Chapter 379: Emotional Stalemate

There were only a few days left in the summer vacation. After Harry saw Ron off, he spent a lot of time thinking about the Knight System. Zhang Qiu would stay at Tang Dun for a few days, which also meant that when he thought about these problems, there would be a lot of extra information or many interference items mixed in.

When he saw Ron again at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, Harry still only had a vague guess in his heart.

When Harry walked down the train aisle, almost everyone was staring at him. When the first empty compartment appeared in front of them, Cui Ge and Lu Na, who were walking in the opposite direction dragging their trunks, also stood in front of them.

"Let the younger students sit. Let's go ahead and look." Zhang Qiu suggested.

Harry and Ron didn't care about this. After the few of them chatted briefly, they started walking forward, and finally saw a compartment that was empty, or rather, almost empty.

"Hello, Hermione, how was your summer vacation?" Zhang Qiu was the only one who could talk to Hermione without feeling awkward, "Is it convenient for us to sit here?"

"It's fine." Hermione nodded with a smile.

If Harry held three parts appreciation, one part sympathy, and six parts guilt toward Hermione, Ron's gaze was unimaginably complex: it was mixed with misunderstanding, admiration, guilt, suspicion, love turning into hate, resentment, self-moving, self-deception, etc., all buried under a calm that looked like relief.

"Ailina went back, right?" Zhang Qiu prepared to emphasize this fact that was favorable to Ron, to slightly boost his mood.

"Yes, but she is very likely to come again this year." Hermione said, "Tang Tang Nade seems to want to make this exchange activity a routine."

"Can the old bat agree?" Ron pouted.

"I think this exchange still has very positive significance, but you were unlucky and got involved in a power struggle within the Ministry of Magic." Harry said with restraint, "Making it a mess."

"At least the result is not bad." Hermione looked out the window, "The Ministry of Magic is not completely unreasonable."

"Right, you can believe that the current Minister for Magic is an absolutely reasonable person." Zhang Qiu said in a cheerful tone, picking what Ron liked to hear.

"Let's not talk about this. Have you decided which classes to take this year?" Hermione shifted her gaze from the window back into the compartment.

"Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts, I guess." Harry said without thinking, "Of course, provided we can have a new teacher who is not too bad."

"Me too, oh right, if I want to be an Auror, there's also Transfiguration and Charms." Ron said with some distress, "But Potions is really too difficult. Let's take it one step at a time."

"Oh, obviously this is what McGonagall told you." Hermione took a breath, "I plan to study an extra course of Ancient Runes and Alchemy. For Runes, applying to the Miskatonic University requires this grade."

"But Alchemy, you wouldn't be thinking of..." Zhang Qiu narrowed her eyes.

"Right, the Imperial Academy of the Heavenly Dynasty, as far as I know, also has content related to higher magical education." Hermione admitted generously, "I have written to them. I think this is worth a try."

"Indeed, that is their ace major, but actually you can also enroll with other grades." Zhang Qiu hinted, "Magical Creatures, Potions, Meteorological Rituals, Magical Materials Science, these are all good majors. Architectural Magic is also quite good. These are all courses that don't require you to take extra electives."

"Is that so?" Hermione said with a half-smile, "But if we are to take the Magical Creatures class this year, who will teach it?"

Harry and Ron looked at each other. They didn't reject either Hagrid or Grills, but the two of them happened to be two extremes: one called a terrifying giant spider a "good baby," and the other claimed that Puffskeins tasted like chicken.

"Indeed, Hogwarts' teaching in this regard is a bit too abstract." Zhang Qiu stopped the topic in time, "But to be honest, I don't think highly of your Alchemy. The Heavenly Dynasty is quite exclusive to international students."

"Right, so my main direction is still Miskatonic University. Tang Tang Nade promised to help me write a recommendation letter." Hermione shrugged.

Harry looked elsewhere helplessly, while Ron didn't know what he was thinking.

After a long period of silence, Harry and Ron chatted about Quidditch intermittently. This year Harry was chosen as the Quidditch team captain. This should have been a position bearing important responsibility, but he didn't seem to take it too much to heart. Perhaps this was the confidence brought to him by three consecutive House Cup championships.

Regardless of whether he could win the fourth and fifth titles, his personal career was already perfect enough.

"Who should we choose as Beater?" Ron chattered, "Seeker actually needs reinforcement too..."

"Katie is definitely staying, an experienced old player. How did that saying in the Heavenly Dynasty go?" Harry looked at Zhang Qiu.

"An old person in the house is like a treasure." Zhang Qiu's gaze darted between Ron and Hermione. Hermione had already buried her face behind a copy of "Runes Explained."

"Yes, that's exactly it. We really need her." Harry concluded.

"By the way, have you considered letting Ginny switch to Chaser?" Ron looked at the aisle, "She played scoring games last year. I dare say she is definitely more skilled at chasing than seeking."

"Think about the Beater matter. We have to retrain a system now." Harry rubbed his temples, "Traditional Chaser-Seeker linkage or 'four-protect-one' are all very dependent on Beaters. If we can't find enough decent people this year..."

"We can also play confrontation, or treat the Beater as a Seeker. Right, Wood said that was called the 'suicide tactic'..."

In this intermittent conversation, the train arrived at Hogwarts. Ever since Snape took power, the express train seemed to be a bit faster, always arriving half an hour earlier than in previous years. This meant they could leave that awkward compartment half an hour early.

This also meant they had an extra half hour to endure Zhang Qiu's pointing and criticizing.

Finally, they separated in the Great Hall, and Ron let out a sigh of relief impatiently.

"I didn't say I liked her! Did I say that?" He looked at the Ravenclaw table with dissatisfaction, "Who Hermione likes is her own business. How is Zhang Qiu more anxious than she is herself!"

"She is also grasping at straws." Harry sighed. Anyone who knew the truth wouldn't look at Tang Tang Nade favorably.

"Grasping at what straws? Am I just going to be at odds with the two of them? Will I die if I don't have this romance?" Ron was still complaining.

Harry wanted to say that the one in Zhang Qiu's eyes who urgently needed a romance was actually Hermione, but he felt that involving Tang Tang Nade would make it very troublesome to explain, so he simply didn't say a word, just aimlessly looking at the freshmen of this year.

"Did you notice the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Neville sat down beside them, interrupting Ron's nagging.

They looked up at the staff table together. Hagrid, after returning, sat between McGonagall and Grills. At this moment, he was looking here with a smile.

Harry returned an enthusiastic smile to him, then his gaze began to shift elsewhere. After Arnold left, Snape had become the true head of this school. He sat at the very top. Slughorn, who seemed determined to curry favor with him, sat on his right hand side at this moment, and next to him was Trelawney, a die-hard loyalist personally cultivated by Snape.

In a position in the middle of the seating area, sandwiched between Haipu of Ancient Runes and Bubaji of Muggle Studies, Harry finally saw a new face. It was an Oriental man who looked a bit cynical.

"Could it be a Heavenly Dynasty person?" Harry subconsciously looked at the Ravenclaw table, "Zhang Qiu didn't tell me anything?"

"The Heavenly Dynasty is very big, Harry. There's no reason for her to know everything." Neville shrugged, "Looking at him, he seems a bit unreliable."

"By the way, after the Dark Lord fell, is that curse still there?" Ron asked curiously.

"Hard to say, Arnold left on his own." Harry continued to stare at the newcomer. He always felt a bit familiar.

Soon, a new round of the Sorting Ceremony interrupted his thoughts. Harry mainly focused on the newcomers entering Gryffindor this year. He automatically ignored those who looked thin and small, focusing on who was more likely to have the talent of a Beater.

"What a pity, all the ones entering this year are little ones." He sighed.

"Don't say that, six years ago we were also a group of little ones." Neville reminded.

The freshmen sat at the end of the long table, sitting with the third and fourth graders. Harry noticed Colin enthusiastically putting his arms around their necks, pointing to his side from time to time. He suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable and hurriedly focused his attention on the food.

As the banquet was nearing its end, Snape stood up. He tapped the table to signal everyone to be quiet.

"Welcome new students, and welcome back old students. This year our rules are the same as in previous years: no entering the Forbidden Forest, no casting spells in the corridors, and, the caretaker Filch asked me to remind everyone that using any products from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes is equivalent to casting a spell. If used in class, it will be met with severe punishment. Understand?"

"Broken, he must have gone to investigate secretly." Ron said with schadenfreude, "Fortunately, I can't afford it, so it won't reach me."

"A younger brother can't afford his own older brother's invention, and you are actually complacent?" Harry mocked.

"... Students who want to join the House Quidditch team can report their names to the Head of House. At the same time, we are also recruiting new Quidditch commentators, also report to the Head of House." Snape said these old rules methodically.

"This year, we are very happy to welcome a new teacher," he paused, "Professor Huey-chi Sugemi."

The Oriental man stood up in response and nodded to everyone.

"He is a retired Auror from Yingzhou of the Heavenly Dynasty. He will replace Professor Arnold, who announced his retirement last year, and teach everyone Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Harry stared fixedly at the new professor. He knew that Snape likely didn't pronounce his name correctly, but what he didn't know was whether this professor was more willing to let the transliterated name be wrong, or to introduce his real name to everyone. ===== CHAPTER 380 =====