The Howler

The next morning, Edmund and Cho arrived at the Great Hall together.

Because he had missed dinner the night before, Edmund had secretly gone to the kitchens late at night and made himself a meal. By the time he returned to his dormitory, it was already past midnight.

After eating, he had been unable to sleep. He only drifted off around four in the morning, and now his whole mind still felt half outside his body.

As he ate bread and jam at the table, Edmund chatted idly with Cho about their classes for the term. On his advice, Cho had chosen Ancient Runes this year.

She was a little nervous. She had never studied Ancient Runes before, so Edmund was explaining some of the basics to her.

Just then, hundreds of owls suddenly flew in from outside, flapping across the Great Hall and delivering letters and parcels to the students.

One owl exhausted itself reaching Ron. It finally lost strength and crashed straight into a large bowl of milk, splashing milk and feathers everywhere.

Ron and Neville did not pay attention to the old owl, which looked half-dead. Instead, both stared in horror at the red envelope it had brought, as if it were a ticking bomb.

Harry did not understand why Ron and Neville looked like that.

Neville's voice carried deep fear, as though he had remembered something terrible.

"A Howler. Ron, you had better open it."

Ron stretched out a trembling hand, wanting to open the envelope.

Unfortunately, it was already too late. Smoke began curling from the corners.

Molly Weasley's furious roar exploded through the Great Hall, forcing everyone present to hear the contents of the letter.

Ron turned scarlet and could not say a word. At that moment, he looked as if he wanted to find a crack in the floor and crawl into it.

Ginny did not escape either. At the end, Mrs. Weasley also congratulated her on entering Gryffindor, immediately making her the focus of the entire hall as well.

Edmund watched the scene with a smile. It could be called a public execution for the Weasley siblings. Mrs. Weasley's voice was so loud it seemed capable of shaking the ceiling apart.

"They are so pitiful," Cho said sympathetically. "If my mother sent me a Howler like that, I would already be considering withdrawing from Hogwarts."

Edmund did not quite agree.

Mr. Weasley worked in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. His job was to prevent wizards from tampering recklessly with Muggle products. Ron's stunt had put Mr. Weasley in serious trouble at the Ministry.

If Mr. Weasley had not left a few useful loopholes when writing the Muggle Protection Act, he might already have been dismissed by the Ministry, perhaps with additional punishment on top.

Mrs. Weasley was a homemaker, and the family's income rested on Mr. Weasley alone. Under those circumstances, the fact that she had merely shouted at Ron already counted as mercy.

Edmund did not dwell on the matter. After parting from Cho, he went to the greenhouses for the first Herbology lesson of the term.

When Edmund arrived, Professor Sprout greeted him warmly.

After seeing the Life Essence he brewed the previous night, Professor Sprout's opinion of this talented young wizard had risen even higher.

"All right, students. Welcome back to Hogwarts!"

She clapped her hands to draw everyone's attention and began the lesson.

Today they were studying Mandrakes.

Mandrake was a powerful restorative used to return transfigured or cursed people to their original state. The root looked like an ugly baby, with leaves growing from its head. When pulled from the soil, it screamed.

Fortunately, the Mandrakes they were handling were not mature.

Sometimes Edmund wondered whether Dumbledore had known this year's dungeon would be the basilisk and had therefore prepared Mandrakes in advance.

But that was not quite right. Looking directly into a basilisk's eyes caused death. The students petrified in the original story had survived only because they had looked indirectly.

By the end of the class, many young wizards had been tormented badly by the piercing cries of the Mandrakes.

Edmund thoughtfully cast Muffliato around Hermione and himself. The two of them could not hear the outside world at all and spent the entire lesson communicating with gestures. Edmund found it unexpectedly amusing.

They still had Defence Against the Dark Arts in the afternoon.

Neither Edmund nor Hermione had any expectations for that fraud's class. Even Harry felt the same. He had hated being dragged into a photo with Lockhart at Flourish and Blotts, so when Edmund said Lockhart was a fraud, Harry believed it without hesitation.

Other students, especially many young witches, were full of anticipation. Lockhart had packaged himself too well. Most people believed he was a powerful wizard.

Soon, Lockhart walked in with a smile.

When he saw Harry, his eyes lit up.

"Harry!"

"Professor Lockhart."

Harry forced out an ugly smile and greeted him.

Lockhart did not seem to notice Harry's reluctance. He walked over and familiarly wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders.

"I know. I understand the young man's urge to stand out. Once you have tasted the headlines, they are difficult to forget."

He spoke to Harry in the tone of someone who had been through it all.

"Professor, I-"

Harry tried hard to explain, but Lockhart patted him and continued before he could finish.

"I know. It is my fault. I let you taste fame. But even so, flying a car across the sky is hardly the way to handle it."

Lockhart's earnest expression made some students who did not know the truth look at him with admiration.

He wrote so well and cared so warmly about students. How touching.

Edmund and Hermione, who knew the truth, watched Harry being tortured by Lockhart with open delight.

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