Throughout the waiting period for the hearing, Harry was forced to stay at the Dursleys' house, isolated from the outside world. He tried to contact his friends via owl, but his letters were intercepted by Dobby and Mrs. Weasley to prevent him from acting rashly.
On August 12th, accompanied by Dumbledore, Harry went to the Ministry of Magic to face the Wizengamot trial. Thanks to Dumbledore's defence, and the fact that he had used magic to protect his and a Muggle's life, he was ultimately found not guilty and his student status was restored.
From a hero to a liar, and then from a liar having his reputation restored—all within the span of a few short days.
Poor Harry was mentally and physically exhausted.
The immense ups and downs of life were simply too much. A fifteen-year-old really couldn't handle it.
"Then you could start by reading some books and learning the art of conversation... Oh, wait." Leon shook his head. "You should take a course in emotional control. At the very least, don't let people easily manipulate your emotions."
"That might be a bit difficult," Hermione said, having walked up beside Harry at some point, her eyebrows furrowed.
"That depends on you and your friends." Leon nodded to them and left the classroom.
Just as Leon came out of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and turned the corner of the corridor, someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind.
"Leon!"
He turned around and met a pair of large silvery-blue eyes. Those eyes were wide open, carrying a somewhat dreamy expression. Pale blonde hair hung in messy waves over her shoulders, and radish earrings dangled from her earlobes.
"Luna?" Leon was a bit surprised. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you fourth years be in class on the third floor?"
"Class ended early," Luna said. "Professor Binns drifted into the blackboard again. He was halfway through his lecture when he suddenly stared out the window, said 'Ah, I seem to have forgotten something,' and then drifted through. Everyone waited for him to drift back, but ten minutes passed and he didn't appear."
Leon: "...So you got out of class?"
"Pretty much." Luna nodded and started walking forward, Leon naturally falling into step beside her. "But actually, a few people were arguing about whether he, as a ghost, could die a second time. I think not, because he's already a ghost. A ghost can't die a second time, just like you can't melt the same cauldron twice."
"Your analogy is quite philosophical."
"Thank you. My dad said that. He once tried to melt our family's cauldron to make a door knocker, only to find out it had already been melted once." Luna tilted her head to look at him. "How was your side? Was the pink toad's class fun?"
"Huh?"
"You know..."
"Everyone calls her that," Luna's tone was as casual as if she were discussing the weather. "Ravenclaw had her class yesterday. For two whole hours, she had us take turns reading Chapter Six of Magical Theory. Everyone read three paragraphs. Class ended exactly when we finished reading."
"......"
"Zacharias fell asleep while reading and hit his head on the desk, waking himself up. She said he 'lacked basic classroom etiquette' and deducted five points. But I think the main reason for the deduction was that he read too slowly and delayed her from starting the next paragraph." Luna paused. "Or maybe it was because he was snoring and got caught."
"That's quite a life." Leon couldn't help but laugh.
They reached the top of the stairs, and a group of Gryffindor students ran past them. A few waved at Leon—they were classmates from the Defence Against the Dark Arts class just now. Leon nodded at them and continued down the stairs with Luna.
These students only showed startled expressions after he walked away, because Luna was actually beside him.
That Loony Lovegood from Ravenclaw? Really?
"So," Luna said, her tone flat, but a hint of slyness flashed in her eyes, "do you want to hear more nasty things said about her?"
"More nasty things?"
"For example," Luna thought for a moment, "Professor Dolores Umbridge looks like a damp piece of gingerbread with a mouldy bow on top."
"Who said that?" Leon was amused.
"I did," Luna said without changing her expression. "I just made it up. Do you think it's fitting?"
"I don't think gingerbread would wear a pink cardigan."
"Then I'll change it to, 'like a damp piece of gingerbread wearing a pink cardigan.'"
"Classy." Leon gave Luna a thumbs up.
A few Ravenclaw girls walking past glanced at them curiously. Luna waved at them nonchalantly, as if inspecting troops.
"Is there more?" Leon asked.
"Yes." Luna ran a hand through her hair. "Terry Boot said when she smiles, the flesh on her face bunches up like a pufferfish trying to hide itself. I don't think that comparison is very accurate, because pufferfish only puff up when they're angry, and she's always puffed up."
"Is there a possibility that she's just always angry?"
"What you're saying makes sense too." Luna nodded. "Anthony Goldstein said her voice sounds like nails scratching a blackboard. But I think scratching a blackboard at least keeps people awake; her voice only makes people want to sleep. So she must be a sleeping pill that gained sentience, disguised herself as a professor to sneak into Hogwarts, and wants to drug us all to sleep."
Leon laughed until his stomach hurt. He held onto the stair railing, finally catching his breath. "Is this what you Ravenclaws usually talk about?"
"No," Luna said seriously. "We usually discuss deeper topics. Like the migration routes of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, or why no one has made a transparent Quaffle. Discussing professors is a relaxing topic—equivalent to a break between classes."
"Crumple-Horned Snorkack? Are you sure you lot are discussing it, and not just you one-sidedly sharing your views?" Leon retorted.
"It's all the same, all the same."
They walked into the second-floor corridor. Sunlight shone through the high windows, casting patches of golden light on the floor tiles.
Luna stopped and tilted her head to look at those patches of light, as if studying their shapes.
"Actually, I think," she suddenly said, "Professor Umbridge might not be human."
Leon was taken aback. "?"
"Think about it." Luna held out her slender fingers, counting them one by one. "She doesn't like anything fun. She doesn't like moving creatures, she doesn't like loud spells, she doesn't like students laughing, and she doesn't like people having different ideas. Would a human dislike so many things at once?"
"Maybe... she's just relatively strict?"
PS: When I watched HP as a kid, I was often frustrated with Harry for not meeting expectations. Every time he clearly knew Umbridge and Snape were deliberately provoking him, he still couldn't keep his cool.
Thinking about it now, he was only fifteen—right at that age when you think you know everything and your emotions run hot. It's only normal for him to explode like gunpowder at the slightest spark.
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