The Firebolt Returns

After the Christmas holidays, the young wizards returned to Hogwarts, instantly restoring the once quiet school to its usual bustling state.

The first class after the start of the semester was about Care of Magical Creatures. On this cold and damp January morning, the last thing anyone wanted to do was spend two hours on the field, especially taking care of the incredibly boring Flobberworm. Unexpectedly, Hagrid, in an effort to cheer them up, built a bonfire filled with Fire Salamander.

This lesson was particularly interesting. The students collected firewood and leaves, and kept the fire burning. The lizards, who loved fire, darted around in the crackling wood. After some inquiry, Skylar learned that all the Flobberworm had died because they ate too much lettuce.

Then came the Alchemy Class. The Alchemy Class was starting to get interesting, and after the students had memorized the theory of the conversion between matter and magic, Professor Burke began his first practical lesson.

He found a large number of broken alchemical artifacts in Hogwarts, such as old Broomstick, cracked Golden Snitch, and Scabbers Sneakoscope. He had the students take them apart to observe their internal structure and practice their skills in repairing them.

The Mending Charm can only repair ordinary objects that have been physically damaged. However, most alchemical items contain powerful or complex magic. If you try to repair them with a regular wand using the Mending Charm, you can restore their physical form, but the damage to their magic cannot be repaired.

Of course, there are always exceptions, Skylar knew of one— the Elder Wand. This powerful wand could use its Mending Charm to repair other wands, and if Skylar wasn't mistaken, it could also repair other alchemical items, as long as they weren't too large or complex, such as the Vanishing Cabinet or the Mirror of Erised.

The students thoroughly enjoyed the hands-on class on repairing alchemical items, feeling they had learned a great deal. Professor Burke even brought the Vanishing Cabinet that Peeves had broken last semester into the classroom, explaining that once the students had mastered the basics of repairing alchemical items, the next class would cover how to fix the Vanishing Cabinet.

On Thursday evening, Harry officially began his weekly Defense Against the Dark Arts session, with Professor Lupin giving him extra lessons on the Patronus Charm.

Harry became increasingly anxious due to the difficulties he encountered in his studies, even questioning Professor Lupin's teaching abilities—this differed from the original books, where Harry was the first student in his class to learn the Patronus Charm. In the book, however, there were at least 60 young wizards who could cast the incomplete Patronus Charm, and many others who could cast a Corporeal Patronus.

Harry had heard from Hermione that, under Skylar's guidance, Hermione had mastered the skill in just one night, as had Harry's arch-nemesis Draco. The thought of not being as good as Draco in his studies made Harry very unhappy. This frustration made him impatient, which hindered his progress in learning the Patronus Charm, creating a vicious cycle.

On Friday, during Potions, Professor Snape taught about poisons for the first time. True to his penchant for challenging subjects, he chose the category of "Undetectable Poisons," which are colorless, odorless, and undetectable by conventional methods such as using a silver spoon, making them virtually impossible to detect.

(Note: People's News Agency translated Undetectable Poisons as undetectable medicine. The author has no strength to complain. Isn't Poison a poison with a primary school student's English level?)

Surprisingly, all the Slytherin students displayed remarkable abilities in this class, even the historically worst Goyle and Crabbe, showed a level of skill that could easily overwhelm Hermione.

This stunned the Gryffindor students. Hermione looked incredulous and was deeply shocked. Harry and Ron hated Potions even more, believing it was Snape's scheme to suppress Gryffindor, and they suspected Snape was secretly giving the Slytherin Potions extra lessons. Of course, Harry selectively forgot that he himself was enjoying Professor Lupin's private tutoring.

Snape was unfairly blamed. Slytherin's performance was entirely due to Skylar. After Skylar shared Snape's notes in September, the Potions skills of all the third-year wizards in Slytherin improved significantly, making it easy for them to easily crush Gryffindor.

On Saturday, Ravenclaw played a Quidditch Match against Slytherin.

Under Roger Davis's leadership, Ravenclaw's overall strength was indeed remarkable, with both their offense and defense being extremely sharp and fluid, no wonder they could crush Hufflepuff. Unfortunately, they were not quite up to par against Slytherin Quidditch Team known for their underhanded and ruthless methods.

With Marcus, Cassius, and Montague committing repeated fouls, Ravenclaw lost two players to injury. Although they gained a 100-point lead by frequently getting free throws, Draco caught the Golden Snitch faster than Draco Cho Chang, securing the victory for Slytherin, albeit a narrow one.

Of course, this was also because Draco was holding back; he chose to heed Skylar's advice and did not use Firebolt in this match, instead continuing to use Nimbus 2001.

According to Wood, this is good news for Gryffindor, as they could finish second if they also beat Ravenclaw.

So Wood increased the number of team practices to five times a week. This meant that, including Lupin's Dementor training class—which was more tiring than six Quidditch sessions— Harry only had one night a week to do all his homework.

Nevertheless, he didn't act as nervous as Hermione.

Hermione's heavy workload seemed to have finally overwhelmed her. Every night, Hermione could be seen sitting in a corner of the common room, with textbooks, Arithmancy charts, Ancient Runes dictionaries, diagrams of Muggle lifting heavy objects, and stacks of densely filled notes spread out on the tables in front of her. She hardly spoke to anyone, and when disturbed, she would always lash out.

January turned into February before we knew it, and the biting cold weather remained unchanged.

The match against Ravenclaw was drawing ever closer, and Harry still hadn't ordered a new broom. Now, after each Transfiguration, he would ask Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt, with Ron standing hopefully behind him, while Hermione would turn her face away and hurry past.

On Thursday evening, after Harry finished his fourth lesson on resisting Dementor with Professor Lupin, he ran into Professor McGonagall on his way back to the common room and finally got the Firebolt he had been longing for back from her.

Back in the Gryffindor common room, Harry's teammates, who had already gotten wind of the situation, excitedly surrounded Harry. Captain Wood even shouted, "With Firebolt, Ravenclaw is definitely out of luck! They're all riding Cleansweep Seven 260!" (Don't doubt it, the author didn't make a mistake; it was actually Wood, the big oaf, who got it wrong. Cho Chang's broom was Comet 260. )

People passed the Firebolt around, admiring it from every angle. After about ten minutes, the crowd gradually dispersed, and Harry and Ron finally saw Hermione. Hermione was the only one who didn't rush to them; she was engrossed in her homework, carefully avoiding their gaze. Harry and Ron walked towards her desk, and finally, she looked up.

"I got it back." Harry smiled at her, holding the Firebolt high.

"See that, Hermione? There's absolutely nothing wrong with it!" Ron said.

"But—maybe back then!" Hermione said. "I mean, at least you know it's safe now."

"Yes, that's what I think too," Harry said. "I'd better put it upstairs—"

"I'll get it!" Ron said eagerly. "I just need to give Scabbers his Rat Tonic."

He took the Firebolt and carefully carried it up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, as if it were made of glass.

Just as Harry and Hermione were chatting and trying to mend their friendship, Ron's scream came out of the bedroom at the most inopportune moment.

The entire common room fell silent, everyone staring Dazed at the stairwell. Hurried footsteps approached, growing louder and louder—then Ron jumped out, dragging a sheet in his hand, with a large bloodstain on it.

Then he angrily threw something onto Hermione's Ancient Runes translation assignment. Hermione and Harry rushed over to look. On the strange, pointed characters lay several long, ginger-colored cat hairs.

Ron and Hermione had a huge argument in public.

Ron suspected Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers, and without giving Hermione a chance to explain, he berated her until Hermione cried, as if in a fit of rage. He even said that Hermione had been brainwashed by Slytherin and had forgotten her duty as Gryffindor.

This incident caused a great uproar, and even students from other colleges, including Skylar, heard about it.

Because of this incident, Hermione became very sensitive, as if she could burst into tears at any moment. This event was a huge blow to her; she became more lonely, often spending time alone in the library and returning to the Gryffindor Common Room less often.

Two days later, in the Quidditch Match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, thanks to Harry's outstanding performance and the superior performance of the Firebolt, Gryffindor easily won by a margin of 200 points. Unlike in the original story, Draco had become more composed and mature this semester, did not attempt to interfere with Harry's match by turning into Dementor with his friends, and Slytherin did not lose points or face as a result.

After the game, everyone, including Harry, headed to the Gryffindor Common Room, where a lively party lasted until evening. Fred and George, who had been missing for two hours, returned laden with bottles of Butterbeer, Pumpkin Juice, and several large bags of Honeydukes candy.

There was only one person absent from this joyous gathering. Hermione sat incredibly in a corner, trying to read a large book called "Life and Social Customs of a British Muggle Family."

When Fred and George started performing tricks with Butterbeer bottles, Harry took the opportunity to leave the table, go to Hermione's side, and ask, "Haven't you been watching the game?"

"Of course I went." Hermione didn't even look up at Harry, her tone strangely high. "I'm so glad we won. I think you did a great job, but I have to finish reading this book by Monday..."

"Come on, Hermione, have something to eat." Harry glanced at Ron, who was smiling quite happily. He couldn't help but wonder: Is Ron in a good enough mood to make peace with Hermione?

"I can't, Harry, I still have 422 pages to read! Besides..." Hermione's voice sounded a little hysterical. She glanced at Ron and whispered, "He probably won't want me to participate."

It was obvious. Ron deliberately chose this moment to say loudly, "If Scabbers hadn't been eaten, it could have eaten a few of these Butterscotch Flies; it always loved them—"

Hermione suddenly burst into tears. She had been on edge lately, whether it was the busy schedule of her classes and studies or the Scabbers incident, which had kept her in a state of constant stress... But Harry hadn't expected her to actually cry like that.

Before Harry could say or do anything, Hermione tucked the large book under her arm, sobbing and frantically opened the doorway, running out of the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Can't we just let her rest a bit!" Harry couldn't help but say to Ron, then glanced at the doorway. "It's already evening; I think we'd better find her as soon as possible..."

Ron glanced into the half-open doorway, hesitated for a moment, but then stubbornly insisted. "No," Ron said firmly, "If she shows any remorse—but she never admits she's wrong, that's just how Hermione is! She still acts like Scabbers's on vacation or something..."

Harry hesitated for a moment, sighed, and then ran out of the doorway with a helpless expression.