Chapter 317: Chapter 317
The start of the school term was approaching.
Lynn finally returned home once again.
The moment he pushed open the door, Dodo poked her head out from the kitchen, glanced at him, said "Master has starved himself thin while fishing," and then retracted her head to continue cooking.
Lynn stood in the entryway for a moment and touched his face; he didn’t feel thin.
But after running around outside for over a month, the food really hadn’t been as palatable as home cooking.
He had originally thought about staying at Sirius’s house for another day. But the Black family’s library was truly massive—nearly a hundred bookshelves with centuries of collections; it took him three days just to flip through the ones he was interested in.
Sirius had come down several times in between to bring him food, seeing him hunched over the table flipping through a notebook on ancient runes.
Lynn flipped through it so fast that Sirius thought he was just browsing aimlessly, but after standing by and watching for a while, he realized Lynn stopped at every page; it wasn’t that he was flipping fast, but that he was reading fast.
"Do you usually read at this speed?" he couldn’t help but ask.
Lynn didn’t even look up. "Pretty much."
Sirius was silent for a while and muttered something before leaving.
It sounded like "No wonder he could get an Order of Merlin."
Lynn had just put down his trunk and was planning to crawl into it to get close to his pets when he heard a fluttering sound by the window.
An Owl holding an envelope flew crookedly into his bedroom.
It landed on the desk, its claws released, the envelope dropped onto the surface with a thud, and then it stood there, tilting its head to look at him, not leaving.
Lynn reached out to take the envelope and glanced at it.
"Sent from Hogwarts?" He turned the envelope over and over. "Haven’t I already received my book list?"
The Owl tilted its head, not understanding what Lynn was saying.
"I’m hungry, do you have any food here?"
Lynn glanced at it.
It wasn’t one of the Owls commonly used by Hogwarts—he knew that bunch, and every one of them was arrogant. This one was probably a temporary recruit.
With a casual wave of his hand, an unopened bag of beef jerky floated out from the kitchen cabinet and landed on the desk.
The Owl lowered its head to take a peck, chewed, its eyes lit up, and it took another peck.
"Thank you."
Lynn raised an eyebrow. This Owl was quite polite, much better than White.
If Old Eight was hungry, it never said "I’m hungry, is there food?"; it would say "Why did you only just get back? This bird is starving to death," and then fly directly to the kitchen to rummage around itself.
He casually tore open the envelope.
Accompanied by a soft "ding," a badge and two letters slid out of the envelope together.
The badge was yellow and black, with a large letter "P" on it, and a badger carved next to it. The lines of the badger were thick but carved deep, feeling textured to the touch.
Lynn picked up the badge, turned it over twice, and murmured, "A Prefect badge? Can I choose not to be one?"
No one answered him.
The Owl was busy eating the jerky and didn’t even look up.
He put down the badge and picked up the two letters.
The first one was written by Dumbledore.
The content wasn’t long, essentially congratulating him on becoming a Prefect and expressing hope that he would lead by example and assist the Professors in maintaining school order.
A standard appointment letter, no different from the Prefect appointment letters he had seen.
He glanced at it and threw it aside.
He picked up the second one and saw it was also written by Dumbledore.
"Mr. Lynn, by the time you see this letter, I believe you have already become a Hogwarts Prefect. Don’t be in a hurry to burn it! It won’t be too late to burn it after you’ve finished reading..."
Lynn’s hand holding the wand paused.
"By the time you see this letter, I have probably already temporarily left Hogwarts. I hope you won’t be in a hurry to refuse this Prefect appointment; you can help make sure Professor McGonagall doesn’t have to work so hard..."
Seeing this, Lynn became even more confused.
What did him being a Prefect have to do with Professor McGonagall working hard?
What could he do as a Prefect? Manage discipline? He was the one who needed his discipline managed the most.
Patrol the corridors? He used all his wits to fight the Professors during his night wanderings; now he was supposed to turn around and catch students wandering at night? Wasn’t that a betrayal?
"As for what specifically happened, you will understand once you arrive at Hogwarts."
The letter ended there.
Lynn turned the letter over to look at the back; there was nothing.
"Damn it! I hate cliffhangers!"
...
The next day.
King’s Cross Station was as busy as ever.
At the entrance to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, parents pushing luggage trolleys were crowded together, Owls flew overhead, and several first-year students were so scared their faces turned pale, clutching their parents’ coat hems and refusing to let go.
Lynn dragged his trunk through the crowd, expertly found the Hogwarts Express, and searched through the carriages one by one.
He pushed open the door of the last carriage and saw Ollie in the innermost compartment.
Ollie was sitting by the window with a document spread out in front of him.
He heard the door and looked up, saw it was Lynn, nodded, and then looked back down to continue reading.
"Haven’t Edgar and the others arrived yet?" Lynn put his luggage on the rack and sat down opposite Ollie.
"No." Ollie didn’t even look up.
"Tsk—" Lynn leaned back in his seat and crossed his legs. "To think there would be a day when I arrive early."
Ollie lifted his eyelids from the financial report and glanced at him. The meaning was clear—so you know.
Lynn pretended not to see, pulled a bag of beef jerky from his pocket, opened it, and handed a piece to Ollie.
Ollie took it and chewed slowly.
"By the way, how was your break?" Lynn popped a piece into his own mouth. "Every time I messaged you, you said you were busy."
After Ollie finished chewing the jerky, he was silent for a moment and spat out a few words: "Company, studying, magic, practice."
"Then you’re even busier than I am," Lynn said sincerely.
Ollie didn’t speak, just nodded.
The two of them just sat there, one flipping through financial reports, the other eating beef jerky.
The flow of people outside gradually thinned, and whistles began to blow on the platform, urging passengers who hadn’t boarded yet to hurry.
Just as the train was about to start, the compartment door was suddenly pulled open. Edgar and William finally arrived late, both of them running.
"What were you two doing?" Lynn moved inward to make room for them.
William tried to shove his trunk onto the rack but couldn’t get it in for a long time. Lynn waved his wand, and the trunk floated up on its own, landing steadily on the rack.
William pushed up his glasses, let out a long breath, and began to complain bitterly.
"Don’t even mention it!" He flopped down next to Lynn. "I don’t know what kind of madness the Minister for Magic has gotten into, but he arranged for a lot of Aurors at the station entrance, saying they were conducting safety tests for the students."
"What bullshit safety tests!" Edgar threw his trunk on the floor and slumped next to Ollie, starting to shout before he had even caught his breath. "The Aurors were handing out exam papers at the door! Exam papers! Have you ever seen a safety test that involves handing out exam papers?"
Lynn grew more confused the more he heard.
Aurors handing out exam papers at the station entrance? In his four years as a Wizard, he had never heard of such a thing. Weren’t Aurors supposed to catch Dark Wizards and protect the safety of the Wizarding World? When did they change professions to become examiners?
"What do you mean?" he asked.
Edgar rummaged in his pocket for a long time and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, unfolded it, and spread it on the small table.
It was an A4-sized exam paper with poor printing quality, blurry handwriting, and paper so thin it was translucent.
At the top, a line of bold text was printed—"Hogwarts Student Safety Survey."
Lynn took it and looked.
Question 1: Are you satisfied with Dumbledore serving as Hogwarts Principal? Satisfied □ Dissatisfied □ Unclear □
Question 2: If dissatisfied, please specify in which aspects you are dissatisfied. (Multiple choice)
□ Outdated management style
□ Improper use of personnel
□ Lax oversight on the selection of Defense Against the Dark Arts professors
□ Condoning student violations
□ Other (please specify) __________
Question 3: What major mistakes do you believe Dumbledore has made during his tenure as Principal? (Please briefly explain)
Question 4: Have you ever heard of the "special friendship" between Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald? Do you believe this relationship has affected his judgment?
Question 5: Do you believe Dumbledore should bear partial responsibility for the current unstable situation in the Wizarding World?
Lynn turned the page; there were still Questions 6, 7, and 8.
Every single question was about Dumbledore.
Not one question was about safety measures, not one was about how to deal with Dark Wizards, and there wasn’t even a single question about the students’ own safety.
From beginning to end, over and over, it was all asking "What’s wrong with Dumbledore."
He flipped the paper back and looked at the first page again, confirming he hadn’t missed anything.
"Isn’t this just a survey?" He put the paper back on the table. "Isn’t this easy to answer? Just fill in ’Satisfied’ for everything, right? Is there even a second option?"
The compartment fell silent for a moment.
"It’s just that these questions are somewhat..." Edgar scratched his head, not finishing his sentence.
But everyone in the compartment could guess the word he didn’t say.
"Wait."
Lynn suddenly remembered the letter Dumbledore wrote yesterday.
"Temporarily left Hogwarts," "make sure Professor McGonagall doesn’t have to work so hard"—he had thought at the time that Dumbledore had business to attend to outside or some urgent matter to handle.
But now, looking at this survey filled with "What’s wrong with Dumbledore," he suddenly felt that things weren’t that simple.
"Wait for what?" Edgar leaned over curiously.
Lynn shook his head. "Nothing, just... have you heard any news about Dumbledore being dismissed recently?"
Edgar was stunned for a moment, then laughed.
"Who’s being dismissed?" He laughed so hard he could barely speak. "Dismiss who? Dumbledore? Stop joking, mate."
He laughed for a while, wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, and continued: "Even if my dad were dismissed, it’s impossible for Dumbledore to be dismissed. He’s the greatest Wizard of our time. Who would have the guts to dismiss him?"
Lynn thought about it carefully; Edgar had a point.
"Then maybe I’m overthinking it."
Lynn withdrew his gaze, pulled the Prefect badge from his pocket, and pinned it to the chest of his robes. "You guys chat; I’m going to patrol the train."
He pulled open the door and walked out.
Behind him, Edgar’s voice squeezed through the gap in the door, sounding incredulous. "No way! Him as a Prefect? Has Dumbledore gone senile? Then he really should be dismissed!"
...
The train had already started moving.
London outside was gradually receding, and fields and hills began to appear in view.
Occasionally, students passed by in the corridor; seeing the Prefect badge on his chest, some nodded in greeting, while others lowered their heads and walked past quickly.
Lynn didn’t care, just walking leisurely from the last carriage to the first, and then from the first back again.
When he reached the fifth carriage, he saw a few first-year students huddling at a compartment door, peeking inside.
Someone was crying inside—not loudly, but sounding very aggrieved.
Lynn walked over and glanced into the compartment. A young girl was sitting by the window, a textbook spread open in front of her, with tears on her face.
A few classmates surrounded her, offering comfort in a confused jumble of voices, but the more they comforted her, the harder she cried.
"What’s wrong?" he asked.
The first-year students turned around, and seeing the badge on his chest, it was like they had seen a savior.
"She lost her book! It’s that... that..." The girl speaking was so anxious her face turned red, and she couldn’t remember the title for a long time.
"The Standard Book of Spells," the girl by the window said between sobs. "I clearly put it in my bag, but I can’t find it... It was newly issued, and I haven’t even read it yet..."
Lynn: "..."
He waved his wand. A slight hum came from the luggage rack, and the girl’s backpack moved slightly, the zipper opened, and a brand-new textbook floated out from inside, landing steadily in front of her.
"Thank you!" The girl took the book, tears still on her face, but she was already smiling.
Lynn nodded and turned to leave.
He continued to wander the corridor, from the fifth carriage to the third, then from the third to the seventh.
In the compartments he passed, some were playing cards, some were chatting, and some were buried in their homework—rushing summer homework on the train to school was a Hogwarts tradition; every year there were a few, as steady as a rock.
The train clattered along.
The sky outside was gradually darkening, and scattered lights could already be seen on the distant hills.
Hogwarts was almost there.
---
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