The Bard at Hogwarts

The sixth floor of the castle.

Transfiguration office.

Professor McGonagall sat alone at the table, feeling a little tired from what happened in the past two days.

It was clearly a normal Triwizard Tournament, but it turned into the current situation because of an accident.

Although it is not clear how foreign countries report this incident, it is unlikely to be any praise. If things go wrong, Hogwarts will really replace Durmstrang and become the most tolerant magic school in Europe for dark magic.

When she thought of this, she felt a headache even when she was sitting in the office.

"Ah..."

With a helpless sigh, Professor McGonagall stood up, walked slowly to the window, and looked at the scenery outside the castle through the window.

The frozen Black Lake in winter, the slightly bleak Forbidden Forest, all the scenery, made her feel a sense of belonging.

"Knock knock knock!"

A rhythmic knock on the door sounded.

"Come in!" Professor McGonagall came back to her senses and waved her wand to open the door automatically.

"Good day! Professor." Ino greeted with a smile as she walked into the office.

If you count carefully, it's only one day, but Professor McGonagall gave him a different feeling from the usual capable and efficient one. She looked much older.

"Ino?" Faced with the sudden visit, Professor McGonagall was a little surprised, but soon adjusted herself and said jokingly:

"You should be busier than me at this time! It's hard for you to come to see me."

"Look at what you said. No matter how busy I am, I am just one student." Ino responded slowly.

To be honest, Professor McGonagall's ability to joke is actually a kind of recognition from the heart.

"Okay, excellent student! Tell me the purpose of your visit. If I remember correctly, except for the time of Animagus, you haven't visited me on your own initiative."

Hearing the answer, Professor McGonagall stopped beating around the bush and went straight to the point.

"It's my roommate Draco. He wants to publish a monthly magazine, um... entertainment..."

Ino took the initiative to pull over a chair, sat down and told his previous ideas.

In a few minutes, he finished the whole thing.

Seeing Professor McGonagall lost in thought, Ino was also very polite and did not make a sound.

…

After a while.

"I agree in principle!"

Professor McGonagall nodded slightly, setting the tone for this matter.

After hearing this, Ino did not speak immediately, because it was obvious that Professor McGonagall had something to say.

Sure enough, after a pause, Professor McGonagall said again:

"There is one thing I need to explain in advance. I don't care what your magazine writes, but it cannot involve the professor, or it cannot involve too much. Otherwise, it will make me very embarrassed."

Professor McGonagall was quietly looking at Ino's reaction while speaking. To be honest, if it weren't for the student in front of her, she would not consider the feasibility of this matter at all.

Nothing else, mainly because of the little wizard's erratic personality, after a while, the novelty is over, and it can't last long.

For decades, Hogwarts has also had little wizards who suddenly came up with newspapers, but in fact, it was just a playful idea.

…

On the other side.

After hearing the request not to involve the professor, Ino immediately expressed his thoughts:

"Please rest assured about this. The students' joys, sorrows, grievances and grudges will never concern the professor! Of course...if something is really unfair, it will be mentioned a little, but it is not the mainstream."

Professor McGonagall nodded with satisfaction after hearing this answer.

Especially the last sentence. If Ino promised that the professor would not be involved, she would think it was abnormal.

"Go ahead and do it. I give you the power."

While speaking, Professor McGonagall opened the drawer of her desk, took out a brand new parchment, and wrote something on it quickly.

For a while.

Looking at the parchment with the signature in front of him, Ino was stunned for a while.

He was originally negotiating the rent, but who would have thought that Professor McGonagall never mentioned this matter from beginning to end.

But if Professor McGonagall didn't mention it, he couldn't pretend not to know. After all, no matter how big or small the matter is, there must be a rule.

"Professor! You seem to have... forgotten something? For example, the rent, after all, this matter is not hosted by Hogwarts."

After pondering for a moment, Ino took the initiative to raise the rent issue.

...

Two hours later.

Ino left the Transfiguration Office, holding a piece of parchment that clearly looked like a contract in his hand.

Walking on the road, recalling Professor McGonagall's astonished expression just now, it makes people feel a little interesting.

It seems that in decades of teaching career, this is the first time that Professor McGonagall has encountered someone paying rent on his own initiative.

Walking in the corridor.

Ino picked up the parchment in his hand again. The texture of the paper is no different from ordinary parchment, but there is a Hogwarts shield emblem right above it.

"The annual rent is seven Galleons, and it is now legal..."

Looking at the school emblem on the parchment and Professor McGonagall's signature, everything is now legal, even if Dumbledore comes forward, he cannot terminate this contract.

In the magical world, formal contracts always have mysterious power.

Especially at the moment, when Ino held the parchment, he could always feel the vague connection between it and the castle.

Everything is difficult at the beginning.

As one of the three famous schools in Luo, Ou and Ba, Hogwarts has since had its own industry.

Although the annual income is only 7 galleons, no matter how small the amount is, it is essentially an income separate from the twelve school directors.

When there is one, there are two, and when a little is accumulated, it becomes a lot.

Perhaps one day, Hogwarts can truly be as independent and aloof as Beauxbatons in France.

…

All the way back to the dormitory.

Draco became excited after seeing the contract with the school badge and signature.

The happy expression on his face was like drinking several bottles of joy potion in a row.

"Ino! That's great, really!"

In the dormitory, Draco kept walking around, as if this was the only way to vent his energy that had nowhere to go.

"Let's find a place now, oh yes! I have to write a letter first and ask them to send the equipment..."

I was talking to myself. One moment I wanted to get dressed and go out, and the next moment I wanted to write a letter quickly. In short, I just didn’t know what to do.

"I'll find the place. You can write the letter now. There's a lot to talk about in the castle these days. Don't wait for Christmas. Let's get the first issue out as soon as possible..."

Ino leaned on the chair and expressed his thoughts.

He had just spent more than two hours in Professor McGonagall's office, but the actual signing of the contract and rent negotiation only lasted more than half an hour.

For the rest of the time, I just listened to Professor McGonagall talking about what happened in the past two days. The focus was on the paranoia of Old Barty Crouch, who almost slept in the corridor of the campus hospital.

Therefore, Eno had the current idea to get the magazine out as soon as possible and expose Barty Crouch Sr. at the same time.

Don’t you pride yourself on enforcing the law impartially? Just let people see what it means to be strict with others and be lenient with oneself.

After all, the magical world of the British Isles is so big.

The little wizards and wizards at Hogwarts knew it, and almost all of England knew it.