The snow melted and temperatures rose. Cold raindrops replaced drifting snowflakes, and days of overcast, rainy weather left all of Hogwarts Castle damp and chilly.
As a flash of lightning streaked across the sky above Hogwarts Castle, exactly two weeks had passed since Brian acquired the ancient magic called "Memory."
Everything was progressing steadily.
Hogwarts, that train made up of students and staff, with its hundreds of wheels, chugged along according to schedule, sounding its whistle as it safely entered the latter half of January 1992.
The students had more or less accepted Professor Moody's arrival. For most, that acceptance was passive-Moody never had anything to do with the word "polite," and his teaching methods were truly unconventional.
"Whatever you lot say, I hate Moody-he actually made us practice magic against a bunch of rubbish bins!
"Don't you think those bins are terrifying? The moment you let your guard down, they fire Incendio at your head-my poor fringe... I only had it done at Christmas! That hairdresser's so hard to book..." a Hufflepuff student wearing a wig said mournfully.
"That's nothing. You've never been to Moody's office, have you? It looks perfectly ordinary, but there are traps everywhere. There are three of those rubbish bins you mentioned, the ones that attack people with magic-and besides those, there are cupboards that poison you when you open them, a clock that makes Augurey cries, and drawers that make the bones in your fingers disappear when you pull them open-" said a Gryffindor student whose hand was wrapped in bandages.
"So why did you go to his office?" the Hufflepuff asked, cutting straight to the point. "Detention?"
"The detention came after I went to his office," the Gryffindor said without a blush or a flutter of the heart. "Originally, I only went there