Monday morning.
The Great Hall at Hogwarts was buzzing as young witches and wizards tucked into their breakfast.
Penelope Clearwater, the Ravenclaw prefect, made her way over to the Gryffindor table with a group of girls in tow. They stopped beside Percy Weasley, who was diligently eating while poring over his History of Magic textbook.
"Ahem—good morning, Percy. There's something we'd like to ask you," Penelope said.
Hearing her familiar voice, Percy looked up, his cheeks flushing red when he saw who it was. He quickly glanced around for his brothers and sister, relieved to find none of them nearby.
"Hi, good morning, Penelope. What's up? Ask away!"
But Penelope's friends had no time for teasing. They started firing questions all at once:
"Is Professor Holmes getting married?"
"Who's his girlfriend?"
"Is he leaving Hogwarts?"
Percy blinked, utterly bewildered. He looked pleadingly at Penelope.
She hurried to explain, "There were rumors all over school last night—people said Professor Holmes had something to celebrate. Apparently, he treated the whole Three Broomsticks to drinks. We thought you might have the inside scoop! Didn't you say you're on good terms with him?"
Percy was completely lost. He'd spent all of yesterday in the library, and later that evening, he'd gone to see Professor McGonagall about his homework. By the time he got back to his dorm, it was late—he'd missed all the gossip.
Still, he vaguely remembered that back in school, Holmes had always seemed to have a special rapport with the landlady at the Three Broomsticks. He'd heard from Charlie that she always treated Douglas to drinks.
Could it be that his old friend was marrying the landlady? The thought left Percy stunned. If he remembered right, there was at least a twenty-year age gap between them!
His expression must have betrayed him, because the girls grew even more excited—they were sure he knew something juicy.
But Percy kept his cool. "Can one of you describe what actually happened last night? I want to see if my guess is right."
The girls eagerly recounted every detail they'd heard.
When they finished, Percy was dumbfounded.
"So you're saying the landlady brought a pile of books into a private booth, then came out and announced that the professor was treating everyone? And she said there'd be news in today's Daily Prophet?"
Penelope shrugged. "I told them they'd find out when the Daily Prophet arrives, but they've been waiting all night—they're dying to know! Just tell us!"
Percy frowned, lowering his voice.
"It's probably that Holmes's real identity is about to be revealed! But what happened? He was still trying to keep it secret just last week…"
"What?!"
Even though Percy spoke quietly, the girls' ears were sharp as Kneazles.
One of Penelope's friends gasped, "You said his identity will be exposed? What other identity does Professor Holmes have? Don't tell me he's a Dark wizard!"
Percy huffed, "Just wait for the Daily Prophet and see for yourselves! Sorry, Penelope, I need to find the professor—let's talk later!"
With that, he dashed off toward the third-floor Defence Against the Dark Arts office.
The Ravenclaw girls, having gotten their fill of gossip, hurried back to their own table. Only Penelope hesitated, a little worried—she'd rarely seen Percy so rattled.
Meanwhile, at the Gryffindor table, Ron watched Percy run off and scoffed,
"See? Even Percy, the model student, can't resist a bit of gossip. The Daily Prophet will be here any minute, but he has to go ask the professor himself!"
Nearby, Ginny leaned in, her voice mysterious.
"I've got something to tell you. I got up early this morning—around six—to grab something from the common room, and I found George and Fred huddled over a copy of Intermediate Transfiguration, memorizing it. What's gotten into them?"
Hermione took a sip of pumpkin juice, swallowed, and huffed,
"Didn't Ron tell us the other night? They cheated during detention—Professor Holmes was kind enough not to dock points, but then Professor McGonagall caught them. Now they have to earn back 200 points this term. Yesterday, they even asked me how to score points in class. It's only the first week, and Gryffindor is already down 200 points! Two hundred! And we have Harry and Ron to thank for breaking the rules before term even started!"
At that, Hermione shot both boys a glare, her frustration plain.
"Even George and Fred know to work hard and try to earn points. Why do you two get up later than I do? You're not even as good as Neville!"
Neville, still a bit bleary-eyed from waking up early, heard his name and looked up in confusion.
"What's wrong?"
Ron rolled his eyes.
"Nothing. Just eat up—don't fall asleep in Herbology later!"
He shot Ginny a look; she stuck out her tongue and ducked her head, pretending to focus on her food.
All around, the Gryffindor table was alive with argument, while over at Ravenclaw, rumors swirled that Professor Holmes might be a former Dark wizard.
Suddenly, a commotion broke out overhead—the unmistakable sound of hundreds of flapping wings. Some quick-thinking students crammed the last of their breakfast into their mouths, as if afraid the food might vanish at any second.
A flock of owls swooped in through the doors and windows, circling the Great Hall in a feathery whirlwind before expertly delivering letters and newspapers to their recipients.
Ron glanced at Hermione, surprised to see a copy of the Daily Prophet land in front of her.
"Hermione, when did you start subscribing to the Daily Prophet? Dad says they—"
Hermione cut him off, flipping through the paper.
"I subscribed last week. Whatever's in it, it's the only way for students like us to keep up with what's happening in the wizarding world. At least for people like me, who don't have friends here."
Several students who hadn't subscribed crowded around Hermione to get a look.
She scanned the headlines, then flipped back to the front page.
"I can't believe it's the lead story!"
[Shocking! The Mysterious Figure Revealed—It's Him!]
"Don't interrupt—let me read…"
[Last night, our paper received word from Mr. Slane, the renowned editor at Silent Publishing Company, that the author of 'Magic Chef,' 'Full-time Magician,' and 'Master of All Professions'—the beloved 'Banana-loving Honey Badger'—has decided to reveal his true identity to the public.
As everyone knows, the 'Banana-loving Honey Badger' has been named Bestselling Author of the Year multiple times, ever since 1982…
…He is none other than Hogwarts' Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor for the 1992 academic year—Douglas Holmes.]
Harry leaned over Hermione's shoulder, catching sight of the article and the shadowy photograph beside it.
At the words "mysterious figure," everyone nearby drew a sharp breath—they'd thought it meant Voldemort was back!
But when they realized their favorite author was actually their own professor, the roof of the Great Hall nearly lifted off with excitement.
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