Harry Potter and the Old Ones

As the O.W.Ls exam approaches, Hermione is not the only one behaving strangely. Ernie MacMillan developed an annoying habit of asking more and more about other people's revision times.

"How many hours do you think you can review a day?" He asked Harry and Ron with anxious eyes while queuing up for the Herbology class.

"I don't know," Ron said nonchalantly, "A few hours."

"More or less than eight hours?"

"I think it's less," Ron said, with a somewhat wary look on his face.

"I can review for eight hours," Ernie said while puffing up his chest. "Eight to nine hours. I review for an hour before breakfast every day. The average is eight hours. If things go well, I can study for ten hours on weekends. I studied for nine and a half hours, Tuesday was not so good—only seven hours and a quarter, and then Wednesday—"

At this time Professor Sprout led the three of them into the greenhouse, and Ernie had to stop his monologue, which Harry felt was really thankful. In the meantime, Draco Malfoy found another way to scare people.

"Needless to say, it's not a question of whether you study well or not." Just a few days before the exam, someone heard him saying loudly to Crabbe and Goyle outside the Potions classroom, "You have to have a way. Now, I Dad has been friends with the head of the Wizarding Examination Authority for several years, old Gsilda Marchiban. We invited her to dinner, and everything was-"

"Do you think this is really happening?" Hermione asked Harry and Ron in a panicked voice.

"Even if it's true, there's nothing we can do." Ron said frustratedly.

"I don't think so." Neville said softly behind them, "Gsilda Marchbain is my grandmother's friend, and she has never mentioned the Malfoy family."

"What is she like, Neville?" Hermione asked immediately. "Is she strict?"

"A bit like Grandma, really," Neville said in a low voice.

"Even so, it's not a bad thing to know her, is it?" Ron encouraged him.

"Well, I don't think there is any difference," Neville said even more sadly, "Grandma always told Professor Marchban that I am not as outstanding as my dad...well...you also saw my grandma in St. Mungo's. What kind of person."

Neville stared straight at the ground.

Harry, Ron and Hermione glanced at each other, but didn't know what to say.

Now there's a thriving black market among fifth- and seventh-graders seeking to concentrate, improve their brain power and cure insomnia.

Edica Mitchell, a sixth-year Ravenclaw student, wanted to sell Harry and Ron a bottle of Baffy's Refreshing Potion, which intrigued them both.

Eddie swore that he got nine "excellent" grades in the O.W.Ls exam last summer all because of this, and a whole pint only cost twelve galleons.

Ron promised Harry that he would pay him back his half of the money once he left Hogwarts and found a job, but before they could seal the deal, Hermione confiscated Carmichael's bottle and took the contents. Everything was poured into the toilet.

"Hermione, we want to buy it!" Ron shouted dissatisfied.

"Don't be stupid!" Hermione scolded sternly, "You may want to buy Harold Dingo's dragon claw powder and then use them up."

"Dinge has dragon claw powder?" Ron asked eagerly.

"It's gone now," said Hermione, "and I confiscated it. None of that stuff works, you know."

"Dragon Claw Powder does work!" Ron said. "The effect is amazing. It can really improve your memory. There are a few hours when your brain is particularly sharp - Hermione, let me take a little, okay? It won’t do any harm—”

"This thing is harmful." Hermione said sternly, "And I looked carefully and found that it is actually the dried feces of a fox."

Upon hearing this, Harry and Ron were less interested in the sobering potion.

Just when they left the black market trading area and were about to return to the library to review for a while——

"Harry, Harry!" A shrill scream made Harry, Ron and Hermione look back to the black market trading area.

A strange girl ran towards them.

This girl was basically the same age as them and looked familiar, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione swore that they had never seen this girl before in their five years at Hogwarts.

"Harry! Harry!" The girl ran up to them, crying ugly and painfully, as if she had done something heinous.

"And Hermione, help me, please help me!" The girl grabbed Hermione's sleeve as if grasping a life-saving straw, and begged with tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry, Hermione, I'm sorry, I was wrong, I was wrong...I shouldn't have snitched, I shouldn't have...well...well...well..."

After saying that, the girl burst into tears in pain, making Harry and Ron look at each other.

"You, you are, are you Marietta?" After Hermione observed the girl carefully, she suddenly shouted in shock, "Are you Marietta Acmo?"

It wasn't until Hermione shouted that Harry and Ron realized that the girl in front of them was indeed somewhat similar to the informant Marietta, but completely different -

Marietta Ikemo was originally a short, somewhat stocky girl with a face covered with freckles and a head of somewhat fluffy reddish-brown curly hair.

But now Marietta's hair is black and smooth, and the freckles on her face have disappeared, replaced by skin that is almost sickly pale. The lines between her eyebrows seem to have become a little tougher, and her height has also shortened, becoming gentler. Harry is about the same height, and his figure under the loose wizard robes becomes more similar to that of a boy——

Only then did Harry, Ron and Hermione understand where the familiar feeling in Marietta came from——

That's what Tiera looks like.

For some reason, Marietta looks more and more like Tiera.

Although Harry, Ron, and Hermione can all see Marietta's original appearance in her, this appearance is diminishing and weakening little by little.

And the characteristics belonging to Tiera are increasing.

"I'm sorry, Hermione, I'm sorry, Harry, please, please...please please say more about Jella, please, please, please say more about Jella and beg for mercy?" Marietta was almost anxious. Kneeling down, "I was wrong, I was wrong, I'm sorry for you, I shouldn't have snitched, please, tell Tiera, let him-"

Suddenly, Marietta froze, and all the expressions on her face disappeared in an instant. If it weren't for the tears on her face, it would be difficult to imagine that her expressionless face had just cried.

Marietta stood up straight like a puppet.

"Betrayal will definitely pay the price, Miss Acmore." A man's voice said from Marietta's mouth.