Strange Behavior

Rumours that Hogwarts' Defence Against the Dark Arts course had been cursed by Voldemort were not entirely baseless.

During Amosta's years at Hogwarts, he had never seen a single Defence Against the Dark Arts professor walk out of Hogwarts on their own two feet after completing a one-year term. Many professors went seamlessly from Hogwarts to St Mungo's—earning money here, seeking treatment there, without missing a beat.

Although Professor McGonagall had only invited him to be an assistant, that did not mean there was no risk. Amosta had no intention of using the money he had earned through hard work to boost St Mungo's performance figures.

The groundwork was basically complete, but that did not mean Amosta had nothing left to do.

During the week Mr. Bans spent preparing the Panoramic Telescopes, Amosta needed to familiarise himself with the castle again. Any remote places that did not affect the students' or professors' daily lives and teaching needed to be sealed off.

In addition, he needed to design specific surveillance locations based on the castle's structure and create a surveillance network with no blind spots.

In his plan, every area other than classrooms, the four Houses' common rooms, the students' dormitories, and private spaces such as the boys' and girls' bathrooms needed to be monitored.

In truth, given his skill, adding an audio-monitoring function to the Panoramic Telescopes would not have been difficult. However, that would have been a little too much. Few professors would likely agree to it, so after careful consideration, Amosta abandoned the idea.

"Hagrid, you're definitely hiding something!"

The shouting from the other end of the corridor suddenly interrupted Amosta's thoughts. As far as he knew, there were not many students staying at school over the Christmas holidays.

"Stop poking your noses into things, Harry and Ron!" the previously heard rough voice said impatiently. "I'm not hiding any secrets!"

Harry, Ron, and Hagrid?

Amosta raised an eyebrow and looked into the distance. That clear voice from earlier had been Harry Potter's?

So he was finally going to meet this world's chosen one. Amosta's heartbeat involuntarily quickened, his eyes filled with curiosity and anticipation.

"You know, Hagrid, your eyes dart around whenever you lie!" Harry and Ron pressed close behind Hagrid, demanding indignantly.

"You said downstairs that you were going to ask Headmaster Dumbledore about Breen becoming an Investigator for the Ministry of Magic, but after coming upstairs, you suddenly changed your mind for no reason. Why, Hagrid?"

"And you look like you're really scared!" Ron pointed out sharply.

An Investigator for the Ministry of Magic?

Amosta scratched his head, his face full of confusion. When had he ever said that?

"Why can't you just be honest, Hagrid?"

At the far end of the corridor, two boys clung to the back of a huge figure as they rapidly approached the middle of the hall. Harry was still chattering away, trying to persuade Hagrid to reveal his secret, because his sharp instincts told him that whatever Hagrid was hiding had to be very important.

"Hey, Harry!"

Ron noticed Amosta first. He tugged on Harry's robes and quietly reminded him, "Look over there. Who's that?"

Hagrid suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Harry, who had not reacted in time, slammed headfirst into Hagrid's waist. There seemed to be a hard Dragon-hide belt fastened there, and Harry's nose suffered badly for it.

"Why did you suddenly stop again, Hagrid?"

Rubbing his crooked nose, Harry stood behind Hagrid and muttered unhappily, "Did you change your mind again?"

Hagrid did not answer. His expression was rather interesting. The weathered face behind his thick beard turned deathly pale the instant he noticed Amosta. Large beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his enormous hands fidgeted aimlessly over his upper body, as though checking whether his clothes were presentable.

"Breen, it's you..."

Hagrid's smile was strained. Looking uneasily at Amosta's strange expression, he stammered, "Long time no see. I heard, heard you're working for the Ministry of Magic now. Congratulations. I mean, congratulations on finding such a good job."

Hagrid had served as Hogwarts' Gamekeeper for decades, watching generation after generation of young wizards graduate. In terms of seniority, even the Heads of the four Houses fell somewhat short of him. Naturally, Amosta knew who he was.

However, they had never been particularly close. Their only contact had been after the incident five years ago, before Christmas, when Amosta had followed Dumbledore and Hagrid back into the area where he had fought the Dark Witch to conduct a search. After that, they had never spoken privately, at most exchanging greetings when they ran into each other.

But while they had no friendship, they had no grudge either!

Why was he making that expression upon seeing me? And Hagrid seemed particularly concerned about my return to the school as an Investigator... A deep confusion rose within Amosta.

"It has indeed been a long time, Mr. Hagrid."

Amosta's brows furrowed upward, but for the moment, he did not pursue Hagrid's odd behaviour.

He looked at the freckle-faced boy beside Hagrid and recognised him at once. It could not be helped; that red hair was far too distinctive, exactly like Bill's and Charlie's.

Amosta noticed the wariness in Ron's eyes, which was not strange. It was perfectly normal for a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old wizard to be guarded around an adult he had never met. What Amosta could not understand was why he also detected a trace of admiration and fear in Ron's gaze.

Oh, a Weasley child. Perhaps he'd heard from his family that I once beat up his two older brothers?

Just as Amosta was about to smile at Ron and greet him, another thin boy with fairly delicate features, green eyes, and messy hair suddenly popped out from behind Hagrid. He was studying Amosta with almost the same look as Ron.

The instant Amosta saw the boy, without any warning, his mind suddenly went blank. It was as though a muffled thunderclap had exploded directly inside his head, leaving his vision swimming and making it almost impossible for him to remain standing!

"Oh!"

Seeing Amosta about to fall, Hagrid hurried forward and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"What's wrong, Amosta? You look like you've been hit by a Stunning Spell!"

Behind Hagrid, Harry and Ron secretly exchanged a glance, both seeing the astonishment in the other's eyes. This Slytherin senior had driven off a powerful Dark Wizard who had invaded the school when he was only in his fifth year, and had even fought Headmaster Dumbledore. Why did such a formidable person look so weak?

"Oh, thank you, Hagrid. I probably got up too early this morning and caught a bit of cold wind, which made me dizzy. Could you let go of my shoulders? I feel like my shoulder blades are about to break."

Frowning, Amosta gently rubbed his temples as he quietly processed the sudden flood of information in his mind.

"It seems..."

After a while, Amosta finally began to feel better. His complexion returned to normal as he smiled and examined the young wizard whom Professor Snape had described as arrogant, conceited, fond of petty tricks, and especially full of himself. At last, his gaze settled on the scar on the boy's forehead.

"I seem to have met the famous Harry Potter?"

Ever since Harry had entered the wizarding world, he had encountered countless strangers who had never met him before but showed intense interest in his scar. He had long since grown used to it.

But when he remembered that this man had been sent to Hogwarts to investigate the Chamber of Secrets attacks, while he himself was the prime candidate in the rumours for the Heir of Slytherin, Harry felt uncomfortable all over. It felt as though the man in front of him might pull out handcuffs in the next second and clamp them around his wrists.

Oh, no, that was what Muggle police did. Wizards generally chose to confiscate the wand of the person who had committed a crime first.

"Hello, Mr. Breen. You have the right person."

Though Amosta's gaze was not sharp, it still made Harry uncomfortable all over. He instinctively edged closer to Hagrid, but then he remembered the other man's "glorious" record. The sense of security Hagrid's huge body gave him immediately vanished...