou patted him on the shoulder from behind. "Actually, there is even worse news, that is, in this prison riot, almost all the Aurors sacrificed themselves, and even those who survived by luck are probably not suitable to continue serving as Aurors."

Harry's heart missed a beat. He looked around. The children were either unaware and eating breakfast with laughter, or treating this matter as a topic of conversation, talking loudly about their opinions.

Only Neville was comforting Luo En, saying "We need to eat well to have the strength to fight evil," which made Harry feel a little more at ease.

"Doesn't that mean there are no Aurors left to fight Voldemort?" Harry lowered his voice and asked eagerly.

"Perhaps only I am left," Professor Doudou's expression was unprecedentedly serious. "For the Auror Office, only one person is left."

"However, for all the righteous forces planning to resist Voldemort," his tone improved slightly. "This loss is not too tragic. We still have the Department of Mysteries and the Doctor Project."

"Study hard first. When the term ends, I need to take you to see Ollivander," Professor Doudou looked like he had made up his mind. "I hope that will work."

From the moment he heard this news, Harry had been a bit absent-minded, and even when Hagrid announced a very important piece of news, he didn't take it to heart.

"I know many children care about their Care of Magical Creatures grades. I can tell everyone in advance that the exam content must be related to actual operation," Hagrid said. "Of course, you might be worried about mistakes in your operation, so we have another way."

"Suppose, I mean suppose, our good friend Buckbeak accidentally hurt some noble young master and is about to face charges," Hagrid tried hard to describe his topic. "You can form groups of three, collect information, and try to defend it. If the effect is good enough, you can pass this course without an exam and with the highest grade."

"Exempt from the exam and get an A!" Luo En exclaimed. "And it's a team effort. The best idea I can think of is to find Hermione."

"Good idea," Harry said absent-mindedly.

It took Harry a whole day to recover from the pressure brought by Voldemort. When he came back to his senses, he found that Luo En had already invited Hermione to form a team with them, preparing to pass the Magical Creatures class through defense.

Hermione was very happy that Hagrid could come up with this method. Firstly, she was never very confident in her operations, and secondly, it was because this was equivalent to advancing the exam, and she could have more time to review other content during exam week.

After the three determined to form a team, Harry noticed that Hermione's emotions were very excited. She looked very happy. In fact, Harry could fully understand that every time he saw Hermione this school year, she was alone, almost without any friends, and had to face such busy elective courses alone. These pressures might have made her miserable.

That night, the three came to the library to look up information, preparing for the defense. Harry saw Zhang Qiu as expected. She looked much better in spirit too.

"Harry, you have to go to Professor Trelawney's," Zhang Qiu pulled him up from the chair without question. "Luo En, Hermione, good luck."

"It's okay, I know it was you who gave Hagrid the suggestion," Hermione showed a big smile to Zhang Qiu. "Listen to me, thank you."

"How did you come up with such a crazy idea?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Divination said you were going to defend Buckbeak. Now that it hasn't committed any crime, we can only hold a mock court," Zhang Qiu shrugged. "Hurry up, next we are going to Trelawney's office, manually receive the kill."

"Ah?" Harry was pushed forward by her, actually still a bit confused about the situation.

"I've figured it out. If the divination result can be seen, see it. If it can't be seen," Zhang Qiu said fiercely, "I'll achieve it myself."

"Not necessarily, right?" Harry felt a bit scared. "Do you have to do this? I mean, do you have to see all the divinations?"

"I've told you hundreds of times, this is to save your life," Zhang Qiu said helplessly. "Next year, or maybe not even waiting until next year, in short, you will soon fall into a very big crisis. Look at the newspaper, this crisis has already begun to show."

"Indeed..." Harry knew Voldemort would definitely try to deal with him.

"I explained it as soon as school started, divination is related to the gift of fate," Zhang Qiu said. "I don't know how this gift is realized, but in short, the progress is far from enough now. I didn't take it seriously in the first and second years, and just barely passed. This year I must get as much as possible."

"But we also discovered that your divination is not always accurate," Harry retorted. "Do you have to force compensation for all the things that didn't come true?"

"Do the safe ones first," Zhang Qiu had already brought him to the door of Trelawney's office. "Listening to the professor's curse won't make you lose a piece of meat."

"Curse curse curse?" Harry was startled. He wanted to say more, but it was too late, Trelawney opened the door.

"Fate indicates Harry's predicament, he must come to you for guidance," Zhang Qiu said in a very mysterious tone. "May your inner eye enlighten him, Master Sybill."

"Oh, okay, okay, please come in, Harry," Professor Trelawney obviously liked this set very much. Harry felt she was probably the only person in the entire castle who would be persuaded by Zhang Qiu using divination.

Trelawney's divination room was very stuffy, Harry could hardly stay. He used all his willpower to endure the discomfort of the environment, trying his best to focus his attention on her crystal ball.

"I haven't seen you since the first class, Harry," Trelawney said. "But obviously you have gotten rid of the ominous, but... oh."

She made a hoarse sound, completely unlike her own voice.

"The dark dictator, with stupid allies, embarks on the road of revenge... so powerful, no one can stop... but he stopped, stopped in front of love, he returned to the darkness..."

"Sorry, child, I seem to have lost my mind, let's talk about your fate," Trelawney said, patting her chest.

"I think you have already opened your inner eye," Harry didn't want to stay for another moment. "Thank you very much for your guidance, I already know what to do."

As soon as he walked out of the divination room, he forgot all about these things. Defeating Voldemort with love or something sounded too much like a fairy tale. He still planned to pin his hope of solving Voldemort on the Doctor Project and Ollivander mentioned by Professor Doudou. ===== CHAPTER 131 =====