Hagrid Returns

The group Apparated all the way there. Mad-Eye Moody had designed the route himself; simply completing it by Apparition was enough to place quite a burden on an ordinary wizard.

After the final Apparition, they appeared in a forest.

"I guarantee that if I had to do that again, I wouldn't remember the route." Tonks rubbed her head and panted.

"With skills like that, you want to be an Auror, Nymphadora?" Moody leaned on his cane, neither flushed nor breathless, and shot Tonks a sidelong glance.

Tonks suddenly flared up, her hair turning red along with her anger. "Don't call me Nymphadora!"

In English, Nymphadora's name sounded rather like another somewhat insulting word. All that could be said was that Sirius Black's cousin Andromeda and her husband Ted had naming talents on par with Eli's.

Though Moody was Tonks's teacher, he merely pursed his lips at that moment.

"The job's more or less done. I need to go report to Dumbledore," Eli said.

"Go on, before that woman catches you." Moody tapped his cane. "We can't stay here forever either. We'll look around, then head back to Grimmauld Place."

After saying goodbye to everyone, Eli transformed into a streak of fire and reappeared at Hogwarts the next instant.

He directly cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and headed for the Headmaster's Office on the Seventh Floor.

On the way, he nearly ran into the patrolling Filch. Mrs Norris nearly spotted him too; he had no idea whether that cat had some sort of magical bloodline.

When Eli reached the Headmaster's Office, the door was half-open. He pushed it open and walked in, and Dumbledore, who had been pacing, immediately looked up at him.

"Everything went smoothly. If Voldemort hadn't shown up at the end, we might have killed a few