Chapter 1319： successor

  Chapter 1319 Successor

  On September 1st, Hogwarts students ushered in a new semester in the drizzle.

  On the deserted platform, some family members of the students held umbrellas and were saying their final goodbyes and exhortations to their children.

  Everything seems to be the same as usual.

   However, everything is different again.

  In the huge station, there was an atmosphere called uneasiness.

   "Whatever you want to do, just do it freely."

   Neville's grandmother, Mrs. Augusta, gave her grandson a big hug.

   "Don't worry about me, and take care of yourself."

"I will."

   Neville puffed out his chest.

   "We'd be proud of what you've done."

   Under the gaze of Mrs. Augusta, Neville pushed his luggage onto the Hogwarts express train.

  Looking at the crowded and frolicking crowd in the aisle, Neville murmured: "School has started!"

  Hogwarts is really a magical place. Everyone loves that old castle and even regards it as another home, and Neville is no exception.

  Especially after the establishment of DA, he loved the party and the time to practice Defense Against the Dark Arts with everyone.

  However, only this time the school started, Neville couldn't be happy no matter what.

   Not only is the DA party he was looking forward to gone, but even his best friend is not at school.

  Whether it was Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, or even Dean in the same dormitory, they were all forced to drop out of school.

  Neville could hardly imagine what a terrifying Hogwarts would look like today.

  Actually, as early as during the summer vacation, Neville even wanted to drop out of school and join the Defense Association to fight against the mysterious man while listening to the broadcast from the wizard watch station every day.

   After all, returning to Hogwarts is of little significance. Hogwarts, which is controlled by Death Eaters, is no longer that other home that people are nostalgic for.

   His crazy idea even got the support of his grandma.

  Mrs. Augusta believed that Neville should bravely stand up against the mysterious man, and even supported Neville to join the Defense Association to learn some useful self-protection knowledge.

  However, a letter from Hannah Abbott made Neville temporarily give up the idea of ​​dropping out of school,

Because the Defense Association hopes that Neville can go to Hogwarts, unite the students in Hogwarts who are willing to stand up and rebel, reorganize Dumbledore's Army, and teach everyone the knowledge of defense against the dark arts. It is an unprecedented challenge.

  After repeated hesitation, Neville was still willing to try. He knew very well that Harry, Hermione and Ron would not be able to return to Hogwarts and continue to lead everyone against Snape.

   But someone else always needs to step up and take the torch and move on.

  After putting away his luggage, Neville rang Ernie McMillan's car and waved to Ernie who was talking to his friend in the car.

   "Longbottom, what's the matter?"

  Ernie MacMillan looked surprised, and probably didn't expect Neville to come looking for him.

   "Looking for a place to talk?"

  Neville gestured towards the outside of the carriage, signaling the other party to follow.

  Ernie hesitated for a moment, and followed Neville out of the carriage.

   “I got a letter from Hannah during the summer, she was with Susan, and Justin was there.”

  Neville intentionally revealed some news that could arouse Ernie's interest, smiled at Ernie, and led him back to his empty workshop.

  After using a spell to close the compartment door, Ernie couldn't wait to ask, "Have Hannah, Susan, and Justin all joined the Defense Association?"

  After reciting the earplug spell, Neville spoke to Ernie about what happened during the summer vacation.

   This remark undoubtedly hurt the Hufflepuff prefect a ton, not only because several of his friends at Hogwarts have dropped out of school for various reasons now, but also because none of them wrote to him.

"It's good that they're okay, but you know, I've been worrying about their safety all summer, and those heartless guys just forgot about me." Ernie twitched his lips, but he was still very happy that Neville could give Bring the good news yourself.

   "I actually wanted to drop out of school too. You should also know that Mr. Anderson formed the Defense Association, and I originally wanted to join them."

  Neville stared straight at Ernie, and explained his purpose of finding him.

   "However, Hannah wrote to me and told me that Mr. Anderson hoped that someone could reorganize Dumbledore's Army and unite Hogwarts students who were willing to stand up and resist."

"You're thinking…"

  Ernie's eyes widened in surprise, he now finally knew what Neville Longbottom was looking for him mysteriously.

   "How about it, do you want to join?" Neville looked at Ernie expectantly.

   "I'm afraid it can't be done with just the two of us." Ernie didn't agree, nor refused.

"We can find some trustworthy people. Don't forget that many people also joined Dumbledore's Army." Neville reminded kindly, "I have already contacted Luna during the summer vacation, and she is also very happy to join us. , to help reorganize Dumbledore's Army, and their family has always supported Harry."

   In fact, Neville has been thinking about this matter throughout the summer vacation, and also tried to contact some members of the original DA, and asked them if they had that willingness.

   "Then let's split up and see how many people are willing to join later."

   After a while, the empty carriage was full of people.

   Except for Slytherin, all the other students have come. Everyone is well aware of the current situation and is very interested in the plan to reorganize Dumbledore's Army mentioned by Neville.

  It never hurts to have a little more Defense Against the Dark Arts.

   "I am also very happy to reorganize Dumbledore's Army, but I have a question." After Anthony raised his hand to attract everyone's attention, he asked his own doubts: "Who will teach you Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

  The people in the carriage all looked at each other in blank dismay.

yes!

  Who will teach them?

   Everyone present knew very well that their Defense Against the Dark Arts level could only be regarded as relatively better than the others. Naturally, it would not be a problem to teach some junior students, but it was a bit unqualified to teach former members of Dumbledore's Army.

  So, they all turned their heads to look at Neville, hoping that he could do something good.

"There is no need to worry about this matter. We can teach the relatively simple spells by ourselves. For other difficult spells, the Defense Association will regularly send people to teach us." Neville's words made everyone's eyes widen. .

   "Is there a way for them to break into Hogwarts quietly?" Ernie couldn't help asking.

  Although I know that Hogwarts has many secret passages leading to the outside, it is not easy to break into the castle quietly.

   "I don't know, but I think Mr. Anderson has great powers, so it shouldn't be difficult for them."

  Neville has great confidence in Albert. From the recent Death Eaters' helplessness against the Defense Association's actions, their energy can be seen.

   "Do you think we have joined the Defense Association?" Ernie said suddenly, "Dumbledore's Army can also be considered a DA."

   "It should count."

   Seamus cast a searching look at Neville.

   "It should only be counted as a peripheral member, not an official member." Neville shook his head.

   "A peripheral member?"

  Everyone seemed a little excited, and the peripheral members were not far from the official members.

"Actually, as long as you support Harry Potter and the Defense Association against the You-Know-Who, you can be regarded as a peripheral member of the Defense Association." Luna suddenly put down "The Quibbler" and explained to everyone, "I heard from Dad, The peripheral members of the Defense Association are all over the British magical world, but there are very few official members. They are gathered at the headquarters of the Defense Association, and they are receiving Albert's defense against the dark arts training every day. It is said that everyone is an Auror with a strange color Dueling experts. Therefore, they can always easily defeat those search parties who know something about the dark arts."

"is this real?"

  After listening to Luna's words, everyone became more curious about the legendary Defense Association.

  If it is true what Luna said, the Defense Association is already a huge force.

   "But why didn't they come forward and lead everyone to resist the mysterious man?" Seamus was even more puzzled.

   "Aren't they doing it?" Ernie said suddenly, "You said that after we graduate, do you have the opportunity to join the Defense Association?"

   "There must be a chance. Hannah has successfully joined the Defense Association and is said to be receiving training in defense against the dark arts." Neville said softly, "If Hannah hadn't written to me, I would have dropped out of school."

  Everyone is very envious of Hannah and the others, and they all have the urge to drop out of school and join the Defense Association.

After all, the opportunity to be personally taught by Albert, the dueling champion, is very rare, and the results are obvious to all. Today's Defense Association members do have excellent dueling skills, and they have never heard of any member being killed unfortunately. .

   Most importantly, God knows what Hogwarts will look like under the control of Death Eaters.

   Besides, even if they graduate from school next year, no one really wants to work for You-Know-Who at the Ministry of Magic.

  After discussing the Defense Association, everyone brought the topic back.

   After all, the reorganization of Dumbledore's Army is the next focus. If the Death Eaters really make Hogwarts a mess, Dumbledore's Army will be everyone's last hope.

   No, those **** Death Eaters will definitely make Hogwarts a mess, otherwise they wouldn't be called Death Eaters.

  "We need to occupy the Room of Requirement in Hogwarts for a long time, and use it as the headquarters of Dumbledore's Army." Neville put forward his own suggestion, "Once we really encounter problems, we can hide in the Room of Requirement."

   "But how do we do it?"

   Seamus has no objection, but he thinks there may be problems with the operation.

   “If we want to occupy it for a long time, we need someone to stay in it, but we can’t always have someone in the Room of Requirement, because everyone needs to go to class after all.”

   "Don't worry, we can always find a way." Neville comforted, "This is just a small problem. By the way, we still need a secret method of communication."

   "We can continue to use this contact." Luna took out a gold coin from her pocket, which was a fake Galleon used by Dumbledore's Army to pass messages to each other.

   "Yes, that's what I'm talking about. You shouldn't have lost it." Neville asked expectantly. His transformation magic was only average, but he couldn't make anything similar.

   "Don't worry, I can do this too." Ernie almost patted his chest for assurance.

"There is another problem. If they know that we did it, I mean those Death Eaters..." Anthony still has some concerns. They are all aware of the danger of Death Eaters. Once they know what they have done, they will definitely There will be big trouble.

"Don't worry, they are reluctant to waste too much pure blood, and they will only torture us a little bit, and won't really kill us." Neville comforted: "Of course, as long as they don't know, it's fine if they know , and will only trouble me, the leader, anyway, I'm not afraid of them."

  Everyone couldn't help admiring Neville's courage, and they all realized that Neville was not afraid of being expelled from school at all.

   "Don't expect what the school run by the Death Eaters will look like. After all, someone needs to stand up and resist, so that everyone can see hope, just like Harry and the others did when they first formed DA.

   "What is our goal, to get Snape out of Hogwarts?" Ernie asked.

"The short-term goal is this, and the long-term goal, I'm actually not too clear about it. They didn't say much, they said it was for us to unite the students of Hogwarts and let everyone support Harry." What Bert wants to do, but it does not prevent him from uniting everyone to fight against the mysterious man.

   "By the way, what is Harry doing now?"

  Unknowingly, the topic of discussion fell on Harry. Everyone believes that Harry Potter is the savior and that he can lead everyone to defeat the mysterious man.

   "The last time the Wizard's Lookout didn't say that Harry was almost ambushed by a mysterious person in Godric's Hollow." Anthony recalled.

  Most people pay special attention to news from Wizard's Lookout these days. As for the news in the "Daily Prophet", anyone with a normal mind knows that it has been controlled by the mysterious man, and now it only speaks for the mysterious man and the Death Eaters.

   "Don't know, but they should be safe."

   "Harry must know a lot of things we don't." Ernie said suddenly.

   "Of course, my father said that Harry is said to be preparing to destroy the You-Know-Who, and the rumor seems to be completing the task Dumbledore left him." Luna casually distributed "The Quibbler" to them.

   "What are we going to do with these?"

"The Quibbler actually contains a lot of secrets." Luna handed Neville the ridiculous demon mirror attached to the magazine: "They thought of a way to hide the real content, so as not to let Death Eaters Discover the secrets of the magazine, so the cost of this thing has increased a lot.”

   "Wow! It's amazing."

  Neville's eyes widened in surprise, and he found that the "Quieker" in front of him had changed drastically.

  After everyone took turns using that ridiculous magic mirror to watch The Quibbler, they brought the conversation back to Dumbledore's Army.

  Since they were going to do it, they naturally hoped that the whole plan would be kept secret, at least not to be easily grasped. After all, the enemy was a vicious Death Eater.

   Several people working together to find a solution is much faster than Neville alone.

   After everyone worked together to ask questions and solve them, the relationship became closer.

   "It would be great if I could get in touch with Hannah?" Ernie looked sideways at the pouring rain outside the window, and suddenly asked, "Do you think the Death Eaters will come to search the train?"

   "Yes, they are such fools, I'll bet on the chocolate sandwich." Anthony took out a large handful of candies from his pocket and distributed them to everyone.

   "It's not necessarily for Harry Potter, it may be for arresting other people. Kidnapping children to make relatives obey has always been very effective." Neville said contemptuously.

  (end of this chapter)