The Spell Class isn't attended by all four houses together, so Annie had to wait until after class to find Harry.
Seeing Harry, she gave a gentle smile, clutching her books as she walked over to Harry and sat on his left side.
Luckily, Ron was sandwiched between Harry and Hermione, otherwise, if he were sitting on Harry's left side, he definitely would have been squeezed out by Annie.
This is a trick he's recently learned: as long as he's not sitting left and right of Harry with Hermione, Annie won't squeeze him.
Sometimes he's curious about why Annie squeezes him and not Hermione. After all, Hermione is a girl and clearly poses more of a threat...
Of course, he wouldn't know that Harry once shared Ron and Hermione's little gossip with Annie, and now even the so-called European Vinegar King wouldn't be jealous of Hermione.
"The weather outside is terrible," Annie said to Harry after sitting down, "I was thinking of going out for a bit, but didn't expect such a rainy day..."
"It's okay," Harry comforted Annie and said, "It's better than what we're facing, if it doesn't stop tonight, we'll be training for Quidditch in the rain..."
"In the rain?" Annie looked worried, "Won't you catch a cold and get sick from being soaked? I suggest that if it's still stormy tonight, maybe you should apply to postpone the training."
Just then, Peeves suddenly pulled out an ink bottle and pointed it at Annie.
As he was about to pour it out, Harry didn't pull out his magic wand, instead calmly told Peeves: "If I were you, Peeves, I definitely wouldn't play a trick on Annie."
"Why?" Peeves laughed with puffed cheeks, "Is there anyone Peeves wouldn't dare to prank in this world? Even the head professors can't stop Peeves, of course, if it's you, Peeves is willing to give face and temporarily not prank your new girlfriend..."
When saying this, he emphasized "new girlfriend" with a heavy tone.
"Oh, don't speak too soon," Harry teased, raising his eyebrows, "You know? Annie's last name is Salu."
Hearing what Harry said, Peeves froze.
Salu?
That last name, he was definitely familiar with.
The new plague ghost Sebastian, seemed to have the last name Salu and also gave him a good thrashing.
Oh right, it seems that Sebastian reportedly has a sister studying at Hogwarts, could it be...
Thinking of this, Peeves immediately stood at attention.
"Well then," Peeves' eyes shifted, "I have other things to attend to, let's chat another time—goodbye!"
"Seems like even he has people he's afraid of," Hermione said, smacking her lips.
"Tsk," Harry said nothing, he certainly couldn't say that what Peeves feared was indeed a ghost, lest he make Annie sad.
"If possible, we would apply, but..." Harry turned his head to look at Annie, "But the captain Angelina insists we go for training—I think she's even more brutal than Oliver—the previously Gryffindor captain, Oliver Wood, you came late, so you wouldn't know him."
"Alright," Annie sniffled, saying to Harry, "I remember my brother once studied a Water Separation Spell for me when researching spells, remember to find me before training tonight—"
"Okay," Harry replied with a smile.
Until evening, the weather hadn't improved, and at seven o'clock Harry and Ron specifically found Annie before going to the Quidditch pitch for training. Annie cast a Water Separation Spell on both of them, thus avoiding getting soaked.
But even with the water separation, there's no way to prevent slipping on the wet grass.
The sky was gloomy, and thunder roared.
"I feel like flying up there, I might get struck by lightning," Ron said with some unease.
"Shouldn't happen," Harry shrugged, "After all, not everyone is as unlucky as Cedric."
In third year, Cedric was struck directly by lightning during a Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, the poor kid plummeting headfirst to the ground.
Soon, they reached the warm and bright locker room, noticing Fred and George discussing whether to use Instant Escape Candy to avoid flying.
"...But I bet she'd notice," Fred grinned, "I shouldn't have tried to sell her Vomit Candy yesterday."
"We could use Fever Candy," George whispered, "Nobody's seen it before—"
"Does it work?" Ron asked hopefully, as the rain pattered louder on the roof, wind whistling around the building, thunder boomed.
He wasn't really afraid of getting drenched, since he had the Anti-Electric Spell—but unfortunately, no Anti-Lightning Spell, he really didn't want to be struck.
"It works alright," Fred said, "Your body temperature will rapidly rise—"
"But you also get some big pustules," George said, "We haven't figured out how to get rid of them yet."
"I can't see any pustules," Ron observed the twin brothers.
"You wouldn't see them," Fred said ominously, "They don't grow on areas we typically expose."
"On your butt?" Ron asked.
"Your arse," George winked.
Suddenly noticing that Ron had no water stains whatsoever, Fred asked in surprise: "Little Ronnie, why aren't you soaked even a little? Even your shoes are dry, that's not magic!"
"Oh, you're talking about this." Ron said proudly, "That's the Water Separation Spell Miss Salu from Slytherin cast on Harry and me, effectively avoiding rain and preventing our bodies from getting wet..."
Then, Ron saw Fred and George exchange a glance, simultaneously pulling out their magic wands and pointing them at Ron.
"Finite (Stop)!"
"Protego (Armor Protection)!"
The Finite spell only worked on the Armor Protection, not canceling Ron's water protection spell.
After blocking the two's spells, he raised his head proudly and said, "Haha, I already predicted you'd use this trick!"
Fred and George were a bit surprised, not expecting their youngest brother was already so skilled to use the Iron Armor Spell to deflect their Finite spell.
"Seems our little brother has really grown up," Fred sincerely gave Ron a thumbs up.
What Harry didn't know was that, in Pabi's office, she was greeted by an unexpected guest.
Knocking sounds echoed, Pabi looked up from her phone and put away her Crystal Ball Phone saying, "Please come in."
The door was opened, and Umbridge walked in from outside.
She was still dressed in that pink outfit, with a nauseatingly fake smile plastered on her face, looking like she deserved a punch.
Pabi didn't have the best first impression of her.
"Good evening, Lady Swedding." Umbridge smiled.
Though not very fond of Umbridge, she was, after all, a Senior Investigator from the Ministry of Magic—of course, most importantly, as a board member, Pabi felt obligated to show some pleasantness during the first meeting.
"Good evening, Professor Umbridge." She smiled.
But this pleasantness seemed to have led Umbridge to misjudge the situation.
"I have some matters to discuss with you," Umbridge walked over to Pabi's desk and sat opposite her, "Please tell me, Lady Swedding, was the Gryffindor Quidditch Team's reformation under your instructions?"
Pabi nodded and said: "Professor McGonagall came to me at noon today, she explained the application to me thoroughly, and I don't believe the Quidditch team's activities should be banned."
"But, ma'am," Umbridge suddenly frowned and said, "The twenty-fourth educational decree clearly states, prohibiting the dissolution of all student organizations, associations, teams, and clubs, if wanting to reform, it must receive the permission of the Senior Investigator..."