"Professor Hogge goes to the Restricted Section often? But doesn't he usually just stay in his office?"
Adam quickly fumbled in his coin pouch, pulling out his replicated Marauder's Map and fixing his gaze on the crimson footprints. He noticed the red trail was intermittent, with the dot representing Hogge frequently appearing all over the castle during the Christmas holidays. However, every single path ended at the library. The footprints looked as if they were deliberately trying to avoid being noticed. But it was hardly unusual for a professor to visit the library. Adam himself, during his nightly visits to the Restricted Section, had often found that some books had been borrowed by professors.
"Didn't you go home for Christmas?" Cedric asked, his concern focused on a different matter as he looked at Aidan.
"No, my gran wasn't home for Christmas this year. She went to visit Mum and Dad. I heard there's been some unrest in the Muggle world lately..." Aidan pulled the pillow off his flushed face and began to rattle on about the things he'd learned from the letters.
Adam, however, gave the map a light flick, his expression serious. "Are you absolutely sure it was Professor Hogge you saw in the library? And why would he agree to let you into the Restricted Section?"
Aidan looked at Adam, a puzzled expression on his face. "It must have been him... I get it, you're worried someone used Polyjuice Potion to impersonate him." He furrowed his brow, carefully recalling the events of the past few days before speaking with certainty. "Even though it's a second-year topic, I remember it quite clearly. An older student told me once that they used Polyjuice Potion to take a test for someone else, but the professor still caught them in the end because they were so obvious about drinking the potion. The day I saw Professor Hogge in the library, I wanted to ask him about the Shield Charm," Aidan explained, waving his hand as if he were brandishing a wand. "He looked quite surprised to see a student still reading during the Christmas holidays."
"Get to the point..." Adam's voice was a low whisper as he gripped the parchment tightly.
Aidan jumped, quickly organizing his thoughts before speaking in a rush. "Professor Hogge said he didn't have time to mentor me and told me I could go to the Restricted Section to look for whatever I needed, as long as I didn't take any books out of the library." He added, "I also noticed he never drank anything. He was just quietly reading a book there."
"Which book was he reading? Do you remember?" Adam's brow was deeply furrowed as he pressed for an answer. He had a nagging feeling that the answer to this question was incredibly important. Hogge had appeared in Regulus's diary, and at the time, he was obsessively searching for something. To find information on such an item, the centuries-old Hogwarts library was undoubtedly the best choice, which might also explain why he applied for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post.
Aidan hugged his pillow and ran a hand through his hair, finally shaking his head in confusion. "I was too busy looking for my own books at the time. I didn't notice anything else."
"Haven't you two chattered on enough? I said patients in here need quiet!" Madam Pomfrey's voice rang out from behind them. She grabbed both boys by the scruff of their robes, unceremoniously kicking Adam and Cedric out of the ward. As they heard Aidan's pleas to be released from the hospital from inside the room, the two of them exchanged a glance, silently offering him a moment of prayer.
---
On the second floor of the castle, in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, it was the first class after the Christmas holidays. The young wizards all seemed a bit listless, slumped over their desks and chatting without much enthusiasm. It wasn't just because they had spent all night catching up on homework, but also because they had received news that the Quidditch match had been postponed again.
"It must be Slytherin's doing again. I've seen their captain, Marcus Flint, run to Snape's office right after class several times."
"Our House's matches have been postponed so many times, and every single time it's been against Slytherin."
The young eagles of Ravenclaw cried out indignantly, endlessly denouncing the Slytherin team's dirty play, such as deliberately fouling players and even knocking the opposing Seeker off their broom during a match.
The young badgers of Hufflepuff, on the other hand, were a bit calmer. According to Quidditch-loving older students, this year was "the most promising year yet." The older students pointed out that Gryffindor's Seeker, Charlie Weasley, was graduating next year. For the past few years, the team had lost to Slytherin, so this year would be his last chance. He would undoubtedly lead the team to hold out until the very last moment in every match against Slytherin. But the problem was that their new Beaters, George and Fred, had just joined the team and hadn't had enough time to adapt to the game.
The Ravenclaw team was even more of a lost cause. The older players were too busy with their N.E.W.T. exams to even train the newcomers. After all, their House tradition was to try and earn as many N.E.W.T. certificates as possible. But when the young badgers asked about their own team, they all stammered for a long time, only repeating words like "hope" and "in theory."
The door to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom "bang" slammed open, and a series of heavy, muffled footsteps came from the back of the room. Adam, who was flipping through his textbook, immediately sensed something was wrong. The moment he turned around, he was met with a gloomy stare fixed intently on him from across the room.
When the other students saw who had arrived, they quickly straightened up, their backs rigid. They instinctively reached out to straighten cauldrons that weren't there, only to realize they weren't in the chilly dungeons for Potions class. A few of the young Ravenclaw eagles, having realized something, went pale, clutching the half-tickets tucked inside their robes.
"Excuse me, Professor Snape, where is Professor Hogge?" one of the eagles asked timidly, raising his hand.
Snape's cold stare finally left Adam, moving to the student who had spoken. He said in a slow, drawling voice, "He won't be able to make it."
After hearing those words, the young eagles' breathing hitched for a few seconds. Their expressions became incredibly miserable; Adam even saw one of them fall from his seat, trembling. He cried out in a low voice that it was all his pocket money for the year and begged to know if the Weasleys could give him some back, or he wouldn't even have money for new quills.
"Silence!"
Snape's face had a smirk that didn't quite reach his eyes, and his cold gaze swept across the entire classroom. He noticed that Adam was still sitting there calmly, and a flicker of disappointment crossed his eyes.
"Shouting in class, ten points from Ravenclaw!"
"I merely said he wouldn't be able to make it to class for the next few lessons, and that I'd be taking over for him. But what are you all thinking?"
"Disrespecting a professor, another ten points from Ravenclaw!"
Snape pointed at the wailing eagles, then walked briskly toward the front of the room, his long robes trailing behind him like a large, unfolding bat. Adam watched the scene unfold, his face devoid of emotion. Cedric had mentioned more than once that if Slytherin won the House Cup this year, it would be an unprecedented six-year streak. For such an honor, which would likely be recorded in Hogwarts: A History, Snape's behavior might be even more frantic than in previous years.
Adam almost wished he had mentioned this to Cedric sooner. The last time Snape took ten points from Hufflepuff for "stepping out of the classroom with the wrong foot," Adam had immediately sent an owl to Diagon Alley with an order. He had commissioned them to send Snape a bottle of used Potter shampoo for Christmas, for double the market price. Adam only regretted not sending an entire case.
The gloomy gaze from the front of the room landed on him again.
"Adam Morgan..."