The news of Voldemort's return caused an uproar at Hogwarts, and everywhere you went, you could hear people talking about it.

Especially those students from magical families, they have a natural fear of Voldemort, and they have been haunted since they saw the content in the newspaper.

This is not only the case for students, but it is also common to see professors gathering in the hallways in twos and threes, talking in low and nervous voices, and not talking when they see students coming.

Of course, this was only the case for some of the students, but in Slytherin, where there were many pure-blood wizards, it was a different sight, and they were so excited that it felt like it was another Christmas.

At lunch, Pansy Parkinson and Millison Persted barely stopped laughing, and they walked into the auditorium on their toes, looking like two peacocks showing off their feathers.

"Look, those stupid turkeys again." Susan Bones said in disgust, "I'm sure someone in their family must be a Death Eater." ”

The Burns family has always supported the Order of the Phoenix, and they have been fighting the Death Eaters for more than ten years, and their hatred for each other cannot be resolved at all.

It didn't show it before, just because Voldemort had fallen for more than ten years, and several of the most heinous Death Eaters had been imprisoned in Azkaban, and everyone thought that the matter was over.

Susan, even if she didn't like some of the Slytherins, was far from disgusting.

But now that Voldemort has made a comeback and the Death Eaters have escaped from prison, the situation seems to have returned to more than a decade ago overnight, and the attitudes of both sides have naturally become clear.

"Hey, what are you talking about?"

At this point, Fred and George came over and naturally sat down at the Hufflepuff table.

"Those two people, of course." Mikel pouted in the direction of Slytherin, and Pansy and Millicent sat down and began to talk loudly to the others.

"Do you think they're on the side of the Death Eaters?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Fred said, "If you look at the newspaper again, you'll see that one of the Death Eaters who escaped yesterday was Bird. ”

"I don't understand, why didn't the headmaster kick these people out of the castle?" Susan poked at the tonkatsu on the plate.

"Because they're not Death Eaters." "At least so far, they're just students, and the Headmaster certainly can't kick them out of the castle because of their last name, which is contrary to the teaching philosophy of Hogwarts."

"Just like the previous incident in the Chamber of Secrets, the Headmaster also didn't kick Harry out of the castle, the most suspect."

"That's right......" Mitchell muttered, "but the way they look is so annoying, I really want to teach them a good lesson." ”

"I agree!" George was the first to chimed in: "Remember to call me then." ”

"It's better for you to dispel this thought." Cedric said, "If you find out, you'll be locked up." ”

"It's okay, as long as no one else finds out." Fred lowered his voice and said, "I know Duke Honey has a big brown paper bag, it seems that they use it to buy goods, it can almost fit a person in, we can use it to lassoe Millicent or Pansy ...... before we do it"

The more he talked, the more excited he became, and he let out a burst of laughter from time to time.

"I'll take care of this." Susan was also unusual, and said with great interest: "I buy a lot of sweets at Duke Honey every year, and I should be able to borrow a few bags." ”

"We can buy ...... too," George said with a smile, "I have a hunch that this bag will become the most popular consumable in the future, so I can't borrow it all the time." ”

"I mean, why can't you two go back to Gryffindor to discuss this?" Cedric interrupted them angrily.

In order to prevent the two of them from "bewitching the public" here again, he hurriedly asked, "What are you doing here?" ”

"Oh, we're here for you." Fred remembered that there was nothing to say, and turned his head and said, "We're thinking about whether to expand the scale of DA." ”

"After all, the situation is different now than before." "We think there must be more people who want to learn how to protect themselves," George said. ”

"That's why we created DA, right?"

Looking at the serious looks of the two, Cedric frowned and asked with some suspicion, "You really think so?" ”

"Well, that's actually what Hermione wanted to ask." Fred said,

"But she's very busy at the moment, holding a thick stack of books, and it feels like she's going to move the library into the dormitory."

"We just happened to be fine, so we took the job."

Cedric still didn't believe it.

He knew Fred and George too well that if they just wanted to discuss it, they wouldn't have made a special trip, and besides, scaling up was not something he could agree to with a nod alone.

"Tell the truth!" Cedric said lightly.

Fred and George looked at each other.

"I really deserve to be the president of the boys' student union, and I can't hide anything from you."

Fred grinned and pulled out a pointed hat with red feathers in his magic.

"We just wanted to ask if you could wear this hat to the next DA party."

"The hat that makes the head invisible? Forget it, I don't want to be the laughing stock of everyone. Cedric refused without saying a word.

The DA Meetup is a place to learn Defence Against the Dark Arts, and it's not a selection site for the Headless Horseman's Club, so there's no need to hide your head.

"No, no, no, you're mistaken." Fred hurriedly said: "This is our new product, which was made overnight yesterday. ”

"We call him the Curse Hat." "It's also very simple, it's to be able to withstand a spell attack. ”

"Seriously, in the current situation, it's necessary to have a hat like that."

"It saves lives when it counts."

The two said solemnly, and Cedric hesitated a little.

"If it's really as good as you say, then why don't you just sell it?

"Just like before, show it in front of everyone, and I think a lot of people will buy it."

"We tried it this morning, but the response was mediocre." Fred sighed: "Maybe the price is a bit expensive, people don't particularly trust our products." ”

"Expensive?" Cedric was stunned for a moment.

At least until now, the Weasley Joke Store hasn't sold more than five Galleons, and this price shouldn't make many people hesitate.

"Well, our pricing is fifty Galleons." George said.

Cedric covered his mouth just in time to prevent the pumpkin juice he had just drunk from squirting.

Fifty Galleons?

That's about a month's salary for an average Ministry of Magic employee, and few people at Hogwarts can afford it.

"No way, this is already the lowest price." Fred sighed.

"We used dragon skin, real dragon skin." "It's not all of it, but it's definitely worth the money." ”

"So we need someone more famous to advertise the hat."

"It's strange to say......"

At this time, Fred suddenly turned his head to look at Kyle on the side, "Why can you sell those valuable things so easily, I remember that you sold a necklace made of dragon teeth for a hundred Galleons before." ”

"Because the person who bought it was Slytherin." Kyle shrugged his shoulders and said, "They're not short of money. ”

"Forget it then." George shook his head and said meaningfully, "They're probably not worried about being attacked by the Death Eaters." ”

"Let's move on to advertising...... the two looked at Cedric again.

"If you can wear it, maybe more people will want to buy it."

As one of the shareholders of the Weasley Joke Shop, Cedric only hesitated slightly before agreeing.

"Yes, but this feather has to be replaced, it's ugly." "And I'm going to experiment with hats." ”

"That's fine." George immediately put on his hat, "You're here to attack ......"

"It's all petrified!"

Before he could finish his sentence, a spell fell directly on him. George flew upside down and fell to the ground.

But he was not petrified and quickly stood up.

"Hey, Kyle, you should have said it in advance." He grumbled.

"That's a better test, isn't it?" Kyle said,

He looked over George's head, the hat had cracked through the middle.

"Can only be used once?"

"It depends on the power of the spell." Fred explained with some distress, "The more powerful spells can only be resisted once, but if someone else comes, it will be fine." ”

"Don't forget, the Death Eaters are all adult wizards, and none of them are weak." Kyle said, "Let's take Barty Crouch Jr., who graduated with twelve certificates. ”

"What? A Death Eater took twelve certificates? George couldn't care less about the distressed hat, and said dumbfoundedly: "Doesn't this mean that he is the same as Bill and Percy?" ”

"That's right." Kyle said, "Fifty years forward at Hogwarts, only the three of them have ever received twelve certificates.

"Besides, why are you so surprised, how can someone who can be taken by Voldemort and recruited under his command can be stupid."

"Like that Peter Pettigrew?" Fred said.

"He's special." Kyle shook his head, "And even in the Death Eaters, Peter wasn't welcome. ”

"Okay." George said, ripping a plate-sized piece of leather from the cracked hat.

"This is the dragon skin?" Cedric asked.

"Well, we bought it from Hogsmeade, it's ridiculously expensive." George nodded and said, "But if you want the hat to resist the spell, the spell must be engraved on the dragon skin, if it is an ordinary cloth, the moment it touches the spell, the hat will be torn apart due to the impact transmitted to the spell, and it will not be able to resist at all." ”

Looking at the dragon skin in their hands, Kyle thought for a moment and said, "Have you ever thought about making it a one-time thing...... Remove all the power-slowing spells and replace them with 'Collision' symbols for a more brutal way to counteract the effects of the enchantment.

"That way, you'll need a lot less dragon skin."

"Hard-hitting?" Fred pondered, "But then there's no way to tell the type of spell, maybe a random cleansing spell will trigger the defense mechanism." ”

"And the 'collision' itself is very unstable, once triggered, the dragon skin will be directly destroyed."

"But it's cheap." Kyle smiled and said, "This kind of symbol is not large, it only needs one-fifth of the dragon skin in your hand, and the cost will be reduced a lot." ”

For a moment, everyone's eyes changed when they looked at Kyle.

It has to be Kyle......

"I didn't expect you to be this kind of person." Fred looked disgusted, "We thought we were dark enough. ”

"What do you want?" Kyle said angrily, "I mean, when the cost goes down, the price will definitely have to be adjusted accordingly."

"Originally, fifty Galleons of things, after reducing the amount of dragon skin, only ten Galleons were enough, so that everyone could afford to buy them, but they usually needed to pay more attention, and it would be a lot of trouble.

"But I did meet the Death Eaters...... Truth be told, this kind of one-off stuff would be more effective. ”

"You're not wrong to say that." Fred touched his chin, "Okay, we can try ......"

Seeing that the three of them were chatting hotly, Cedric didn't bother them, but thought about expanding the DA.

Personally, he doesn't want to expand, because more people means he's going to be busier.

During this time, there have been many new members, and now there are almost 80 DAs.

This already kept him a little busy, and if he added more people, he would have to extend the meeting time, and it was foreseeable that there would definitely be more than one or two people this time, and it might even be doubled.

Nearly 200 people...... They can't extend the meeting time to three hours.

So when Fred and George were ready to leave, Cedric could only give a very vague answer.

"Let's discuss this when we have time." He said, "Maybe the school can give us a more reliable Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, so we don't need to participate in the DA anymore." ”

"Okay." Fred and George didn't care either, they hurried back to work on the new product and trotted away.

……

In the afternoon, Fudge came.

I don't know if it was intentional or not, but he came just before the first class started, and almost all the students saw him go to Headmaster Dumbledore's office.

As for what they said in the headmaster's office, no one knew, and neither did Kyle.

For a whole afternoon, everyone waited curiously.

"I wish he could take Umbridge away."

In the afternoon herb class, Mikel whispered, "We obviously need a more reliable Defence Against the Dark Arts professor now, not a guy who will only let us read and copy books." ”

His words were also unanimously agreed by others.

By the time it was time for dinner, the entire auditorium was talking, speculating whether Umbridge would leave it at that.

Finally, Dumbledore arrived, clearing his throat, and the Great Hall fell silent.

"Everyone should know that Voldemort and his entourage are making waves again, and their power is growing."

As Dumbledore spoke, there was a tense and heart-wrenching silence in the Great Hall.

"I would like to stress that the situation is tense and everyone needs to be extremely cautious to ensure their own safety.

"The Ministry of Magic has agreed that it will assist Hogwarts in strengthening its magical defenses in the future, but every teacher and student must always be vigilant and not let their guard down in the slightest.

"Therefore, I ask that you strictly follow every school rule, no matter how annoying it may be......

"Finally, it's about our Defence Against the Dark Arts professor."

Hearing this, Cedric jerked his head up.

"First of all, Professor Umbridge will still teach you ......"

There was a sigh and grumbling in the auditorium, which made Umbridge, who was sitting next to her, look ugly.

"But......" Dumbledore raised his voice, "the Ministry of Magic believes that in times of crisis, it is more important for everyone to learn how to protect themselves, and a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor is obviously not enough.

"So next, there will be two experienced Aurors to assist Professor Umbridge."

In the next second, the sigh turned into a cheer.

But that's not all.

"Besides......" Dumbledore raised his voice again, not scaring that Umbridge was next to him, and said happily.

"We also said that Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic should trust each other, and the Minister readily agreed to remove the High Investigator from his position."

"So here, I'm happy to announce that all previous education orders, including the requirement to register to form a club, and the probation of some professors, will be repealed."

The cheers in the auditorium were louder, and there was applause and the sound of slapping the table.

It was the first time since the morning that everyone was so happy.

……

(End of chapter)