In the box, Hermione was writing and drawing on paper, flipping through her textbook, reviewing her lessons for the semester.

For the last semester, thanks to the Final Six Tournament, Hermione has been studying with Hallie and Fleur.

Therefore, she has also gained a lot, and at the same time, her magical attainments in the practical field have increased significantly, and the progress of many theoretical courses with practical benefits has far exceeded that of her peers.

But now that fifth grade was about to start, Hermione felt it was important for her to brush up on her fifth grade knowledge a little bit to make sure she didn't forget.

This also caused Hannah and Susan to feel extremely embarrassed when they came to visit the door, and just sat down and chatted for a few words and quickly slipped away.

"Coming back?" When she noticed that Harley was back, Hermione didn't raise her head and asked casually,

"How? Is the prefect's box really as luxurious as Fred and George say? ”

"It's a luxury." Hallie nodded, and naturally lay down on the bench,

"Think about it, twenty-four to twenty-six people occupy a train car, can it not be extravagant?"

"And it's a waste to only be used twice a semester."

As she spoke, Harley moved her body and changed to a more comfortable position.

"Let me rest for a while, the patrol is really exhausting."

"Don't do this," Hermione casually brushed Harry's hair away.

"Don't just press one side of your leg, it's easy to crush my leg. Also, don't interfere with my revision. ”

"And what if I have to interfere?"

Harley was lying on the bench one second, but the next she was sitting next to Hermione, her chin resting lightly on Hermione's shoulder, staring at the table with a seemingly serious expression,

"This knowledge ...... Didn't you finish your studies at the beginning of last semester? Why watch it again now? ”

"It doesn't stop me from reviewing more."

Hermione was forced to close her notebook under Harry's interference, and pinched Harley's dishonest hand angrily,

"I take time out every semester to review the key points I have learned, and I think it's a good habit."

"That's a lot of work." Harley deliberately lengthened her tone and grabbed Hermione's hands behind her back with one hand, defeating her intention to resist,

"Here, let me see ......"

Before he could finish speaking, there was a sudden knock on the door of the room.

"Please come in." Hallie raised her voice as she appeared across from Hermione, sitting straight with a book spread out on her lap.

Hermione glared at Harley viciously, and quickly straightened her hair and clothes a few times to make them look less messy.

Damn Harley, those hands don't understand anything!

The door to the box was opened, and a third-grade girl walked in.

"Excuse me, I have two invitations for Harry Potter and Hermione Granger."

As she spoke, the little girl handed over two rolls of parchment with purple ribbons.

When her gaze collided with Harley's, her face suddenly turned red for some reason, and she stammered in a slightly excited voice,

"Excuse me...... Sister Potter, can you sign my sleeve...... Sign a name? I brought a magic pen that doesn't fade. ”

"Absolutely." Harley smiled slightly, took the pen, and quickly wrote an autograph on the little witch's sleeve.

The little witch suddenly felt like a treasure, thanked her repeatedly, and stumbled out of the box.

"Our new Gryffindor prefect is really welcome." Hermione watched everything and couldn't help but complain.

"Ahem, ahem." Harley coughed vigorously a few times, but instead of replying, she casually opened the invitation with her name written on it.

"Let me see whose invitation this is."

The parchment itself is made of extremely soft and delicate material, with gold trim around it.

And the top is a fancy font,

"Dear Miss Harry Potter."

"Long time no see, I'd be glad if you could have lunch with me in box C."

"You are faithful, Professor Horace Slughorn."

"Professor Slughorn?" Hermione also looked at the invitation in her hand, and lightly swiped the gilded signature between her fingers,

"This name is so familiar, let me think about it......"

Seeing that Hermione was lost in thought, Harley didn't rush to remind her.

"I remember!" Hermione clapped her hands violently,

"The Potions paper you published, "A New Recipe for the Improvement of Phantom Elixirs", seems to be one of the advisors, Professor Slughorn!"

"Hmmm......"

Hallie didn't answer for a moment, and what she wanted to say was stuck in her throat.

"You're right, it's him." After half a minute of silence, Hallie nodded,

"He was also one of the professors who took me to the Potions Tournament at the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and later stayed in his villa when we spent the summer in France."

"Oh yes." Hermione then remembered other inconsequential content,

"I forgot all about that, and I was still thinking about whether he had published any papers recently."

Harley didn't answer, but took off the robe hanging behind the door.

She doesn't comment on Hermione's way of thinking, after all, it's Hermione.

At this time, the train corridor was very crowded, and it was close to noon, and many young wizards had come out of the box, waiting for the arrival of the fat witch who delivered the food.

However, Harley and Hermione's progress was relatively unimpeded, and many young wizards subconsciously got out of the way when they saw Harry.

Of course, the hallways got noisier again.

The two soon arrived in car C.

The capacity of this carriage was extraordinarily large, like a large hall, and it was evident that the Traceless Stretching Charm had been cast.

At this time, there were already quite a few people sitting inside, including Cowmik McLagan of Gryffindor, Brace Shabini of Slytherin, Marcos Belby of Ravenclaw, and other classmates that Harley knew but hadn't said much.

Harley also spotted Ginny and Neville in the depths of the box, both of whom were dazed, as if they didn't know why they were there.

"Hallie! My dear child! Professor Slughorn jumped to his feet as soon as he saw Harry.

He was fatter, and his big swollen belly covered his velvet clothes.

The bald head shone brighter in the headlights than his silver-white beard and the gold buttons on his waistcoat.

"Long time no see, my dear child." Professor Slughorn warmly welcomed Hallie,

"So, this should be Miss Granger, right?"

"Good afternoon, Professor Slughorn." Hallie bowed slightly, then introduced Hermione,

"That's right, Professor, she's Hermione Granger."

"Oh, that's amazing, I've wanted to meet this Miss Granger for a long time." Professor Slughorn nodded,

"Every time we discuss potions, I can read Miss Granger's unique insights through your words."

"The new ideas she came up with in dealing with the blood of the Quisan frog were really ingenious, and I had been studying them for a long time, and I was even going to instruct Miss Granger on a dissertation this semester."

"I have to say, this Miss Granger's potions talent is also in the top ten of all the students I've met."

"Of course, Hallie, you're number one, and you're even better than your mother."

"Thank you for the compliment, Professor Slughorn." Hermione politely thanked the professor,

"I'm also looking forward to your lessons."

Harley was intrigued, wondering who the other people with extremely high potions talents were.

It's just a pity that Professor Slughorn deliberately avoided the topic, and apparently there were a few of those people who he didn't want to bring up.

The two sat in the nearest seat at the professor's behalf, with Professor Slughorn seated next to Harry.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Malfoy happened to sit on the other side of him.

However, Malfoy had kept his head down since Harley entered the box, and there was no special reaction now.

Slughorn also had a somewhat odd attitude towards him, seemingly inviting but not enthusiastic.

After everyone arrived, Professor Slughorn quickly introduced everyone to each other, so that everyone could get acquainted with each other first.

After all, he had been teaching at Hogwarts for so many years, and he knew that even if two people entered the school at the same time, it was possible that they would not say a word for seven years.

At the same time as the introduction, Professor Slughorn also pointed out its background or particularity, intentionally or unintentionally, and talked about it from time to time.

Apparently, Professor Slughorn hasn't changed his hobby, and is trying to expand his network every moment.

Among the people who came to this box, except for Hermione and Ginny, everyone else had more or less a lot of background.

Hermione was invited because of her magical prowess, which was often mentioned in Hallie's letters.

Ginny, on the other hand, was invited because she had cast a beautiful bat spirit spell in the hallway, which happened to attract Professor Slughorn's attention.

And Professor Slughorn is also very realistic.

After learning that Marcos Belby and his uncle, Damocles Belby, who had developed the wolf poison potion, were not familiar with each other, and the relationship between the two sides was not friendly, he immediately became indifferent to him.

Throughout the lunch, Professor Slughorn was eager to mention Harley every three sentences.

He even joked about his bald head, joking with Harley that Harley had become a qualified potions master, and that she could improve the Potter family's shampoo so that it could help an elderly person like herself with hair loss.

And Harley can only apologize for this, after all, the Potter family's shampoo business has been sold.

Finally, Professor Slughorn also took everyone to reminisce about the past, told interesting anecdotes about the outstanding wizards he taught back then, and promoted an organization called the "Slug Club" that he organized.

It wasn't until the train passed through a long stretch of thick fog and into the red sunset that Professor Slughorn ended his reminiscences.

"Oh my God." Professor Slughorn looked around and blinked in the twilight,

"It's getting dark, are we talking so late?"

"Alas, memories of the past are always appealing to an older person, and every time I mention them, I can't help but fall into them."

"Kids, you'd better go back and change into your school robes and prepare for the opening dinner."

"You are welcome to come over at any time, and I will be happy to chat with you."

…………

"This professor is really pompous, and in a way even comparable to Lockhart."

On the way back to her box, Hermione couldn't help but complain,

"Extravagant invitations, on the train, he asked the house-elves to bring him food, and the invitees were all those classmates with backgrounds......"

"Thinking about it this way, he loves to show off more than Lockhart, at least Lockhart doesn't hold this kind of event on the train."

"No, no." Hallie defended Professor Slughorn,

"Professor, he just loves to enjoy life, and he prefers to make friends with powerful wizards."

"He is usually relatively kind, and he is also willing to provide assistance to those young wizards who are talented but do not have a platform, or help them contact masters in the same field, so that they can go to the next level."

"And Professor Slughorn himself is still very skilled in potions, unlike Lockhart's unlearned."

"When you compare Lockhart with him, it's really lowering the professor's grade."

The two of them sorted out the books scattered in their boxes, and Hermione took the potions textbook in her hand and suddenly asked thoughtfully:

"By the way, Professor Slughorn is a Potions Master who is not much worse than Professor Snape."

"So what subjects will he teach at Hogwarts? Do you share a Potions lesson with Professor Snape? ”

"He's supposed to be Potions, after all, he used to be the Slytherin Headmaster's part-time Potions professor."

Hallie changed into a school uniform robe,

"If I'm not mistaken, Professor Snape is probably going to become a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor."

"It just so happens that he has been longing for this position for a long time, and this year he finally got his wish."

"Really? I thought Sirius was teaching us. Hermione was visibly disappointed.

"Sirius was sent out," Harley explained,

"His Animagus is a Scottish deer hound, perfect for navigating the woods."

"So Professor Dumbledore asked him to be a scout, to keep an eye on Malfoy Manor, and try his luck to see if he could run into Voldemort."

Looking at Hermione's worried expression, Harley added, "Professor Dumbledore is still very careful. ”

"The professor is prepared for the question of anyone among the Death Eaters knowing Sirius' exact form of Animagus."

"Sirius will go to a Muggle pet hospital in advance and disguise himself in a Muggle way."

"And Animagus itself doesn't have particularly strong magic fluctuations, and the combination of these two methods is difficult for wizards to detect."

"Voldemort and the Death Eaters were dismissive of Muggles, and naturally they couldn't have learned about this Muggle-derived technology."

Hermione nodded, her face far less worried.

……

……

(Thanks to the "book friend with tail number 1061" for the tip!) (End of chapter)