Whether Miss Hermione Granger's concerns were justified or not, or whether they were alarmist or not, they could no longer focus on the issue.

Because they have to go to class.

The three of them parted, and the expression on Hermione's face was very solemn and sad.

When Matthew reappeared in the auditorium at noon, he suddenly noticed that there was a lot of delicious food on the table as usual......

It seems that the house-elf strike has come to an end!

Hermione was reluctant to believe this "fact...... Moreover, she didn't seem to have eaten anything at all noon.

After lunch, she dragged Matthew and Neville and went to the kitchen again—

She wanted to see the poor house-elves again, to comfort them, to ask if they needed help......

Only this time, they failed to open the door in the picture, and it was locked from the inside, locked to the ground.

In the end, the three of them could only return in vain.

In the coming weeks, it seems that "strikes" will continue to occur from time to time;

Because every once in a while, there is always a meal that is far from being as rich as usual, very monotonous, and even a little lacking in portions......

Matthew believes that this was Hogwarts' "emergency" response when the house elves took strike action.

However, making students hungry has never happened again.

Hermione Granger never mentioned anything more about house-elves, either in normal times or in private with Matthew and them.

But Matthew thinks she must have not forgotten what she saw and heard in the kitchen.

......

Time passed.

The last month of the year has finally arrived, and the cold air has completely enveloped the whole of Hogwarts.

One day before the Christmas break, when the Hogwarts campus awoke from a dream, it was suddenly covered with several feet of snow and the lake was covered with hard ice.

And one day later, the next morning, the snow that had been flying suddenly turned into a violent blizzard—

The herbal medicine class was cancelled because Professor Sprout had planned the class and took the students to transplant Flor flowers outside the greenhouse...... This is already very dangerous work, and such bad weather makes it even more risky.

So when it was supposed to be a herb class, Matthew Wakefield sat by the campfire in the Slytherin common room, looking a little absent-minded.

This year's Christmas holidays, it is said that there are many students staying on campus, at least double the number of students who stayed on campus...... Last year was a special case, because those few surprise attacks were so terrible for the students that they caused excessive panic that almost all of the Hogwarts students outside of Muggle backgrounds were scared back!

Although several Azkaban fugitives have fled this year, the notorious criminals are far away from the students, so they don't cause any panic -

So a lot of people stayed.

Draco Malfoy, for example, was said to be leaving England during the Christmas holidays, so he simply chose to stay in school.

Muggle-born students like Matthew and Hermione are naturally within the scope of staying at the school.

Even Neville won't be coming home, as his father will be at Hogwarts for the entire Christmas holidays.

"Damn, Gringotts seems to have gone wrong again!" a Slytherin senior student grumbled as he dropped his Daily Prophet in his hand by the campfire.

"Gringotts?" Matthew couldn't help frowning, and hurriedly asked, "What's going on over there?"

"The elves have lodged a strong protest with the Ministry of Magic to amend the unequal Wizard Elf Non-Aggression Act......," the senior boy explained, "and they demanded that wizards interfere less with Gringotts and renegotiate whether the elves can legally own wands......"

"It is said that the relationship between wizards and goblins has now dropped to its worst since 1717, and there are even rumors that a 20th-century goblin rebellion is brewing...... Damn, that's going to be a disaster!"

"New Goblin Rebellion......" Matthew frowned.

Actually, in a sense, this is not alarmist.

At a meeting at the Slug Club, he had also vaguely heard about it while communicating with Dirk Chryswell, an official of the Ministry of Magic's Goblin Liaison Office.

......

Hogwarts' house-elves are uncharacteristically "on strike" frequently.

The goblins of Gringotts may even be brewing a new "goblin rebellion".

And then the unaccounted for members of the Order of the Phoenix who infiltrated Hogwarts......

All of this is a little frightening.

To be sure, in the first half of the semester that has been, there haven't been many incidents or accidents at Hogwarts, at least it has been much calmer than last year.

But Matthew always felt that behind this apparent calm, there was an undercurrent surging silently......

The promoters of that dark tide are, without a doubt, the members of the Order of the Phoenix!

They seem to be guiding all this from the shadows.

To be honest, it's strange that Albus Dumbledore has been imprisoned in Newmontard Prison for nearly fifty years, and the remnants of the Order of the Phoenix have been suppressed for almost all these years......

So why are they doing it now?

What was it that gave them the courage and confidence to feel that they could shake or even overturn Gellert Grindelwald's influence?

To be sure, if it were up to the farts to decide, Matthew would definitely prefer the wizarding world dominated by Albus Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix...... After all, he was a Muggle-born wizard, and Grindelwald's political attitude had always been that of wizards and anti-Muggles.

What's more, when he was in Hogsmeade, it is very likely that Aberforth Dumbledore of the Order of the Phoenix saved his life.

But if Matthew had to choose, he would definitely choose to side with the current Headmaster of Hogwarts.

Because the times are already doomed......

Gellert Grindelwald's influence has long been integrated into every aspect of the wizarding world.

And the power under his command is far stronger than the Order of the Phoenix, whose leader has been arrested and can only operate in the shadows (Matthew does not believe that Grindelwald is just a "harmless" Hogwarts headmaster).

Therefore, Matthew is very puzzled by this surging undercurrent!

The only thing he could do now was stay away from it.

And I hope that this dark tide will not affect me.