A Steamy Breakfast
On Saturday, September 7th, the weather finally shed its gloom and became very sunny.
Harry was the first to wake up in the dormitory. He lay in bed for a while, watching the dust swirling and dancing in the ray of sunlight filtering through the gaps in the bed curtains, and happily remembered that it was Saturday.
The first week of the new semester felt incredibly long to him, like an endless history of History of Magic class.
He wrote a letter to Sirius Black, intending to tell him about Umbridge and his scar pain.
Just as he crawled out of the portrait's hole and walked down the corridor, the Nearly Headless Nick suddenly floated out of the wall in front of him, warning him to be careful of Peeves' ambush ahead— Peeves was planning to trick the next person to walk past Paracelsus's bust in the middle of the corridor.
So Harry decided to change course, choosing a longer but safer route to the Owlery. He passed window after window, seeing the bright blue sky outside, and his mood improved. He had to attend practice later, and finally he would be back on the Quidditch Pitch.
Just as he reached the somber statue of Wilford, he encountered Mrs. Norris the Grey Cat, one of the most disliked creatures among the students of Hogwarts, who was always tattling to the caretaker Filch.
It stared at him for a moment with its two lightbulb-like yellow eyes, then disappeared behind the melancholy Wilford statue.
"I didn't do anything wrong," Harry called after it. Judging from its appearance, it was undoubtedly a cat rushing to report to its owner, which puzzled Harry. He didn't understand what school rule he had broken by simply mailing a letter on Saturday.
On the same day, Skylar also got up early.
Seeing so many new faces at last night's Sleeping Dragon Society meeting greatly excited him—with him, Sarf, Daphne, and Susan already there, the Sleeping Dragon Society had no shortage of top-tier combat power, and after successfully mastering the Dragon Rider Combat Art, Morrie, Cho Chang, Astoria, the Carrow Sisters, and others would also be a powerful backbone force.
Therefore, what the Sleeping Dragon Society truly lacks are the junior wizards as the lower-level fighting force, who, under the leadership of their chiefs, can provide overall firepower and defense. When the difference in numbers is too great, they can make up for the difference in strength and thus influence the course of the war.
During the First Wizarding War, the Order of the Order of the Phoenix was composed entirely of elites, but they were still outnumbered by twenty to one. As a result, many of their elite members—such as Fabian Prewett and Gideon Prewett —were Death Eaters despite their numerical superiority.
Although Skylar didn't know how many people were in Walpurgis, Skylar did know the total number of Auror, Hit Wizard, and Scouts in the Britain Ministry of Magic —around 170.
If Walpurgis dares to make a public move, he must be absolutely confident in dealing with the Britain Ministry of Magic's forces. Therefore, Skylar's fighting strength should be based on this number, or even higher, to ensure absolute success.
Unfortunately, this is not easy.
Almost all the young wizards in Slytherin have already joined the Sleeping Dragon Society, leaving them little room for further development; and now, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff have also been successfully infiltrated by the Sleeping Dragon Society. In other words, only the young wizards of Gryffindor House remain, the last territory that the Sleeping Dragon Society cannot set foot in at Hogwarts.
Skylar emerged from his dormitory and entered the Slytherin Common Room. All was quiet; the embers in the fireplace cast a faint, dark red glow, illuminating the disheveled shawl on the sofa and the parchment scattered on the table—clearly, someone had stayed up all night there.
Looking around, the entire underground lounge was quiet and deep; it seemed everyone was still asleep. This was not surprising. Most of the Slytherin junior wizards were Skylar's most loyal and fervent supporters, and most of them had attended the Sleeping Dragon Society meeting last night. It was not surprising that they were too excited to sleep by Skylar's inspiring words.
He pushed open the stone door and walked towards the Great Hall. A few students were already eating in the hall, and the air was filled with the aroma of bacon and Pumpkin Juice. He casually chose a seat and sat down. Just then, an owl swooped down and dropped a copy of the latest Daily Prophet.
Skylar unfolded the newspaper; the front page headline was, as always, a long and tedious political story, nothing more than Fudge boasting about his achievements, followed by news of the marriage of the low-pitched musician from the Weird Sisters' singing group. He was about to casually flip through it when his gaze was drawn to an inconspicuous section—
Sturgis Podmore was sentenced to six months in Azkaban after his trial yesterday for illegally entering the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic.
Skylar raised an eyebrow slightly, staring thoughtfully at the brief report. Podmore's fate was exactly the same as in the original story. Why, when the plot had already fallen apart like this, were they still able to force these events from the original story to happen?
He had a premonition that this was no coincidence—there must be a lurking force, perhaps Walpurgis, or some other unknown force, trying to obtain something from the Department of Mysteries.
He was a master strategist who liked to be in control of the overall situation, and he couldn't allow such an unknown to appear on the chessboard. Therefore, figuring out Podmore's purpose in infiltrating the Department of Mysteries also became an important goal for Skylar.
Skylar sat at the Slytherin table, casually flipping through the Daily Prophet, but his attention wasn't on the paper. He had long since finished his breakfast, but instead of getting up to leave, he waited quietly.
Sure enough, a short while later, Cho Chang appeared at the Ravenclaw Table. She sat down alone, hurriedly eating her breakfast, her expression showing a hint of anxiety, as if she were rushing to do something important.
Skylar's lips curled slightly as he slowly rose and walked towards her, stopping her just as she was about to stand up.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" he asked casually, his tone calm, as if he were just making small talk.
Cho Chang was taken aback by the sudden question, then sighed and said with some annoyance, "Today is my mother's birthday, but I completely forgot! I just managed to conjure up a gift with magic and am about to rush to the Owlery to mail it."
Skylar was not surprised to hear this. Having read the original book thoroughly, Skylar certainly remembered this incident. He even knew that Cho Chang would forget her mother's birthday, and that this was why she had a private encounter with Harry in the Owlery in the original book.
A slight smile played on his lips as he took a beautifully wrapped gift box from his pocket and handed it to her. "This is for you."
Cho Chang was stunned, hesitated before taking it, and stared at him with wide eyes. "... What?"
"This is a birthday gift for your mother—" Skylar explained casually, "Sky-Veil Feather Hat, from the France Flan Hat Shop. I remember you said your mother's favorite color is navy blue."
Cho Chang covered her mouth in disbelief, her eyes already glistening with tears. "My God, you actually knew my mother's birthday, and you even remembered her favorite color—"
All along, her relationship with Skylar had been one where she took the initiative to pursue him, while Skylar passively accepted her advances. She never imagined that Skylar would do these things for her, even so thoughtfully preparing gifts in advance.
Cho Chang stared at him blankly for a long time before she came to her senses. She opened the package, and the moment she saw the hat, her eyes widened—wasn't this the one her mother had mentioned several times but hadn't bought because of its high price?
A surge of heat welled up in Cho Chang's heart, and she could no longer control her emotions. She took a step forward, stood on tiptoe, and without hesitation grabbed Skylar's collar, pulled him close to her, and kissed him fiercely.
Before Skylar could react, her hands were already wrapped tightly around his neck like snakes, her fingers digging into his black hair and gripping the back of his head, as if afraid he would pull away.
Skylar sensed the urgency in the woman's heart, and he gently responded to the kiss, his arms slowly encircling Cho Chang's slender waist, pulling her into his embrace, the warmth of his palms soothing her back through the fabric.
Cho Chang lingered, reluctant to let go, until her breathing became slightly erratic, before finally pulling away slightly, her nose almost touching Skylar's, and whispering, "Skylar... you're so thoughtful..."
Her breathing was still a little erratic until she tilted her head slightly and her gaze inadvertently swept around, only then did she suddenly realize—the two of them were still standing in the Great Hall!
Her face flushed instantly, a wave of embarrassment washing over her. In her moment of overwhelming emotion, she had completely forgotten where she was, kissing Skylar in public...
She quickly glanced around. Fortunately, it was still early, and the Great Hall was empty; even the owls hadn't flown in yet. Otherwise, she probably would have been so embarrassed that she would have wanted to crawl into a hole and hide.
She loosened her grip on Skylar's neck, took a half-step back, biting her lip, her cheeks still burning. She dared not look into Skylar's eyes, as if her actions just now were a solitary impulse.
"Uh... that..." Cho Chang stammered, trying to sound calm, but the shyness in her voice still betrayed her true feelings.
Skylar looked at her flushed cheeks, a hint of a smile flashing in his eyes. He casually straightened his disheveled clothes, his tone indifferent. "What's wrong? Weren't you being very proactive just now?"
While Skylar said that, he was secretly laughing to himself. There were a few scattered students in the Great Hall, but he had just Silencio cast a powerful shielding spell, preventing outsiders from seeing their passionate moment. Cho Chang, however, was unaware of this. The reason she couldn't see the students in the Great Hall was because Skylar had used mental magic to affect her vision.
Cho Chang glared at him fiercely, then punched him lightly in the chest, her voice barely audible. "Don't mention it!"
Skylar chuckled softly and said gently, "Let's go! I'll accompany you to the Owlery."