days at Hogwarts

“First, if you have any questions in class, raise your hand and ask them immediately.”

"Second, if you are asked a question you don't know, admit it honestly and don't hesitate and waste time."

"Third, don't plagiarize in your homework, otherwise I will refuse to mark it."

"..."

A little beyond the expectations of the little wizards, the rules set by this majestic professor were not so strict, just like an ordinary Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

Perhaps it was because of the long period of confinement that his vocal cords had deteriorated. Grindelwald's voice was a little hoarse, but it could be clearly heard by every student:

"I asked your headmaster Dumbledore about your studies over the past few years. I also looked through the exam papers of previous years and the homework that Professor Lupin left two years ago, and found some problems...

"Because of the frequent changes of professors, and the different teaching standards and uneven teaching levels of each professor, your basic knowledge is also very confusing. You have a good grasp of some knowledge related to dark magic creatures, but you are very weak in how to protect yourself when facing dark wizards..."

“The OWLs exam is only four months away, and your study tasks are very arduous.

"In view of your special situation, I have developed a review plan. Yes, a review plan. This means that in the next few months, you will not learn any new knowledge, but will review all the previous content to prepare for the upcoming exams..."

The slightly hoarse voice stated the next teaching plan in a leisurely manner, clearly showing the considerations and purposes of making the plan to the students. This feeling of equal respect between teachers and students made the eyes of the little wizards present light up slightly.

"Finally, let me ask you here, do you have any questions about this?"

"No!" everyone answered in unison.

"Then let's officially start the class."

Grindelwald smiled slightly, perhaps because he felt the young wizards' vigor and vitality, or because he was happy about their tactfulness. He twirled the wand in his hand and began to speak:

"In this class, we will learn about various dark magic creatures, including resurrected zombies, howling banshees, and inferi. All of the above creatures have one thing in common: they are basically transformed from dead bodies and are afraid of fire spells. As early as more than 17 years ago, there were records of resurrected zombies in ancient Egypt, but it was not until the th century that British wizards discovered their true nature. They are a kind of incorporeal dark magic creature that inhabits the undecayed corpse of a wizard and controls the corpse to carry out activities..."

The little witch's quill beside him rustled on the parchment, and Loren listened quietly. He vaguely remembered that Fiendfyre was Grindelwald's signature spell.

"Mr. Longbottom, please tell me, if we encounter a large group of howling banshees, how should we take correct protective measures?"

"Uh... concentrate on releasing the fire spell!" Neville answered in a panic.

"It's a good choice, but it's not entirely correct. Please remember, everyone here, no matter what group of dark magic creatures you encounter, the best way is to evacuate immediately and return to a safe place to seek help..."

Grindelwald's voice fluctuated slightly, and there was a sense of immersion in the story: "I once encountered a group of howling banshees in the Teutoburg Forest in the mountainous area of ​​Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany. There were about two to three hundred of them. After I released a powerful fire spell, their simultaneous roars formed a kind of resonance, which almost instantly extinguished the fire spell that I was so proud of..."

Grindelwald spoke slowly, his eyes a little empty, as if he was seeing those yellowed old memories through the thick stone walls.

That was seventy years ago.

The knowledge in this class was not new, and it might have been boring if taught by another professor, but the old man used those amazing adventure stories to instill the knowledge points into every student's mind.

If one had to point out something that was not satisfactory, it was probably that a certain little witch had not had the chance to answer questions throughout the entire class and was complaining silently in her heart.

……

"It's really confusing, isn't it? I want this professor to stay, but the job is cursed. No one can stay for more than a year, not to mention that Quirrell has lost his life..."

Ron muttered as they walked through the transfer of the first floor corridor to the Great Hall for dinner.

Harry was a little speechless: "If you don't speak, no one will think you are dumb."

Hermione's mind was full of the new knowledge she had just learned in class. She was in a daze and didn't even look at the road. She followed behind holding Loren's hand, muttering something from time to time, looking silly.

"Hey there!"

A rough but enthusiastic voice sounded behind them. Several people turned around and saw that it was Hagrid waving and greeting them: "How do you feel about the first day of the new semester?"

Loren and the others stood aside and responded to him: "Very good, how about you?"

"I'm fine. By the way, Grawp asked me to say hello to you..." Hagrid smiled happily, "He has a new home in the mountains. Dumbledore arranged a beautiful big cave for him. He is much happier than when he stayed in the cabin in the Forbidden Forest."

"Uh……"

As if sensing their hesitation, Hagrid puffed out his chest proudly, "I know what you are thinking, but I want to tell you that he has made great progress now. I am even considering training him to be my assistant. Come to my place to see how he is doing at the weekend. You will be surprised!"

Harry hesitantly said, "I'm sorry Hagrid, I'm afraid not this week. The new Professor Slughorn invited us to his event over the weekend."

Ron frowned slightly and fell into deep thought.

"Professor Slughorn, I know he...oh, all right."

Hagrid sighed depressedly, "I'll see you tomorrow then, during the first period after lunch. Come early so you can play with Fang for a while!"

Harry seemed to have thought of something. He looked up at Loren and Hermione and sighed imperceptibly.

At the Black mansion, he and Ron talked about the advanced classes for the next semester, and neither of them was willing to continue taking Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class.

How to tell them, Hagrid is fine, and the magical creatures are fine too.

It's just a little bit not easy.

Ron, who had been frowning from a while ago, suddenly looked up and said indignantly, "I remember now! Professor Slughorn invited the three of you, but only left me! He really doesn't know what's good, this is too much..."

Then came a series of complaints, such as "The Weasley family has a long history", "The Quidditch captain has a bright future", and "The old professor has been isolated for too long and has outdated information", which made others laugh uncontrollably and the air was filled with a happy atmosphere.

Lavender Brown seemed to find Ron's words particularly amusing, and she glanced over her shoulder at him as she passed them.

Ron looked very pleased with himself.

……

Saturday night.

Loren handed Hermione a mail-order box of strawberry magic wands, a new product improved from the licorice magic wand, with strawberry flavor, sour and sweet. It was said that the taste completely simulated strawberry pulp. Loren couldn't taste it, but seeing Hermione enjoying the meal, he felt happy too.

"If something tastes like strawberries and has the texture of strawberries, why don't we just eat strawberries?"

"I'm too lazy to care about you."

"Tsk, bad girl, we've only been together for a short time and you don't want to pay attention to me anymore."

"..."

Hermione rolled her eyes and said nothing. She knew that the more she argued with this man, the more complacent he would become. If she left him alone, he would return to normal after a while.

Loren muttered something strange, grabbed the last strawberry wand, threw it into his mouth and chewed it, "Do you like this flavor? Let's stock up on some when we go to Hogsmeade next month."

"No." Hermione ate the remaining half of the candy. "Delicious food should be limited. If you are not restrained, you will get tired of it soon, especially candy."

"Leave it here with me. I'll give you a limited amount."

"No."

"why?"

"Hmph..." Hermione put the last piece of candy into her mouth and licked the remaining syrup on her lips. Her pink tongue left a slightly shiny luster. "You have no principles. As long as I beg you a little, you give up your bottom line."

Loren silently withdrew his gaze and retorted with a weak voice: "Slander, slander, and rumor!"

"..."

The two of them chatted about all sorts of things, from last year's movies to the June exam, from chocolate to the thawing Black Lake. Those ordinary things became inexplicably vivid at this moment, as if there were countless topics worth discussing in every aspect, just like the philosophy of Socrates.

After walking through the empty and quiet corridor on the third floor and turning two corners, the classroom where the Slug Club meets is not far ahead.

At this moment, Ron, who had been walking in front, suddenly turned around and asked nervously, "Loren, can I really go to the event? I mean, I wasn't invited by him. What if he kicks me out in front of everyone... Oh, Merlin..."

"Don't worry, if all else fails you can go in as Harry's companion. Professor Slughorn will understand."

Neville and Harry beside them couldn't help laughing.

Only Ron had a resentful expression; he always felt that this "understanding" had a deeper meaning.

"..."

Among a row of abandoned classrooms with closed doors and windows, the clean, brightly lit classroom with open doors stood out, not to mention the hearty laughter of Slughorn coming from the room.

They walked into the classroom and saw some students from various colleges sitting at the round table. Slughorn was sitting at the main seat.

He jumped up when he saw the men. His shiny head reflected the light, and the remaining hair on his temples and his silver beard were meticulously groomed. His velvet clothes were bulged by his big belly, and the gold buttons on his waistcoat were stretched tightly.

"You are finally here, my dear children! Harry, Loren, Hermione, Neville and..."

His gaze rested on the red-haired Ron, and his brows furrowed slightly.

Just as Ron looked away and wanted to leave, Loren smiled gently and said, "This is Ron, the Weasley kid. I heard that the professor has connections in many fields, so I came to see for myself."

"This……"

"Because their family has connections in many fields. For example, the Weasley family's eldest son, Bill, works at Gringotts. The second son is a senior dragon trainer in Romania. The third son works at the Ministry of Magic and has a close relationship with the Minister's Assistant Bertha Jorkins, who is currently in the limelight..."

As Loren introduced him, Slughorn's eyes became brighter and brighter. In the end, he stared at Ron with shining eyes and said with a warm smile, "Oh, welcome, little guy. I think we will have a lot of common topics!"

He held Harry with one hand and Ron with the other, and pulled them to sit down next to the main seat. Loren and Hermione looked at each other, and tacitly found an inconspicuous empty seat to sit down.

Loren glanced at the other invited guests and found many familiar faces: Draco, Nott, Rolf, McLaggen, Zabini, Sybil...

"Well, you should know each other, right? Maybe I should introduce you to each other."

Slughorn smiled widely. "This is Rolf Scamander. I had the honor of meeting his grandfather Newt, the compiler of your textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It's a pity that he left Hogwarts very early, otherwise we might have gotten to know each other for a while... Don't think that he was expelled from school. Talented people are like this, they act freely and unrestrainedly."

"I'll pass on your compliments, sir." Rolf's smile was full of helplessness.

"That couldn't be better!"

Slughorn said in surprise, and then he recounted the several times he and Newt had met by chance. After a few minutes, he said to another person with lingering feelings:

"Marcos Belby, maybe you have passed each other countless times in the halls and corridors, but from now on you have a reason to greet each other, because you are both members of the Slug Club... I had the honor of teaching his uncle Damocles, a very outstanding wizard, very outstanding, and he absolutely deserves the Order of Merlin. Do you see your uncle often, Marcos?"

"No...I don't see him that often."

"Yes, of course. I bet he must have been very busy. He must have put a lot of effort into inventing the wolfsbane potion, right?"

"I think... yeah... that's it. He and my dad don't have a great relationship, so I don't actually know."

"..."

Slughorn immediately stopped smiling and turned his gaze to the next person: "Look, this is Cormac, a sixth-year Gryffindor."

"Cormac, you may think we have never met before, but you would never have guessed that I knew your uncle Tiberius. What a coincidence, he has a wonderful photo of the two of you hunting the giant tail beast in Norfolk, right?"

"Oh, yes, it was great fun, and we went with Betty Higgins and Rufus Scrimgeour, before he became Minister, of course."

"Oh, you know Betty and Rufus? Tell me about them..."

Another five minutes passed, and Slughorn introduced the next person with satisfaction:

Blaise Zabini, his mother is a well-known "legendary witch" in the magic world. She has been married seven times. Each husband died mysteriously and left her a large inheritance.

Just like a trial, Judge Slughorn pronounced the verdicts one by one.

Neville, who comes from an Auror family; Susan Bones, whose aunt is a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Magic; Marietta Edgecombe, whose mother works in the Department of Transportation...