Hogwarts: Don't call me the Staff Maker

Chapter 541 The Uninvited Guest on the Train

Chapter 541 The Uninvited Guest on the Train

Upon arriving at King's Cross Station, the Order of the Phoenix split up. Apart from Moody, Tonks, and Mrs. Weasley, the others disguised themselves as ordinary passengers and dispersed between Platforms 9 and 10.

Xilun and his group pretended to wander around casually, then leaned against the wall as if by accident, and arrived at the 9% platform without anyone noticing.

The platform was packed with students and parents, and the Hogwarts Express was sitting there, steaming.

Moody and his group followed, warily watching everyone on the platform. Five minutes later, as the train slowly pulled away from the platform, they passed through the wall again and returned to King's Cross Station.

"The holiday is over just like that—" Fred said wistfully, looking at the scenery flashing past the window.

Although there was a minor hiccup during the holiday, they managed to find plenty of help and, after working hard, finally finished laying the last wall tile yesterday.

Now, all that's needed is to set up the merchandise and hang up the sign, and Weasley's Magic Tricks will be officially open for business.

They didn't even go home yesterday, they stayed at the hotel instead, and they were so excited that they couldn't sleep all night.

They even seriously considered whether they should go back to Hogwarts, since their long-held dream had been to own their own joke shop.

And opening a store doesn't seem to require those NEWT certificates.

But Mrs. Weasley clearly wouldn't agree to them doing so, so after realizing this, the two of them had no choice but to rush back to the Burrow early in the morning and head to the station with the others.

However, their minds remained on 93 Diagon Alley, the shop that didn't yet have a sign, which meant they hadn't said a word since getting on the bus.

Xilun didn't know how to comfort them, but luckily Lee Jordan came over at that moment and pulled them into a private room next door, one in each arm.

"The private room is definitely much quieter today, isn't it?" Ron said.

Harry and Hermione went to the prefects' box, where, as was customary, they were required to maintain order on the train before it arrived at Hogsmeade Station.

After Fred and George left, only Siron, Ron, and Ginny remained in the box.

Not long after, Ginny also left the private room to go find her friends.

However, this also gave them enough space to catch up on their homework.

The Hogwarts Express has two main characteristics: it is slow and the journey is bumpy.

This old-fashioned steam train sways all the carriages together while it's running, making it unsuitable for doing homework.

But they couldn't care less about that now, especially since Siron, who had rested all day, hadn't written anything for his Potions class paper yet.

What's more troublesome is that there's a potions class on the first day of school, and if he can't hand in his homework, he's doomed.

Fortunately, Hermione deliberately didn't put her paper in her bag before leaving, so Celeste only needed to follow her content and make some minor modifications.

With three two-foot-long assignments for each person, Snape couldn't possibly read them all carefully, nor did he have the time.

Of course, Harry was an exception; Snape was always so strict when checking his homework that he didn't even overlook the punctuation.

Harry and Hermione returned after they had almost finished writing their first paper.

"I've had enough! Can't those energetic little ones just be quiet for a while? They can be quiet for a bit."

"Harry, they're first-year students, not little kids," Hermione said sternly. "Besides, this holiday is the first time many of them are experiencing the wonders of magic with their families, so it's only natural they're excited. We were the same way."

"No, I didn't," Harry muttered quietly. "I spent Christmas at Hogwarts when I was a first-year student."

"I'm sorry, Harry," Hermione's voice softened, "you know that's not what I meant."

"Oh, of course I know," Harry said. "Besides, I don't think the Dursleys would want to hear me talk about the wonders of magic."

The door to the private room opened, and the two walked in one after the other.

Harry's face darkened further as he looked at the parchment covering the small table.

"Pots homework, oh no—Hermione, can you go find Cedric by yourself later?"

Like Siron, Harry also didn't do his Potions homework.

However, Sirius was exhausted from his near-death experience and needed rest, while Sirius was worried about him.

"No, Harry," Hermione frowned. "This is your responsibility as a prefect. You can't slack off over every little thing."

"This is no small matter!" Harry couldn't help but say. "If I don't hand in my Potions homework on time, Snape will definitely make a big deal out of it, and who knows how he'll make things difficult for me."

"Maybe he'll take the opportunity to deduct fifty points from your Gryffindor score and then punish you by making you wash the cauldron for a week," Ron said, filling his quill with ink and grimacing. "And then he'll drawl out in his sticky voice: 'It seems the savior's brain isn't much more cautious than the troll's.'"

"That's a very good suggestion, Mr. Weasley." The door to the box was flung open from the outside, and Snape stood in the doorway, looking at them coldly.

Harry gaped in horror, Ron accidentally broke his quill, and Hermione stared dumbfounded at the door.

"Snape?" Harry asked blankly.

"If you had any basic manners, you'd know to call me Professor Snape, Potter," Snape said coldly. "But never mind, I don't expect you to have any."

Harry's face immediately flushed an unsightly red.

"I'm here to inform you and Ollivander of something," Snape said, shifting his gaze to Cyren beside him. "The Headmaster wants me to teach you Apparition and Occlumency, and I've agreed."

"What?" Harry asked, bewildered.

"Occlumency, Potter, to prevent external invasion of the mind." Snape glanced at the scar on Harry's forehead.

Harry's heart immediately began to pound.

He didn't understand why Dumbledore had made this arrangement, but Snape clearly had no patience to explain it to him, and after a cold snort, he prepared to leave.

Before leaving, however, he glanced at the large pile of parchment spread out on the table, and at the name "Hermione Granger" faintly visible in one corner.

"Miss Know-It-All, if I find similar content in some people's assignments to yours, then all of those assignments will be marked as failing."

Snape said with his usual cold smile, "By the way, the grade on this assignment will be part of the 0.WL exam, and I hope you make the right choice."