Chapter 432: A Photograph

Mia stayed in the Department of Mysteries, and Harry and Snape got into the elevator. The atmosphere at this time was very dull. Harry tried his best to keep his face straight, pretending not to notice anything unusual. And Snape, it's hard to say, even though almost all of his dark history had been learned by Harry, he himself didn't seem to know about it yet.

"Ahem." Snape coughed significantly, then asked: "What do you think of the firearm squad plan?"

"Very useful, sir." Harry evaluated objectively. "It can buy us a lot of time."

"Yes, I think so too. However, do you think the Magical Congress will form their own firearm squad?"

"Maybe, after all, the cost is not high."

"Not at all." Snape sneered. "Because the cost is really too low. Even if Commissioner Smith eats all the military pay into his stomach, there isn't much money. But looking at the Herrscher plan, the room for operation is huge: if nothing goes wrong, Donald must have spent a lot of money to let his student become a Herrscher."

"Are you talking about the corruption problem of the Magical Congress?" Harry understood a little. "Then on our side..."

"At least Lucius is sensible. He doesn't dare to reach out to the Ministry of Magic. Of course, it may also be that he doesn't look down on this little bit of money." Snape showed an expression of being in control.

At this time, the elevator happened to reach the top floor. Snape took Harry into a fireplace, and then returned to school. They exchanged a few more words casually, and Harry said goodbye to him and began to walk toward his dormitory.

His pace went faster and faster, and the smile at the corner of his mouth became more and more difficult to suppress. Finally, the moment he stepped into the common room, he couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" Eve and Ginny happened to come out of the dormitory and saw him at a glance.

"Although it's not very classy to say so, but really, the old bat is really moved." Harry said in a low voice. "Don't tell anyone."

"What's the situation?" Ginny's eyes were shining. "Who is it? Is it the person written in the magazine?"

"It's... no, I didn't say anything." Harry suddenly became alert. "This involves some inside information and cannot be said."

"Alright, then we're going to class." Eve pulled Ginny, who looked disappointed, and left.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief after the fact. He felt that he was a little too excited because he rarely saw Snape's awkwardness. In fact, whether it was Mia's vampire identity or the Queen Project in the Ministry of Magic, these could not be talked about casually. And if these were not revealed, there was actually nothing to say.

So he called Ron out, and then deliberately talked loudly about the specially appointed instructor of the Apparition course, to cover up his real experience on this trip.

"You mean, under your hard-fought efforts," Ron's face showed some joy, "Snape decided to refuse to let that white-haired one teach us Apparition?"

"Yes, originally Donald was prepared to stay here for a while." Harry said in a moderate voice that many people could hear. "But I questioned Snape. I said, we can't always let foreign wizards talk nonsense here, so he agreed. Our Apparition teacher will be Viki Tickler, a master of Apparition with rich experience, and he has taught the courses in previous years."

"I mean, he has richer teaching experience, I believe he can teach us that move in a simple and easy-to-understand way." Harry added. "As for Donald and 'that white-haired one', they don't seem to plan to be guests, and will go back directly."

"Alright, that's not bad." Ron breathed a sigh of relief.

Early Saturday morning, they saw the traditional specially appointed instructor in the Great Hall. It was a calm-faced little wizard with a slender figure and hair tied into small bundles. The figure that seemed to dissipate when blown by the wind showed that he must be a master in this regard.

"Quiet, students." His voice was loud and his pronunciation was clear. "I am Viki Tickler, and I will be your Apparition teacher for the next few weeks. Now, only for this class, the Headmaster has briefly opened the authority for us to Apparate and Disapparate in the Great Hall, so don't try to go anywhere else, only in the Great Hall! Now, everyone adjust your position, make sure there is five feet of empty space in front of you..."

When the whole Great Hall was filled with failed and ridiculous splinching accidents, Harry mastered Apparition and Disapparation after only two or three attempts. Many students began to praise his talent one after another. But he knew clearly that this was largely due to Sirius taking him to Apparate back and forth every week last year.

On Saturday afternoon, Draco brought his gel dragon again to challenge Ron. Ron greatly praised his courage, and then defeated him very seriously. By the next Saturday, everything seemed to happen again like a cycle: Apparition teaching, Draco who was defeated repeatedly, a week of calm life, and then another almost identical Saturday.

Such a life that was so calm that people almost forgot the disturbances of the outside world lasted until the end of February. Ron began to look forward to his birthday with anticipation. Harry naturally made some preparations for this. He went to Hogsmeade with Zhang Qiu to pick out a birthday gift for Ron. By the way, this was also a rare date.

They walked through many shops laughing together, and then very naturally, when they walked along the street past the photo studio, they mentioned taking a few more photos together.

Sitting in the lobby of the photo studio, waiting for the previous guests to finish taking photos, chatting and looking at the layout around them, suddenly, Harry felt that he had discovered something.

"Look at that." He pointed his finger at a display photo on the wall. "Is that Mr. Shoichi?"

"It seems to be." Zhang Qiu pulled him over to observe carefully.

The photo was a group photo of three people. The background was the lobby of the photo studio. The Mr. Shoichi they knew was sitting on the sofa behind the table, and a man and a woman were sitting in front. The three were smiling at the same time, and the harmonious atmosphere made it easy for people to think that they would be very good friends.

"When was this photo taken?" Harry asked curiously. "Who are the people in the photo, do you know?"

"Kuuga." Zhang Qiu's tone was a little trembling. "This man is Kuuga."

"What?"

"Kamen Rider Kuuga, the Rider who transformed with his own power during the last development of the Rider system, can be said to be the predecessor of Agito in every sense." Zhang Qiu explained briefly, and then began to be incoherent. "However, he has been missing for a long time, but his photo, this doesn't match... unless..."

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't know, I..." Zhang Qiu swallowed a mouthful of saliva. "I want to go back and ask Master, he must have hidden other things from me."

"Does Mr. Shoichi have a more complicated background? Or does he have other identities?" Harry guessed irresponsibly, but soon, he reacted again. "No, when was this photo taken? Its authenticity is also very questionable!"

"Even if someone forged it, how could he know—" Zhang Qiu's brows were tightly furrowed, and her train of thought seemed to be completely confused.

"I want to go back again." She only said this sentence in the end.

"Then are you leaving now?" Harry asked with some displeasure. "Do you want me to ask for leave for you?"

"No, not in a hurry." She smoothed her hair. "I'll ask for leave myself tomorrow. I might be able to come back before Ron's birthday."

They still took some photos according to the original plan. Although Zhang Qiu was forcing a smile in the first few photos, she soon entered the state and gradually became cheerful. Finally, they picked out a pair of Quidditch gloves and an exquisite diary for Ron as gifts, and returned to school.

The next day, Zhang Qiu asked for leave and left the school. Harry discussed some other things with Ron, such as the exchange student Lucine who still hadn't given up on pursuing Ron, another girl named Romilda Vane also began to exert force, sending autumn waves to Ron many times, and Parvati looked for Seamus and Dean many times to inquire about Ron, she didn't dare to look for Harry or Neville.

Faced with the throwing of arms and hugs of these girls, Ginny and Eve played a very powerful role, firmly defending Ron's single freedom like a city wall, so that he could continue to struggle with the question of "do I really like Hermione". And Hermione? She clearly preferred to study.

"In short, you must be vigilant against those birthday gifts of unknown origin. It is very likely that there is a love potion hidden in them." Harry set this conclusion seriously.

In the evening, they received a letter while eating. Harry originally thought it would be a love letter written to Ron by some girl, but when he saw the word "Padfoot" on the envelope, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"Harry, I have to remind you that Evolt has appeared again. Just this afternoon, he led a helper to attack my office in Ireland, but the good news is that he was beaten back by the ambushing firearm squad. We all agree that the situation is a bit confusing, Snape may have also received the news, I hope you can come over tomorrow morning, let's discuss the situation."

Harry took a deep breath and fell into deep thought while looking at the letter paper. At this moment, he naturally guessed that it was because of Zhang Qiu's departure that Bellatrix could transform into Cronus unscrupulously again, and their surprise attack on the office in Ireland was undoubtedly aimed at the "Godfather of the Night". Clearly, the target was the locket.

He slowly folded the letter paper, and a sense of crisis began to spread in his heart again. ===== CHAPTER 433 =====