Harry showed a confused expression as he handed the letter to an eager Hermione and Ron, who couldn't wait to read it.
"Ms. Jane, judging by your drafting skills alone, you really not quite suitable for writing a book, it is a little too flat ... that was a joke. I suggest you write from the point of view of the girl's orphan child and unravel the past layer by layer ... As for how to string them together, find a theme for the story that flows throughout the whole book -
Why does the mayor protect civilians?
Why is the boy willing to go undercover?
How did the girl's orphan child survive?
By the way, some of the information is only known to the people involved and those closest to them and will seem incomprehensible to the bystander. For example, I have a Niffler called Valen. Only I know how many hours a day she sleeps, and only I know that she is addicted to games these days. ... Don't be surprised if one day she no longer splurges, it might be because I blocked her pocket money.
After reading your story, this is what I can assure you of.
Finally, I suggest you to change the owl's name, she doesn't look very happy when I call her 'Pigwidgeon'."
Hermione looked thoughtful as she finished reading the letter, "Is it really bad?"
Ron on the other hand snorted out a laugh, "I told you we shouldn't have let Hedwig wear Piggy's (Ron's owl) tag, that would have looked silly." Hermione raised her eyebrows.
"And you guys agreed then." She looked to Harry for input.
Harry didn't notice her gaze as he mulled it over with his head down, "What would be the theme ... that flows through the whole thing? Guilt? Not really, Voldemort doesn't have guilt."
"Dude, the answer is pretty obvious." Ron said. Harry glared at him and Ron twisted his head and whistled.
At the weekend, Harry bumped into Snape again at the library door, and Snape came out from inside clutching two large, thick books.
Harry was relieved for a moment. This means that Snape has not pinpointed the keyword Horcrux, but when he thought about it again, it seems normal, Hermione at first rummaged through the restricted section but still couldn't find any reference material, even when she knew the name Horcrux!
The only book that mentions the word Horcrux is "Magick Moste Evile", but the author of this book only skimmed through about it.
Harry was disappointed back then, and now he is glad.
"Potter! What are you doing?" Snape strode over and asked him coldly. From his angle, Harry could see the cover of the book he carried in his arms featured the face of a distorted male wizard who seemed to be suffering inhuman torture, with his mouth wide open enough to fit half a coconut.
"I came to find a book to read in the library." Harry said.
He took his eyes off the cover of the book and stared at Snape's face. It was completely a spontaneous reaction; from their first meeting, Snape had shown an intense and unwarranted hatred. Harry also hated Snape, whether his slow, drawn-out way of speaking, his cold, stone-like eyes, or his greasy hair and huge hawkish nose.
These are the factors that Harry dislikes, not to mention that they come together. Even without counting these, Harry didn't think Snape is a qualified teacher - he is known for his eccentric attitude, even Sirius is trying to remain impartial by restraining himself, but Snape deduces points unscrupulously ...
" It does not seem so to me, you look like you are specifically waiting for someone?" Snape spoke unkindly, staring at Harry's bulging pockets, " I guess you have some prohibited item in your pocket, hand it over. Filch would be interested."
Harry obediently took the object out, it looked like a silver-grey material composed of liquid, which fluttered and fell from his hands to the floor and formed a glistening puddle.
Snape sucked in a cold breath.
"This is my invisibility cloak, a relic left to me by my mother and father. It's saved me a few times, from Voldemort." Harry stared into his eyes and said, "Professor Snape, does it count as a prohibited item?"
Snape did not speak for a while.
The two men seemed to be engaged in a silent battle, at least that's what Harry thought. He was prepared for this, if Snape intended to confiscate it - which was just what he wanted - he could turn around and demand it back since the invisibility cloak was a birthday present from Headmaster Dumbledore.
Snape took his eyes off the invisibility cloak and stared into Harry's eyes, and half a moment later, he said coldly, "Put it away!"
Harry slowly bent down and picked up the invisibility cloak from the ground, and at this point, he didn't know what to do, his plan didn't consist of what to do next. While he was hesitant he felt darkness before his eyes, a wind blew by, and the hem of the black robe brushed his hair, Harry looked up and only saw the back of a man hurrying away.
Harry stared at Snape's back, a strange emotion fermented in his heart. In the evening, he pushed open the door to the common room, Ron and Hermione approached him anxiously, "Where have you been, Harry?" "Yeah, we've looked everywhere."
"I went to the covered bridge." Harry muttered.
"The covered bridge?" Ron looked at him uncertainly, "What were you doing there, it is freezing outside -"
"Thinking about something." Harry said vaguely, as he headed back to his dorm room and laid straight down on the four-poster bed without taking off his clothes. He hadn't slept a wink that night which caused him to walk to class the next day muddled with dark circles under his eyes.
"Tell me what colour is this, Potter?" In Potions class, Snape's eyes glinted with malice as he spooned out the potion from Harry's cauldron before letting it flow back down for all the class to see.
"Green." Harry muttered stiffly.
"What colour it is supposed to be?" Snape asked again in his elusive voice.
"Pink." Harry replied.
"Pink, so you can tell the difference." Snape repeated as a chuckle broke out in the background. "Then surely you should have known what you are brewing is just a pot of waste water ... You are going to be stuck with zero points, Potter." He waved his wand and the liquid in the cauldron was emptied in one swift motion.
Harry sat down with an expressionless face, shaking with anger. It is true that he did not do well, but Goyle's potion resembled a sticky paste, and Crabbe's cauldron oozed a foul smell and black smoke, but Snape didn't give them a zero. It didn't require any brain to know that Snape was targeting him.
He stared at Snape's back as he returned to the podium, and this time Harry didn't have any messy thoughts in his mind, he just wanted to hex him. The Bat-Bogey Hex seemed to have a different allure to him now, and his mind already imagined a swarm of bats flying out of Snape's large hawk nose.
"Don't be impulsive, Harry." Hermione in the side tried hard to calm him down. Ron didn't have time to talk, as his cauldron was steaming and spitting out a yellow bubble.
...
Felix had been wondering what kind of person would show up at the school in the form of Voldemort's mole from the Ministry of Magic in late January when he heard Sirius complaining.
"Something's wrong," Sirius muttered in a small voice, currently it is breakfast time, and he is tackling a tough-looking steak, the knife and fork hitting the plate with a tooth-aching sound. "I don't know why the Ministry of Magic sent a team to school at this time of year to inspect the students' mastery of Apparition and Side-Along Apparition ... Is this because they don't trust me?"
" Well, you're not bad, Professor Flitwick complimented you on that." Felix said casually as he leafed through the Daily Prophet.
"It's - his - habit -" Sirius was still fighting with his steak, and from using too much force the plate shattered. He huffed and pointed his wand at it, and the plate immediately restored itself to its original state, and he pointed once more, which cut the steak into pieces.
"No, I need to ask Amelia to see what she's up to!"
Felix had no intention of getting involved as he closed his newspaper and finished the last bit of milk.
"What's going on lately?"
" Constructing a building."
"Well, sorry?"
"We're really constructing a building," Sirius said vaguely as he wolfed down his steak, "building all sorts of terrains, you know I can't mess around the castle, and I don't think Classroom Seven is real enough ... I'm tempted to take my students to the Shrieking Shack for adventures, it's easy to set up some traps there."
"You're still on probation." Felix reminded him.
"Thank you."
The two men went their separate ways for their classes, and the atmosphere in the seventh-year Ancient Rune class was very relaxed. Although it was their last year, with all kinds of new and exciting teaching methods, the students had been progressing very quickly making it the subject that they had to least worry about.
Felix took the students to classroom seven and two ghosts floated past them, chatting as they floated by, "Nice dessert today."
The students were used to this.
One by one they passed through the water-like curtain, Felix stopped at the entrance and waited until the last student jumped in and after a few more seconds a figure identical to him coalesced in the air.
Felix's memory body looked up and down at his original and grinned, " Gonna do something bad?"
------------
#jean cadagan, Thanks for all your love and support.
Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.
Happy Reading!!!
#jean cadagan, Thanks for all your love and support.
Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.
Happy Reading!!!