Semester's End

The emergence of this organization gave Skylar a very bad feeling.

He had a premonition that the original world of Harry Potter was gradually deviating from its intended trajectory. Perhaps the Shadow of the Magic Dragon was just the beginning, and in the not-too-distant future, more Hidden Forces and Underground Forces would emerge one by one.

He thought about it briefly and then put it aside. After all, he was still a student, and even if there was any big trouble, Dumbledore be there to take care of it!

After obtaining the information he needed, Skylar first made some arrangements on Peter Pettigrew before waving his wand to wake him up.

Peter Pettigrew, upon waking, had no idea how he had been hypnotized, but he no longer underestimated the seemingly innocent boy before him, and his attitude became extremely respectful. "Master Malfoy, now I have proven myself to be your most loyal servant. Is there anything you need me to do for you?"

Skylar nodded and said, "I don't need you to stay by my side. I want you to go to the forests of Albania and find the remnant soul of your former master, and then pledge your allegiance to him again."

Upon hearing the Mysterious Man's name, Peter Pettigrew was so frightened that his voice trembled uncontrollably. He said, "Young master, you don't mean you want me to stay by that person's side as your spy, do you...? That person can read minds, I can't do that..."

Skylar scrutinized Peter Pettigrew with a critical eye, giving him the illusion that all his secrets were exposed. Skylar knew that Peter Pettigrew was actually making excuses; his Occlumency was quite formidable, enabling him to secretly inform Voldemort within the Order of the Order of the Phoenix, even without Dumbledore's knowledge. While James and others' protection was a major factor, Peter himself certainly possessed the ability to prevent Dumbledore from seeing through his secrets. At the very least, Dumbledore couldn't use Legilimency to confirm he was a traitor, only harboring suspicion about his actions.

However, Skylar did not intend to dwell on this topic with Peter Pettigrew.

Skylar said, "Don't worry, you just need to go back to his side and work for him. I don't need you to infiltrate for me or pass on any intelligence. Trust me, the Mysterious Man's return is only a matter of time. As the first person to find him and assist him when he falls from power, you will reap unexpected benefits. I have my own plans, you don't need to worry about them."

Peter Pettigrew's constantly shifting eyes revealed that he was making various calculations in his mind. Finally, he replied, "Alright, I promise you, young master, if I ever have the chance, I will repay your kindness today."

After taking the blood-replenishing potion and the Magic Restoration Potion that Skylar Pettigrew him, and feeling that his body had almost recovered, he Apparition and left the Forbidden Forest.

Skylar was very confident that Peter Pettigrew would be able to find Voldemort. Peter Pettigrew was able to use the help of Rodent Animals in the vast forest, which was how he found Voldemort's remnant soul in the original story. It was also with Peter Pettigrew's help that Voldemort was able to rescue Barty Crouch Jr. Crouch Jr., and then advance the plot of the fourth year.

Skylar had already planted the Tracking Magic unique to House-elf in him (he briefly summoned Dobby to cast it), so that Skylar could make Dobby Apparition to him at any time if he wanted. Furthermore, Skylar had even added something to the potion he gave Peter Pettigrew, so that if Voldemort were to resurrect him using Peter Pettigrew's flesh and blood according to the storyline, it would surely be a huge surprise for him.

Thinking of this, Skylar smiled with satisfaction at his various clever schemes.

After that incident, exam week began.

The test for the Transfiguration was to turn a teapot into a turtle. Skylar's performance was predictable; judging from Professor McGonagall's smile, he got a perfect score. Meredith made a slight mistake, turning the turtle into something more like a sea turtle, while Daphne forgot to add claws to the turtle's feet.

As expected, the Charms exam question was the Cheering Charm. Knowing the question beforehand, Skylar had already trained all the Slytherin Little Snakes, so none of Little Snakes fell behind and all got full marks.

The next morning, Hagrid presided over the exam on Care of Magical Creatures. The exam involved caring for Flobberworm; to pass, students had to ensure their Flobberworm were still alive an hour later. This was the easiest exam. The students were overjoyed, but none of them considered that throughout the entire semester, aside from the Hippogriff in the first lesson and the Fire Salamander later, they hadn't learned anything. Skylar shook his head inwardly; what use was a perfect score if they hadn't learned any real knowledge?

The Potions test was in the afternoon, which was Slytherin's performance time. The topic was Confusing Concoction. Half an hour before the test ended, the Little Snakes had already handed in their completed Potions. Except for Goyle, who accidentally added too much water and made the potion not thick enough, the other Little Snakes all got full marks.

I had Astronomy exam in the middle of the night, on top of the tallest tower. Then on Wednesday, I had exams in History of Magic and Herbology.

Thursday morning was the penultimate exam, Defence Against the Dark Arts. Professor Lupin gave them the most unusual test they had ever given, an outdoor obstacle course-like test. They had to wade through a Deep Pond with Grindylow, navigate a series of pits filled with Red Cap, cross a swamp, ignore the misleading instructions from Hinkypunk, climb into an Old Box, and fight a Boggart.

Skylar, Daphne, Meredith, and Draco all got perfect scores. The other Little Snakes did flawlessly in the earlier sections, but ran into trouble at the final Boggart level— Pansy screamed and rushed out (after seeing her uglier self), Blaise was terrified by a ferocious Hippogriff...

The final exam was in Alchemy Class, Skylar successfully repaired a damaged Golden Snitch, earning the only perfect score in the class. Professor Burke has already told Skylar to come to his office sometime to learn how to repair the Vanishing Cabinet.

With exams over and three weeks left until the end of the semester, students everywhere are happily discussing their summer vacation plans, finally free from their worries.

Harry wasn't happy after the exams. His beloved Professor Lupin had decided to resign because Snape had revealed that he was Werewolf.

This incident put Dumbledore from the Board of Governors. Both Dumbledore and the Board of Governors members received countless Howler from students' parents, and even the Daily Prophet couldn't suppress the matter and had to follow up with reports on it.

Of course, the newspaper's editor-in-chief, Barnabas Cuffe, cleverly extricated Fudge from the mess, making no mention of the fact that Lupin's appointment was approved by the Ministry of Magic.

(Note: Fudge's original words in the book, "Not many people would allow you to hire Werewolf, keep Hagrid, or decide what to teach students without consulting the Ministry of Magic," indicate that he knew Dumbledore was hiring Werewolf, but he chose to remain silent.)

Coupled with Dumbledore's past record of appointing Quirrell and Lockhart, his ability to Dumbledore professors has been severely questioned. The public has begun to voice their opinions, hoping that the Ministry of Magic will intervene in the matter to make the process of hiring professors more transparent and fair—that the headmaster should no longer make the appointment of professors unilaterally, but should be subject to third-party review.

At this point, Gareth Mr. Greengrass, a member of the Board of Governors, stepped forward and volunteered to take on the task. He led the organization of a "Faculty Hiring Committee," which would be responsible for reviewing the president's candidates for professorships (the president would still be responsible for finding candidates, but the committee's approval would be required for formal hiring).

To ensure fairness, the committee will consist of two Head of House Professor, two Board of Governors members, two parents, and two Student Representative, so that the opinions of all stakeholders can be represented.

After a lengthy discussion, the committee members were finally finalized. The two deans were Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape, the Board of Governors members were Gareth himself and Lady Selwyn of the House of Selwyn, and the students' parents were Lucius Malfoy and Amelia Bones.

The Student Representative was, of course, our protagonist, Skylar Malfoy. Although Skylar was still very young, his reputation and strength had already been recognized by most of the young wizards. Apart from Lady Selwyn, the other members of the committee all had some connection with Skylar, and they were all happy to see Skylar selected.

Another Student Representative was Ron Weasley. Although his appointment surprised many, it was not surprising at all, because there were many political maneuvering factors behind Ron's appointment.

According to Skylar's speculation, Dumbledore's faction originally favored Hermione Granger, whose achievements and abilities were outstanding enough, but unfortunately, she came from Muggle family and had no background.

Ron was a good alternative. He was good friends with Hermione and could ask Hermione for advice on many things. Ron himself came from one of the oldest Pure-blood families and was also a close friend of Harry, who was seen as the Savior. So he was forced into the position.

The House of Malfoy was clearly the biggest beneficiary of this turmoil. Not only did Lucius return to the power structure of Hogwarts, but two members of the House of Malfoy also joined the committee. This would have been a controversial matter under any other circumstances, but it was a natural outcome for the then-powerful Skylar.

At the same time, Harry also learned from Professor Lupin the truth about the Sirius Black Incident Twelve Years Ago, and the fact that Sirius Black was Harry's godfather. This made Harry even more frustrated. He finally had his only family in the world, but because he had failed to clear his name, he was still a wanted criminal. Therefore, Harry could not get rid of the Dursley, whom he hated, and live with Sirius Black.

Incidentally, Ron found it even harder to accept the truth than Harry did when Lupin revealed it.

"What did you say? Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew?" he shouted. "No, how could that be!"

Even though Sirius Black promised to give him a new pet as compensation, he was still somewhat reluctant, which shows that he still had very deep feelings for Scabbers.

Another thing that bothered Harry was during the Divination Class exam, when that unreliable Professor Trelawney seemed to make a real Prophecy: "The Dark Lord Lies Alone, without friends, abandoned by his servants, whose servant has been chained for twelve years. Tonight, before midnight... this servant will break free of his chains and set off to reunite with his master. The Dark Lord will return with the servant's help, stronger and more terrifying than before..."

Harry was very concerned about the Prophecy, but when he mentioned it to Ron and Hermione, the two scoffed at Professor Trelawney's Divination abilities and didn't take the Prophecy seriously.

Harry thought things couldn't get any worse. But harsh reality taught him a harsh lesson.

When Harry went to the Secret Passage the One-Eyed Witch Statue on the fourth floor to retrieve his Invisibility Cloak, he discovered that the cloak had vanished!

This cloak was extremely important to Harry, who didn't possess invisibility magic, and it was also the only keepsake his father had left him, making it hold immense significance. Losing the cloak plunged him into despair.

The only thing that made Harry happy was that Harry and Ron passed every subject, even if they only got a "pass" in some. At the same time, Harry also got back the Marauder's Map that had been confiscated from Lupin. This map had special significance for Harry, as it was some kind of proof of what his father and best friend had left behind at the school.

Hermione's grades dropped significantly this semester; she only ranked fourth, overtaken by Meredith and Morrie.

Everyone attributed the problem to her heavy workload; the pressure of taking 12 elective courses overwhelmed her. But only she knew the real reason—in the moments before the exam, she so desperately wished that boy could say "good luck" to her, offer a word of encouragement, or even just glance at her. But she was disappointed...

She couldn't remember how many times she had secretly cried in the dead of night; she only remembered that she had never been so heartbroken and sad since she was old enough to understand things...

But Hermione is Hermione. Now that she saw her report card, instead of being discouraged, it ignited her fighting spirit. She told herself that it was time to let go of everything, pick herself up, and take responsibility for her own life.

She reflected on the mistakes she made in the final exam and ultimately decided to drop Divination Class and Muggle Studies so that she could have a normal schedule next semester. However, this meant she had to Time-Turner to Professor McGonagall.