Hermione passed through the silent corridor, turned a corner, the cold knight's armor trembled slightly, as if a ghost possessed it, Hermione was used to this situation in this castle from time to time, so she was not too surprised, pushed open the third wooden door in the vertical row, and walked in.

"Ah, it's Miss Granger, good morning! You're doing the house-elves a favor again, aren't you? Samantha stood up from a long row of tables and greeted Hermione with a big grin, looking at the boy who was even better looking than a girl, Hermione was a little embarrassed.

During this time, because of Harry's existence, Ning An ordered Samantha and Walter, the two prisoners who escaped from Azkaban, and Barty? Crouch, a former high-ranking official of the Ministry of Magic who disappeared, hid for the time being, so as not to be discovered by Harry, so the place where they ate changed to a different location, not in the lobby on the first floor.

Usually the house elves will bring the food,.. The work is carried out to Durmstrang, so he will do some work in place of the elves from time to time, Ning An is the principal here, and the house-elves in the kitchen, under the orders of Mr. Principal, naturally have no disapproval, Hermione will do whatever she wants.

"Hmm......" Hermione frowned slightly, for the relationship between these two people, she is still quite complicated, based on her love for Ning An, she can persuade herself to accept some things, but when she really comes into contact, this contradicts what she has always insisted on, although it can't be seen on the surface, but Hermione has been in a struggle and pulling all the time in her heart during this time.

"Thank you, Miss Granger—" Walter had already jumped out of his chair, Barty? Crouch wasn't here, maybe there was something else to do, and there were just the three of them in the huge room.

"You don't have to be so polite—" Hermione was a little uncomfortable with Walter's respect, the ugly wizard who was as tall as Hermione's shoulders and had a hideous scar on his face, bowed before taking his meal from her.

"How's that going to work? Miss Granger—" Samantha's voice was shrill and piercing, like the chirping of some kind of bird, "you're the master's girlfriend!" To be disrespectful to you is to be disrespectful to your master—"

Hermione's brow furrowed even deeper, she shook her shoulders, as if she felt a chill somehow, and she said to Samantha in a deep voice, "Do you have to use the title 'master', as far as I know, only ...... Voldemort would let his subordinates call him ......"

"I'm sorry if you misunderstood—Miss Granger," said Samantha, clasping her hands to her chest, with a respectful expression on her face, but without any concession in her words.

"But that's what we've called Lord Nyingan since we were at Hogwarts, and though he doesn't mind it, that's what we're called, you see—" He said as he stretched out a white, delicate arm, and Walter reached out to block him, but Samantha slapped his hand away, and he pulled his sleeve up, revealing a slender woman's arm.

Hermione looked at the white dazzling arm, a large black snake tattoo, spitting letters, and the two snake eyes seemed to shine with some kind of light, and the heart trembled.

She put the plate in her hand on the table, as if she couldn't take it anymore, turned around and slammed the door, behind her came Samantha's shrill laughter and Walter's angry rebuke.

"Stupid, you deserve to be punished!"

"Hahaha - even if I am punished by my master, I am willing to say that! Yes, Walter, I know what kept me alive in Azkaban, but rather that I longed to be punished by my master——! ”

Hermione angrily stepped on the cold marble floor in the hallway, and when she turned the corner again, the empty knight's armor seemed to gasp, and fine beads of sweat could be faintly seen on the helmet.

Hermione hurried her steps up the staircase with torches on the side of the corridor to the fourth floor, Durmstrang's castle was only four floors, but it was extremely wide, and the corridors were so wide that those who didn't know would feel like they were in a labyrinth, and every year new students would miss their classes, so the advice to new students was usually: it was best to go together.

But Hermione had been living here for a while, and had been alone with Ning An in the principal's office, and she was familiar with the direction of getting to the office, turning around and stepping over a strange large arch to a wide, square-like corridor.

The castle was full of applications of the Traceless Stretching Charm, as if this corridor looked almost more spacious than half of the entire floor, and it was hard to imagine how it would be possible to cram so many classrooms and rooms into the remaining half of the space without casting the spell.

The tall hardwood door was half-hidden and not closed, it was the holidays, except for Harry and Hermione, the two guests in the school, the rest of the teachers in Durmstrang next year, and they were also Ning An's henchmen, and the principal didn't have to lock himself in a room all day, Hermione knew that Ning An didn't like to do that, unless he would lock the door when it was only the two of them in the office.

Thinking of this, Hermione blushed, and her mood was a little better, her pace slowed down, she came to the door, knocked lightly on the door twice, and after hearing Ning An's "Please come in", she slowly pushed the door open, walked in, and then found that the room was full of people, as soon as she entered, her eyes brushed over-

"I, I didn't know you had something to do - I could come back later-" Hermione, who was going to complain to Ning An, was a little dumbfounded, she couldn't spit in front of a group of strangers, but Ning An stopped her

"It's okay, come, Hermione—I'll introduce you to my friends—"

He had already walked around from behind his desk, Hermione only felt a sinking wrist, and then she realized that she was caught, and those eyes that had been bet on her seemed to be actually hitting her, Hermione bet that when she was at Hogwarts, even if she was stared at by all the Slytherin students for ten minutes, she would not be as stressful as she was now, and she had stiff hands and feet, and she didn't know how she got in front of everyone.

Damn it, what are you doing, Granger? Don't embarrass Ning An, you can do it- Hermione took a deep breath, slowly relieved from this embarrassing intrusion, and raised her head to look at the pile of figures in front of her.

It was a group of adult wizards, most of them dressed in serious black robes, and the headmaster's office in Ning'an was large enough to look like a small square, but it was still full of them.

Hermione was pulled by Ning An and came to them, only the last two steps were barely walked by herself, before that, she felt as if she was dragged by Ning An and came over.

"Ah, this must be Miss Granger, it's an honor to meet you—" The speaker was a well-mannered wizard, dressed in a proper suit, tie, and with a pair of eyes on the bridge of his nose, reminding Hermione of Ning'an's other helpers, Pani? Starr, except for their age, the two are very similar.

Hermione's gaze drifted to the left, and she glanced at Pani? Starr, too, stood in the midst of the crowd.

"Is this Leohard? Althouse, German Ministry of Magic/zhang-" Ning An's tone was relaxed and pleasant, as if he was introducing an old friend of his, Hermione nodded and stretched out her hand, Leo Hard stood with his hands down, bent down, as if he wanted to give a kiss, but was pushed away by Ning An.

"Go away, Leohard, you're not French, don't touch my Hermione."

He laughed and joked with the German Ministry of Magic/Zhang, who was not angry at all, and scratched his head with an awkward smile, and there was a burst of laughter in the office.

Hermione smiled in agreement, she kept muttering in her heart, if it wasn't in front of Ning An now, maybe she could handle it more easily, if these people were not Ning An's "friends" then maybe she could face it more easily.

"This is Mr. Jung, born in the Hohenzollern family, a German wizarding family, and currently working at the German Ministry of Magic-" Ning An pulled Hermione in front of a man with a hard face and gray hair, Hermione had a vague impression, it seemed that there was a German student in Slytherin who was from the Hohenzollern family, and it seemed to be called Eric......

"It's an honor to meet you, Miss Granger." Jung looked tough, but he smiled and was very relatable, and it was hard to make people feel bad, which reminded Hermione of Snape, and in some ways, the two men were like different extremes.

"This is Lady Cocelia, the leader of the Banshees of the Black Forest, a member of the German Ministry of Magic, and a strong contender for the President of the Banshee Reform Society......"

"This is Victor? Grasso......"

"It's a great honor, Miss Granger—"

"This is Mikhail? Bollinger ......"

"With my sincerest respects, beautiful young lady......"

Hermione followed Ning An in a circle, the names of wizards kept popping up, disappearing, and flashing back in her mind, it seemed that for the first time in her life, she knew so many wizards at once, as if everyone represented a force, which was even more complicated than when she first met Gryffindor's classmates at Hogwarts.

After the atmosphere in the room was introduced, it became much more lively, and many people got together in twos and threes to talk, as if it was a small banquet without drinks, and Hermione saw that Mr. Leohard, pulling Mikhail? Brin kept talking, and the leader of the Sámi group that had just been introduced, Mr. Zankas, stood aside, interjecting from time to time.

"So, what are you looking for me?" Ning An leaned back at his desk, no one came to disturb him, he shook Hermione's hand and asked softly.

"I ......" The words came to her lips, and Hermione didn't know what to say, so she skipped it lightly, shook her head, and said, "No, it's nothing important—it's just—"

"What?" Ning An asked with a smile.

"Why are so many people coming, I mean, they're coming......"

"This," Ning An showed a sudden expression, laughed, and stretched out his hand to point at the wizards who were talking to each other in front of him, and said;

"They're here to see me off, you know, tomorrow is the day the Ministry of Magic interrogates me, about the accusations - these people will see me off, or accompany me, haha, they're always so careful-"

Hermione nodded clearly, she couldn't help but be a little embarrassed, these people can organize a diplomatic mission-level visit together, I don't know what kind of scene they will be when they appear at the Ministry of Magic in London, whether Fudge will come out to greet him in person, thinking about it, how strict the interrogation of Ning An can be, it is almost conceivable.

Ning An took Hermione over, Hermione twisted her waist, for some reason there was an indescribable feeling in her heart, she looked at Ning An, her black pupils were as charming as ever, and she was about to fall into obsession if she didn't pay attention to it.

"I'll take Harry with me, and then I'll be able to talk to Fudge about his interrogation, and of course, I'm sure Dumbledore will take care of this for Harry......"

Ning An was still talking to herself, as if she had already arranged everything for the future

"But I have a hunch that even if Fudge lets Harry go this time, it won't be so easy to let Dumbledore go, and there are still some mysteries around Harry that I have to be afraid of, and now that Voldemort has come back to life, Hogwarts may not be safe - if you want, you can also come to Durmstrang to go to school......"

"Hogwarts has always been the safest place in the world, hasn't it?" Hermione glared and looked at Ning An, "And we haven't discussed this matter, I'll finish my studies at Hogwarts, and maybe ...... after that"

"Ah, of course, I understand!" Ning An smiled and waved his hand, indicating that he had no intention of forcing Hermione to study somewhere, "I'm just offering a suggestion, of course, I also support you studying at Hogwarts, and-"

He paused as he spoke, "And maybe we will have a chance to stay together all the time this year, even when school starts." ”

"Why?" Hermione didn't know why

"Because I happen to have something to ask Dumbledore for......"

Hermione looked at Ning An's smile, her heart twitched for no reason, she bit her lip, was silent for a moment, and asked again:

"Well, I mean, for those accusations against you, for you...... Murder...... Are all the accusations really false......"

Ning An was stunned for a moment, as if he didn't expect Hermione to suddenly ask this, but soon he smiled again, looked at Hermione and said softly;

"Yes, that's a made-up accusation."

Hermione nodded, she got out of Ning An's arms, signaling that she was going to leave first, Ning An obviously had something to tell these people, she understood that she shouldn't bother more.

Hermione walked slowly towards the door, still recalling Ning An's firm answer just now, and before she knew it, she had already walked to the door, and when she came to the door, she looked back at the office, Leohard, Mikhail, Jung...... One by one, the wizards stepped forward and gently kissed the back of Ning An's hand.

Parney smiled at her in the doorway, slowly closing the dark brown hardwood door, Hermione standing in the hallway, unable to move for some reason.