Magical Studies at Hogwarts

Harry was dumbfounded as he watched this fat, bald old man staggeringly stand up from the sofa. The bloated sofa cover on his body turned into a very straight suit in the blink of an eye, and he looked very elegant.

However, the action of still rubbing his belly makes his temperament look a bit funny.

"How did you tell?" he asked while rubbing his belly.

"The Dark Mark, my dear Horace." Dumbledore squinted his eyes and smiled, "If they are really Death Eaters, they will definitely leave the Dark Mark on the roof."

"Ah, that's it, I actually forgot..." He muttered, "I said I felt like something was missing, but I didn't have enough time."

He pulled out his wand. Seeing this, Dumbledore also took out his wand and asked, "Do you need help?"

"Of course, it couldn't be better."

The two stood back to back, waving the wands in their hands in the same rhythm, and the messy scene in the room suddenly changed. It was like pressing the reverse button, and the furniture flew back to its original position one by one. The floor was scattered.

The glass, feathers, clock face and pendulum, as well as the broken books, have all been restored to their original state, staying neatly where they should be.

In just a moment, the living room became extremely tidy, and even the horrible blood stains on the wall were cleaned up.

"This is indeed much better." Dumbledore nodded, "By the way, what kind of blood is that?"

"Fire dragon blood." Horace replied, "It's my last bottle. It's hard to get it now. Of course..."

As he spoke, he sighed and his eyes wandered around the room. Only then did he notice Harry and Hermione, especially the lightning scar on Harry's forehead, which shocked him even more.

"Hey!" He pointed at Harry, but looked at Dumbledore next to him, and his tone was a little unkind.

"You think you can convince me with this?"

"Albus, I tell you, it's impossible!"

Dumbledore was not annoyed, and said with a smile on his face: "I forgot, I haven't introduced you yet."

"This is Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger... Harry, Hermione, this is my old friend and colleague, Horace Slughorn."

"Impossible! Impossible! Albus, impossible!" Horace's eyes widened and he kept chanting, turning his back and not looking at Harry and Hermione.

Seeing this, Dumbledore smiled and patted his shoulder and said, "I think, no matter what, we can at least have a drink together...for the sake of the past?"

Hobbes hesitated for a moment, then finally turned around and nodded.

"Okay, but just one cup!"

Dumbledore laughed and waved his wand, and the wine flask and wine glass that had appeared at the Dursleys once again landed on the newly repaired coffee table in the living room.

"This is Ms. Rosmerta's mead. I remember it was your favorite!"

They sat down around the coffee table. Although Horace picked up the wine glass and took a sip, he still turned his head to the side and did not look at Dumbledore. When Dumbledore saw that Horace drank the mead, he immediately rushed out naughtily.

Harry and Hermione blinked.

He coughed and then asked: "Horace, how are you? Are your body and bones okay?"

"It's not good." Horace took another sip of mead. "Asthma, rheumatism, numbness of legs and feet. That's normal. People are old and useless."

"Really? I didn't see that." Dumbledore said, "It's very clever for you to prepare such a welcome ceremony for us in such a short time."

"Let me guess...three minutes?"

"It's two and a half minutes!" Horace turned around suddenly, his words were half proud and half angry, "I was taking a shower and didn't hear the alarm of the invasion spell, otherwise you wouldn't have seen any flaws!"

"But... I am still old and a useless old man, and a useless old man deserves to live a peaceful retirement life."

"You're not even older than me, Horace," Dumbledore advised.

"Yes, so you should also consider retiring, Albus." Horace put the cup on the coffee table, and quickly filled it with the flask, and the cup then jumped into his hand obediently.

He didn't look at the wine glass. Instead, he squinted at Dumbledore's exposed charred hand, and said as if pointing: "I can see that you are not as agile as before."

"That's right." Dumbledore replied calmly, exposing both hands. His right hand was burnt black, and his left hand was intact, but there was a ring that looked like it was made of gold. It was very rough, with a ring inlaid on it.

Black cracked stone.

Horace's attention fell on the ring unconsciously, and he frowned slightly, but in an instant he turned his head away and just snorted coldly.

Dumbledore chuckled lightly, as if he didn't see Horace's reaction, and asked himself: "Horace, are these safety measures of yours to resist the Death Eaters, or are they for us?"

"What do the Death Eaters want with my old bones?" he asked rhetorically.

"Torture, murder, conspiracy, I think your intelligence is very important to them." Dumbledore said, his eyes suddenly became sharp, "Do you dare to say that they have never tried to recruit you?"

"Bang!"

After hearing this, Horace put the cup on the coffee table fiercely, stared at Dumbledore fiercely for a long time, and then whispered back: "I didn't give them a chance!"

"In the past year, I have been hiding my whereabouts and never stayed in one place for more than a week."

"Yes, they have looked for me more than once. In fact, I was almost caught just a few days ago!" A trace of panic appeared on his face unconsciously, "A young man who has never been seen before.

It’s terrible, even worse than..."

"More terrifying than Tom, right?" Dumbledore replied in a low voice, "Young and powerful, so powerful that it makes people despair?"

"Yeah..." The experience of the past few days came to Horace's mind, and he couldn't help but shudder.

Seeing this, Dumbledore smiled and said: "For an old man who only wants to live a peaceful life, such a life is really terrible! But think about it, if you returned to Hogwarts..."

"Save it, Albus!" Horace interrupted Dumbledore directly, "Yes, I am indeed hiding now, but I heard some rumors about Umbridge, that's how you treat someone.

From a famous professor!”

"Umbridge brought it upon herself. She walked into the Forbidden Forest and shouted 'filthy bastards' to a group of angry centaurs."

"You definitely wouldn't do that, Horace..."

"She actually did this? What a silly woman, I won't..." Horace's expression became a little unnatural, and his voice became smaller and smaller.

At this moment, Harry, who had been quiet all this time, suddenly laughed out loud, which immediately attracted Horace's attention. Seeing this, Harry quickly put down his glass and explained: "Sorry, it's just... I don't like her either.

None of us like her."

"Okay, okay..." Horace was still muttering in a low voice, and his eyes glanced at Hermione inadvertently. He didn't notice it at first, but suddenly he remembered what he had learned from one of his students who worked at the Ministry of Magic a few days ago.

news, and unconsciously glanced at Hermione twice.

"Ahem..." He coughed twice, picked up the wine glass and took a sip of mead. He asked Dumbledore next to him casually, "Is this... what you just said, Hermione G.

Ranger?"

"Twelve o's?"

Dumbledore nodded, the smile on his face getting brighter.