Harry Potter and the Old Ones

Since Harry agreed to Hermione's request, Hermione did not mention it again for two weeks, but began what she called "preparation" for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

During this period, Ron participated in four more Quidditch trainings, and after watching Harry, Ron's Quidditch level finally reached the entry level.

In Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class, the three of them all successfully cast spells to make mice disappear. To be precise, Hermione had gone one step further and was practicing the spell to make kittens disappear.

Then, on a windy night at the end of September, when the three of them were sitting in the somewhat empty library, looking for potion ingredients for Snape, Hermione finally started talking about it again——

"I have worked hard these past few days," Hermione said, "but there is still no whereabouts of the Resurrection Stone..."

"Well..." Harry responded in frustration, "It's okay, we can search again, and Umbridge will definitely not find it."

"That's true," Ron said. "Umbridge has been obsessed with her these past few days, locking herself in the office and reading those books."

"I also thought about it." Hermione added, "Since Tiera predicted Umbridge's appearance, he must have also predicted that Umbridge would remove all the books from Hogwarts. .”

"Hmm..." Harry responded.

"So he must have hidden the Resurrection Stone in a place where only we can get it and Umbridge can't get it."

"Well..." Harry said.

"So I think instead of worrying about the Philosopher's Stone, we should focus on our own things." Hermione said.

"Well..." Harry said.

"So I think you can start preparing for your lessons." Hermione said, "What can you teach us about Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"Hmm...huh?" Harry suddenly realized what Hermione had just said, "Preparing for lessons? Preparing...why so fast? What are you preparing for and when?"

"I convinced a group of people..." Hermione said, "To be precise, there are many people. Many people hope that you can teach them Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"One, one, a group of people?" Harry said in surprise, "I, I thought it was just the two of you..."

"How is that possible, Harry." Hermione said, "We have to deal with hundreds or even thousands of Death Eaters. The three of us and the Order of the Phoenix alone are definitely not enough. We must try to win over everyone who can be wined over. and power.”

"We are going to Hogsmeade on the first weekend of October. I have notified everyone who is interested to meet us in the village to discuss this matter." Hermione said, "There are many people Promise to come."

"Why do we have to go outside the school?" Ron asked.

"Because..." Hermione said suddenly, lowering her head and continuing to copy the potion formula, "If Umbridge finds out what we are going to do, I don't think she will be very happy."

Harry had been looking forward to going to Hogsmeade for the weekend, but when the day actually came, Harry began to feel nervous again.

The morning we went to Hogsmeade was sunny, windy and sunny.

After breakfast, they lined up in front of Filch, who had to check their names against a long list of classmates whose parents or guardians had allowed them to visit Hogsmeade.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked when they arrived at Hogsmeade. "The Three Broomsticks?"

"No, it's not," Hermione said, "No, it's always crowded, too noisy, too noisy, and not very confidential. I asked the others to meet us at the Hog's Head, which is another pub, you know. , not on the main road. I also think it's a bit...you know, not very safe, but students don't usually go there, so I guess we won't be overheard."

They walked down the road and passed Zuko's Joke Shop - where, as expected, they saw Fred, George and Lee Jordan.

After passing the post office, some owls flew out every once in a while, and then they turned into a side road with a small bar at the intersection.

A tattered wooden sign hung from a rusty bracket on the door, depicting a severed boar's head, blood stains seeping through the white cloth wrapping it.

The sign creaked in the wind as they approached. The three of them hesitated outside the door.

"Come on, go in," Hermione said, looking a little nervous. Harry led the way inside.

The inside is completely different from the Three Broomsticks bar. The large bar of the Three Broomsticks always makes people feel bright, clean and warm. The Pig's Head Bar only has a small, dark, and very dirty room that exudes a strong smell of mutton.

The bay windows were covered with thick dirt, barely letting in any light, and some candle stubs were burning on the rough wooden tables. At first glance, Harry thought the ground was compacted mud, but when he stepped on it, he discovered that centuries of dirt had accumulated on the stone paved ground.

Harry recalled Hagrid's mention of this pub in his first year: "There are a lot of fun people in the Hog's Head."

He said this, explaining how he had won a dragon egg from a hooded stranger in a bar.

At the time, Harry had wondered why Hagrid didn't find it strange that the man had always covered his face during their relationship.

Now he discovered that hiding one's face seemed to be quite popular in the Hog's Head.

There was a man at the bar, his whole head wrapped in dirty gray bandages, but he was still able to pour cup after cup of something smoking and flaming through a slit in his mouth.

Two hooded figures sat at a table by the window, and Harry would have thought them to be dementors if they hadn't spoken in thick Yorkshire accents.

The bar owner sidled out of a back door and came toward them.

He looked like a grumpy, dirty version of Dumbledore, tall and thin, with most of his face covered by a long, dirty beard.

"What do you want?" he asked in a mumble.

"Three bottles of butterbeer, please," said Hermione.

The man bent down and took out three dusty, dirty bottles from under the counter, and placed them heavily on the bar.

"Six Sickles," said the old man.

"I'll pay for it," Harry said quickly, handing over the silver coin.

The bar owner's eyes moved to Harry, lingering on his scar for a moment. Then he looked away and put the money Harry gave him into an old wooden money chest. The drawer slid open automatically and he swallowed the money. Harry, Ron and Hermione retreated to the table farthest from the bar and sat down, looking around, waiting for the classmates Hermione had invited to come over.

"Who do you think is coming to meet us, then?" Harry asked, unscrewing the rusty top of his bottle of butterbeer and taking a long drink.

"Just three or two of them..." Hermione said, looking at her watch, and looking towards the door anxiously and nervously, "I asked them to arrive at about this time, I think they all know where they are... Oh, look. , this is probably them."

The door of the bar was opened again, and a thick, dusty sunlight split the room in two. It disappeared again in a blink of an eye, but was blocked by a large group of people who came in.