George, Fred, and the others rushed toward the eighth floor of Hogwarts in a hurry.
As class ended along the way, the whole Hogwarts seemed to come alive.
Inside the huge castle, cheerful laughter from students filled everywhere.
Normally, this was exactly the kind of scene Harry and the others liked the most.
But now Harry only felt it was noisy.
If possible, he really wished he could just teleport instantly to Link, to ask whether what George and Fred said earlier was true or not.
However, this wish of his was destined not to come true.
Because as soon as they stepped onto the eighth floor of Hogwarts Castle, a tall and handsome figure blocked their way.
"Cedric, move aside, we need to see Link."
George and Fred said with displeased faces to Cedric, who was blocking the path.
But hearing this, Cedric said calmly, "Link is asking Percy about the Ministry of Magic situation. He doesn't have time to meet you for now."
"Percy already arrived?" Ron said with some surprise. "Isn't that perfect? We're family anyway, just let us go over and listen together."
Cedric said nothing, only calmly shook his head.
This scene stunned Ron completely, and George and Fred's expressions instantly darkened.
The two exchanged a glance and both pulled out their wands as a warning, "Cedric, I'll say it one last time, let us see Link! Otherwise don't blame us for being rude!"
Cedric glanced at the tightly held wands in George and Fred's hands, then said with a light laugh, "Don't ask for trouble, George, Fred. Even the two of you together aren't my match, you both should know that."
George and Fred's bodies trembled from anger.
But in the end, they only glared fiercely at Cedric, then pulled Ron and the others, who were still unwilling to leave, and quickly retreated.
Only after they walked far away did Cedric let out a deep sigh, then turned toward the shadows behind him and said, "My task is done."
"Well done."
Link said this while walking out from the shadows.
With him were John, Emily, and all members of the deep inner circle of the D.A.
"Next," Link turned to the people behind him and continued, "we should gather people and head to the Ministry of Magic."
Hearing this, John and Emily nodded and quickly headed off in different directions.
They were going to gather the elite D.A. members in Hogwarts and the hunters from Flamel Castle as fast as possible, then head to the Ministry.
"Are you really sure Harry and the others will rush into the Department of Mysteries on their own without thinking?"
Cedric stepped closer and asked uneasily.
"That's certain. I understand their thinking too well. Not just their destination, I can even guess their route to the Ministry almost exactly." Link glanced at Cedric and said, "What, feeling bad about it?"
Cedric shook his head.
"Not really. It's just… it just feels like this hurts them too much. Harry and the others trust us so much, and George and Fred too…"
"But this is the best way to handle it, isn't it?" Link continued. "Actually, if it were Dumbledore, he would do something even harsher than us. At least we can guarantee their safety."
"Yes… this is the only option left."
Cedric let out a long sigh, then placed a hand on Link's shoulder. "Then let's go too."
Hearing this, Link smiled lightly. With a wave of his wand, the two disappeared from the corridor with a loud crack.
———
"George! Fred! I can't believe it! You two actually got scared off by that pretty boy! Where's your usual dominance? Aren't you fierce when teasing younger students? Turns out you just bully the weak and fear the strong!"
On the way back to the Gryffindor common room, Ron kept mocking George and Fred wildly.
This made their already bad expressions look even worse.
Finally, they couldn't stand it anymore. They lifted Ron like a chick and rushed into a nearby boys' bathroom.
"Little brat! What do you even understand?"
George pressed Ron against the wall and said angrily, "You think we didn't want to rush up and fight Cedric directly?"
"But what would that achieve?"
"Just like he said, the two of us together aren't his match!"
"If we really fought, other than getting beaten by him, nothing would change!"
Ron was clearly still unconvinced and struggled while saying, "Don't we still have us? We could help too!"
"You? What can you even do?" Fred almost lost his temper. "You three can't even beat us! If you really fought Cedric, forget helping, not dragging us down would already be impressive!"
"I know Cedric is excellent, but not as amazing as you say, right?" Harry said unwillingly. "I remember he never had any outstanding battle records!"
Facing Harry, George was obviously more polite and softened his tone, "Come on, that's because Link was around, so Cedric didn't have many chances to show himself!"
"Actually, even though we joke and call him a pretty boy every day, he really is the strongest Hufflepuff student besides Link!"
"Back during the Triwizard Tournament, if Link hadn't been there, Cedric would definitely have been the champion!"
Fred added, "And do you really understand the difference between senior D.A. members and the D.A. members in Link's inner circle?"
"They can read most of the magic books from the Flamel family and the restricted section of Hogwarts, and they get direct guidance from Link!"
"Their progress speed simply can't be compared with ours!"
Harry and Ron instinctively wanted to argue back, their lips moved a few times but nothing came out.
Because they both knew George and Fred were absolutely telling the truth.
"But you don't need to worry too much." George and Fred added when they saw this. "Because Cedric coming out to stop us already explained everything."
"Link and the others are deliberately stalling, they don't want us going to the Department of Mysteries!"
"Right now I even suspect the reason your letter hasn't gotten a reply is because Link intercepted it!"
"That's impossible!?"
Hermione, standing at the bathroom door, screamed. "Link wouldn't do something like that. There must be some misunderstanding!"
"A misunderstanding? I don't think so! Otherwise why wouldn't he see us?" George and Fred sneered. "The dragon slayer becoming the dragon, haven't we seen that kind of thing plenty of times?"
"And do you know how much benefit this situation brings to Link?"
"The situation he faces now isn't much different from Umbridge back then."
"Both chose to cooperate with the Ministry, both still haven't gained full control over Hogwarts."
"And if Harry's dream is real, then Dumbledore and the others are probably in serious danger this time."
"If that happens, he could directly become the true master of the entire Hogwarts castle!"
Hermione, Harry, and Ron all turned pale after hearing this.
George and Fred's reasoning sounded logical and convincing, making it hard not to believe.
At this moment, Ron, who had finally calmed down, said, "What you said makes sense, but the question we face now is what we should do next?"
"That's actually very simple!"
George and Fred smiled mysteriously. "Ron, you should trust your brothers. We always come up with a solution before we act!"
After saying this, George and Fred looked at the sky outside, then led the trio out of the castle and ran toward Hagrid's hut.
As for Hagrid, Harry and the trio actually visited him every few weeks.
But because he was previously framed by Umbridge, and later his half brother was driven out of Hogwarts by Harry, Hagrid had suffered a huge blow. Even though he wasn't expelled, the impact on him was big.
When George and Fred finally brought the trio to Hagrid's hut, what appeared before them was desolation.
The once neat farmland near Hagrid's hut was now completely abandoned.
Not only was the land full of weeds, but several gnomes were peeking at them.
Some bold gnomes had even dug holes near Hagrid's wooden house.
In the past, Hagrid would never have allowed this.
Because gnomes, known pests in the wizarding world, loved building underground kingdoms. This reckless behavior would seriously damage farmland and building foundations.
This gave Harry and the others a bad feeling.
"Hagrid! Are you there?"
George frowned while calling out and knocking on the hut door.
But after only two knocks, he realized the door wasn't locked at all and it opened directly.
The moment the door opened, a strong smell of alcohol mixed with vomit hit them straight in the face.
The hut, which used to be messy but still acceptable, no longer looked that way.
Now the inside still roughly showed its original shape, but overall it looked like a garbage dump.
The fireplace in the corner had long gone out, and Fang the dog was trembling in his little bed.
And Hagrid was lying on the ground in a very strange position.
Half his face was pressed into a puddle of vomit. He was clearly passed out, yet strangely not snoring.
If his body wasn't slowly rising and falling with breathing, people might think he was dead.
"Oh! My god! Hagrid! Hagrid, are you alright?"
The awful smell almost drove Harry and the others out, but seeing Hagrid like this, Harry rushed to him without hesitation.
He shouted Hagrid's name loudly while shaking him.
As a result, the drunk Hagrid casually pushed him away with one slap, knocking him toward the wall. Losing balance, Harry fell into Fang's dog bed together with the dog.
Hermione, Ron, and the others stared at Hagrid in disbelief. They couldn't understand how he had become like this in such a short time.
George and Fred were also very disappointed.
But not wanting to give up any hope, they still poured several bottles of sobering potion into Hagrid. This potion was very popular at Hogwarts. Most students secretly drank it after alcohol to remove the smell so professors wouldn't notice.
However, the potion that normally needed only a few drops to wake a heavily drunk person had no effect on Hagrid.
Even after Hermione and Harry cleaned the entire hut and relit the fireplace, Hagrid still hadn't woken up, and even started snoring.
This made George extremely angry. He threw the empty bottle in his hand away and complained, "Great, now we can't rely on Hagrid either!"
"So what do we do next?" Harry asked with a pale face. "Without Hagrid's help, there's no way we can steal the Thestrals to leave Hogwarts. Professor Grubbly-Plank, who manages them now, isn't easy to fool."
Hearing this, Fred said in surprise, "Who said we were riding Thestrals out of Hogwarts? We all have our own broomsticks. Just fly out directly. As for Hagrid, we only came to see if we could recruit him. But now it looks unlikely."
"Fred, that's unrealistic!" Hermione frowned. "Hogwarts is too far from the Ministry of Magic. We can't get there just by broomsticks!"
George said helplessly, "Miss Know It All, please listen to everything first!"
"All known secret passages inside Hogwarts have already been sealed by Link."
"So now we need to ride broomsticks to Hogsmeade village first. After that, things become very simple."
"There's a pub there called the Hog's Head. The owner seems to have issues with Dumbledore and Hogwarts."
"He's very willing to sell nearly expired drinks cheaply to students like us. Most of the butterbeer we secretly bring into school to sell comes from there."
"So I think if we pay enough, he probably won't care about us sneaking out of Hogwarts, and might even let us use the Floo Network fireplace in his pub."
Fred added, "Oh right, this supply channel is our business secret. After we graduate, you can secretly keep buying from there and continue the business, but better not tell others. It would affect market balance!"
Harry and the trio were stunned by what George and Fred said.
But they still followed them away from Hagrid's hut. After walking along the edge of the Forbidden Forest for more than half an hour, they finally mounted their broomsticks and flew directly along a remote path toward the Hog's Head pub.
[🎉 Shoutout to Asriels, LN and Slashdog for joining p@treon. Thank you very much.🤗]