Chapter 722: The Eve
Professor McGonagall appeared after a while. She was not surprised by the commotion that Felix caused from time to time, since they had long discussed the possibility of incorporating Felix’s magic into the school, it’s just that they had not been able to convince the Sorting Hat at that time. So she first calmly pacified some of the frightened students and faculty before returning to the Headmistress’s office.
Felix sat on the couch, appearing as if he hadn’t even changed his position – except for the additional Book of Runes that he held in his hand and read with great interest.
Professor McGonagall looked at him with a critical eye, then asked, “A great harvest?”
“Yes,” Felix said with a smile, “It broadened my horizons a lot, and I gained a lot of insight. Although I didn’t end up speaking with the four founders, it seemed as if we have actually travelled together.” He paused, and said with slight embarrassment, “Minerva, there’s something that you should better know …”
“You took a third of the school’s magic?!” Professor McGonagall shouted. Felix nodded good-naturedly, indicating that she had heard it correctly. After double-checking, Professor McGonagall had to accept the reality and asked calmly, “Did it have an effect on the school?”
“A little, but it won’t interfere with the daily magical operations of the school, ahem, I think – the armour and statues in the castle will be silent for a while, sorry to spoil your Christmas plans … ”
Professor McGonagall’s sharp gaze swept over, but her words stuttered, “You know?”
“‘The Stone Dance Troupe’ is a good name, it just happens to match with the spell that controls them.”
Professor McGonagall looked at him expressionlessly, mouth tightly pursed, the constant flexing and stretching knuckles showed that she was by no means calm at the moment, it seemed like she might rush over and choke him desperately at any moment.
Felix who noticed her mood hurriedly said.
“… is not intentional, it was just a passing glance when I put the sorting hat back, I believe regardless of who it is, they will give two more glances when they see a comic strip in the pile of documents on the table …” Then he said with a smile on his face: ” Minerva, this is the first time I know you can draw. If I can evaluate it, I would say it is very vivid.”
Professor McGonagall opened her mouth and decided not to dwell on this topic. She stared, and then asked, “You need a lot of magic power? Is there not enough magic power now?” As she spoke, she briefly glanced at Felix’s Book of Runes, the thin pages of which surged with palpitating violet and ice-blue magic, with a small, pocket-sized snake swimming around happily, as its silvery, transparent body floated in and out of the pages.
“If it’s just about fighting this battle, my magic power alone is barely enough, but I’d like to do something more along with it,” Felix said thoughtfully, with his hand on his chin, “I’m not sure whether it’s going to work, after all, it’s not exactly going to be a massacre.”
“Do something else? Is that–”
“We’ve drawn so many big pies, we need to make at least one of them happen, and at the same time it’s a way to prove to the world that wizards have a way back at all times, and the things they value are far less significant than they think.”
“You mean?” Professor McGonagall asked in a low voice.
“The land.”
They remained silent for nearly a minute before the portrait of Phineas Black on the wall stroked his goatee and said, “I can kind of tell that you want to be a hero all by yourself.”
“So what do you think?” Felix asked politely.
“I have no great opinion, but I have a lot of humble advice to offer,” said the portrait of Black snidely, “to eliminate the process of demonstrating that you are a fool, I will directly say the conclusion – ” he suddenly grabbed the frame and yelled vigorously, “boy, you are not capable of being Hero! You’re the most powerful Archmage after Salazar Slytherin from our House!”
“Speaking of Archmage, Tom Riddle was-”
“Tell him to get lost!”
“And Merlin-”
“Screw Merlin!” Black portrait rudely said: “Being a Hero is something that Gryffindor should do, you are Slytherin. We are brave, but not stupid, got it? There is no need to risk it alone, or at least drag a group of people, such as the group of reckless Gryffindor and silly Hufflepuff…”
Those words immediately drew protest from several other previous Headmasters of the school. Felix was deeply concerned that if he ever had to hang his portrait on the wall, he would naturally be in the same camp as Headmaster Black. Thinking of this horrific scenario, he hurriedly said, “No one should know better than me what the four founders originally had in mind, and I just talked to the Sorting Hat, remember?”
The portraits of the Headmasters paused and looked at him with rapt attention.
“Is the Sorting useful? It is useful because it allows us to better find companions and discover the noble qualities within – there is certainly more than one quality that can be called noble. In general, some people will succeed, and some will not. And by the time our seven-year academic life is over, we will be tempered to face a far more complex environment than school.”
“Don’t forget that people change, and think about how many seven years there are in life – and if you still have the opportunity to wear the Sorting Hat when you’re 100, what will it sort you into? Of course, personally, it wouldn’t mean much to you at that time.”
The portraits look at Dumbledore, if anyone has had a sorting experience after the age of one hundred, most certainly it’s none other than Dumbledore.
“It does mean very little,” Dumbledore said from the portrait, “when you are young there are infinite possibilities, so with the help of sorting, we can regard one of Salazar Slytherin, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, Godric Gryffindor as a target to strive for, and when we are old, we will simply become ourselves .”
The circular office went quiet for a while. Professor McGonagall blew her nose, “Well, well, I will leave time for you to debate, Albus, there are some things you should have told me while you were alive …”
She recomposed herself and said seriously to Felix, “We have to prepare as thoroughly as possible and give it our best shot, there isn’t much time left for us, and I’m sure you’ll need some time to digest …” she said, striding over to her desk and taking out a picture album from the drawer.
Felix looked at her with wonder.
“Don’t you need magic?” Professor McGonagall explained as she flipped through the pages, “What better place to get it than other magical schools that are also world-famous? Thanks to this album, I know enough about other schools for me to be aware of some that happen to have similar defences to Hogwarts, such as Beauxbatons…”
Professor McGonagall looked up at Felix, who stood stumped, and asked, “What’s wrong?” Felix jokingly said, “Minerva, I really want to give you a kiss.” Professor McGonagall glared at him with a red face.
…
In mid-December, it snowed a few times at Hogwarts School, and Black Lake was covered in thick ice. Some students were trudging through the snow on the grounds to get ready for their Care of Magical Creatures class when they saw Professor Hap in the cabin built by the lake from afar.
There was lots of speculation about it floating among the students, but none of it was confirmed, and the Professors at the school were tight-lipped. The more widely circulated theory is that Professor Hap is working on a strategy for a drill a week later – yes, it’s not clear where this word circulated from, but people are calling the war that is visible to the naked eye a ‘drill’.
“It’s actually just a cover-up.” One boy said with a serious look, “My dad wrote to tell me that anyone with a brain should support Professor Hap, the International Confederation of Wizards, oh, and also the International Pan-Magical Alliance-”
“So you placed a bouquet of flowers at the Professor’s door?” Another student said teasingly, “Not only did you get detained, you even got beaten up by a Niffler, no?”
The boy turned red, “I placed a greeting card! Greeting card!”
The students around him laughed and joked, but they all looked at the cabin by the black lake with reverence, but the reverence didn’t last long as a round, furry, black-skinned Niffler rushed toward the students, waving a small, glowing wooden stick in her tiny hands and babbling under her breath.
“Run!” One student shouted, dashing off, the rest quickly following. But there were some who stayed behind, mostly girls, who looked eager to give it a shot.
Valen blinked her dark eyes, a bit thrilled. This week the Great Demon King was busy with serious matters and did not even have time to play cards, only Harry, Hermione, and Ron would purposefully come over, and there is also Luna, but even Valen did not know if she had got lost. All in all these days were very boring, and it is good that she has found a new pastime for herself.
Valen, draped in an exquisite cloak, stood on the boulder by the lake, and with a very imposing wave. The snow tumbled and a crystal white snowman Nifflers hopped out and followed Valen forward, the students who stayed in place before had long been on guard as they waited, their eyes glittering with excitement, and soon both sides engaged in a short fight, with snowballs flying around everywhere along with laughter and swearing.
Ten minutes later, the burly Hagrid stood in front of his hut and yelled at them.
The battle was halted, and each side put on an air of victory and agreed to fight again another day. With a majestic, vigorous stride, Valen walked toward the black lake, and as she did so, she found herself lifted by someone from behind.
Valen turned back and opened her beak at Hermione, who was inching her face closer, revealing a smile.
“Come on, let’s go to class together, Professor Slughorn is missing you.”
“Probably because he found a Niffler with more snacks in her pocket than he did.” Ron muttered in a small voice and Harry grinned, “But we have to admit, Professor Slughorn always finds the right excuse – what is it this time about?” He turned to Hermione and asked.
“Oh, I heard he found two hibernating mice lying in a flower pot.” Hermione replied with a smirk.
“What, does Valen want to take them in?” Harry asked in surprise as Valen flared her claws at him.
They walked towards the castle, occasionally stopping on the stone steps to look at the snow-covered cabin by the Black Lake, and silently stopped talking. At the entrance to the castle, Harry suddenly said, “I’m going to listen to Mr. Doge’s advice.”
“What?” Ron asked immediately afterward.
“A graduation trip.”
“Oh, you mean that one,” Ron said slowly, “I’m not sure … it should be okay if it’s just for a few months, but … Hermione, what about you? ”
Hermione shook her head.
“I would go straight to the Ministry of Magic, as soon as I graduate. Ms. Bones said there is a shortage of staff – who knows both sides well, and my plan is to stay in the Ministry of Magic for a few years, and then find an opportunity to travel abroad for a while. The Constitution of the Confederation and Alliance mentions a lot of departments that are still in the process of being established, and I think the post of Pan-Magical Alliance inspector would suit me just fine …”
Ron rubbed his chin.
“So one of you going abroad before returning, and one of you prepares to go abroad for a long stay in the future.”
“That’s an accurate summary.” Harry said.
No one mentioned the possibility of an unexpected development, as if they are fully confident in the future, they walked into the castle and glanced inside as they passed the great hall, where the fires for warming blazed, and twelve Christmas trees stood tall and firm. Harry glanced at the empty table, it would not be long before the table will be filled with plump roasted turkeys, mountains of roast meat and cooked potatoes, delicious small sausages, buttered peas, rich broth, and mouth-watering desserts …
And of course, there are Christmas poppers, Harry recalls the last Christmas Eve banquet.
He and Ron had drawn sailor hats, which were far less impressive than the tiger and parrot hats they had worn themselves, and then he thought of the two people who are destined to be absent this Christmas, Dumbledore in his Antler Hat, smiling and urging people to eat more, and Grindelwald, who drew a red Santa hat when he was still disguised as Professor Bagshot…
…
Felix lay on a simple bed, in a state of almost half-awake, staring at a soft violet and ice blue glow in the richly coloured Book of Runes. A small snake swam around in the pages of the book –
This is his new Patronus.
—————
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