Homecoming from Hogwarts

"Thank you for your compliment, Professor Slughorn -"

Amosta laughed, then looked around.
"I think there's no need for us to chat in the dark. If you allow me, I can help clean up."

"Oh, much more polite than Dumbledore."

Slughorn grunted and waved his hand at Amos.
"Please go ahead--"

Amosta waved his wand, and then the scattered furniture jumped back into place one by one, the decorations regained their original shape in mid-air, the feathers returned to the cushions, and the damaged books repaired themselves and were neatly arranged on the summer vacation.

The damaged areas were restored to their original state. Amosta grabbed a glass bottle that flew up from the ground and let the sticky red liquid on the ceiling fly into the bottle.

Looking at the dragon blood in the light that had been rekindled, Amosta shook his head and casually placed it on the wooden table next to the sofa.

A bottle of at least twenty ounces of dragon's blood and preserved fruit was pushed in front of Professor Slughorn, who sat back on the sofa in front of the fireplace.

"Oh, it looks really good. I guess the collector who took the dragon's blood must have taken it before the poor fire dragon died!"

Professor Slughorn blinked his eyes and exclaimed in admiration.

"I guess so—"

Amosta said that it had been a long time, and he did not remember whether the dragon had died or not.

"But if it's just to compensate for the loss of my bottle of dragon blood, it shouldn't cost so much. This bottle is worth at least hundreds of Galleons--"

But after the admiration, Slughorn's eyes showed some alertness.

"It's extra. Consider it as compensation for disturbing your rest by my late night visit."

Amosta said with a smile, which made the long-retired Slytherin headmaster's eyes more admiring.

"Then thank you for your compensation--"

Slughorn laughed twice,

"Would you like some whiskey?"

"Oh, that's great. I've come a long way."

Amosta smiled and nodded.

So Slughorn stood up with great effort, walked to the wine rack, hesitated among several bottles of aged whiskey, and said,

"I guess Dumbledore must have felt that he had no chance, so he sent you here to try your luck, right? To be honest, young man, you are just asking for trouble. There is no need for that!"

Having made his choice, Slughorn walked back slowly, holding the whiskey in one hand and two crystal glasses in the other.

"You know what I mean? Because you are from Slytherin, I am willing to remind you that there is no one here that Dumbledore wants. He is completely wrong. It is a waste of effort to try hard on me!"

"Oh, I agree with some of your points—"

Taking the wine glass, Amosta smiled and looked at the old dean who was slumped on the sofa and panting.
"We all agree that Dumbledore sometimes behaves like a wise old fogey -"

"A smart old fogey. Wow. Excellent review!"

Slughorn said in a very sexual tone, but then asked in confusion,

"Then I really don't understand. If you know you can't get anything from me, why do you bother to find out where I live and come all the way to me—"

"that is because--"

Amosta raised his glass and said gracefully,

"As the former headmaster of Slytherin College, a master in the world of potions, and a wizard renowned in the British wizarding world, there seems to be no harm in my visiting you, right?"

"Ho!"

Slughorn looked at Amosta alertly.

"Don't try to fool me, young man!"

But his alertness and vigilance only lasted for a second before he collapsed. Slughorn held the wine glass and carefully looked at the young man in front of him. He couldn't hide his surprise. "When I left Hogwarts, Albus did try to persuade me to serve Slytherin for a while. But I didn't agree. I'm old, and it's time for me to enjoy a comfortable retirement life."

Amosta did not interrupt, but remained interested in the topic and waited quietly for the old dean's second half of the speech.

The atmosphere between the two people is very harmonious, but this is where it's abnormal.

In fact, the two had never met before and had no correspondence, so they were complete strangers.

However, Amosta had heard many stories about the old dean from Dumbledore, and the old dean probably also paid attention to him through various channels.

Amosta had even heard from Dumbledore that Professor Slughorn had sent him a veiled letter after he had pushed Amelia to become Minister.

The general meaning is to be careful and learn from past mistakes.

"--Few people can be as diligent as him, devoting their whole lives to Hogwarts and not giving up their own lives, so I refused at that time--"

Slughorn was still looking at Amosita with a scrutinizing look.

"But I have to admit that you made me regret my decision back then--"

"Haha, what do you mean?"

Slughorn opened the box of preserved fruit that Amosstar had brought, picked up a piece, put it in his mouth and chewed it.

The expression of enjoyment in his narrowed eyes proved that he was very satisfied with the gift.

Extending a finger covered in icing sugar, the old dean looked at Amosta with regret.

"If I had known that a wizard like you would come to Slytherin, I would not have let him go. But in the end, Severus got a great advantage for nothing!"

There was a hint of sincerity in Amosta's chuckle.

Just as Dumbledore had described to him, the old headmaster looked at him as if he had missed out on a treasure.

"You're overpraising me. There are quite a few outstanding young wizards who have come out of Hogwarts in recent years. They are no worse than me. It's just that I may be better at attracting attention—"

Amosta said modestly.

"Not at all 'overrated'--"

Professor Slughorn twirled his fat fingers in disapproval.
"If someone asked me to pick a Slytherin wizard who was better than you, I would have to use the great Salazar Slytherin as an example -"

The old dean looked at Amosta, who was smiling but saying nothing, with a sullen look on his face.
"None of the students I have taught in my entire life could compare to you. That kid, of course I'm referring to Severus, your luck is truly enviable!"

"Many of your students later became high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Magic or leaders in various industries, right?"

Amosta did not use Voldemort as an example, as he did not want to disrupt the harmonious conversation between the two.

"Don't comfort me, I know I will never have the chance to surpass Severus in my life-"

Slughorn said gloomily. He picked another piece of preserves from the box and threw it into his mouth. Suddenly, he became interested.
"Come to think of it, the Daily Prophet said you were a Muggle-born?
Is this true, or is it for...for"

Slughorn fiddled with his hands, searching for the right words.

"To gain more favor from the public?"

Amosta asked for him.

"That's it—"

Slughorn looked determined.
“I guess you’re packaging yourself, right?
It is easier for a Muggle-born wizard to achieve such an achievement, so you tell people that your parents are Muggles, but in fact, you have a decent family background. Let me guess, your father is Hraphale Blaine?"

"Ah, the editor-in-chief of Spell Innovation?"

Amosta laughed.

"I'm not that lucky, Professor Slughorn. In fact, my parents are both Muggles -"

(End of this chapter)