Raven's Claw at Hogwarts

Chapter 477 Meeting with Slughorn

In the corner of the bathroom, the dirty clothes that Mike had replaced were gone, replaced by neatly folded clean clothes and a fluffy bath towel.

You don't need to think about Mike to know that this is definitely a masterpiece of the house elves. Since Mike solved the food crisis at noon yesterday for them yesterday, they have started to treat Mike like a father, getting some clothes for a change of clothes and so on. Trivial.

Picking up the towel, Mike began to wipe his body. At this time, he also noticed that there was an extra figure in the reef painting hanging on the wall.

Mike took a closer look and realized that it was a blond mermaid.

The mermaid looks like she just emerged from the sea, with water droplets hanging on her body, and the wet blonde hair is stuck to her fair skin, and water is constantly dripping from it.

She just sat on the reef in such a cluttered manner, with a meaningful smile on her lips, staring at Mike with piercing eyes, without any intention of looking away.

As if noticing that Mike was looking at her, the mermaid's body slowly twisted, her hands kept moving around her body, and she even stretched out her tongue to lick the water droplets at the corner of her mouth.

"Tsk tsk tsk."

Mike smacked his lips. Compared with the Myrtle just now, this mermaid is too powerful.

He had a hunch that this mermaid had a great show for him.

But just when Mike was about to get closer and take a closer look, Myrtle screamed and threw herself on the portrait, cursing the mermaid while she kept scratching the portrait with her little hands.

It's a pity that the ghost can't touch the real thing, and no matter how hard she tries, she still can't hurt the portrait in the slightest.

But Myrtle's crazy behavior startled the mermaid in the painting. She jumped into the sea with a scream and disappeared.

"You bastard! You can only seduce men! I curse you to be imprisoned here for another 1000 years!"

Myrtle was still cursing at the portrait, while Mike put on his clothes and left. Since there was no good show to watch, he had no interest in staying in the bathroom.

It was already noon after leaving the bathroom, and Mike went straight to the auditorium, where he planned to visit a key person after having lunch here.

Due to Dumbledore's reckoning after the fall, the crowds were sparse at this time, and only a small number of students who hadn't made any mistakes still gathered here for lunch.

At the same time, Mike also noticed that the four gemstone hourglasses representing the scores of the four major colleges in the auditorium's foyer also changed.

Except for Ravenclaw's hourglass, the gemstones in the hourglass of the other three colleges have completely disappeared, which means that their college points have been deducted by the professors.

Mike smiled and found a seat and sat down. Immediately, a large amount of food appeared from the empty plate in front of him, and the entire plate was piled high.

This scene made the jaws of the two Gryffindor students on the side drop in shock. There were only a few green beans and a piece of dry steak on their plates.

Obviously, the house-elves started to retaliate openly. When they destroyed the Great Hall, Gryffindor was the most active.

Mike shook his head and began to enjoy the overly rich lunch.

But at this moment, a hand lightly patted on his shoulder.

"Hey, Mike! You're finally out of the hospital!"

Mike turned his head and saw Ron looking at him excitedly.

His eyes fell on Mike's dinner plate again, and then his eyes became a little weird.

"Uh, your lunch is a little different from ours, it seems...too rich."

"No, this is your illusion."

"Is...is that so?" Ron scratched his head, turned his head and waved behind himself, "Let's not talk about that, I brought Harry and the others too. Harry, Hermione, don't be shy , come here quickly."

Mike looked in the direction of Ron's waving hand, and saw Harry and Hermione watching from a little distance away.

Seeing that Mike had discovered them, the two of them stopped hiding and slowly came to Mike's side.

It's just that Mike found that the expressions of the two of them were a little cramped, and their limbs were also very stiff.

"Mike, I'm sorry, we didn't visit you when you were in the hospital, and we didn't come to pick you up when you were discharged."

Harry rubbed his hands together and spoke awkwardly, while Hermione beside him nodded hastily.

"Actually, it's not our fault, Mike." Ron explained, "Madame Pomfrey forbids us to visit you, and the time of your discharge from the hospital has not been announced, so... ah!"

Ron was only halfway through his words when Hermione stomped on his foot, and suddenly, what he hadn't finished speaking turned into a scream.

Mike shook his head with a smile, and said softly:
"What Ron said is actually right. You can't blame this on you, so don't take this matter to heart."

Hearing this, Ron immediately raised his head, glared at Hermione and Harry with his painfully distorted face, and muttered something like 'see if I'm right, Mike won't care'.

But Harry and Hermione still lowered their heads, obviously, they still haven't let go.

Mike sighed and began to enjoy his lunch.

He really didn't take this matter to heart, but Hermione and Harry didn't think so, they felt sorry for Mike.

Ron, who was rubbing his feet, saw that the scene suddenly became deserted, and hurriedly asked:
"Mike, do you have any clues about the assassin?"

As soon as this remark came out, the two Gryffindors around them immediately stopped what they were doing, and listened carefully.

The riots in the past few days were caused by Mike wanting to catch the assassin, which is undoubtedly a big deal.

The corners of Mike's mouth also rose when he heard the words. He cleared his throat, and deliberately raised the volume and replied:
"Unfortunately, I haven't caught the assassin yet. But I already have a new idea. I will visit Professor Slughorn after lunch. I believe he will give me some important help." .”

Mike's voice echoed in the auditorium, and many students who were having lunch raised their heads blankly.

And when they saw that it was Mike who was speaking, the expressions on their faces immediately became more exciting.

Mike was also secretly observing their reactions, and when he saw a few Slytherin students sneaking out of the auditorium after hearing what he said, a slight arc appeared on his face.

……

After lunch, Mike went to Professor Slughorn's office alone.

Both Hermione and Harry expressed concern about Mike's way of revealing his next plan in public, but Mike was fearless because this was exactly what he wanted to achieve.

At the same time, he also rejected the request of Harry and others to accompany him to visit Professor Slughorn, on the grounds that the presence of too many people would be detrimental to his negotiations with Slughorn, which made Harry and others All are very depressed.

Mike soon arrived at the door of Professor Slughorn's office. Mike didn't knock on the door. There are traces of prohibition, so there is a high probability that Slughorn in the office has discovered him.

Sure enough, the door of the office opened after Mike waited for a long time, and Professor Slughorn in a checkered suit appeared in front of Mike.

Slughorn's fat face was covered with a smile as bright as the sun. He opened his hands slightly and said with a smile:

"Merlin, look who this is, Mike, it's great of you to come and see me! Come in!"

Saying this, Slughorn moved away from the body that completely blocked the door.

Mike nodded and entered the office expressionlessly.

As soon as he came in, Mike smelled a fresh fragrance, which smelled like the smell of some kind of plant burning, but it was not pungent, but it smelled refreshing.

Mike turned his eyes back and forth in the office, and finally determined the source of the smell - a half-smoked cigar standing on Slughorn's desk.

This cigar is obviously not ordinary. The half-burned snow-white ash on it did not fall off like a normal cigarette, but was firmly attached to the cigarette butt that was still emitting faint smoke.

"Aha! This is a Nepalese cigar, and the tobacco leaves inside are grown by Nepalese goblins on the snow-capped mountains." Slughorn noticed Mike's gaze and explained with a smile, "These tobacco leaves have refreshing and stress-relieving properties. I have to say that although those goblins are ugly, the tobacco leaves they grow are really good. However, because the output is too small, the prices of cigars and cigarettes made from this tobacco leaves are very high.”

After saying that, Slughorn came to the desk with a big belly, picked up the cigar and took a big puff.

As the cigarette butt hidden in the thick ash lit up, Slughorn's face showed an expression of enjoyment, he slowly closed his eyes, and after holding his breath for a while, the cigarette in his mouth had faded to almost Invisible smoke was spit out.

"What a treat!"

Mike didn't look at Slughorn's intoxicated expression, he was observing the office at the moment.

Obviously, Slughorn is a real old-fashioned aristocrat, and there are a lot of artworks from various countries in his office, such as ancient porcelain from China, fancy headdresses from the Inca, and strangely shaped silver ornaments from ancient Persia. Mike even found a half-open coffin in the corner, which contained a mummy covered in yellow bandages.

But these are actually nothing. What really shocked Mike was the row of huge bookshelves behind Slughorn's desk. In Mike's vision of magic perception, the books on it were emitting a strong white magic aura. They were all magic books!

Knowledge is wealth, this sentence is completely true in the wizarding world, and this whole row of magic books also made Mike truly realize how rich this Slughorn in front of him is!
"Mike, you must try this cigar. This is a rare opportunity. This year I failed to get the tobacco leaves of the Nepalese Leprechaun. This is my last survival."

Mike heard the reputation and looked over, and Slughorn was taking out a cigar from a wooden box and handing it to him.

Slughorn obviously didn't speak, because his expression was extremely painful at the moment.

Naturally, Mike would not do what others liked, so he shook his head slightly to reject the other party's kindness.

Seeing this, Slughorn seemed to be relieved, but he was muttering hypocritical words like 'it's a pity'.

After Slughorn carefully put away the cigar again, he looked at Mike again and said:

"So, Mike, what's the reason you came to see me this time?"

"Yes, I actually need your help with one thing, Professor."

Mike paced the office, smiling at Slughorn.

Mike was very polite, because in his opinion Slughorn was not as stupid as he appeared.

In fact, in Mike's eyes, Reese Lughorn is simply a model of great wisdom and stupidity.

Although he looks obese, in fact, his mind is full of wisdom and sophistication.

During this turmoil, Slughorn immediately stopped his Potions class, and sealed himself in this office with many powerful restrictions, which made him completely different from other professors. No impact.

Moreover, although he acted as cowardly as a mouse, he was actually bold!

You must know that this is the time when Voldemort is rampant outside, but even so, he accepted Dumbledore's invitation to come to Hogwarts to teach.

This is the most authentic surrender to the enemy. If Voldemort gains power, his end will be very tragic!
If there were no accidents for Mike, the old man Slughorn must have some cards, enough to make him not afraid of Voldemort's cards!
This hole card may be a powerful magic item, the knowledge in his brain, or his extraordinary network.

But there is no doubt that Slughorn is definitely a capable person, and Mike will never underestimate such a person.

On the other side, looking at Mike's smiling face, Slughorn was a little flattered. He trembled and said quickly without even noticing that the ashes of the cigar in his hand had fallen on the carpet:

"Oh! This is my duty as a professor! Tell me, as long as it is within my ability, I will definitely help you."

Slughorn said his words firmly, but his heart was beating a drum.

He was a little afraid that Mike would really make some unreasonable demands.

"Really?" The kindness on Mike's face became more intense, he walked towards Slughorn slowly, and finally whispered into his ear, "Don't be nervous, Professor. I just want to know, tell the truth Is there really no way to get rid of the side effect of the drug that has the possibility of turning people into idiots?"

(End of this chapter)