bioinnovel Chapter 279 The Worst News
Chapter 279 The Worst News
Chapter 279 The Worst News
After October arrived, the winds at Hogwarts grew fierce, and a biting chill swept through the school.
The chill of late autumn clearly affected everyone, making the warmth of the bed all the more desirable.
Every morning, everyone had to brave the chill that seeped into the castle, shivering as they crawled out of bed to begin their day of study.
Burning torches and braziers were everywhere, but they couldn't stop the howling wind in the corridor, nor could they hide the bone-chilling cold.
If it were just bad weather, one could still bear it—Hogwarts has always had such weather—but the heavy workload was the straw that broke the camel's back.
The professors from all subjects seemed to have gone mad, assigning a massive amount of homework in unison.
Especially for students in fourth grade and above, mountains of homework take up their free time and consume their energy that they have nowhere to release.
Of the entire faculty, only three professors did not ruthlessly exploit their students' energy.
First, there's Paul Bernard, the alchemist.
Given the specific nature of his discipline, Bernard did not require his students to produce anything on their own; his assignments were usually papers.
All academic papers are plagiarized, and Hogwarts doesn't care about plagiarism rates, so just copy and you're good to go.
The more a student copied, the higher the grade Professor Bernard gave.
Next, Professor Victor and Arithmetic were dismissed.
Professor Victor has never been very noticeable, and he assigns very little homework, sometimes not at all.
In comparison, people began to envy the students who chose arithmetic divination and were jealous of their meager amount of homework.
Finally, there's Professor Black and her Muggle Studies class.
It wasn't that Belvina was considerate, nor that she didn't want to exploit her students; it was simply that she couldn't find the time to grade a large amount of homework herself.
As the three-way battle draws ever closer, Belvina suddenly becomes very busy. The eldest daughter of the Black family transforms into a civil engineer, spending her days squatting at the construction site watching people work on the mortar.
The first event of the competition was related to fire dragons, which are extremely destructive and dangerous creatures. Barty Crouch also "maliciously" brought in Hungarian hornets and Ukrainian iron-bellied dragons, so the competition venue had to be built to be large and sturdy.
The Hungarian Tree Bee Dragon's fire-breathing range is a full fifty feet, and the Ukrainian Iron Belly's landing can crush houses to dust; both of these tests the safety of the competition venue.
If the Treebee Dragon were to ignite the stands with a single breath, or if Iron Belly were to break free of its restraints and crush the stands, the three-way battle would become quite a spectacle.
Therefore, Belvina was forced to transform into the Civil Engineering Goddess and squat on the construction site eating sand.
In addition, Belvina also took a break from her busy schedule to visit the Ministry of Magic and give Ludo Bagman a good thrashing.
This kick completely eliminated Ludo Bagman from the three-way championship. He couldn't even get a chance to be a commentator, let alone join the referee team.
Ludo Bagman's chance to turn things around through the Triwizard Tournament has been dashed, as he once again breaks his promise to the goblins and his creditors.
At the same time, Ludo Bagman's position in the Department of Magical Sports became increasingly precarious.
The Daily Prophet's repeated reports, with fairies and wizards coming to demand payment, finally prompted the Ministry of Magic, which had been mistaking negativity for positivity, to finally take action.
With the instigation of certain individuals, the Ministry launched a campaign to overthrow Ludo Bagman, determined to expel the morally corrupt gambling addict from the Ministry of Magic.
What made Ludo Bagman even more desperate was that, just as he was preparing to write his resignation, the order to dismiss him arrived first, amidst his internal and external troubles.
The Director of Magical Sports has been dismissed, and beloved Quidditch players will be investigated by the Ministry of Magic.
After successfully retiring, Belvina returned to Hogwarts, took over the Tea Lake, and then stayed in the project department watching others get their ashes.
Just as Belvina Black was about to transform into Sky Concrete Star Black, Sirius Black and Lupin finally returned.
One afternoon in mid-October, Sirius Black and Lupin finished their trip to Albania and, as soon as they set foot on British soil, immediately rushed to Hogwarts.
The two first met with Dumbledore in the castle to report their findings, and then went to the fifth floor to look for Belvina.
The two, unaware that Belvina was about to change her name to Tian Tong Xing, naturally missed their target. If they hadn't happened to run into Bassheda, they would have suspected that Belvina had run away.
Thanks to Basilda's kind directions, Sirius and Lupin walked along the edge of the Forbidden Forest for a long time, until the castle and the Black Lake were no longer visible, before they finally spotted their destination through the dense foliage.
It was a huge construction site, with towering stone walls that looked much taller than the school's Quidditch pitch.
After rounding another grove of trees, Sirius and Lupin saw a small stone house under a stone wall, with Belvina standing in front of it, holding a teapot.
The two, looking travel-worn, walked straight to the unassuming little stone house and stood in front of Belvina.
Before Belvina could even speak, Sirius snatched the teapot from her hand and gulped down several mouthfuls.
The next second, Sirius spat out all the tea he had just drunk.
"What kind of tea is this? It tastes awful!" he said as he lifted the lid of the teapot.
The ratio of water to tea leaves in the teapot was one to one, half water and half tea leaves, no wonder it was so hard to swallow.
"Don't be so naive," Belvina scolded playfully. "So, did you find any useful clues?"
Without any pleasantries or formalities, Belvina went straight to the point.
Sirius stood there absentmindedly, hands on his hips, looking up at the competition venue that was still under construction.
After a while, once the bitterness in his mouth had subsided, Sirius Black finally spoke, "I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
After more than a month apart, Sirius Black is still as mischievous as ever. Even though he looks very tired, his words still raise people's blood pressure.
"I have two hands and two feet, which do you choose?" Belvina retorted irritably, then looked at Lupin, who looked even more exhausted.
Lu Ping, sitting on a large rock, didn't keep anyone in suspense.
He said, "Sirius and I first visited Jorkins' cousin, and then we visited her aunt, almost retracing her steps."
"And the result?" Belvina asked as she brewed another pot of tea.
This time it wasn't a 1:1 ratio of tea, but rather hot tea that better suited Sirius and Lupin's usual tastes.
"The result was nothing," Sirius Black said, taking over from Lupin. "That lousy Bertha Jorkins didn't disappear in Albania."
This was exactly the same result that Belvina had previously obtained through inquiries.
"That means Johansson has returned to England," Belvina said. "She disappeared in the country."
As she spoke, Belvina poured two cups of piping hot tea and handed one to Sirius and the other to Lupin.
"That should be right." Lupin took the hot tea. "Although we didn't find out Jorkins' whereabouts, we unexpectedly discovered something else."
"This couldn't be worse for us," Sirius said, while observing his surroundings.
After confirming that no one else was near the stone house, Sirius continued, "We've overheard news about Voldemort; he's in Albania."
Belvina was startled by what she heard, and almost spilled the tea in her cup.
She quickly asked, "Voldemort? What have you found out? Can you pinpoint his approximate location?"
"So many questions at once, which one should I answer first?" Sirius shook his head. "We haven't found any trace of him, but we've gathered some information."
Sitting on the large rock, Lupin took a sip of hot tea to moisten his throat, then said, "After visiting Joggins' aunt, we originally planned to return home. Unexpectedly, on the eve of our departure, we ran into one of my kind, who planned to kill us both under the cover of darkness."
"What a pity, that guy picked the wrong opponent, otherwise he could have had a good meal," Sirius said casually, but werewolves are not easy to deal with.
Lupin smiled and continued, "We obtained an extremely important clue from my unfortunate kin. According to him, a terrifying, invisible, and dangerous creature lurks in the Black Forest."
"And then you went to the Black Forest?" Belvina asked, a bad feeling welling up in her heart again, growing stronger.
As for the fate of the Albanian werewolf, Belvina didn't care at all. Aside from Remus Lupin, the lives of the other werewolves were none of her concern.
“That’s right,” Sirius replied. “We also had brief conversations with some small animals along the way to confirm that the guy was telling the truth.”
As they spoke, Sirius and Lupin both sighed.
Judging from the expressions on their faces, it can be deduced that they also found nothing in the Black Forest.
Over the years, only Quirinas Quirrell has ever found the lurking Voldemort, which shows that even after losing most of his magic, Voldemort can still hide himself well.
Even if Sirius and Lupin searched the Black Forest thoroughly, turning it upside down, they might not find Voldemort, who was determined to hide. However, Sirius's next words made Belvina realize that the storm was truly coming.
"We found nothing in the Black Forest, no terrifying, invisible dangerous creatures," Sirius said. "But we didn't give up, searching the Black Forest again and again, and then—"
As he spoke, Sirius sighed again, his face looking even more haggard.
"After Sirius used his Animagus to communicate with the nearby animals, we both agreed that Voldemort should have already left the Black Forest." Lupin looked somewhat uneasy.
It wasn't just Lupin who felt uneasy; Belvina's mind was also in turmoil.
Voldemort's fearsome reputation and his hidden presence in the shadows made him unnoticed. How could anyone not worry about his schemes and tricks?
"Remus and I believe he's already left the Black Forest, though it's also possible we just haven't found him yet," Sirius said worriedly. "If he really has left the Black Forest, where do you think he'll go next?"
Yes, where will Voldemort settle down after leaving the Black Forest?
When Voldemort left his hiding place last time, he possessed Quirinus Quirrell and infiltrated Hogwarts with the intention of stealing the Philosopher's Stone.
How did Voldemort manage to leave the Black Forest this time? Did another Quirrell appear, or did he gain new powers?
Also, if Voldemort were to risk sneaking back to England, what would be the "Philosopher's Stone" he was looking for?