Back in the Hufflepuff common room, it was rarely crowded with students.
Zacharias Smith and Ernie MacMillan are working hard to make the Hufflepuff banner.
Several girls, including Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones, were using their magic wands to dye their black robes yellow.
"Jon, come and help!" Zacharias saw him coming back and shouted, "Tomorrow is the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. It's a battle of life and death!"
"A battle of life and death?" Jon walked over and blinked.
"In this afternoon's match... Slytherin was defeated by Ravenclaw after leading by 140 points!" Zacharias shouted loudly, "They are doomed to lose two consecutive games. We will have an absolute advantage when we play against them in the final round!"
"So our match against Gryffindor tomorrow will almost directly determine who will be the champion! As long as we win, the Quidditch championship and the Quidditch Cup will be within our grasp!"
As Zacharias continued his explanation, a group of Quidditch players wearing Hufflepuff uniforms returned to the common room.
"Jimmick, when the game starts, you have to pay attention to Potter and try to use the Bludger to cause the greatest possible interference to him!" Cedric Diggory walked in front of the players: "Leave the Chasers to Bob!"
...
...
He also did not forget to arrange the tactics one last time.
"Cedric, come on!" The Hufflepuff students saw their return and cheered, "Long live Hufflepuff!"
Jon also stood up and walked in front of Cedric - Diggory: "Cedric, I believe in you, you will definitely win!"
"Thank you, Jon!" Cedric smiled and nodded. "I can't guarantee the result, but we will definitely try our best!"
"That's not what I meant." Jon shook his head. "I meant that you will have an absolute advantage in tomorrow's game... because Gryffindor's Seeker, Harry Potter, will not be able to play!"
"What!" Cedric was surprised. "Is the source of the information reliable, Jon?"
"Of course." Jon nodded without hesitation: "When I was in the school hospital, I accidentally overheard the conversation between Potter and his friends."
Based on his understanding of the character, Jon was sure that Madam Pomfrey would never allow Harry Potter to participate in the Quidditch game before he was fully recovered from his injury.
And no matter how much Harry Potter and Ron Weasley insisted, Hermione would definitely stop them... She might even go so far as to tell Professor McGonagall!
So he was sure that Harry would never show up.
"Great!" Cedric clenched his fists excitedly. "Potter is Gryffindor's trump card. Without him, Wood can't find a decent substitute Seeker..."
He waved his hand and called the Hufflepuff players together again:
"We have to change our tactics...Jimmick, you don't have to keep an eye on Gryffindor's Seeker anymore. Target their Chaser Angelina Johnson, who is the core of Gryffindor's offense..."
…
The next morning, Jon got up early and left a little after six in the morning.
He didn't want to be forced to go to the Quidditch field by Zacharias and the others like last time.
Moreover, Cedric is leading the team, facing Gryffindor without Harry Potter... They can even use the Snitch to hit their faces, so how can they lose?
It's safe, it's easy to defeat Gryffindor!
So there is no need to look at it, in a few hours, there will definitely be another big victory.
After leaving the dormitory, Jon went to the kitchen first. The restaurant was not open at this time.
He opened the kitchen door, and upon seeing him coming, the house-elves in the kitchen shouted excitedly:
"Mr. Jon Hart... Mr. Jon Hart is here!"
The house-elves quickly and excitedly surrounded Jon and cheered eagerly.
"Don't be like this... I mean, we don't need to do this!" Jon said with a wry smile.
Ever since I sent some gifts to the house-elves before Christmas, they have treated me so "enthusiastically" every time.
After finally persuading them to disperse, Jon saw the face of a house-elf whose name he could call out:
"Good morning, Klein!" Jon waved and greeted him.
"Mr. Jon Hart..." The house-elf Klein was so excited that tears were streaming down his face. He rushed over and hugged Jon's trouser legs.
Only then did Jon notice that it was wearing a strange bronze circlet on its head.
"This is... a reward from Professor Dumbledore! Every house-elf who participated in catching that Gryffindor thief girl will receive a reward... I chose this one!" Klein took off the headband and stroked it cherishingly.
"Thats great, You all look great, Klein!" Jon bent down and said smilingly.
…
With his pockets once again filled with all kinds of snacks, Jon once again came to the eighth floor.
He was already familiar with this journey, but climbing from the basement to the eighth floor in one breath was indeed a bit tiring.
Taking out the book "Summon the Joy Within You" once again, Jon raised his wand and continued to cast the Patronus Charm in vain.
"Expecto Patronum!"
"Expecto Patronum!"
"Expecto Patronum!"
Jon even used some of the vague "happy" memories from his previous life.
Unfortunately, perhaps because the memory was too old, the "happy" emotion was not accurate or obvious enough, and the Patronus Spell still did not have much effect... to be more precise, it did not have any effect at all.
"Fuck this spell!" Jon complained helplessly when he left the Room of Requirement at around 12 noon.
When he returned to the restaurant, he found that it had turned into a sea of yellow and black.
Cedric Diggory was in the center of the crowd.
"We won!" Hannah Abbott and Ernie MacMillan saw Jon coming and pulled him into the celebration:
Among them, Hannah shouted, "Where have you been? I couldn't find you for a long time."
"Jon, we won a great victory... 510:40. We beat Gryffindor completely!"
"We won!"
After defeating Gryffindor, the celebrations in the Hufflepuff common room lasted for a long time.
In the words of Zacharias: "We have almost touched the base of the Quidditch Cup with one hand, and now we can say that we are the boss of Hogwarts!"
After all, Hufflepuff is one win ahead of second-placed Ravenclaw and has a net margin of nearly 500 points; even if Ravenclaw beats Gryffindor by a huge margin in the last round, Hufflepuff only needs to tie or even slightly lose to Slytherin to win the championship!
Jon sternly stopped Zacharias's "disloyal" remarks.
A draw will qualify (win the championship), this is a familiar plot; it has been verified countless times in the previous life and it is the most vicious curse!
"Yes, we can't let our guard down!" Cedric Diggory stood on Jon's side: "We still need to play the last game well. Like Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, Slytherin is also a strong opponent. They, they... They have seven Nimbus 2001 brooms, which is very powerful!"
But despite this, the Hufflepuff common room remained as festive as New Year's Day in the following weeks.
After all, they haven't won the Quidditch Cup for more than ten years.
…
...
...
The last few days of February went by quickly, and March is also going by quickly.
Ever since the Slytherin monster was destroyed, the Hogwarts campus has been peaceful and tranquil for the past month.
Astoria only stayed in the school hospital for a few days and then returned.
After she came back, she looked a little weak, but her mood seemed to have stabilized.
She didn't explain to Jon what happened in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class that day, and Jon didn't steer the conversation in that direction.
Ginny Weasley also returned to school. Professor McGonagall did not tell the truth. She just told everyone that Miss Weasley had been out of school for a few weeks due to illness... But compared to before, Ginny seemed much more taciturn and her grades plummeted.
The only troublesome thing...
That is Tom Riddle's diary, which seems to have not been found yet.
Professor Sprout had searched the Hufflepuff common room twice and even the student dormitories.
It's not just Hufflepuffs.
The teachers searched almost the entire campus, but found nothing except some contraband in the Gryffindor and Slytherin dormitories. Such a large diary seemed to have completely disappeared from the campus.
If there was any change in the school, it was that Professor Dumbledore's temporary Defense Against the Dark Arts class was extremely popular.
In fact, it is extremely rare to be able to receive personal instruction from a powerful wizard of his level.
Moreover, Dumbledore's achievements in Defense against the Dark Arts can almost be said to be extraordinary.
In more than a dozen Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, he led the first-year students to recognize several dangerous magical creatures and how to fight against them; he also taught them simple protective spells such as the Disarming Charm and the Petrification Charm.
Even students like Zacharias, who usually don't pay much attention in class, perform extremely hard and diligently in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
Jon was more indifferent to this.
Although Albus Dumbledore can be said to be one of the greatest and best wizards in the world, he may not be able to teach me a lot... It's simple, my level is too low at this stage.
What can an undergraduate learn by following an academician for a few months? The answer is definitely difficult, because the undergraduate level is not high enough!
They are not at the same level as academicians, so for undergraduates, they should prioritize learning basic professional courses rather than more profound things.
The relationship between us first-year students and Professor Dumbledore is the same.
Dumbledore's truly powerful magic would be almost impossible for first-year students to learn even if he wanted to teach it.
So in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Jon Hart's performance could be said to be mediocre.
Especially when all the students in the class are working very hard, it seems mediocre.
It barely attracted Professor Dumbledore's attention.
…
In a Herbology class in mid-March, Professor Sprout informed them that the Easter holiday would begin tomorrow.
The Easter holiday is their last long vacation of this school year, lasting from late March to early April, a total of almost half a month.
Jon had no intention of returning to Southampton during the Easter holidays. Firstly, after the Easter holidays, the summer vacation would be here in less than two months, so there was no need to do so; and secondly, not being able to use magic after returning home was quite troublesome for him.
Moreover, since the final exams are coming up in ten weeks, teachers of almost every course have assigned a lot of homework.
Most students had the same idea as Jon. The number of students filling out school leaving forms during the Easter holidays was much lower than that during the Christmas holidays.
"One more thing..." Professor Sprout said with a smile, "Some mandrakes are having a lively and noisy dance party in the third greenhouse, which means that they will be fully mature by the end of the holiday!"
"Is Justin coming back soon?" a student asked.
"Yes... Mr. Creevey, Mr. Weasley, Miss Clearwater, and Justin, they will all return to us after the Easter holidays."
"Can the eagle-beak door knocker be restored?" a first-year Ravenclaw girl with waist-length, light blonde hair asked with concern.
"Of course, Miss Lovegood!" Professor Sprout nodded. "With the juice of the mandrake root, Professor Flitwick will surely be able to restore it!"
"That's great!" Miss Luna Lovegood patted her chest with a look of relief. "I haven't been able to answer its questions for more than a month. I think I'm going crazy!"
The students around burst into laughter.
After leaving the greenhouse, I looked around at students of all grades busy reviewing (or preparing for) their final exams...
Jon thought about it and felt that he should now forget to find the Tom Riddle's diary.