Chapter 523

“The same arrogance, ego, self-righteousness, lack of discipline, love to be in the spotlight, nosy, rude -” Snape looked at the three distant figures, his gaze firmly fixed on Harry, his eyes burning with bitter hate.

” Well, if we judge him by Slytherin standards, he really isn’t very appealing. Well, all three of them.” Felix said softly, “But as you have heard, they only heard the last few sentences, with no beginning … that is why I said to them that we were talking about my new wand, and I gave it a fairy tale name.”

Snape did not speak. His dark eyes still gazed at Harry’s back, and from this angle, he looked like his father.

After a moment, he spoke coldly: “Felix, I will pass on the information about your wand to that person.”

Felix answered calmly, “I have this expectation, you can decide how much to say by yourself.”

“You think I can make the call?” Snape left after dropping a sentence disgruntledly, his black robe tossed, through the curtain of rain. As his figure blurred.

…

“Tough luck.” Ron muttered as he stomped up the steps.

“Oh, stop it-”

They stood at the door of the Staff Room, Harry knocked on the door moodily, hoping from the bottom of his heart that no one will be inside, the seconds of waiting seemed like years, and finally a familiar voice heard from inside Saying, “Please come in.”

Not exactly what he had hoped for, Harry heard two sighs, he plucked up the courage and pushed open the door as he walked in. It is a long room, a soft glow draped from the ceiling, the room is a little warmer than outside, probably because of the fireplace in the corner. Professor McGonagall looked up from the stack of parchment, her sharp eyes peering over from under her squared glasses.

“Potter, Weasley, Granger, what can I do for you?”

“We were asked to come and see you because … of some mistakes.” Harry handed over the note in his hand and Professor McGonagall frowned as she took it. The note is glued together, an Order of the Phoenix trick and her eyebrows furrowed deeper as she removed her wand and tapped on it, and the note opened automatically.

Professor McGonagall read it quickly and did not speak for a short while after reading it.

“Is this true?” She said, “Eavesdropping on a Professor’s conversation?” In addition to explaining the process in general, the note mentioned in cryptic handwriting the context in which the conversation was taking place; the two were talking about confidential information related to the Order of the Phoenix.

“We didn’t mean to,” Harry said, “I – uh, we went out for some air after lunch and-“Professor McGonagall grunted, so Harry explained everything that happened ten minutes or so back stiffly-

“Did you hear that? Sirius’s class was quite popular.” Hermione said musingly, as she along with Harry and Ron had just come out of the great hall, to get some fresh air.

“He said he wanted to keep it a secret,” Harry sounded indignant, kicking his feet, ” saying it’s a surprise, but we won’t have his class until tomorrow. I’m NOT looking forward to it anyway.”

Hermione and Ron laughed.

“What’s wrong?” Harry looked at them somewhat puzzled.

“You sound like a little kid who had a fight with his parents … watch out!” Hermione said as a first-year stumbled over and almost ran into them.

“Running is forbidden in the castle, you’ll bump into other people.” Hermione first said sternly, and then her tone gentled down, ” What’s the matter?”

The freshman’s eyes looked frightened as he looked back as though someone is chasing after him.

The trio looked at each other in wonder.

“Hey, little one, we are Prefect, if someone bullies you, feel free to speak up,” Ron puffed out his chest, making the Prefect badge on his shirt a little more conspicuous, “I have the right to detain and deduce points … ”

“Come on, Ron, we can’t abuse that right.” Hermione said seriously, she looked at the freshman, who said with a look of shock, “I, I just met the Potions class professor in the yard, he had such a scary look in his eyes!”

“Did you not figure that out on your first day? … Well, it’s true though.” Ron muttered.

“Professor Snape … Well, he’s really strict,” Hermione said slowly: “If he reprimands you for no apparent reason, you don’t have to take it to heart- ”

“Yeah, well, you’ll have plenty of such bad days in the future.” Ron added. And when Hermione’s eyes darted over, he immediately shut up, and when her attention returned to the new student, he began to wink at Harry, who felt that Ron had said both sentences rather accurately.

“No, no, Professor Snape is talking to another professor, and I guess … they don’t want to be disturbed.” The freshman turned red and stammered, his eyes watered as he finished, before turning to run away.

…

“So you guys wanted to figure out what had happened?” Professor McGonagall asked in a stern voice.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded woodenly.

“We’re Prefects, we always, always have to …” Ron scratched his ear as Professor McGonagall glanced at him, “With all due respect, Mr. Weasley, there is nothing in the Prefects’ Code that explains your behaviour today, let alone the fact that this isn’t your first time.”

The bell rang and Professor McGonagall stood up, shoving the parchment from her desk into a drawer, “I fully agree with Professor Snape, points deducted …” she pursed her lips, “as well as detention, which starts from this week –”

Harry and Ron looked up in horror as they thought about the same thing, Quidditch selection on Friday afternoon.

“– every Saturday night until lights out, you need to process Potions materials until the end of the month.”

After that, they got kicked out by Professor McGonagall, Ron rambled the whole way as they hurried towards the Potions classroom, “Late again, I bet that old bat is definitely going to trouble us … Why Professor McGonagall didn’t speak up for us, Snape is totally making a big deal out of it. Well, he’ll be happy, since there is someone to help him with the potion materials this new term …”

Harry’s stomach turned up a little abruptly, his mind recalled the gloomy chamber, the gutted toads, the smoky Mandrake root and Peppermint, the Horseradish, and the Mucus of Flobberworm, the organs of Bats and Rats, the slimy slugs … his scalp tingled.

They dragged their heavy feet back to the common room by evening.

“I told you, Snape is not going to let us off easily, deduction of ten points each for being late, and aren’t we late because of him… Together it’s close to two hundred points.” Ron’s wail is about to catch up with the Moaning Myrtle, they listlessly went to the most isolated seat in the common room.

Harry and Hermione aren’t in the best spirits either.

“What do you guys think, can we deduct points from the other houses?” Ron asked out of the blue, neither of the other two paid him any mind, and both Harry and Hermione are accustomed to Ron’s daily unreliable suggestions that he would abandon on his own sooner or later.

“We can’t do that, not to mention the fact that you have to write a whole bunch of reports.” Hermione finally couldn’t resist the urge to correct.

“If it’s Malfoy’s gang …” Ron’s eyes sparkled, then the light dimmed, “Oh yeah, I forgot he’s also a Prefect.”

At that moment, Harry, who hadn’t spoken, suddenly asked.

“That story … the one that Professor Hap picked the name for his new wand from, is called The Tale of the Three Brothers, right, well, is it famous …”

“Just like thunder, man, I grew up listening to it.” Ron said without thinking, “It’s a short story from the Tales of Beedle the Bard.”

“Wait, I think I’ve seen that name somewhere, Beedle the Bard – Bee …” Harry said slowly, looking subconsciously at Hermione, usually around this point, Hermione will always be able to give the exact answer.

But this time Hermione also showed a pondering expression.

“Have you really seen it, Harry?” She asked.

Harry returned a look of obvious confusion.

Next to her, Ron stifled a laugh and said, “That’s a rare thing. Even Miss Know-it-all can’t find an answer one day.”

Hermione glared at him, “If you know, say it quickly.”

But Ron enjoyed this process immensely, so he shook his head for a while: “Think of something that both Harry and I know, well – something that is accessible and that you happen to miss – ”

Hermione’s eyes seemed to become as confused as Harry’s.

But Harry on the other hand had a clue, definitely not something related to study, because Hermione would not leave any corner of the textbook or reference book, she just had that ability. Then it could only be something he and Ron had seen while killing time …

“I remember,” Harry’s eyes lit up and Hermione immediately stared at his face. He said in an affirmative tone, “It’s The Strange Case of Mick the Little Wizard, it’s mentioned there, but I can’t remember exactly where it is.”

“But I’ve read … a few volumes too.” Hermione slowly came back to her senses as she and Harry looked together at Ron, who still wanted to play hard to get, but being stared at by both of them at the same time, he immediately threw up his hands in surrender.

“Well, it is in the last book: the young wizard Mick’s friend is in danger, and in the moment of crisis he used his magic – and thus exposed his wizard identity. Mick is sad because while he received his Hogwarts notice, he also has lost a group of friends. But on the day Mick leaving, his friends returned, without caring if he is a wizard or not, and sincerely wished him well. After that Mick told his friends the story ‘The Wizard and the Hopping Pot’.”

Ron finally nailed it down, “That’s where the name ‘The Tales of Beedle the Bard’ is mentioned, just once.”

“That’s very helpful.” Harry complimented.

Ron grinned.

Hermione still mulled over what he had said earlier, “What is The Wizard and the Hopping Pot… is about?”

This put Ron in a difficult spot, he thought about it and stammered: “Probably about … well, a kind old wizard died, he was very kind to Muggles when he was alive, always helping people as much as possible, the neighbours all loved the old man. But his son wasn’t like him, so the old wizard left an enchanted pot before he died – the old man must have been an alchemist, ahem, I’ll go on – and after the old man died, his son refused to help the poor neighbours anymore, in short, he was quite stone-hearted, and then the pot began to torment the old man’s son, making him lose his sleeppetite, thus the son decided to comply with his father’s wishes and continue to do what he could to help his neighbours.”

Ron said everything under one breath, so he panted a bit, and after taking two deep breaths, he finally concluded, “I guess the story is trying to convey that wizards can live in peace with muggles and help each other … that was what my mom said.” He lastly added.

Hermione stared at him.

“Don’t look at me, I was only a few years old then, so it is impressive that I can remember a bit.” Ron said.

“But-” Hermione questioned, biting her lip, as she remained puzzled, “I failed to see any sense of peace and harmony in it- I mean, the old wizard must have figured out his son’s nature, so he forced his son to do the good deed, under the compulsion of that pot.”

Ron shrugged, “I dunno.”

At that moment, a voice suddenly interjected, “Don’t give him a hard time, he was drooling over his teddy bear back then.” Fred and George came over gleefully, “Sold seven Extendable Ears. The very first day of school!”

“You guys still short of money?” Harry asked.

“That’s not true,” Fred said with a big grin as he sat down next to him, “but we need some testers who can give feedback about our product.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Like you did with the quick-thinking candy?” Hermione asked sternly.

“What?” Fred questioned in surprise.

“I saw it all! You guys posted the announcement about recruiting testers on the bulletin board, and if I hadn’t noticed it when I went to post the list of assessment spells-” Her mouth pursed up, her expression resembling Professor McGonagall’s.

Fred and George looked at each other.

“It won’t be long before you will change your mind, Hermione.” George said dismissively, “You’ll definitely use it, this is your O.W.Ls year, and every year there are a few breakdowns, no one will be ok, the better their grades the easier they will suffer … remember, Shelton carried an onion flavoured amulet at that time? ”

“Of course, I remember,” Fred said with a straight face, “after all, we sold it to her, but unfortunately, the concentrated solution of the Elixir to Induce Euphoria does not seem to coexist well with onions.” He stood up and tilted his head towards George, “Come on, let’s go find Lee, there might be something on his end-”

At the sight of Hermione looking at him with exasperation, so he shut his mouth alertly and fluidly changed the subject, “Oh, by the way, about your previous question, George and I also asked at that time – Dad said that there are always good and bad wizards, that’s why people like him exist. ”

“You mean–” Hermione asked hesitantly.

“At that time Dad was making laws to protect Muggles.” George said briefly and concisely. While Hermione pondered, as the two left together.

Harry is now feeling conflicted, on one hand, Mr. Weasley’s practice of protecting Muggles through laws is as admirable as the old wizard in the fairy tale who restricted his son with a pot; but when these words came out of Fred and George’s mouths, it always felt slightly odd, especially with their sneaky backs …

As he lay on his four-poster bed, he tossed all those messy thoughts aside. The possibility of listening to Sirius’ class tomorrow filled his heart with anticipation.

————

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