harry potter book of crimes

I just mentioned Christmas to Harry and Ron last night, and early this morning, snowflakes were falling outside.

The first snowfall of this year seems to have fallen a bit late, but perhaps because it has been gathering momentum for a long time, the snow looks very impressive.

The morning had just passed and the little wizards were barely able to get up. Snow thick as the soles of their shoes had already accumulated on the lawn outside. And it looked like it would not stop in a short while.

Standing by the window and looking out, everything was white and it was hard to see very far.

The spider carcasses that almost covered the school courtyard yesterday have now been cleaned up.

Believe me, Professor McGonagall will not let the cleaning work delay for too long, because those valuable materials will be stored as additional activity funds for Hogwarts.

Maka thinks this is not bad. He just hopes that Professor McGonagall can remember that the venom needs to be collected as soon as possible, because if you don't care about it after death, they will dry up quickly.

Just when Maka stretched out and planned to check the class schedule and then perform his duties as a professor, he found someone coming towards him in the corridor outside the door.

There must be a lot of people coming to the floor where his office is located, because just around the corner from here is the library. However, there are definitely not many people passing by his office door.

"...It seems that I am destined not to be a good teacher." As the knock on the door rang, Maka couldn't help but shrugged and whispered to herself.

"Please come in!"

After he responded, the door to the office quietly opened with a wave of his hand, and then Professor McGonagall walked in from the corridor outside.

"McLean, I think you should tidy up your office." She glanced around and found that she couldn't even find Maka, so she couldn't help but remind her.

"Oh - of course, I will." Maka walked around the pile of information from behind the desk and came to Professor McGonagall, "Sorry, I plan to teach them today! Well, that's right, that's right.

so."

"No, no need—"

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and made a "don't count on you" look.

"I need your help with something else today..." The acting principal, who has always been serious and serious, has not changed much today. "Although it may be a little early, since the documents from the Ministry of Magic have been released, we should prepare early...

…”

"...Dolores Umbridge's appointment as professor will end this academic year, and we have to prepare for the next semester, I believe you understand."

Maka had naturally expected Umbridge to be taken back. Rather, it would be better to say that he, who controlled Umbridge with the Imperius Curse, was the only cause of this incident.

"Are you going to hire a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?" Macca said in slight surprise, "It's too early to say that, but it's really too early?"

"No, it's time to get ready," Professor McGonagall sighed slightly. "It's not easy at all to find a wizard who is both capable and willing to take on this position! In the past, Albus...sigh

, Albus has a wide network of contacts and can always find suitable candidates quickly, but I don’t know so many powerful people."

"Really?" Maka asked doubtfully, "Is it okay to let Professor Snape take up this position soon? I remember that he has always been obsessed with this subject!"

"Severus is best at Potions," Professor McGonagall shook her head. "These days, it's harder to find a Potions Master to be our Potions professor than to find a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

It’s going to be difficult.”

"Hmm... I remember, wasn't Professor Slughorn, who used to work at Hogwarts, also a very good potions scholar?" Maka thought for a while.

"Oh - don't mention him!" Professor McGonagall decisively rejected this bad idea. "Ever since Voldemort became powerful, he immediately found an excuse to resign. At that time, Albus personally went to persuade him, but that was not possible at all.

Useless!"

"...Is that so?" Maka nodded thoughtfully.

Did Dumbledore's premature death prevent "Horace Slughorn", an originally very important figure, from appearing on the scene?

No, maybe it’s not that difficult to get Slughorn back to Hogwarts!

"Professor," Maka thought for a while, "do you know where he lives? Maybe I can visit him... In fact, if you come to me this time, it is to ask me if I have anything good.

As for the choice... I can only say that it is a pity."

"Well..." Professor McGonagall pondered for a moment, and then said, "Okay! If you want to talk about potions knowledge, Slughorn is indeed a candidate who is not inferior to Severus - he is now

He should still be living in the village of Barberton, Devonshire..."

After she reluctantly told Maka the specific location, she shook her head again, seemingly not optimistic about Maka's trip.

As a former colleague, she knew very well what kind of... well, what kind of "glib" and vain old man Slughorn was.

Of course, leaving aside his slightly frivolous behavior when he was young, as he got older, his attention basically shifted to creating an excellent social circle.

Although the act of "always talking about one's students' achievements and showing them off to others" can be regarded as a teacher's self-confidence, if the showing off goes too far, the nature of the teacher will change a bit.

"...Anyway, if there is no hope, come back as soon as possible!" Professor McGonagall finally warned, "You still have classes scheduled for the afternoon! Don't forget your duty as a teacher!"

After Maka nodded in greeting, she turned around and left in a hurry.

"I remember that the old professor seemed to be a very interesting guy," Maka thought as she packed her things and prepared to set off to visit him immediately. "With him, Hogwarts should be able to

It’s a little more lively.”

…

It was actually quite early, and the snow had not stopped, and a thick layer of snow had already accumulated on the road.

Maka was walking on a straight and narrow street. The houses on both sides were neatly arranged, and she couldn't see clearly through the snow curtains.

You can still vaguely see the outline of a tall building in the distance, which seems to be a church with a bell tower. However, the view is really blurry, making it difficult for people to tell whether their guess is correct or not.

Maka passed by a closed tavern. There were still a few shallow footprints in front of the tavern that were not covered by the snow, extending straight ahead. It seemed that someone had been out here just now.

After looking around for a while, Maka turned the corner in front, passed a phone booth and a bus stop, and then found herself in another residential area.

When he continued walking for a while, it wasn't long before he stopped in front of a snow-covered iron gate of a garden. In the garden, a neat and bright house stood in the center.

Maka glanced at the iron door and found that Slughorn didn't seem to have the habit of locking the courtyard door, so she simply opened the iron door with a creak and walked in.

The lawn in the front garden was covered with snow, making it difficult to tell where the road was and where the grass was. He was here to invite someone today, so he couldn't accidentally trample on someone else's lawn, right?

After looking around, Maka waved her hand, and a whirlwind immediately swept up and piled the snow in the front garden to the edge of the road outside the garden.

After the front yard was cleaned, he walked straight to the gate along the path from the garden.

"Tuk-tuk-tuk...tuk-tuk-tuk..."

Maka stood in front of the door. No one answered the first knock, but when he knocked on the door for the second time, there was a slightly funny expression on his face.

He did feel that there was someone in the house, but the other person didn't seem to want to open the door to welcome his unexpected visit. And not only that, the most interesting thing was...

Maka moved his feet and ran through the garden extremely quickly, around the side of the house, and arrived at the back door of the house. The moment he stopped in front of the back door, the door was hurriedly opened from the inside.

"If the anti-Apparition spell is not permanent, it is basically meaningless; but if it is permanent, sometimes it is not so convenient!" He looked at the bald, fat old man who appeared at the door and smiled.

He said, "...I'm right, Mr. Slughorn?"

"...That's so right!" the fat old man muttered.

"Good morning, Professor Slughorn," Maka bowed formally and said politely, "I am currently the professor of ancient magic texts at Hogwarts -"

"——Maka McClane." Slughorn took over his words, "Yes, I know you! In other words, who among the British magical community who does potions doesn't know you?

The youngest genius pharmacist in history?”

"Oh - that's too much praise," Maka said humbly, "In front of a potion master like you, my achievements are not worth mentioning at all - you are an elite talent who has taught many outstanding wizards!"

"Hmm, haha... Do you know this too? It seems that although I have been living in seclusion for a long time, my reputation is still widely spread in the British magical community!"

Are you still "reclusive"?

After Voldemort was defeated, the fat old man immediately started wandering around the wizarding world again. Apart from always refusing to return to Hogwarts, what other things did he do less?

Not to mention participating in various activities of a political and economic nature, I have never been to private banquets held by various celebrities, and I have been working tirelessly to expand my "excellent" social circle.

"Of course, of course!" Maka said with a smile, "It is precisely because your reputation is 'widely spread' in the world that I took the initiative to invite you to come and visit you! You know, as a junior who loves potions, I have a lot of respect for you.

You have admired me for a long time——"

"... I wonder if I am lucky enough to be able to visit your home?" He stretched out his hand towards the back door and said with a calm smile.