Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 276 Memory in Ice Cubes

The long-term holding of the Teachers' Commendation Ceremony means that, at least this year, students have another course, and all the content of this course is related to ancient magic.

This is already considered a very partial care. Even if it does not really occupy students' class time, with the encouragement of college points, students will have to pay attention to this long-term activity.

Therefore, Harry's guess actually makes sense.

If Professor Hemmer hadn't controlled Dumbledore, how could the principal have announced such a decision?

But in fact, Harry still looked up to Toby and looked down on Principal Dumbledore.

The reality was completely different from what he imagined.

——

Just earlier today, there was a knock on the principal's office door.

"Please come in."

Toby walked in happily, alone, with an uncontrollable smile on his face, but the witch robe looked messy, which didn't look good.

Dumbledore didn't know who he was writing to. He raised his head and glanced at Toby, then lowered his head again and asked him: "Don't tell me that the first thing you did after waking up was to find Sev."

Les' trouble. Even when you were in school, the two of you have never had so many conflicts. At most, you just don't like each other."

"You can't blame me entirely." Toby smoothed back his messy hair and said, "I just asked him about the content of the article he was going to publish, and I gave some opinions by the way. Who would have thought

He would be so angry."

Dumbledore asked without raising his head: "So what is your opinion?"

"About ancient magic and shampoo." Toby said proudly: "Smooth hair spray, if my guess is correct, this shampoo also uses an ancient magic potion formula, which is perfect.

"

Dumbledore raised his head again. He stared at Toby quietly for a while. Toby's smile slowly faded and he had no choice but to say: "Okay, I want to know how he learned how to be a devil.

What was he thinking when he summoned the devil? Although he has already said that it was all because of me. It was because of my attempt to kill Petunia that Lily learned to love. Otherwise, Lily might have survived.

, but - these reasons alone cannot convince me, I have to figure it out."

"Your curiosity is too strong." Dumbledore shook his head slowly and said, "I hope you can understand that not everyone is willing to take the initiative to reveal their inner scars, and not every wizard can do it like you.

Deceiving yourself.”

"That's why I look down on him." Toby curled his lips and said, but soon smiled again: "By the way, principal, have you heard? All the professors, I mean all the professors in the school, they all

I am willing to share articles related to ancient magic, I really did not teach these students in vain."

"New things always arouse people's interest." Dumbledore said in an appreciative tone: "At this point, you have indeed brought a lot of changes to Hogwarts, and they are still good.

This is really rare.”

"I'll just pretend you're not mocking me." Toby looked at the portraits on the wall with an indifferent attitude and frowned secretly.

Just as Dumbledore was about to continue writing the letter, he suddenly found that Toby was still in the office with no intention of leaving.

"Do you want a glass of the most delicious lemonade?" Dumbledore asked calmly, "Or do you have other troubles waiting for me?"

"How can you say it's trouble?" Toby waited for Dumbledore to take the initiative to ask questions. He immediately said: "Headmaster, I thought of a good idea -"

"Wait a minute." Dumbledore interrupted before Toby could express the idea: "Don't tell me that you plan to start teaching the students about devils now. I think we should all reach a consensus on this matter -

-This kind of magic should not appear in Hogwarts, let alone be exposed to students - unless we have truly understood it and understood the devil."

Dumbledore's guess was not too wrong, and Toby immediately answered: "But who else knows the devil better than me? Don't you believe me until now? In order to teach the students ritual magic, I asked

They made two full years of preparations in advance, isn’t that enough?”

"If it's the devil, it's not enough." Dumbledore said decisively.

Unexpectedly, Toby didn't persist any longer.

"Okay." He returned to his indifferent attitude: "I don't want to argue with you at this time, lest I get kicked out of school again, and I don't want to drink another glass of Gamp.

——But these are not important, and the idea I am thinking about has nothing to do with the devil, but with time."

He explained with a serious face: "According to the original plan, the results are usually announced before Christmas. Any later will not work. For example, during the Easter holidays, exams are already approaching, and students complain the most about professors.

At that time, it was difficult to get a normal result. So, I thought about whether I could continue to postpone it and arrange the time for the dinner at the end of the semester. Anyway, the winner of the College Cup will be announced by then, and one more most popular professor will be announced.

It’s nothing. And this activity happens to be related to students’ extra points, so it would be more appropriate to announce it together.”

After listening to Toby's idea, Dumbledore was silent for a while.

The idea sounds good, and if announced at Christmas, it would indeed shorten the final voting period for students. Until then, few students will actually learn anything from the event.

However, the person who proposed this idea was Toby Highmore, who was also Dumbledore's best-known student.

"Let me think about it." Dumbledore said slowly: "Toby, I know that you are unwilling to give up ancient magic, and you are even willing to let students prepare for two years in advance before officially teaching ritual magic.

So, can I now think that this is also your preparation for teaching students about devils? After all, all the reports published by professors are related to ancient magic, and this can be regarded as adding an extra course for you."

"If you think about it carefully, can this be considered an exam? When any student passes the exam content in all the articles, are they qualified to study the devil?"

Under Dumbledore's gaze, Toby suddenly fiddled with the top on the table. He lowered his head, said nothing, and fiddled with it back and forth with his fingers.

It seems that Dumbledore guessed correctly, this is what Toby really thinks.

Devil is a magic that students should not be exposed to, but if Toby were to teach it, nothing would be impossible as long as they are fully prepared.

Even without guessing, you know that this is completely different from Dumbledore's educational philosophy. He would not let students be exposed to such dangerous magic at all - of course, Harry and Cedric are two exceptions.

One of them is related to Horcruxes, and the other one is.

When he learned that Cedric was going to study demons, Dumbledore personally talked to the student and told him all the pros and cons.

But Cedric refused the principal's persuasion.

It was obvious that he was very panicked at the time, but surprisingly he persisted.

"Professor Heimer also told me that the idea of ​​making a self-casting wand is completely unfeasible. He has tried it many times, and every time he failed."

"Then why are you so insistent?"

"Because Professor Heimer is doing the same thing. Some of his ideas are very scary, but I don't see him giving up, not even once. And Professor Heimer has paid a much more serious price than me.

All the students in the school thought it was a miracle that he survived. But I haven't even encountered a miracle yet."

At this moment, still in the same position, Dumbledore and Toby were in a stalemate.

Fox turned his head uneasily, and all the portraits fell silent, leaving only the sound of the spinning top in the room.

After a while, the top suddenly floated up on its own and landed on the shelf nearby.

"Can."

After Toby raised his head, Dumbledore looked into his eyes and said, "I can agree to your request. But before that, there is one thing I must understand."

"What is it?" Toby asked, suppressing the raised corners of his mouth.

"Ice that will never melt."

Dumbledore was not going to delay any longer. He mentioned Toby's most important collection: "I need to see for myself what the memories in it are. I think you should also be able to understand that everything is

It started from that memory, and this is the only reason I don’t know why you changed so much. I have to ensure the safety of the students, Toby, and your safety."

Toby was stunned, and then he actually laughed.

"You know, I made a bet with Al before I came back. The bet was on how long it would take for you to ask me to release that memory. The bet was four years, and I almost won.

It’s more than half a year away, but looking at it now, tsk tsk tsk.”

Toby put on his proud expression again: "Now he can no longer clamor to be a professor."

"Is there still such a thing?" Dumbledore asked with interest: "Did you also promise Al that he would be a professor in the school? You should know that this is the power of the principal, right?"

"Of course I know." Toby raised his eyebrows and said: "But I know better that you will definitely not be able to bear it. Okay, principal, you will announce this decision at breakfast later, and then I will take you

Let’s see what that memory is. It’s not a big deal, it’s just that the way to take it out will be a little more troublesome.”

"I'm looking forward to it," Dumbledore said slowly.

——

At this moment, after eating breakfast, Toby, Dumbledore, and Al, who was lying on the flying carpet with his stomach raised, walked back to the Ancient Magic Office.

Toby kept talking to Al on the way: "Why did you eat so much just now? Do you want to stretch yourself to death? It's just that you lost the bet, and you will have another chance in the future."

Al turned over with great effort, not wanting to pay attention to him.

At this time, Dumbledore suddenly said: "I discovered something very interesting, and maybe I should tell you about it - looking at Al's current appearance, he is not much different from you before, and he has the desire to teach.

Toby, could such similar behavior be a coincidence? Speaking more carefully, I still don’t know Al’s origins.”

Toby immediately strode forward and kept shouting: "We are about to arrive at the principal, just wait and see, that memory will definitely surprise you."

Almost at the same time, Al stopped losing his temper. The flying carpet underneath him flew smoothly, quickly surpassing Toby and getting further and further away from Dumbledore.

Fortunately, Dumbledore did not continue to ask questions, which made both of them breathe a sigh of relief.

Soon, they all rushed to the Ancient Magic Office. The two skeletons were guarding the ice on the left and right. One of the skeletons didn't have a head because it was made into a necklace for communication and placed in Harry's box.

There, this is what happened after the trio divined what would happen to Sirius, so that Harry could notify Toby in time when Sirius appeared again.

As for what happened next, what I didn't expect was that Sirius was actually found, and was even groped for the fireplace in Hogwarts by his pursuers. This made Toby very angry, and he decided to catch him regardless.

Kingsley, interrogate him carefully before talking about it.

Then Toby was stopped by Dumbledore, and the news of Kingsley's death was published in the "Evening Prophet" that night. This was obviously a trick used by Kingsley to escape, just like Sirius's "corpse"

"It means the same thing, but it's all false.

But Dumbledore also hinted to Toby that he sent his brother Aberforth to investigate this clue, but he didn't know when he would get a reply.

Now, Dumbledore was standing in front of the ice that would never melt, looking at the cold air that was constantly emanating from its surface and the dark shadows inside - that was Toby's memory.

"How are you going to take it out?" Dumbledore asked, "Do you need help?"

"I'm not looking down on you, principal." Toby said: "You can't take out this memory just by relying on flames or something. This is ice that will never melt. Although I haven't tried it myself, I guess even if it is

Li Huo won't do it either."

"Are you sure?" Dumbledore asked, "Have you really never tried it yourself?"

"I thought you would ask if the thing about Li Huo is true. It is a fire that can burn everything." Toby said dissatisfied: "But I really haven't tried it, and I really don't know how to use Li Huo."

.Otherwise, once I can’t help but use it, won’t those ancient ruins be burned clean? What else is it called archeology? This is a very careful job, and ordinary wizards cannot do it, unless they are

Ace Curse Breaker."

"Only the ace curse-breaker knows how to remove this memory from the ice that will never melt."

As soon as he finished speaking, the armor that trapped the devil walked into the office and faced the two of them.

Toby walked over and patted the devil on the shoulder hard and said: "It's not it, but the devil it trapped. It is almost incorporeal, and it is also used by me as the key to take away my memory."

"Fortunately, principal, you are here, otherwise I would not have completely released it again."

"Thorough?" Dumbledore keenly noticed the words Toby used: "Do you mean, even more thorough than in the class where you and Severus faced off?"

"I knew this matter couldn't be hidden from you." Toby said: "Yes, that's right. Although I released the devil in that class, I also left some restrictions so that it could not escape.

It’s too far away. But this time it’s different. It must be released without any reservation.”

"Besides, I said this is an ice cube that will never melt. An ordinary devil cannot become a key. It must be a humanoid devil. It is also the only key in the entire magical world."

After saying this, the two people looked at each other silently, and Al had already secretly hidden while they were not paying attention.

"You know I won't agree." Dumbledore said tiredly: "I will not allow such a dangerous existence to appear in the school, especially when you have clearly warned me - the only humanoid

The devil, no one knows what he is capable of."

"You are right about this." Toby said slowly: "Even I don't know - because I had fainted at that time, and it was Al and Angela who rescued me together. In addition, I had already fainted.

, it is worth mentioning that it was not me who trapped this humanoid devil in the armor, but the magic that existed in the temple. That experience was really dangerous, and I almost didn't survive."

The armor stood motionless, and I don't know if it had any reaction to the conversation between the two. Perhaps only Al understood - this was Toby teasing Dumbledore.

He can indeed take out the memory, but the price he pays will be unimaginable. No one knows what this humanoid devil will do in Hogwarts, and whether it can be successfully imprisoned again.

"So you never thought about taking out this memory?"

"Yes, principal, I never thought about it. It's better to forget about it."

"Compared to this devil? Who is more dangerous?"

Faced with this question, Toby said without hesitation: "Of course it is memory. In front of it, no matter how many devils there are, they are not worth mentioning."