Towards the end of the dinner, the students who were well-fed and contented started to noisily murmur in the great hall.
An uneasy restlessness filled the air as more and more people realized the fact that Headmaster Dumbledore is not present tonight, and they all darted their eyes toward the professor's table and debated it with each other.
Felix watched the scene in silence as Professor Flitwick's shrill voice reached his ears from two seats away.
"Minerva, did Headmaster Dumbledore got caught up with something?"
"I'm not sure," Professor McGonagall pursed her lips tightly, her hands folded together as she looked torn. She looked around the great hall at the gesturing students and suddenly stood up.
"Students-"
Her voice travelled far and wide, and the great hall gradually fell silent. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and was about to open her mouth to explain when there was a sudden creaking sound heard from the direction of the entrance to the great hall.
Professor McGonagall was relieved that Dumbledore had shown up.
He stood in the doorway of the great hall with the dimly lit entrance hall behind him, and his silvery-white hair and beard glowed in the light of the pumpkin lamps.
The uneasy atmosphere that had built up in the surroundings vanished at once.
With a smile on his face, Dumbledore strides through the gap between the great hall tables, and students once again started to chatter eagerly, only this time the mood in the atmosphere is relaxed and jovial. Dumbledore made his way to the armchair in the middle that belonged to him, and Harry was keenly aware that he had once again worn those white gloves and that black jewelled ring must have been put away.
"The colour of his beard is back to normal." Hermione whispered.
Harry was simply focused on staring at the conspicuous purple robe and white gloves on Dumbledore, guessing if the hands inside the gloves are intact, without paying any attention to the beard, "What did you say?" He asked subconsciously.
"Headmaster Dumbledore's beard colour was quite different when he was fighting." Hermione whispered, stretching her neck as she glanced at the beard, " But now it's back to normal."
"There is such a thing?" Ron poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice and patted his well-stuffed stomach contentedly.
"I noticed that too," Neville whispered. "The headmaster's beard turned some shades darker during the fight, an iron-grey colour, kind of like, like ..."
"The owner of the Hog's Head Inn!"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione brought their eyes back from the professor's table and looked at Neville, who nodded at them with a serious look on his face.
"It could be a secret magic." Ron said with a confident look.
"I really hope so," Hermione said, "but I haven't read anything like that in any of the books ... ugh unless the Headmaster had used an advanced human transfiguration."
"It's definitely the case." Ron said with conviction.
"But why would Headmaster Dumbledore do that?" Harry asked in confusion, one of the important lessons he had learned in the Dueling Club was not to make extra moves while fighting. He looked over at the professor's table again.
Dumbledore didn't sit down directly, he stood in front of his chair and looked out at the students in the great hall as the voices subsided once more and people looked at him with rapt attention.
"Ah, forgive me, there were too many newspapers that have mentioned my name recently, and I was planning to cut out all the parts that mentioned my name," Dumbledore said with a wink, "and owls from all over the world have stuffed my office, and those little guys have always had a thing for things that move, and I had to gather up the silverware on my table ... I only abruptly realized that the dinner party had begun when I was done with everything."
"I hope you can understand that for an old man, time can be both the most precious and the most negligible thing at the same time. I have experienced this particularly well when playing the ten-pin bowling game ..."
He sat down, without eating anything, as he looked around the great hall with a smile on his face. After another ten minutes or so, the dinner ended when the last round of desserts disappeared from the table.
The students stood up sparingly. They moved sluggishly and lazily towards the door, like a group of sloths heading out for food. The professors stood up as well, "Severus." Dumbledore politely called out, "Can I have your company for a moment? I have something to discuss with you."
The two men left in a pair.
When everyone else was almost gone, Hagrid also pulled his wooden box out from under the table, and greeted Felix and Sirius, as he quickly slipped away.
"Everyone's acting weird." Sirius muttered.
"Are you alright?" Felix asked.
"Fine," Sirius said vaguely, "It's just a punishment ... I don't care, I'm used to it."
A muffled, distant voice drifted up from behind them.
"I'm sure I couldn't bear it if I was on probation - that would be too humiliating."
Sirius glared at Trelawney, "Sorry? I don't think I've seen you before, are you also a professor in the school?"
As if she was greatly offended, Trelawney threw her shawl violently over her body and stomped away.
"She is Sybill Trelawney, Professor of Divination, you have met her several times ..." Felix's tone was elusive, in fact, he held mixed feelings about this Professor -- the both of the significant prophecies he knew that had been made by Trelawney were somewhat fulfilled.
"I know," Sirius said without thinking, "I even helped Harry with his Divination class assignments, you know, coming up with ideas and stuff. Kids' imaginations are kinda lacking these days ..."
Gryffindor common room.
Harry slumped drowsily in the soft armchair, glancing at the old clock at the entrance of the common room; it is barely nine o'clock. There is still time before he usually goes to bed, but he doesn't want to do anything, Harry looks up at the ceiling of the common room, and his hand fumbles through the gaps between the seats to find a rolled-up newspaper.
He picked it up and looked at it; the picture on it showed Dumbledore leaning down and grabbing him by the shoulders. He stared at himself lying on the floor twisting and squirming around like a snake, as he subconsciously stroked his scar.
Ron sat on his butt next to him and the armchair shuddered twice as he stuck his head over to look at it, "Mate, you did look pretty scary back then."
Harry didn't say anything as he flipped to the page that reads "Getting to know Felix Hap again", another page that reads "The only man he is afraid of: the greatest of all white wizards, Dumbledore" and the fourth page that reads " The Dark Mark reappears again above the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"
He sat up and read the article carefully.
"After the conclusion of the thrilling duel, a lot of lagging news from abroad has reached our country. For example, the mighty wand that You-Know-Who had used during the battle has been firmly proven to be the snakewood wand of Salazar Slytherin, and this wand had been lying dormant in front of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for over three hundred years, and to be honest, it is quite surreal.
It is suspected that the wand was brought to America by a descendant of Salazar Slytherin and used by the founder of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during her youth and buried by her in her later years.
It can be concluded that the You-Know-Who had long coveted this wand, and after acquiring it he murdered the Headmaster of Ilvermorny, Professor Agilbert Fontaine, who had hurried there to stop him. Agilbert Fontaine, a descendant of the Theodard Fontaine one of the original twelve Aurors of the United States, had a good reputation during his tenure and led a delegation representing the Ilvermorny School in the first-ever Tournament of Champions of the Big Five School last year.
The people of the United States of America expressed their anger and demanded that the murderer of Headmaster Fontaine should be captured and brought over.
...
A new Headmaster has yet to be elected in Ilvermorny, and the only person who witnessed the death of Headmaster Fontaine at the time of the incident is a young Muggle professor, Jura Edmund, who was very lucky to survive from being killed.
When questioned, Edmund had stated that 'the battle was over too swiftly, and despite Headmaster Fontaine's persistent resistance, the opponent's attacks were so evil and bizarre that all defences collapsed in a flash ...'
As of today, the Magical Congress of the United States of America has not made any public statements, and there are rumours that they had sent Aurors to intercept the You-Know-Who which resulted in heavy losses. Headmaster Dumbledore and Ms. Bones have called for all wizards to unite against the You-Know-Who and his Death Eater force.
This piece of information has not been confirmed."
Harry put the paper down, and his heart felt heavy.
Ron said optimistically, "Don't worry, Hogwarts is the safest place in the whole world, so it's safe to say the You-Know-Who would never dare to come over here."
"You're right." Harry said, as his mood improved a little.
Ron glanced once more at Hermione, who had been writing and drawing on her note for a long while, and whispered, " There is nothing for us to worry about in school, so instead of worrying so much about this, we should be concerned about the trouble that is close at hand."
"What kind of trouble?"
"The Quidditch match is coming up, I asked Angelina about it and the first match is scheduled at the weekend, we are up against Slytherin. Professor McGonagall has purposely exempted our homework for this week, and we finished the assignments given by Snape in advance. Every team had booked the training ground to train this week a month in advance, Harry; everyone wants to win!"
...
On the first weekend of November, Valen went out joyfully, draped in a small scarf, and swaggered the whole way.
The ground in the yard was covered in a thin layer of snow, but it was nothing to her as Valen stamped out a trail of tiny footprints, looking around for a target.
"Whoa! Look, it's the little rich girl."
A clamouring crowd gathered around.
Valen nodded graciously and brushed aside a finger that tried to scratch her chin. She jumped over on the bench in the yard, and then the little wizards pulled out the 'treasures' they had collected.
"I found a glowing pebble near the black lake!" One boy said proudly.
Valen shook her head as the others joined in as well.
"Valen already has so many glowing stones, look at mine!" A little witch mysteriously pulled a small hat out of her pocket with little shiny round shards attached to it and Valen's eyes lit up.
"Kee!"
She fished through her pocket and pulled out a few things: a set of thousand paper cranes that could fly, a ghost food, a small bottle of super bubble blowing liquid, and a feather quill that floated in the air. The little witch looked very hesitant.
" Super Bubble Blowing Liquid is the best, pick that one!" A little witch next to her gave a tip.
"What does this quill do?" The first little witch asked curiously.
Valen picked up the quill and wrote a crooked word in the air, "This." The people around them gasped in surprise once again, "There is really a Niffler that can write!" Valen waved her hand in smug triumph at first, but as soon as she thought of the Great Demon King, she sheepishly wiped the word out of the air.
"I'll take that." Mafalda said as a gleam twinkled in her eyes.
The first trade went off without a hitch, and Valen wore that small goose yellow hat along with her scarf with joy and happiness.
"Hi Valen, do you need me to take your picture?" Colin Creevey, who was passing by, asked.
Valen nodded repeatedly.
Colin pulled the camera from his robe like a muggle magic trick and opened the lid when Valen called out. "What's wrong?" Colin asked as he paused and Valen reached into her small pocket, as she pulled out a small wooden wand and struck a handsome pose.
Then she nodded at Colin to show she was ready, and Colin took a picture of her.
"I'll send you the developed picture in a couple of days." He waved his hand as he walked away, "I'm going to the Quidditch field to watch the match, it's been a year since the last one, and I can't miss it."
Valen's eyes lit up, and she quickly completed the remaining few transactions, even the boy with the smooth pebbles got a card that would emit twelve kinds of laughter and left contentedly.
Valen returned to the castle and made her way down the entrance hall by the stone steps at the front of the castle. She looked out at the distance Quidditch pitch in the distance with a little binocular made on her hand and began to worry that it is too far to walk.
She wanted to go to the Quidditch pitch to watch the match, but it would be too tiring to walk there by herself, Valen stood at the edge of the steps glancing from side to side when she keenly heard a voice, "... Astoria, can you please stop your mischiefs..... "
"What I have done wrong?" An indignant voice asked.
"Professor Binns may be a ghost, but he's also a professor at the school, you can't just use ghost food to tease him in class ..."
Astoria was just about to retort when she saw a Niffler suddenly rush in front of her, with arms spread wide to stop them.
"It's you, little one?"
Astoria jumped happily in front of her and reached out to pet Niffler on the head, Valen jumped away agilely, as she angrily pulled out a small wooden wand and pointed it at her.
"Oops, where did you get that wand?" Astoria asked with a look of surprise.
Daphne also glanced at it carefully, "It doesn't look like the one shown in the paper, so it's not Professor Hap's wand. It can't be one of the students', can it?"
Valen shook her head repeatedly, and retrieved a quill from her pocket, scribbling a word crookedly in the air, "Mine." She then patted her chest.
Astoria tried to tease her, "Even if it's yours, can you use it?"
Valen almost jumped up and down in excitement, this is the words she had been waiting for, she waved her hand at Astoria and struck a provocative gesture.
The expression on Astoria's face froze.
"Is she challenging me to a duel?" She looked at her sister blankly and Daphne shrugged.
Astoria turned back to find Valen constantly nodding her head, and kept giving her a look that said, yes, exactly what you think. She froze for a couple of seconds and then burst out laughing, as she winked at her sister Daphne.
"Daphne, look at that, haha, so funny ..."
Two seconds later, Astoria drew her wand in a serious manner and said, "Since you are the one who requested it, I can't refuse ... snicker ... I forgot to tell you that I won the dueling tournament in my first year, and it was in my first term."
Daphne covered her face not wanting to look at her childish sister, "Are you serious?"
"Geez, I'll be lenient then." Astoria said as she waved her hand and looked at Valen out of the corner of her eye as she finished, "Don't say I am bullying you, I'll let you make the first move."
Valen spun around twice in place with her small hands behind her back, then raised her small wooden wand.
A sharp whirlwind appeared out of nowhere and lifted Astoria up, and she was swept ten feet into the air, whirling with the whirlwind. Astoria stretched out her hands helplessly - and with a little bewilderment - but found herself unable to do anything. A few passers-by pointed and giggled at her, almost making her want to dig into the ground.
To add insult to injury, Valen stood with Daphne throughout this process, sizing her up with interest as Daphne laughed her head off.
It took nearly a minute of spinning in the air before the whirlwind that had entangled her subsided and Astoria landed on the ground with stars in her eyes and dizziness, unable to even stand up, "Valen!" She shouted in annoyance and lunged at Valen with her teeth and claws wide open, only to stumble after a few short steps and land on top of Daphne instead.
Distressed, Astoria looked up from her sister's arms to find Valen's dark eyes staring hard at her, the little yellow hat and glowing shards on the top of it sparkled in the sunlight.
Ten minutes later, Valen sat on Daphne's shoulders and followed them to the Quidditch pitch.
Astoria puffed out her cheeks the whole way.
"Valen, how did you suddenly learn to use magic?" Daphne asked curiously.
"Kee!"
"Did Professor Hap help you?"
Niffler shook her head.
"Strange ... Now I think about it, I noticed your wand has a few little gems embedded in it? Is there some kind of secret within it?" Daphne spotted a hint of a clue.
Valen's body twitched, and she hurriedly hid her treasure wand inside her pocket. To make sure she will discern nothing further from it.
The Quidditch pitch was packed up to the brim, the lack of tournaments for the whole school year had increased the interest and enthusiasm for the first match of this new school year, almost everyone who could come showed up, students braving the cold and chattered with excitement.
Valen waved and bid farewell to the Greengrass sisters as he caught the scent of the Great Demon King.
He jumped off Daphne's shoulder and fished two small jars out of her pocket and handed it to them, well, as a fare for the ride.
"Ghost food? I have a share too?" Astoria asked in surprise.
Valen nodded her head cheerfully. After all, you're the first person I've ever defeated, and a 'dueling champion' at that, this is the first step of the great Niffler Wizard Valen towards the stage of history, and she already planned to write an autobiography once she triumphed over the Great Demon King, in which she will certainly describe the first battle in great detail... ...
When Valen disappeared, Daphne held out her hand with a poker face as she said, "Confiscated!" Astoria saw the situation taking a bad turn and disappeared in a flash, blending into the crowd.
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