Chapter 724 The closed Floo network

The next morning, the Daily Prophet indeed published an article about the attack on Amelia Bones, Director of the Department of Legal Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic, and it took up two pages.

As expected, this incident immediately caused an uproar in Hogwarts, and the discussion in the auditorium continued during breakfast that day.

Kyle glanced around the dining table and saw that Susan had not come to have breakfast. She probably was still in the dormitory at this time.

In order for Susan to calm down her mood better, Professor Sprout came to the common room last night and said that she did not need to attend classes for the next few days.

Normally, Susan would jump up with joy, but last night she couldn't laugh at all, she just lowered her head silently.

And no one had seen her anywhere else in the castle all day.

"Slughorn is such a snob!" During dinner, Mikel began to belittle a certain professor crazily.

"You know what? He had a party in his office this weekend and he didn't invite Susan."

"What's the point..." Some people didn't take it seriously, "Since Professor Slughorn organized it himself, he is free to invite whomever he wants."

"You are too naive. You don't know the inside story yet." Mikel shook his finger and began to educate others.

"I've heard that Professor Slughorn's Slug Club only invites students who are excellent themselves or have prominent figures in their families.

"Susan also had an invitation originally, but when he read the newspaper, he snatched it away immediately, that stupid old slug."

"No way..." Some people still didn't believe that Slughorn was a professor after all, so how could he do such a bad thing as snatching back the invitation.

"Mikel, how did you know that he snatched the invitation away?"

"That's because I was right next to him and was asked to send him a message..." Mikel said angrily, "He just took the invitation away from my hand. How could I not know."

After the man was silent for a moment, he continued: "Is it possible that Professor Slughorn wanted Susan to stay quiet for a while.

"Think about it, after such a big thing happened, how could she be in the mood to attend a banquet?"

"I don't think so." Mikel curled his lips, "In case Susan wants to change her mood, there is no need for him to ask for the invitation back."

Listening to Mikel's words, Connor asked curiously: "Is Professor Slughorn really such a person?"

"It's almost the same, but I think Mikel is exaggerating."

Kyle thought for a while and said: "Although Slughorn does have a preference for students with outstanding family backgrounds and is more realistic, he has never acted so rudely as asking for an invitation back. At most, he just refuses to invite."

"Then should I still go?" Kangna lowered her head and glanced at the parchment roll in her hand.

This is the invitation that Mikel just sent, inviting Kangna to attend a small party in the potion office on Friday night.

Kangna was originally quite curious about this party, but now she suddenly didn't want to attend it that much.

"You can go or not." Kyle poured a glass of pumpkin juice. "To be honest, this kind of gathering is just for chatting, eating, drinking, and complimenting each other. It has no substantive meaning, and you don't need to I want to learn more about potions at the party."

"Ah? Then I'm not going!" Kang Na said immediately.

Since she didn't know Slughorn and had never attended the dinner party on the train, she always thought it was an academic exchange meeting about potions.

Just like the parties Snape took her to during the holidays... everyone gathered together to explain to each other the latest potion materials they discovered, or about the advantages and disadvantages of different models of crucibles.

"Okay, it doesn't matter if you don't want to participate." Kyle took a bite of the fried pork chop, "But have you thought of an excuse?"

"Excuse?"

"That's right." Kyle said, "Slughorn is still a professor after all. There must be a reason for you to refuse the invitation."

"Um...do I have to do my homework?" Kangna asked tentatively.

"It's possible, but it may not work." Kyle said, "Harry used this trick, but the next day, Slughorn formed a mutual aid bureau and called a few people to help Harry. Tutoring assignments.

"You don't know, Harry was so stupid that he didn't recover until the next day."

Kangna shuddered subconsciously. If she was surrounded by a group of people to help with her homework, she would be stupid.

No, I have to find another excuse.

"I have an idea..." At this time, Kyle suddenly said: "In this way, you go to Professor Snape and ask him to find a reason to lock you up on Friday night, so that you have enough reasons to refuse Snape. Raghorn’s invitation.”

Kangna's eyes lit up.

Yes, solitary confinement, why didn't she think of it? This was simply the best excuse. Slughorn couldn't chase him into the solitary confinement room.

"There happens to be a Defense Against the Dark Arts class tomorrow..." Connor said happily, "I will go to Professor Snape then and ask him to put us both in solitary confinement on Friday..."

"No, never!" Kyle quickly stopped her from this dangerous idea and warned: "Just put yourself in confinement. Don't take me with you. This is very important."

Connor was imprisoned by Snape. Why was that different from going home? Going home in a literal sense.

But he was different.

Kyle believed that Snape would definitely not mind giving him some special treatment during his solitary confinement.

For example, without wearing gloves, picking out the unusable ones from a big bucket full of Phellobo caterpillars... It is said that Harry earned this confinement for himself after his first Defense Against the Dark Arts class and stayed in the underground classroom for the whole time. one night.

Kyle felt that Snape definitely had no shortage of Philobic caterpillars, especially when he was in solitary confinement. He might even pay to buy a new bucket of them from outside.

So it was better for him to find another way, and compared to being detained by Snape, it was actually nothing to attend an occasional party.

But this reason soon came to my doorstep.

On Friday afternoon, Kyle received a letter from the Ministry of Magic, written by Fudge, who wanted him to go to the Ministry of Magic as soon as possible to discuss the matter.

He happened to be finishing Potions class at that time, and Kyle just showed Slughorn the name at the end of the letter, and he immediately said nothing.

"Oh, go quickly, go quickly..." Slughorn's eyes flashed, "The minister wrote a letter specifically, there must be something good about it."

"That's not necessarily true..." Kyle cursed in his heart.

Fudge never thought of him when something good happened. It was probably because Fudge wanted to reverse his increasingly bad reputation, but he couldn't think of any good way.

Ever since Ms. Amelia Bones was attacked by Death Eaters at the Ministry, people's trust in the Ministry of Magic has plummeted.

The reason is easy to understand...the Ministry of Magic can't even protect its own people, so how can it protect others.

However, Kyle didn't have any particularly good ideas. The most effective way he could think of was to have Fudge resign and replace the minister with a more capable person.

For example... Dumbledore.

Unfortunately, neither Fudge nor Dumbledore would agree to this approach.

Kyle walked slowly to the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office... It was not Snape's office. He had too many things, and some potion materials also had strict environmental requirements and were difficult to move, so he was still there. The original underground classroom.

Kyle came to Umbridge's office, where she had previously set up a dedicated line to the Ministry of Magic in the fireplace.

Although she had left school long ago, there were many outstanding students admitted to Hogwarts last year by the Ministry of Magic. In order to facilitate their internship on weekends, this route was retained.

It's just that Dumbledore arranged an armored guard at the door, and only those who knew the password could enter.

"Bibi's all-flavored beans!"

Kyle said the password, and the armor responsible for guarding creaked and turned around and moved to the side.

It can only be said that they are indeed the guards arranged by Dumbledore. Even the passwords are in the same series as the principal's office. Fortunately, Honeydukes products have enough types, otherwise it would not be enough.

All the fancy decorations and kitty dishes in the room were removed, leaving only a bare table and a few scattered chairs, which was much more pleasing to the eye than before.

Kyle lit the fireplace, grabbed a handful of Floo powder from the keg next to it, and threw it in.

But the strange thing is that the flame did not change color, but a head popped out of it, and Kyle could clearly see the other person's delicate beard.

Although he didn't know what happened, Kyle was not too surprised. He just took out the letter he had received before from his pocket and said:

"I need to go to the Ministry of Magic."

The man in the fireplace glanced at the letter, and Fudge's signature on it.

"Sorry, this floo network has been blocked."

As if he hadn't seen Fudge's signature, he said businesslikely: "According to the request of Principal Albus Dumbledore, the entire Hogwarts will be on the highest alert. Except for the fireplace in the Principal's Office, all other floo networks All will be closed, including this one.

"The fireplace will then be completely sealed. No one can use it."

"Okay." Kyle said, he glanced at the letter in his hand, "What about this? The minister asked me to go there as soon as possible."

"You are still a student..." The man continued to say expressionlessly: "There is no need to interfere with other things."

After saying that, the other party disappeared.

The only sound left in the room was the crackling sound of the flames burning.

Kyle looked at the letter in his hand again, threw it into the fireplace, then found a chair and sat down, watching the parchment gradually burn out in the flames.

He guessed that the Floo Network was closed probably because of the incident involving Amelia Bones...

Although we don't know how those Death Eaters entered the Ministry of Magic, this also shows another possibility.

They were able to use the fireplace in the Ministry of Magic to enter Hogwarts through the floo network in front of them.

Dumbledore probably had this in mind and insisted on sealing the fireplace.

But Kyle was quite happy with the result... he got rid of Slughorn's invitation and didn't have to go to the Ministry of Magic to face Fudge. It was perfect.

A minute later, Kyle extinguished the flame and walked out of the classroom again.

This is a good reason. When Slughorn invites him in the future, he can simply say that he is going to the Ministry of Magic. Anyway, it is impossible for him to go to the Ministry of Magic to confirm whether he is going or not.

Of course, the premise is that he cannot be caught during this period of time.

Kyle went downstairs and made his way to the Hufflepuff common room.

Kangna is here too.

"Didn't you go to the Ministry of Magic?" She looked at Kyle who walked in and asked in surprise.

"The school's floo network is closed, and I can't get out." Kyle explained roughly what happened before.

"What about you? Aren't you imprisoned?"

"I'm just in solitary confinement." Connor said seriously, "Professor Snape told me to finish reading this book."

She picked up the "Powerful Potion" on the table, "I asked if I could come back and read it, and he agreed."

"Uh... okay..." Kyle smacked his lips.

Sure enough, Snape's confinement was no different to Connor than going home. Who else could make demands during confinement except her?

"I remember you had finished watching "Power Potion" two years ago." Kyle walked to an armchair next to her and sat down, "Why are you watching it again."

"I only saw half of it," Conner said. "Professor Snape thought that I was not suitable to handle some of the second half of the potions at that time, so he took them away from me."

She opened the page she was reading and pushed it to Kyle.

There is a picture of a person whose whole body is twisted, and the proportions of his body are seriously out of balance.

The Giant Potion... can make ordinary people become as big as giants, but it will also suffer tremendous pain, just like inflating people.

In addition, there are blood boiling potions, crazy potions...

To put it simply, it's the black magic in potions... It's not pretty, but some of the unique herbal combinations are what you need to know to learn potions.

This is also the main reason why the book "Powerful Potion" is placed in the restricted area. As for the polyjuice potion... that is only the most insignificant part of the content.

The two of them just spent time in the common room.

The next day came, the first weekend in October, and the day everyone had been waiting for to visit Hogsmeade.

Because the protective measures around the school are becoming more and more strict, they thought they could not go to Hogsmeade. Now after seeing the announcement, everyone was happy.

Even though they knew it was dangerous recently, everyone still didn't want to stay in the castle all the time.

The professors seemed to think it would be good for everyone to go out and relax occasionally, so they arranged a Hogsmeade visit day.

In the morning, a strong wind suddenly blew outside, and there were not too small raindrops, but this did not dampen everyone's enthusiasm.

During breakfast, everyone seemed very excited. Mikel and Ryan were discussing what they should buy in Hogsmeade. They made a long list, which included almost all the stores. .

At this time, there was a quarrel at the door, and just by the sound, I knew it was Harry and the others.

"Hermione, haven't we already tried it? There is nothing wrong with the contents of the notes." A familiar trio walked into the auditorium.

Harry was saying excitedly: "I never thought that I would get extra points in Potions class. It's incredible."

"But that's not your thing!" Hermione said stiffly.

"But there must be a part of it!" Harry retorted: "Although I read the notes given by Kyle, I did all the processes myself. Aren't everyone also operating according to the contents of the book?"

"This is different!" said Hermione.

"What's the difference?" Ron said nonchalantly, with excitement on his face, obviously having just experienced some happy things.

"I see, Hermione, you must be jealous that our Potions class score is better than yours..."

"It has nothing to do with that," Hermione said, her cheeks turning red. "I just don't think you should be opportunistic."

"But our potion is perfect, isn't it?" said Ron. "Even Slughorn can't fault it. Since the results are the same, wouldn't it be better if the process was simpler?"

The three of them were so noisy that no one could convince anyone, and they didn't notice that they had become the focus of everyone's attention.

"What notes did you lend them?" Kangna asked curiously.

"It's just some little tricks taught by Professor Snape." Kyle shrugged, "I guess none of them noticed the process and textbooks written by Professor Snape on the blackboard during the Potions class. It’s a little different on top.”

This is not difficult to understand, Hermione must be textbook-oriented.

As for Harry and Ron... they barely dared to look up when they were in Snape's Potions class, let alone compare the contents in the textbook and the blackboard.

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