94 Diagon Alley

    The lady's tears were surrounded by flames. In the high-speed rotation, they vaguely saw some wizard's rooms, and they all flashed by before they could see clearly. Then it slowed down and stopped squarely in Professor McGonagall's fireplace. The working professor barely looked up when Harry climbed out.

    "Good evening, Potter. Don't dust the carpet too much."

    "No, Professor."

    Harry put on his glasses, smoothed his hair, and Ron appeared in a whirl. After Gwen and Ginny arrived, the four walked out of Professor McGonagall's office and headed towards Gryffindor Tower. Gwen looked out the hallway window. The sun had set on the horizon, and the snow on the grounds was deeper than in the Burrow Gardens. In the distance, Hagrid can be seen feeding Buckbeak in front of his cabin.

    "It's worthless." Ron walked up to the Fat Lady and said confidently. The Fat Lady looked paler than usual and winced at the loud voice.

    "No," she said.

    "What, 'wrong'?"

    "Password changed. Please don't shout."

    "But we left school, how do you know—"

    "Harry! Gwen! Ginny!"

    Hermione ran towards them, blushing, wearing a cape, hat and gloves.

    "I came back two hours ago. Just saw Hagrid and Buck—I mean flabby." She breathlessly said, "Have you had a good Christmas? ?"

    "Well," said Ron immediately, "it's a lot, Rufus Scrimgeour—"

    "Harry, I have something for you," Hermione didn't look at Ron, as if she hadn't heard him at all, "Oh—password, quit drinking."

    Gwen didn't understand why the two of them hadn't reconciled, after all, even if Hermione and Ron were noisy in the past, at the latest the next day at the breakfast table, they would be able to laugh affectionately again heap.

    "Correct." The fat lady said feebly, unscrewing her body to reveal the portrait hole.

    "What happened to her?" Harry asked.

    "Apparently Christmas is crazy." Hermione rolled her eyes and took the lead into the crowded common room. The picture in the hallway of the classroom depicting a few drunk monks is all down. Anyway…”

    "I wish I could drink a big glass of spirits too." Gwen slaps it, "Bill's fiancée messed with me at least three times, and I can't be mad at her yet. ."

    Ginny twitched on the left side of her face and patted Gwen sympathetically.

    Hermione dug into her pocket for a while, and pulled out a roll of parchment with Dumbledore's handwriting.

    "Great," Harry unfolded it immediately, finding that his next lesson with Dumbledore was tomorrow night, "I have a lot to tell him—and you. We Sit down-"

    At this moment, they suddenly heard a loud scream: "Roro!" Lavender rushed out of nowhere and stood in front of Ron's nose. A few people giggled beside him, and Ron took a big step back in embarrassment. Hermione gave a bell-like laugh and said, "There's a table over there... Go over there, Gwen, Ginny?"

    "No thanks, Dean asked me for help before the holiday, I'll be there now," Ginny said. Harry couldn't help noticing that she wasn't very enthusiastic. Ron and Lavender were entangled in a kind of stand-up wrestling, and with every step the girl took, Ron had to find a way out for himself.

    "I'm looking for some good wine hidden in my dorm," Gwen pinched his temples wearily, "and then have a good rest. Good night."

    Harry took Hermione to the empty table, and Gwen guessed that they must discuss Snape and Malfoy, and decided to escape the conflict and enjoy a moment of peace.

    Wait, at most just give him a contemptuous glance.

    Ron didn't think Harry would have any trouble with Slughorn.

    "He likes you," said Ron at breakfast, waving a fork lightly to fry his eggs, "won't refuse you anything, would he? You're his little potion prince. .Stay to ask him after class this afternoon."

    Hermione was a little more pessimistic.

    "He must be determined to hide the truth, if even Dumbledore can't get it." She whispered, pretending she didn't react after hearing Ron's words, "The Horcrux... Horcruxes...I've never heard of..."

    "You haven't heard of it?" Harry looked disappointed, he must have been counting on Hermione for some clues.

    "With all due respect," Gwen, who was experiencing a hangover, couldn't eat anything, even drank three cups of strong tea, and said weakly with drooping eyelids, "The three of you discussed It was so loud that I could hear it all."

    Harry quickly covered his mouth, in Gwen's opinion Dumbledore should not want him to reveal this information at will.

    "But what is this device, if it's something that even Hermione doesn't know about," Gwen was discouraged by Ginny when he poured himself a fourth cup of tea, "I guess it can only appear In the restricted area of ​​the library." Then she whispered to Hermione where she had found the ancient book with the strange spell last time.

    Hermione thought thoughtfully: "It must be very advanced magic, otherwise why would Voldemort want to know? I think it is very difficult to get this information, Harry, you must be very careful, how to approach Sri Lanka Raghorn, think of a plan."

    "Ron said as long as I stayed after Potions class today..."

    "Oh, if Luo Luo said it, you'd better do it," she suddenly became furious, "When did Luo Luo's judgment miss it?"

    "Hermione, you can't—"

    "No!" She swung angrily, turned and left, leaving Harry alone.

    "How did you offend her?" Ron asked Harry in a low voice, looking at Hermione's arrogant back.

    Gwen looked at the red-haired boy in amazement, and finally couldn't help handing him a cup of tea: "Have a cup of tea to refresh your mind, Ronald, I think you are delirious. "

    Ron did lose his head, but this unfortunate prophecy finally came true on his birthday.

    Due to Lavender's persistent and passionate pursuit, and Ron's temporarily unknown attitude, the Savior Squad has been in a state of disintegration. So early that morning, Harry had to stop Gwen when no one was there.

    "Gwen, I have to catch what Malfoy is doing." Harry said anxiously.

    "I thought you were preparing for the Apparition exam at this time." Gwen was a little surprised, remembering her two failed exams, but she was also curious about Malfoy's progress. "What difficulties did you encounter, Harry?"

    The boy took out a square folded, seemingly blank piece of parchment. He unfolded it and tapped it with the tip of his wand.

    "I solemnly swear I don't do good...or Malfoy."

    Immediately on the parchment a Marauder's Map appeared, detailing the floor plan of each level of the castle, with many small marked black dots moving across it to represent everyone in the castle.

    "Look, like right now, there are times I can't find him on the Marauder's map anyway." Harry was chagrined.

    Gwen was a little interested, she decided to ignore Harry's stalker behavior, picked up the map, and read it carefully from beginning to end, even the intruders - in fact, the gang of protection The Aurors at Hogwarts also checked it out. Finding nothing, he returned the map to him.

    "Is there any chance...I mean...Fred and George know of a secret passage?" Harry asked uncertainly.

    "I think there's only seven they know, and they're all recorded on the map." Gwen shrugged, but then she thought of something, picked up the map again, and first found the second floor The location of Myrtle's bathroom looked at the location of the underground Slytherin Academy. "I noticed that the Chamber of Secrets was not recorded, maybe the little prince of Slytherin went to the Chamber of Secrets to find the snake," she said half-jokingly, half-seriously.

    Harry frowned tightly, personally confirmed the rare loophole in Marauder's map, and shook his head vigorously, "The professors have already sealed the entrance to the secret room - even if he knows where the entrance is. , you have to use Parseltongue to open it."

    Gwen was persuaded and tilted her head for a moment. "Hey, why don't you ask Lupin and Sirius, the Marauder's Map is theirs after all."

    Harry didn't think it was a good idea, "Lupin doesn't think Malfoy deserves attention. Sirius...he's not the same as he used to be, I don't want to..."

    Gwen interrupted him, "I don't think he's changed at all." She nodded her head with her finger, "He's got all those fancy ideas in his head. .Maybe the looters have reserved a hand for themselves, in order not to let others find their location on the map."

    "Okay," Harry put away the parchment, "I'll ask him sometime. But not today, I have to get Ron a present."

    Indeed, they could have gone to Hogsmeade to celebrate. But there was a notice on all the common room notice boards saying that the trip to Hogsmeade was canceled, and everyone was upset, especially Ron.

    Gwen and Harry said goodbye and ran to the library to complete the first round of review tasks for their N.E.W.Ts. By the time she got out of the library at night, Ron and Harry had already made their way to their other home base, the Hogwarts Medical Wing.

    "So, all in all, Ron's birthday wasn't great," Fred said.

    At night, the school hospital was very quiet, with the curtains drawn and the lights on. Only Ron