Magical Studies at Hogwarts

Chapter 269 Fatal Attraction
Harry stared dumbfounded at the bald, fat old man who staggered up from the sofa. The bloated sofa cover on his body turned into a very formal suit in the blink of an eye, looking very elegant.

However, the movement of still rubbing his stomach made this temperament a little funny no matter how you look at it.

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

"The Dark Mark, my dear Horace." Dumbledore smiled, narrowing his eyes, "If it was really the Death Eaters, they would have left the Dark Mark on the roof."

"Ah, that's it, I actually forgot..." He muttered, "I said it felt like something was missing, but it was too late."

He pulled out his wand, and Dumbledore also took out his own wand when he saw this, and asked, "Do you need help?"

"Of course, it's best."

The two stood back to back, and waved the wands in their hands in the same rhythm, and the messy scene in the room suddenly changed.As if pressing the reverse button, the furniture flew back to its original position one by one.The glass, feathers, clock faces and pendulums scattered on the ground, as well as the broken books, all returned to their original state and stayed neatly where they should be.

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

"This is really 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 very difficult to get it now, of course..."

While speaking, 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 surprised him even more.

"Hey!" He pointed at Harry, but looked at Dumbledore beside him, and his tone was a bit unkind.

"You think you can convince me with this?"

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

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

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

"Impossible! Impossible! Albus, impossible!" Horace kept chanting with his eyes wide open, turning his back away from Harry and Hermione.

Seeing this, Dumbledore patted his shoulder with a smile, and said, "I think, no matter what, we can at least have a black cup... for the past time?"

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

"Okay, but just one glass!"

Dumbledore laughed, and waved his wand in his hand. The jug and wine glass that had appeared in the Dursleys before fell on the newly restored coffee table in the living room again.

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

They sat down around the coffee table, and although Horace took a sip from his glass, he still turned his head away from Dumbledore.Seeing Horace drinking the mead, Dumbledore immediately winked mischievously at Harry and Hermione.

After coughing, he asked, "Horace, how are you? Are you in good health?"

"Not very well." Horace took another sip of the mead. "Asthma, rheumatism, my legs and feet are not flexible. It's normal, people are old and useless."

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

"I guess... 3 minutes?"

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

"But... I'm still old, a useless old man, and a useless old man should live a peaceful retirement life."

"You're not my age, Horace," Dumbledore advised.

"Yeah, so you should consider retiring, Albus." Horace put the cup on the tea table, filled it with the flagon, and the cup jumped into his hand obediently.

He didn't look at the wine glass, but squinted at Dumbledore's scorched black hand, and said with a hint of meaning: "It can be seen that you are not as sensitive as before."

"That's right." Dumbledore replied calmly, showing both hands.The right hand was scorched black, and the left hand was intact, but there was a ring made of gold on it, which was very rough, and a black cracked stone was inlaid on it.

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

Dumbledore chuckled, as if he hadn't seen Horace's reaction, and asked himself: "Horace, are these security measures you have taken to resist the Death Eaters, or are they for us?"

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

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

"boom!"

After hearing the words, Horace put the cup on the coffee table fiercely, stared fiercely at Dumbledore for a long time, and then replied in a low voice: "I didn't give them a chance!"

"For the past year, I've been hiding my whereabouts and never staying 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 seen anything before It's terrible, even more than..."

"It's scarier than Tom, isn't it?" Dumbledore replied in a low voice, "Young and powerful, so powerful that it will make people despair?"

"Yeah..." Horace couldn't help shivering with the experience of the previous few days in his mind.

Seeing this, Dumbledore laughed and said, "For an old man who only wants to live a peaceful life, this kind of life is really too bad! But, think about it, if you go back to Hogwarts..."

"Forget it, Albus!" Horace interrupted Dumbledore directly, "Yes, I'm hiding XZ now, but I've heard some rumors, about Umbridge, that's how you treat everyone famous professor!"

"Umbridge deserved it when she swaggered into the Forbidden Forest and yelled 'dirty bastard' to a crowd of angry centaur."

"Surely you wouldn't do that, Horace..."

"She actually did that? What a fool, I wouldn't..." Horace's expression was unnatural, and his voice became smaller and smaller.

At this time, 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, "I'm sorry, it's just... I don't like her either, neither of us like her."

"Okay, okay..." Horace muttered still, his eyes darting past Hermione.He didn't pay attention at first, but suddenly remembered the news he got from one of his students working in the Ministry of Magic a few days ago, and unconsciously looked at Hermione more.

"Cough cough..." He coughed twice, picked up the wine glass and took a sip of mead, and asked Dumbledore next to him as if inadvertently, "This is... what you said just now, Hermione Greg Ranger?"

"Twelve O's?"

Dumbledore nodded, and the smile on his face grew brighter.

(End of this chapter)