The train stopped smoothly at the Hogwarts platform.
They followed the crowd out of the dark platform and this time they didn't need to row into the school.
Outside the station, a hundred horseless carriages were waiting for them... or to be more precise, carriages pulled by the Night Thestrals.
Jon and Astoria climbed into one of them.
The carriage passed through the gate and drove along a wide drive; soon they could see the gates of Hogwarts Castle.
A few minutes later, the carriage stopped at the stone steps in front of the two oak doors; after getting off the car, we walked up the stone steps and entered the cave-like deep entrance hall.
Returning to school after the Christmas holidays was not like the start of the new semester, with a sumptuous start-of-term banquet. Jon and Astoria said goodbye in a hurry and were about to follow the students of their respective colleges back to their common room when a middle-aged witch in emerald green robes stopped them.
"Professor McGonagall, what's the matter?" a Ravenclaw asked loudly.
"I'm so sorry!" Professor McGonagall looked a little weak. "But you need to wait for your college professor to take you back to the common room... Gryffindor students, come to me!"
...
...
"What the hell is going on?" several senior boys shouted.
"A new attack happened just a dozen days ago... the two victims were Justin Finch-Fletchley from Hufflepuff and Nicholas Porpington, the ghost of Gryffindor!" said Professor McGonagall with a heavy heart.
"What!"
The crowd immediately started talking, and just like Astoria had just said, most of them didn't know the news.
Especially the Hufflepuff students, most of them had expressions of extreme shock on their faces.
Fortunately, Professor Sprout arrived soon.
"Hufflepuffs, follow me..." she said with a worried look on her face.
…
"It must have been Potter!" After crawling into the barrel and through the underground tunnel, Jon heard Ernie MacMillan's loud voice.
Ernie didn't go home during the Christmas holidays, so he knows the "truth" about Justin's attack!
Several Hufflepuff students who had gone home for the holidays quickly gathered around.
"Do you know? Potter once again appeared at the attack site by coincidence... When we found that Justin and Nick were killed, he and Weasley were at the attack site!" Ernie McMillan said eloquently.
"If the first time was a coincidence, then he appeared at the attack location at the right time in all three attacks... There must be something fishy going on!"
Actually, what Ernie said made sense. No matter from which angle you look at it, Harry Potter is the first suspect in the attack. And every time he heard a strange noise (the sound of the basilisk), he would rush over... He actually never encountered the basilisk or Ginny (if they did, he would have died immediately). He was really lucky.
"Why did he attack Justin?" Hannah Abbott asked puzzledly: "I remember that Harry and Justin had a good relationship in the Herbology class..."
"Justin told Potter in the Herbology class that he was born a Muggle. Potter must have been holding a grudge against him!" Ernie said firmly, "During an extracurricular activity a few days before Christmas, Potter once ordered a snake to attack Justin. If Professor Snape hadn't stopped it, Justin would have been killed... However, this incident exposed Potter's true colors!"
"He's a Parseltongue?"
"That's right! You know, Parseltongue is the symbol of the most evil wizard... and Salazar Slytherin himself is a Parseltongue!"
"He hid it so well!" Hannah screamed.
"On the basis of my MacMillan family's reputation, the murderer must be Harry Potter!" Ernie MacMillan has made his judgment.
…
However, Ernie's brilliant reasoning was interrupted with the appearance of Professor Sprout.
"Ernie, don't use your malice to speculate on your classmates!" Professor Sprout said to Ernie sternly: "Professor Dumbledore believes that Mr. Potter is not the murderer, that's enough!"
"Okay, professor..." Ernie McMillan walked away dejectedly.
Jon was surprised to find that Professor Sprout's eyes turned to him.
"Jon, come with me for a moment, will you?" she said gently.
"Well, professor!" Jon hurried over and followed Professor Sprout out of the barrel.
"Professor, what's going on?"
"I want to ask you about those two spiders!" Professor Sprout asked solemnly, "How are they?"
"They're dead!" Jon's face showed a sad look:
"Professor, after you came to the common room and helped me catch them, their condition has not been very good... until one day in November, they suddenly screamed, and when I was about to feed them, they were already dead!"
"I'm sorry...but can you tell me the day they died?" Professor Sprout continued.
"Let me think..." Jon frowned, "It seems...it seems to be the day after the Quidditch match where Hufflepuff defeated Ravenclaw!"
"What?" Professor Sprout's face suddenly changed.
"What's wrong, Professor?" Jon asked knowingly. That day was the day after Colin Creevey was murdered.
"Nothing, kid... I have to go find Professor Kettleburn..." Professor Sprout seemed to stutter as he spoke: "Sorry, excuse me!"
After taking two steps back, she turned back again:
"Remember, never leave the Hufflepuff common room alone."
"Yes, Professor!"
…
After leaving the castle, Professor Pomona Sprout, the Herbology teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, hurried to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
But when she arrived at the thatched hut, she found herself empty-handed.
Professor Silvanus Kettleburn, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, was not here.
Professor Sprout walked around the hut for a while and found the burly man, the key keeper of Hogwarts.
"Hello, Hagrid!"
"Hello, Professor."
Rubeus Hagrid was holding a large cage with chirping sounds coming from inside.
"I'm here to find Silvanus, but he doesn't seem to be in school?" Professor Sprout asked softly.
"Professor Kettleburn?" Hagrid said with a careless smile, "He seems to have gone to London to replace his prosthesis. He won't be back for a month. Professor Grubbly-Plank is taking his place in the class!"
As he spoke, Hagrid couldn't help but reveal a look of envy in his eyes.
"Really?" Professor Sprout sighed. She suddenly noticed the chirping cage in Hagrid's hand and couldn't help asking curiously, "What's in it?"
"A bunch of little roosters!" Hagrid answered casually, "Before, the roosters in the school were killed by foxes or blood-sucking monsters. A total of twelve of them were killed. Now there is not even a crowing chicken in the school..."
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A/N: . "Power Stones speak louder than words—show your love and help this novel shine brighter!"