The Potions Master was furious inside, but when he saw Dawn looking at him, he could only swallow his anger.
Still, there was one thing he had to ask clearly.
"How did you find this place?" Slughorn forced an ugly smile.
"It's quite obvious."
Dawn shrugged. The hidden magical circuits inside the wall were completely exposed to his eyes.
If only he had known earlier, he wouldn't have let Dumbledore dismantle the protective magic that had been placed here last time.
Slughorn cursed bitterly in his heart.
Dawn had long grown accustomed to the occasional disrespectful looks from him. Calmly, he slipped a bottle of Veritaserum into his pocket.
Then his gaze shifted to another potion bottle, and he paused.
"Love Potion?"
"Some acquaintances asked me to make it. Out of courtesy, I couldn't refuse."
Slughorn coughed awkwardly.
Dawn shrugged again. He had no interest in judging the morality of Slughorn's private business.
After scanning the room and seeing nothing else he wanted, he stepped out.
"Where's my Time-Turner?"
"Here!"
Slughorn hurriedly took out a small hourglass hanging from a chain and handed it over as if it were burning his hands.
Dawn accepted it and examined it briefly.
After confirming it was genuine, he slipped it into his pocket.
Thinking about it, the last Time-Turner—if one followed the order of its time travels—should have ended up with Avery, eventually bringing him back to the very beginning.
But after killing Avery on the Quidditch pitch, Dawn had not found the Time-Turner on his body.
Had it been damaged from repeated use?
Or had Avery hidden it somewhere else?
Dawn considered the matter for a moment.
It wasn't important.
He quickly dismissed the thought and turned back to Slughorn.
"Slughorn, brew a few more bottles of that strong restorative potion you made last time. I'll come pick them up in a few days."
With that, Dawn did not linger.
A faint flame appeared around his body, and he vanished.
Slughorn remained behind.
Once he was sure Dawn had gone, he finally gathered the courage to unleash a furious stream of curses.
Looking at the destroyed storage room and his ruined dinner, he collapsed into a chair in despair.
"What a disaster!"
He buried his face in his hands.
Moonlight spilled across the road outside.
After leaving Slughorn's stone cottage, Dawn did not head to the Leaky Cauldron to return through the fireplace.
Instead, he Apparated to Hogsmeade.
He took the Time-Turner from his pocket and hung it around his neck. Then he altered his magical pattern and transformed into an owl.
With a powerful flap of his wings, he flew toward Hogwarts.
High in the sky, the small hourglass on its chain rattled softly in the wind. The owl's bright eyes reflected the moonlight, giving off an eerie glow.
Moments later, outside the gates of Hogwarts—
Dawn returned to the appearance of Leia Hickman.
Crunching across the snow, he walked past the Black Lake and slowly approached the castle.
Meanwhile, in the headmaster's office on the eighth floor—
Dumbledore had been quietly waiting.
Sensing movement nearby, he looked down from the window.
Seeing Dawn return, he finally relaxed. He did not know what Dawn had gone to do...But at least he had come back.
Dumbledore felt like a mother waiting for a child who had stayed out too late.
Night passed.
The sun rose.
No matter how many hidden currents stirred beneath the surface or how many dark schemes people secretly harbored, Hogwarts had indeed returned to its usual calm—at least on the surface.
There were no basilisk attacks.
Voldemort caused no trouble.
Dawn simply taught his classes quietly. Life returned to ordinary routine...Except for one thing.
"Hey! Take this!"
Peeves, who had been lying in ambush for a long time, burst into laughter as he swooped through the corridor and threw a dungbomb at a student who had just stepped out of class.
Bang.
A cloud of foul yellow-green gas exploded.
The students' faces twisted in horror.
Some bent over and retched.
Others simply stared with the numb expressions of people who had already accepted their fate.
Among the crowd, the Weasley twins calmly brushed the eggshells off their heads.
Carrying their books, they walked forward as if nothing had happened. No matter how Peeves taunted them, they ignored him completely.
The twins had suffered terribly these past few days.
Peeves had gone completely insane with pranks. He no longer cared about consequences.
Even the Bloody Baron could only scare him away temporarily.
The entire castle reeked with an unbearable stench.
The Weasley twins, who had previously enjoyed pranking Peeves themselves, were now receiving special attention.
The students could do nothing.
They called for help, but none came. Some even reached the point of begging Filch for assistance.
Professor McGonagall was furious.
She wanted to punish Peeves, but he deliberately avoided her.
No matter where she went, he could never be found.
Professor Flitwick taught the students the Waddiwasi Spell specifically designed to deal with Peeves.
It worked briefly.
But Peeves soon retaliated with even more outrageous pranks.
As for Professor Snape—
He had once shouted at his class that they were pathetic for being unable to deal with a mere poltergeist.
That very day, someone smashed a dungbomb onto the back of his head.
That night, students who had been wandering the halls reported seeing Snape patrolling the castle with red eyes.
He searched all night but never found Peeves.
Instead, several unlucky students who had been sneaking around were caught and punished.
Inside the Gryffindor dormitory—
George finished his shower.
As Fred walked past him into the bathroom, George said numbly, "Fred, you smell like you've been marinated."
"You think you're any better?"
Fred snorted.
He tried to make a joking face, but his expression twitched awkwardly as if his skin had been damaged by the smell.
George sniffed his sleeve and sighed miserably. "Do you think this smell will ever wash out?"
"No idea. Hopefully."
Before even stepping into the bath, Fred had already cast Scourgify on himself countless times.
"If it doesn't wash out, we'll have to hope Mom's love is stronger than everything else. Otherwise I doubt we'll even be allowed back into the house."
"Why are you still dreaming like that?"
George spoke pessimistically.
"With Mom's obsession with cleanliness, she'll probably just refuse to acknowledge we're her children."
"…You're right."
Fred dunked his robes into the water angrily.
"Whoever gave Peeves those dungbombs… it's unbelievably enviable—infuriating! Even in my dreams I wouldn't dare throw them all over the castle like that!"
George immediately joined in cursing the mysterious culprit.
After a moment, he suddenly said,
"What if we sneak into Professor McGonagall's office and steal back the prank supplies she confiscated last time?"
"Brilliant idea!"
Fred agreed instantly.
The suffering of being constantly pranked had finally outweighed his fear of McGonagall.
"Tonight," he said viciously.
"And then we'll give Peeves a lesson he'll never forget."
___________
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