harry potter book of crimes

"...That black eagle is so beautiful!"

Harry was startled by the sudden sound. He turned around in surprise, only to find a chubby short old man standing behind him.

That was obviously Horace Slughorn, who moved into Hogwarts Castle early because of Maka's invitation.

"Hello?" Harry said subconsciously, "Excuse me -"

Before he finished speaking, his eyes went over the fat old man's shoulder and stopped at the door that was opened again. There, Qiu Zhang from Ravenclaw College was walking into the shed with a package.

"Ah, Miss Zhang?" Harry immediately ignored the fat old man Slughorn, "Well...um...good morning!"

"Oh - you must be Harry Potter! Yes, it can't be wrong!" Slughorn's face must be as thick as the outer wall of Hogwarts Castle, and he didn't care at all about Harry's disregard.

, and even stretched out his hand to forcefully grab his shoulders, "It's so similar, you and your father look exactly the same -"

"Huh?" Harry was stunned for a moment. Seeing that Slughorn's slightly bloated head was taking his gaze seriously, Harry had to put his eyes back on the other person's face again, "Uh.

, you know me..."

"Yes, that's right!" Slughorn said happily, still unaware of Harry's little thoughts, "It's just that the eyes are not the same, right - your eyes -"

"Like my mother, I know." Harry said helplessly, "Many people have said that. I must have heard it at least ten times."

Behind Slughorn, Qiu Zheng glanced secretly here. But probably because Slughorn was acting too tough, she couldn't help but feel that it was best not to talk to Harry at this time.

Say hello so you don't get sucked in too.

"So... Sir, do you know my parents?" Harry was a little unable to move due to Slughorn's grasp. As a last resort, he had no choice but to continue asking.

"Oh - yes! James Potter and Lily Evans are both students I have taught. But...well, as a teacher, it stands to reason that you shouldn't have any preference for a certain student.

..." Slughorn said with some recollection, "But I just prefer your mother."

"Miss Evans, she is definitely the smartest among the students I have ever taught. She is kind, lively, and cute. She is a good girl who fascinates other boys."

"...In fact, I often told her that she should be assigned to my college. But the answers she gave me every time were not very polite-" Slughorn shook his head and said, "Well, it's a pity.

.”

"You used to be a professor at Hogwarts?" Harry asked in surprise, "Which house were you in?"

"Slytherin," Slughorn said proudly, "I was the Head of Slytherin House at the time."

"Oh, really?" Harry's interest immediately dropped.

"Hey, come on!" As soon as Slughorn saw the expression on Harry's face, he immediately shook his stubby index finger, "You must be a Gryffindor like her, right? I know.

Gryffindor and Slytherin have never gotten along well, but you'd better not be prejudiced against Slytherin because of this. Aren't they all in Hogwarts no matter which house they are?"

"Yeah, that's right." Harry agreed casually, without interest.

"Oops -" Slughorn obviously refused to give up, "Look! That...well, that MacLean, I remember he was sorted into Hufflepuff at first, right? But he is the same as you now

The Headmaster of Slytherin is very close——"

"So what?" Harry asked.

"Huh?" Slughorn was inexplicably surprised, "I thought you students of this generation should have great admiration for that MacLean - if he does this, shouldn't you set an example for him?"

"That's completely different from what you said!" Harry emphasized, "Maka never lets us blindly follow his footsteps. On the contrary, he often lets us try to think about problems on our own!"

Although they often get confused because of this - of course Harry will not mention this, because he understands that this is due to his own lack of ability.

"Ha, is that so?" Slughorn blinked, a hint of embarrassment flashed across his face, but it was quickly swallowed up by his shamelessness.

In fact, it was just a coincidence that he ran into Harry in the Owlery this time. But based on his personality and habits, he had actually set his sights on Harry right away.

To put it bluntly, Slughorn is a collector of outstanding talents. For a student like Harry who is known as the savior, he will never tolerate being missed.

For Maka, he already knew clearly that he would not be able to collect such an unprecedented super genius. But for Harry, he wanted to join his talent club every chance he got.

However, this accidental first face-to-face contact seemed to end in a bad ending.

After Harry said those words, he immediately said "I still have something to do" and walked around Slughorn and left the Owlery.

In addition to the fact that he didn't have much affection for the fat old man, there was another reason, and that was that Qiu Zhang had already left after sending the letter.

"Oh——, I'm sorry!" Harry hurried a few steps to catch up with the other party, "I'm so sorry just now. It's all because of that weird old man that I couldn't say hello to you properly!"

"Oh, good morning!" Qiu, who was walking on the spiral staircase, nodded politely and said, "It's okay, I should be the one to say sorry. That gentleman scared me... but who is he?"

"...Listen to what he said, um...it seems to be a professor from the past." Harry suddenly felt that his words seemed a bit unclear today.

"Oh, really?" Qiu blinked and said, "To be honest, I didn't expect that there would be someone in the shack so early... If I hadn't suddenly remembered that today is my mother's birthday, I wouldn't have woken up so early.

Just come here."

"Hmm...ah..."

Harry grunted in response, his mind in a mess.

Qiu Zhang is an Asian girl with long black hair. Her gentleness and beauty are obvious to all. But such a tender and beautiful girl is quite active on the Quidditch field. At Hogwarts

She is quite popular among students of all grades.

To put it bluntly, Harry actually wanted to use some funnier words to create some good atmosphere in order to wash away the unpleasantness he got from Slughorn.

But he found that all he could think about was the fat old man's big face.

"I mean...um...the weather," Harry suddenly stretched out his finger and pointed at the window next to the stairs. "The weather is really nice today?"

Oh my god! Why was he talking about the damn weather at this stall? While feeling embarrassed by his words, Harry felt his insides churn.

"Yes, it's a nice weather." Qiu covered her mouth and yawned, and said lazily, "Just right for Quidditch training... But to be honest, I was really tortured by McClain last night.

I’m a bit unmotivated!”

"Um……"

Harry nodded subconsciously, but Qiu seemed to have thought of something, and her sleepiness disappeared immediately. She glanced at Harry in a panic, and found that the other person didn't seem to notice the ambiguity in what she just said, and then she breathed a sigh of relief.

.

Or should we say that girls generally mature earlier than boys? This is especially obvious with Harry.

"By the way, will there be any changes to your Gryffindor team this year? I heard from my friend yesterday that someone proposed that you be elected captain!" In order to change the topic, Qiu randomly picked an interesting story and tried to cover it up.

"How is that possible?" Harry said without realizing it, and he was still hesitant. "Quidditch captain... um... aren't they always made by sixth- and seventh-year students?"

"Ha, I'm just saying..." Qiu said casually, "Actually, I don't think it's too much to make you the captain. You fly very well."

"She said I was great!"

This was the only sentence that ran through Harry's chaotic mind, and then he glanced at Qiu's face inadvertently, and was shocked to notice the lingering blush on the girl's cheeks.

"Oh!" Harry blinked and said in a panic, "Does she... like me?"

Because of this unintentional coincidence and the polite words a girl said to cover up her embarrassment, a heart flower named "Illusion" bloomed on Harry's bouquet of fresh flowers in love.

When the two people walked to the corridor leading to the west area of ​​the main castle with their own thoughts, Qiu said goodbye immediately, leaving Harry, who was slightly trembling in his heart, at the corner of the corridor.

"I'm heading this way... Well, goodbye then, Harry."

"Ah, oh...Okay, okay, bye."

Harry continued to walk forward, but his mind was filled with the beautiful smile that Qiu gave him when he and Qiu parted.

"No, no, no..." Harry shook his head vigorously, "As I have thought about before, now is not the time to talk about whether I like it or not! Even if Qiu likes me... Even if Qiu likes me..."

He muttered unsteadily, and finally tilted his head and murmured: "Even if... you like me? One of the most popular girls among boys, actually likes me in your heart? Merlin's... what?

…”

"Isn't that right?" Harry suddenly stared and said to himself, "Isn't she and Cedric——"

"What happened to Cedric?"

Suddenly, he was awakened by a familiar voice. When he came back to his senses, he finally realized that he had arrived in the auditorium without knowing it.

In front of him, Ron, holding a grilled sausage in his hand, was looking at him happily, with a greasy gloss on his lips.

"What are you thinking about?" Ron asked with a bulging mouth.