Felix put away the paper, “Kee!” Valen shouted.
She hasn’t finished reading yet!
“Well, seriously, you should improve your reading speed, where are you reading now?”
The fork in Valen’s hand pointed at the middle section of the paper.
“The snakewood wand?” Felix muttered, “I’ll tell you a story about the Chamber of Secrets and Slytherin some other time.” He continued to sip his oatmeal, unconcerned by the various curious gawking in the great hall. After a calm breakfast, he appeared in the Headmaster’s office at Hogwarts.
There is already a visitor inside.
A short, chubby, balding man squeezed his bloated body into an armchair, one of his fat hands picked up a sugar-glazed pineapple from a nearby box as his mouth kept chewing, his thick walrus-like silver moustache smeared with bits of sugar glaze.
“Headmaster Dumbledore, I have something to ask you.” Felix didn’t move as he measured the man, who is dressed in a maroon and purple velvet tunic with shiny brass buttons that issued an unpleasant sound as he made a swallowing motion.
His strange eating habit is comparable to the sight of Thestral eating, but Thestral is much thinner than the man in question.
Slughorn absently glanced at Felix, and the movements of his mouth abruptly stopped, “That’s him, isn’t it, Albus?” He asked, looking at Dumbledore, who is seated opposite him and looked pitifully thin compared to him.
“Felix Hap,” Felix said politely, “if you want to ask my name.”
“Ah, of course, who else has the ability to impress me this much.” The wizard said, jumping nimbly out of his chair and reaching into his shirt pocket with his other clean hand, pulling out a soft purple velvet handkerchief and meticulously wiping his fingers twice.
“I’ve been looking for a chance to meet you,” he said, extending his chubby hand to Felix, “the great Felix Hap, the pride of Slytherin.”
“You flatter me,” Felix said, shaking his hand, his fingers felt sticky when he let go, but he knew it was a psychological effect. He asked tentatively, “Mr. Slughorn?”
The wizard raised his eyebrows at once, his bulging stomach twitched with some pattern.
“Come sit here …” Slughorn motioned for him to sit closer to him in the tone of the owner of the house, Dumbledore’s lips brimmed with a smile as if he found it amusing, Valen jumped off Felix’s shoulder and tugged at Dumbledore’s pant leg. Pointing her little pink finger at Fawkes, who is standing on a roost having a nap.
“Kee?”
A candy suddenly appeared in Dumbledore’s hand like a muggle magic trick which he handed to Valen with a wink, “Sharing is the gateway to friendship.”
“I agree with you, Dumbledore.” Slughorn said as he sat down, side by side with Felix, his body squirming back in his chair to adjust the best angle, in the middle of it he sighed as his body leaned against the back of the chair, “Want a piece, Felix?” He asked rather enthusiastically.
“No, thanks.” Felix said, “Allergic to sweets these days.”
” I had those moments too,” Slughorn said with a big smile, picking up another pastry in his hand, “Always had a preference for a certain sweet for a while and gorged myself on it, then for years, I would never touch it again … That was in my younger days, now I prefer to have some of each.”
“A very wise comment.” Felix said briefly, only it would have been better if he hadn’t used his sweet tooth as an example. He watched silently as Valen climbed onto the slender-legged table and locked eyes with the Phoenix Fawkes that stood on the gilded roost, Valen wobbled on the table with the sweets in her hands as Fawkes squinted at her.
Dumbledore and Slughorn also looked at them with interest.
“The Cockroach Clusters, some people don’t like it, in fact, it has a special flavour.” Dumbledore said, and as he spoke, Fawkes darted its head out from its roost and snatched the cockroach-shaped candy from Valen’s hand, swallowing it with a crisp ” crack, chunk” sound.
The three simultaneously withdrew their gaze in satisfaction.
“Ah, I’ll go get what you want.” Dumbledore suddenly said to Slughorn as he stood up and made his way around the revolving staircase to the first floor.
As his figure disappeared up the stairs, Felix felt Slughorn’s gaze flicker as he measured him.
“You’re more talkative than I thought,” he said after a few seconds, “I mean, so many people have mentioned you in their letters and I can’t help but find it strange that they’re so widely divergent in their opinions about you.”
“That’s not strange.” Felix said.
“Oh, uh, you’re right, everyone has their own standpoint, and I’ve heard rumours, like your muggle origin … although I personally don’t care about that at all – it’s true!” Slughorn said, and next, to prove his point that he has no prejudice against bloodlines, he went on at considerable length about the contacts he knew, ” who are being in key positions.” and many of them are wizards from Muggle families.
Felix, on the contrary, discerned a passion for ” collection ” in the expression on his face. So Felix hinted that he should write a memoir of all the talented students he had taught, and Slughorn beamed when he heard it, feeling like he had met his soulmate.
” I discovered when I was the head of Slytherin that young wizards from Muggle origins always had all sorts of novel ideas to offer … Of course, I mean the smart ones. From that point of view, their presence is necessary to bring fresh blood into the ageing wizarding world … What a shame I retired a few years in advance.” He stared at Felix with burning eyes, as if regretting that he had missed a treasure.
“Do you still keep in touch with those students?” Felix asked, from what little he had heard over the summer, this elderly gentleman lived in a rather isolated area.
“Alas, I had planned to hide away and avoid the spotlight. You know, it’s going to get messy out here soon, and I don’t want to mix with that dangerous bunch that much, but they certainly will find me … I have a feeling about that,” Slughorn said, “and that was when Dumbledore approached me.”
He looked somewhat indignant as he continued, “He wanted something from me, oh I can’t say exactly what it-” he shook the sugar icing that dripped in his fingers, “I’ve worked with him for very long and know his character well, he won’t stop until he gets what he wants. And he even brought a little one together to convince me!”
Felix smiled, he knew who that little one is, it was Harry.
” Well, since we are talking in private, I’ll just say this, it was a despicable move on his part.” Slughorn came over and whispered, in a knowing manner, “But it was brilliant, he poked me in the soft spot, I’m growing soft as I getting old, especially when dealing with the child of my favourite student …” he sighed deeply, his walrus moustache comically cocked up, “Incidentally, she’s also of Muggle origin.”
“Lily was a genius, quick-witted, resourceful, and knew how to pay back … Ever since she found out about my birthday, she sent a thoughtful gift every year, never belated, even after she graduated a gift would come. When I read in the paper that she had been killed, I knew that no one would gift me a warm knee pad again … Alas, as the saying goes, good people don’t live long.” He muttered, picking up his handkerchief and blowing his nose heavily.
Felix didn’t have a clue how to respond nor whether he should respond back, so he simply waited for him to change the subject.
“You don’t know how Dumbledore pries open other people’s mouths, do you? He made sure to bring me some wine on my birthday, and he claimed he was there to celebrate the occasion, but he couldn’t fool me, and I know what was on his mind! But I couldn’t say no to a nice dinner, even if it was from a person with an ulterior motive. … The worst part was that he used me and then dumped me. I asked him to introduce me to the other two youngest Order of Merlin recipients, but he kept brushing me off by saying I wasn’t a school professor, so I couldn’t bother them… …and he actually suggested that I should write them a letter!”
Slughorn looked indignant.
At that moment, Dumbledore appeared on the staircase and spoke in an amused tone of voice
“My dear Horace, I certainly have nothing against you. In fact, I’ve been approached by the press for some time to organize some interviews with them, but I’ve turned them all down in the name that it would interfere with their studies, and I don’t think it’s a good thing to let them know too soon that they have a sudden influx of admirers; it would muddle their little brains.”
Dumbledore said, handing him a package.
“Thanks,” Slughorn said with a rare smile and struggled to get up from his armchair to take the package. He grabbed a handful of Floo powder and sprinkled it into the fireplace, where a turquoise flame flared up. “I’ll be back, Dumbledore!”
Slughorn stepped one foot into the flames, and hesitated, then withdrew it as he fished a small vial out of his pocket and tossed it to Felix, “Pass it on to Harry Potter for me, and tell him it’s his belated birthday present.”
He stepped into the flames, holding the parcel, and disappeared with a very comical spin.
Felix looked at the thumb sized vial in his hand, it is the Felix Felicis. He casually put it away and looked at Dumbledore and asked in a deep voice, “Albus, I need to speak to you.”
“Is it about the Elder Wand?”
“You also saw today’s paper?” Felix asked.
“More than just today’s paper.” Dumbledore said.
“What?”
“I got in touch with some friends in France, Bulgaria, Norway, and even America this morning, and they told me they had seen similar articles as well, but not today, with the earliest reports dating back to a week ago.”
Felix furrowed his brow.
Well, Voldemort’s plan to kill three birds with one stone had been executed thoroughly, in his perception Voldemort’s purpose would be three, one to cause him some hassle and keep him occupied with other things for months, two to test the authenticity of the Elder Wand with the lives of others, and as for three, Voldemort may have harboured a hidden expectation that he and Dumbledore would fall out over this matter.
After all, it is possible that if he stayed at the school, some dark wizards would snoop around the school every other day, and it might be possible that Dumbledore would become unhappy because of it. If he is Voldemort, he absolutely would take this opportunity to control a few unlucky people to make a move to infiltrate the school, together with some public opinion campaign …
But with all this drama, Felix had a feeling that Voldemort might have other plans.
The school? The Ministry of Magic? Or the sword castle? He mentally mulled it over.
“Voldemort has finally found some work for the holed up Death Eaters.” He said sarcastically.
“This move certainly did catch us off guard, I’m sure we wouldn’t have been so passive if this news had been limited to England … by this time there could have been a number of people illegally infiltrating the country.” Dumbledore said, “I contacted Amelia, and she will be coming over later.”
Felix nodded.
” What are you going to do next?” Dumbledore asked.
“Two things … The first is to ask Ms. Bones to clarify the whole situation to the public; her word is more convincing than mine. With her as a witness, at least the British magical community will not be in chaos.”
“Makes sense.” Dumbledore said with a smile on his face.
“The second thing,” Felix’s eyes twinkled with a strange light, ” Let the news out that I have the means to prove the doubts of the outside world, and both native British wizards and ‘foreign’ wizards are welcome to ‘witness’ it. ” He added more emphasis to the word witness.
For a moment, he looked sharp.
The so-called witness was merely a euphemism for a challenge.
You claim I hold the Elder Wand, but I don’t even need it to defeat you, I can easily destroy all those who covet the power of the Elder Wand with just an empty hand. Felix grinned, revealing his sharp white teeth, he started to actually look forward to that day.
“Felix …,” Dumbledore paused.
“Don’t worry,” Felix glanced at him, “I won’t randomly take people’s lives if it’s possible, but don’t expect anything pleasant to happen to them either.” In truth, if this incident had happened to Voldemort, the dark shadows who think they’re strong would only envy and fear him more, but in his case, it would turn into a hassle.
He seemed to have stayed too low for a long while.
On British territory it would be alright, some of his ‘deeds’ circulated vaguely in the dark corners, so no one would seek him out lightly.
But in abroad, his name and reputation paled in comparison to here, well, not really, Felix thought, quite a few people had seen him in action at the Quidditch World Cup, but he just couldn’t say exactly how effective it would be.
The clock pointed to eleven o’clock when the flames in the fireplace rose high again.
Amelia Bones came out of it in a dusty state.
“You’re both here,” she froze for a moment, then spoke on, “It’s been confirmed that a group of people were indeed illegally entered, and Kingsley raided Knockturn Alley and Hogsmeade with an Auror squad and caught a dozen foreign wizards, two of whom are even wanted criminals on the run from other countries. ”
“The number in the shadows will only be higher.” Dumbledore said lightly.
“We think so too.” Ms. Bones said.
“There’s something wrong with the Daily Prophet – its editor-in-chief should be under an Imperius Curse.” Felix abruptly said.
“That’s right, we tested it with Thief’s Downfall, but Barnabas Cuffe doesn’t remember anything, and it’s hard to tell if it’s a sham.” Ms. Bones said, she paused and looked at Felix, “Mr. Hap, I was wondering, the wand you’re holding …”
Felix waved his hand and a black wand flew towards her.
“I did get a new wand custom-made by Mr. Ollivander – a replica of my first wand, thirteen inches, ebony, the only difference is that the wand core was replaced with my own hair.” Felix said as he made a please gesture.
Ms. Bones gave an apologetic expression, “Excuse me.” She picked up the wand and gave it a flick, the wand didn’t respond and was even resisting her magic.
“You should be able to spot the characteristics of it, extremely exclusive, and it serves no one but me,” Felix said softly, as he calmly opened his hand and the wand stiffly broke free from Ms. Bones’ hand and spontaneously flew over, circling him while emitting an excited buzzing sound.
“So you should also be able to tell that this is the perfect wand for me.”
Ms. Bones watched the scene in amazement and nodded subconsciously.
“Wait, your hair?” She looked at Felix with an odd expression on her face, “Do you have the bloodline of a magical creature? Oh, sorry, you don’t have to answer that …”
Felix looked black, this is the reason he didn’t want anyone else to know about his wand core material anymore, especially his acquaintances, like Sirius and Severus, despite the two’s opposite personalities, they are bound to reach some sort of consensus on the matter – in which he would be laughed out of.
“The reason for using my hair is related to my unique magical path.” He explained simply.
“I can testify to that.” Dumbledore said.
Bones assumed he was talking about unique magic and didn’t press the issue any further. The three of them discussed the matter for a while and finally came to an agreement.
“Oh yes,” Ms. Bones said as she left, “Tonks briefed me about the big golem guards at the Sword Castle, and I wandered around the gates of the castle and sensed how extraordinary they were … I wonder if the Ministry of Magic could procure a batch? ”
” Sure, I will speak to Remus about it.” Felix said, “But don’t expect too much from them, their present defence mechanism is relatively rigid, at best they can be used to function as a holding force.”
“Will it reduce combatant casualties?” Ms. Bones asked.
“Of course, it can.”
“That would be sufficient.” Ms. Bones said as she left through the fireplace.
Felix got up to say goodbye too, he had some preparation to do in the next few days for what would come next. He is rather optimistic, in his opinion, this is a good opportunity to promote the practical rune system and expand the influence of the ‘Future World’ company, it is up to him to decide exactly what to do.
Valen waved at Fawkes and Phoenix gave a proud cry.
As Felix walked to the door, Dumbledore hesitated and called out to him from behind, “Actually, I know where the Elder Wand is.”
Felix turned his head and looked at him deeply.
“It doesn’t matter anymore.” He said.
“Indeed.” Dumbledore nodded slightly, “The truth is the only thing that doesn’t matter in this encounter.”
“-but I’m still interested.” Felix added.
Dumbledore looked a little flabbergasted at his words, and after a few seconds, he shook his head, “Well, if you insist … it’s in my hands.”
At this time, after a morning of fermentation, the news in the newspaper had spread through the school, and the students were enthusiastically discussing the topic of the ” Top Ten Wands”.
————
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