After reminiscing about the past, Harry clearly felt much closer to Black. At Lupin's insistence, they all accepted the reality of his impending departure and helped him pack up his office.
"Oh, Professor Lupin, look, you left something behind!" Ron exclaimed, discovering a bright purple hair curler in the corner and holding it up high to attract everyone's attention.
"That thing isn't mine," Lupin said, merely glancing in that direction before shaking his head.
"Do you think Professor Lupin would use something like that? Ron, please use your brain," Hermione retorted, then added, "It must be something Professor Gilderoy Lockhart accidentally left here."
Hermione then took the curler from Ron's hand, examined it, and said with certainty.
"Alright, alright, you're smart, I'm dumb, okay?" Ron, having made a blunder, could only roll his eyes in resignation.
"Actually, I don't have much luggage, you don't need to help me," Lupin said.
"Sirius, if you don't mind, I'd like you to take these three to class; the lesson should be halfway through by now."
Then he turned his gaze to Hermione and the others, saying, "Skipping class isn't a good habit."
In the end, Lupin still left. After submitting his resignation to Dumbledore, Dumbledore didn't try to persuade him further, knowing it was Lupin's own decision, one that no amount of dissuasion could change.
There were also other reasons, but they were best left unsaid to outsiders.
Hogwarts returned to its usual tranquility.
The two departing teachers both found their respective replacements, or rather, substitutes.
Snape would be responsible for teaching the Defense Against the Dark Arts class for the next few weeks, a piece of news that caused almost all the Gryffindor students to grumble.
As for the new, permanent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, it would likely be next year before a replacement was found.
The teacher taking over Hagrid's course was an elderly witch with slightly graying hair, whom the students called Professor Grubbly-Plank.
It was another ordinary morning. The students were quietly eating breakfast in the Great Hall, with occasional whispers filling the air.
As breakfast neared its end, it was time for the owls to deliver letters, carrying packages from all over, bearing different senders' well wishes.
Beneath the enchanted ceiling, a noisy scene unfolded as owls fluttered their wings, releasing packages and letters with precision, delivering them to the intended recipients' tables.
Occasionally, a less accurate owl would drop its load into a cup full of milk, splashing the white liquid and creating a rather messy scene.
"Here," Malfoy said, glancing helplessly at the beautifully packaged chocolates and candies Narcissa had sent, then immediately pushing them towards Pansy.
A fondness for sugar and oil seemed to be an instinct engraved in human genes.
However, given the degree of Narcissa's concern for Malfoy, if Malfoy accepted all of it, he would probably end up developing into one of his two chubby cronies, growing horizontally.
"Oh? Looks like you bought quite a lot of things, Pansy," Malfoy remarked, noticing the various packages piled up in front of Pansy.
Malfoy was certain that these weren't sent from her own family, as he clearly remembered that Pansy only used one type of owl, while just now, various types of owls had flown past him.
Furthermore, the packages were surrounded by faint scents of various herbs mixed together, along with a hint of floral fragrance.
The scents were subtle, but Malfoy could detect them.
Potions was a subject he had studied deeply, and as a foundation, Herbology wouldn't be neglected, so he was very sensitive to the scents of various herbs.
"Ah, it's nothing," Pansy replied, seeing Malfoy reach out and trembling violently, instinctively extending her arms and hastily pushing all the packages towards herself, covering the labels tightly, not wanting Malfoy to see them.
"Well, girls always have some secrets when they grow up," Malfoy thought to himself, helplessly retracting his hand and silently watching Pansy.
"These are girls' little secrets, you can't see them," Pansy sniffled, then playfully stuck her tongue out at Malfoy.
"Alright, alright, secrets, I'm not curious anymore," Malfoy quickly waved his hand.
He had no interest in the thoughts of girls his age, but the habits formed over the years still allowed Malfoy to notice something.
Just a fleeting glimpse was enough.
"Rose thorns?" Malfoy muttered to himself, noticing the label on one of the packages.
Obviously, he couldn't figure it out at all.
He guessed it might be some small trinket popular among girls.
At this moment, Pansy was also very nervous. She didn't want Malfoy to know what she was planning to do; it was a secret that had to be kept.
"Next time, I must buy things in batches," Pansy warned herself inwardly.
Her large purchase this time would obviously attract attention.
In reality, so many ingredients weren't needed to brew potions, but Pansy's skill in Potions wasn't high, and no matter how irresponsible Snape was, he would only target those he didn't like.
If he really taught such obvious forbidden potions in class, his ending would probably be the same as Lupin's.
Then Pansy only had one choice: to break through with quantity.
Practice makes perfect, this was the easiest breakthrough to think of.
So, Pansy bought several times the amount of ingredients required for the potion recipe, and the price she paid was that her bulging wallet quickly deflated.
"Do you need me to help you move them to the common room?" Malfoy asked, suspiciously looking at such a large pile of things.
"No need!" Pansy replied hurriedly, shaking her head like a wildcat whose tail had been stepped on, then carrying the mountainous pile of packages towards the entrance of the hall.
Looking at her swaying, petite figure, Malfoy couldn't help but break out in a sweat for her.
"Then I hope you're not late. It's not a good thing to be late for the first class of a substitute teacher."
Today's class was Professor Grubbly-Plank's first class as a substitute, but seeing the situation, Malfoy could only watch Pansy stubbornly carry everything herself.
The way she looked, it seemed like she had bought something incredible, and she seemed very vigilant.
For more chapters
patreon.com/Jackssparrow