On the day Lupin returned to Hogwarts after so many years away, he had no time to sigh over memories of his youth before he was shocked by the changes at the school.
He tugged on Sirius's sleeve beside him and asked with a serious expression, "This is what you called a few small changes?"
The two of them stood outside the main castle, looking up at two students riding flying broomsticks. They were playing wizard chess in midair, holding notes in one hand to study at the same time, and chewing Drooble's Best Blowing Gum as they constantly blew bubbles.
Beside the Black Lake, several young wizards were riding magnificent Hippogriffs. They held clever little thieving Nifflers in their hands, while the large glass tanks in their arms contained many dangerous Blast-Ended Skrewts.
Under the beech tree, older witches were casting Transfiguration spells, turning stones on the grass into tables, chairs, squirrels, and porcupines. As their wands moved, one of them accidentally turned a companion into an animal as well. She simply ignored it and continued casting Transfiguration spells without stopping, as if racing against some invisible ghost.
Everyone seemed wound up like a clockwork toy, unable to stop for even a moment.
Sirius looked rather stunned.
"I, I came here last year. The students were still fairly normal then."
Lupin's face was solemn as he said uneasily, "I once heard of a strange ancient magical disease. It makes the infected become fanatical. Many wizards who caught it began behaving abnormally and eventually went mad and died."
"You mean this disease appeared at Hogwarts? Could Dumbledore have been infected too? Has this place become a school for madmen... Merlin, that's terrifying."
A group of passing students glared at them. These young witches and wizards had just come out of the greenhouses. They wore gardening gloves, their tall boots were covered in mud, and their aprons were splattered with bright red plant juice, making them look as though they had just returned from burying bodies.
That made the two men even more alarmed. These strange students might be trying to infect them with the disease, or perhaps they wanted to harm someone.
Lupin forced himself to calm down and looked around. Every Hogwarts student was busy, and every one of them was behaving strangely.
Suddenly, he pointed at someone. "Look, that person doesn't seem to be infected yet. Let's go ask him."
Sirius and Lupin came up to Skyl.
"Hello, kid. Can we ask you something?" Sirius tried hard to show a friendly smile.
Skyl was the only idle person on the grounds. He was looking up at the sky, and when he heard them, he gave a soft "Mm," but did not lower his head.
He explained, "I'm watching the sky. Ask whatever you want. I'll tell you anything I know."
The two men exchanged a look, and the same thought rose in both their minds, so this one was also mad.
"We're staff members invited to Hogwarts by the great wizard Dumbledore. Where can we find him?" Lupin nervously gripped his wand.
Skyl pointed toward the White Tower. "Over there."
"Hogwarts seems to have changed a little. Why is everyone acting so abnormal?"
"They're all grinding the rankings. Every week, everyone counts how many top-three spots are on the leaderboards to decide which house is the strongest. Last time, Gryffindor won, so everyone also made lion badges and demanded that people from the other houses wear them as a public display."
"Uh, then why aren't you grinding the rankings? Why are you staring blankly at the sky?"
"I am grinding the rankings too. There's a leaderboard for time spent looking up at the sky, and hardly anyone is competing for it. I'm already in first place."
That answer somehow made Sirius and Lupin think of something, and both of them stepped half a pace back at the same time.
Afu, who was crouching beside Skyl, let out a bark. He ran over and circled Sirius twice, as though he recognized him.
Sirius also recognized the dog. It was the one that had been beside Harry that day.
The hound returned to Skyl's side and sat down lazily, then turned its head very humanly and glanced at Sirius.
The two men left without thanking Skyl. They felt that this sky-watching student must be even more dangerous than the others.
Otherwise, why would his dog look at them twice?
Their fear was reasonable.
James received his two old friends in the White Tower. Of course, they did not recognize the transformed Prongs. They only heard that he had found this job for the two of them.
Lupin was grateful for it, because he was short on money. Sirius had not been willing to work for someone at first, but once he thought about being able to spend time with Harry every day, he happily followed along.
"Where is Dumbledore?"
James had originally greeted them with a smile, hoping to take the chance to build a good relationship, but he had not expected his two old friends to throw a question at him the moment they arrived.
"Come with me."
On the second floor of the White Tower, a massive central brain floated inside a cultivation tank. Dumbledore and Grindelwald stood beside the tank, studying a cracked magical cauldron. Snape stood farther away with a deep frown, clearly not welcoming the visitors.
"Sirius, Remus, you're here? Come over." The headmaster smiled and waved.
Sirius and Lupin saw the scene on the second floor and were shocked again.
Were they planning to stew brain soup here?
The surface of the central brain emitted a strange blue glow. An invisible wave radiated outward, making one's scalp tighten.
"Dumbledore, are you all right?" Lupin stood where he was and did not approach.
"Of course. We're doing wonderfully."
"Are you sure your mind isn't being controlled by that big brain in the tank? It looks rather dangerous," Sirius asked dryly.
Dumbledore deliberately put on a shocked expression, held his head, and said, "What? I've actually been controlled! Who am I? Am I Dumbledore...?"
His acting was terrible, and both James and Grindelwald laughed. Even so, Sirius and Lupin were badly frightened.
"All right, all right, enough playing around." Grindelwald called them over. "Take a look at this cauldron and see if it can be repaired."
After Sirius and Lupin examined it, they looked very troubled.
"The magic on this cauldron has almost completely dissipated. Even if we repair the cracks, there's no way to restore its effects."
Dumbledore handed The Guide to them. "This contains all the incantations and steps needed to make the cauldron. Take a look and decide whether repairing this old one is easier or making a new one from scratch."
The two men glanced at the contents of The Guide and were so shocked their tongues nearly tied themselves in knots.
"A resurrection ritual?! You're researching resurrection? How is that possible?"
Dumbledore smiled. "Of course it is possible, because this is the research result of a great wizard."
Sirius was so excited that he nearly sprayed spit everywhere. He shouted, "I want to resurrect two people! James and Lily!"
"I believe that will be no problem, but first, we need to repair the cauldron."
"What are we waiting for, then?" Sirius rolled up his sleeves. "Let's get to work!"
People who lived through wartime sometimes did not remember how time had stolen their memories. Only when they looked back did they realize they had lost something precious. Children might lose their innocence. Women might lose their purity. Husbands might lose their wives.
The resurrection ritual was like a belated comfort. It could not erase the wounds that had truly happened in history, but it could recover a piece of memory that had been lost.
James, Sirius, and Lupin worked together to study how to repair the cauldron, because making a magical cauldron from scratch was simply too difficult. Looking across the entire wizarding world, perhaps only the late great alchemist Nicolas Flamel could have done it.
The days passed one after another. Everything that happened inside the White Tower had little connection to the outside world. Harry and the others, however, were very happy to spend time with Sirius, and gradually, through them, they also came to know the warmhearted Jim.
The Quidditch final was in May, Gryffindor against Slytherin. Harry was the Seeker for the Gryffindor team. His flying talent had been inherited from his father, James, but he still did not have absolute confidence in whether he could defeat the powerful Slytherin team.
Whenever James had free time, he taught Harry some Quidditch techniques. They were insights from a Seeker, and Harry benefited a great deal from them.
The day before the final, Harry invited James to watch his match.
James said he would arrive on time.
During that period, Dumbledore had prepared the soul-summoning magic, Snape had brewed the resurrection potion, and the cauldron that had been struck once by Death had also had its cracks barely repaired through the sleepless efforts of the trio.
On the day of the Quidditch match, the entire school gathered at the Quidditch pitch.
Meanwhile, inside the White Tower, the resurrection ritual was taking place.
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