Harry Potter and the Burnt Badger

Professor Dumbledore looked at Moon's strange expression with a smile, and did not rush anything further, just sitting there and waiting patiently.

After stirring two more sugar cubes in, the coffee finally tasted better, and the burnt taste in Moon's mouth was diluted, allowing him to continue: "I remembered one thing - Fox is going When he sent me the letter, he showed great interest in this pipe."

"Ha." The old man let out a short laugh quite complacently. "It seems that my confidence will be much greater."

Moon smiled and was about to speak, but the expression on his face suddenly froze.

Professor Dumbledore glanced at Moon curiously, then turned his head in the direction of Moon's gaze and looked behind him.

A Muggle girl with long braids and a red plaid skirt was walking towards this side openly, looking at Munn intently, her eyes full of anxiety.

The old man turned back and smiled narrowly at Moon.

"Hi~" At the same time, the Muggle girl had already walked to Moon's table and spoke as politely as possible, "Do you live around here too? I don't think I've ever seen you, but My mother said she met your grandpa twice."

"Uh, sorry, I don't live near here." Moon showed an apologetic smile. "I just happened to pass by here today, so I just came in to sit for a while."

The Muggle girl obviously became a little disappointed, but she still smiled and stretched out her hand to Moon, "My name is Kelly, Kelly Bell, nice to meet you."

Moon raised his hand and shook her gently, "Moon Fox."

Seeing that although Munn remained polite, he had no intention of continuing the topic, the Muggle girl's expression became increasingly gloomy. She smiled at the two of them again, then stopped talking and returned with a pouted mouth. Looking for her mother.

"I think she's pretty good." Professor Dumbledore blinked. "At least she's brave. If this was a ball, she would be brave enough to come over and invite you."

Moon shrugged, "Indeed, but I don't plan to accept two invitations to the ball at the same time just yet."

"That's such a pity." The old man shared the words very naturally, which sounded like the words of a scumbag. "While you are young, you should always get to know more dance partners, so that you can be more sure who is more suitable for you."

Well, although he is a scumbag, he does sound a bit unreasonable at first glance.

After that, the two of them almost didn't talk about anything serious. Most of them mentioned things casually, related to the little wizards and professors at Hogwarts.Later, they mentioned Professor Kettleburn from the Care of Magical Creatures class. According to Professor Dumbledore, that old professor might be planning to officially retire within the next year or two.There is also Professor Bablin from the ancient magic text class. In the past two years, his health has begun to show signs of weakness, and he seems to be thinking about retirement.

When talking about these two professors, Professor Dumbledore's face clearly showed a bit of sadness, as if he was lamenting the passage of time and the passing of time, and seemed to be wondering whether it would be two years later. , he had to recruit three professors into Hogwarts at a time to fill the staff vacancies.

It wasn't until it was almost lunch time that the two of them paid the bill with Muggle coins, and then left the cafe together.

Moon was sent home. Professor Dumbledore declined Golov's invitation to have lunch with him. He only chatted for a few words and then left Shafik Manor and continued to do his own things.

…………

For a long time, Moon did not receive any more letters from the old man. He didn't know whether it was because he was distracted by other things or because he still didn't understand what the pipe was.In short, later on, Moon also put this matter behind him again. Anyway, Professor Dumbledore will definitely give him an explanation after school starts.

So he seriously studied the obscure spell in the "Magic Book", which was almost second only to "Eternal Stasis" in difficulty of learning - teleportation.

To be honest, from the description in "Magic Book", this thing is probably much easier to use than Apparition.Not only can it send Moon to places that he only "knows" but has never been to (although this behavior has certain risks), but it also has no restrictions on distance, let alone cramming people into one place. A rubber tube is squeezed from one end to the other like cream.

Unfortunately, it is easy to use and difficult to learn. Moon estimated that by the time he has completely mastered the teleportation technique, this summer vacation will be almost over.

There was no way around it. He had been learning the last spell called Eternal Stasis for almost as long - in fact, it was even worse.

At the end of July, Moon, Cedric and Arlin came to Gal's house together and enjoyed the happiness of a Muggle mansion.

There are no pots and pans that can wash themselves, no needles and threads that can knit themselves into sweaters, and no house elves on call.But less than half an hour after arriving here, Cedric and Arlin fell in love with the Gal family's house, especially Arlin.

After all, there was Coke here that he could drink at will, a TV that played countless interesting scenes for some reason, and video games that he couldn't understand at all but still enjoyed playing.Garr used a game of "Super Mario World" to easily conquer Cedric and Arlin in just half an hour. Moon could not escape Garr's game offensive - Garr took out his GameBoy. So Moon began to enjoy the simple joy of breaking bricks [Note 1].

Mrs. Fuller was not very supportive of her son's bad habit of dragging his friends to play games as soon as they arrived, so after lunch, she took her four children with her and headed straight to the playground in a hurry. .

The four who were only 13 years old were not allowed to ride on some overly dangerous projects, but even so, some of the roller coasters, Ferris wheels, merry-go-rounds, rapids and other projects that they were allowed to play on still made the four teenagers have fun. It was also a joy, especially for Arlin. The young man who vowed before this summer vacation that "there can't be anything more attractive to him than Coke" was now almost completely conquered by the fun of the Muggle world.

And his favorite project is actually the carousel.

Of course, Cedric wasn't much better. He had already pulled Moon on the roller coaster twice.Judging from his reluctance to leave, he estimated that he might have to ride it for a third time later - in his words, this is a completely different feeling from flying on a broomstick.

But Moon doubted that the "different feeling" he said was mainly due to the fact that he could hear the hoarse screams of many other tourists.

Moon also had a lot of fun. He has been fascinated by amusement parks since his previous life, but due to physical reasons, he has never played any projects except for one carousel.So, of course, Gal became the one who felt the most bland among the four.

After all, he grew up in the Muggle world since he was a child. All the novelties in the eyes of Arlin and others are just the daily life that Gal has lived in every day since he was a child - just like the weird and bizarre things in the wizarding world in Gal's eyes are nothing more. It's just that Arlin and Cedric see the same things every day that they already find annoying.

After enjoying themselves in the amusement park all afternoon, Mr. Fuller happened to have something to do and couldn't go home in the evening, so Mrs. Fuller simply took them to buy some beautiful Muggle clothes, and then ran to a house where they just watched I had a delicious meal in a French restaurant that is absolutely overpriced due to its decoration.

The only pity is that when he was in the restaurant, Yaerlin always acted very awkward, a little unable to let go, and even forgot to vomit.And when the waiter came to deliver the meal, he was so busy that he almost knocked over the plate.

Fortunately, everyone was satisfied with their meal in the end.

When leaving the restaurant, Yaerlin sneaked up next to Moon and asked how much the meal would be worth in gold galleons.Moon recalled the Gringotts exchange rate adjustment announced by the Daily Prophet [Note 2] that he had seen last time, and reported a rough figure, which made Arlin secretly speechless.

Around seven o'clock in the evening, Mrs. Fuller returned home with a few teenagers. Everyone slumped on the soft sofa of the Gal family for a while, agreed on a day to go to Diagon Alley to buy books, and then chatted again. After a few words, the parents began to pick them up one by one.

On the other side, Harry was also writing letters to Ron, Hermione, Hesper, and Quaid, setting up a date to go to Diagon Alley.

Everyone knows that in a few days, new requirements for teaching materials and teaching aids will be sent to you.

Unlike the happiness of these little wizards, there was an atmosphere of unhappiness everywhere in Malfoy Manor.

Lucius Malfoy's plan was not implemented perfectly. At least the damn damn notebook was still lying quietly in the basement of his house. He had not yet found the time to implement the plan.What made him even more angry was that Arthur Weasley didn't know what had made him crazy recently. He seemed to have entered menopause and submitted a lot of search applications to the superiors.

If all those applications were approved, Lucius Malfoy felt that he could find a guest room at home and let Arthur Weasley live here permanently.

He felt that this was Arthur Weasley's struggle against the elusive opportunity for promotion - although the two parties were enemies of each other, in Lucius Malfoy's view, it was a legitimate vent.

But the question is, if you want to vent, let it be. What other way is better?Do you have to play this?

There is something wrong with the brain, isn't it?

However, no matter how fiercely he cursed in his heart, it could not change the situation that Arthur Weasley might come knocking on his door at any time. At this point, Lucius Malfoy could only hope in his heart. He hoped that he could wait for the right time soon and throw out the notebook that now annoyed him even just looking at it.

Narcissa Malfoy was also very unhappy. Firstly, Lucius Malfoy's unhappiness infected her, and secondly, after Fudge stepped down, the Malfoy family did suffer a big blow, and even some people who had only People who could be looked down upon by them can now ridicule them openly.She went to Knockturn Alley yesterday, and was teased by several bastards for a long time. If she hadn't pulled out the wand with a cold face, those people might have been talking about it for how long.

In Narcissa Malfoy's view, those people were fools - Fudge's downfall did have an impact on the Malfoy family. After all, the new minister was a man who couldn't get bribes, which greatly frustrated the money offensive they had always been good at.But the problem is that this does not mean that the Malfoy family itself has been harmed.

To this day, the Malfoy family still has gold and jewels in their hands. How can they, those damn scum, despise it?

very angry.

When both Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Malfoy were unhappy, Draco Malfoy obviously couldn't be happy either.

To put it bluntly, during the past two days at home, he could only enjoy himself secretly as much as possible.

So he transferred his depression to Crabbe and Goyle. In just one week, he had sent three letters to each of them, putting a severe wave of pressure on them with the tone of the big brother. .

But in fact, the most unhappy people in Malfoy Manor are not this family of three.

But another little figure who is always ignored.

Chapter 8 Journey to Diagon Alley

Just like the Shafiq family, the Malfoy family, which has a long heritage and rich family fortune, also has its own house elves.

His name was Dobby, and he generally looked similar to other house elves, with big eyes, a long nose and ears, and skinny limbs like firewood sticks.But it always looks a little scarred, and the tea towel on it [Note 1] is much tattered than Buffy and the others at Shafik Manor.

Unlike the Malfoy family of three, Dobby did not become unhappy recently - he had never been happy at all during the many years he had been in the Malfoy family.

Therefore, to be precise, Dobby is not "unhappy" recently.

It is very worried, very worried, even though it has never met the person it is deeply worried about.

Yes, that person is the famous "Boy Who Lived", Harry Potter.

More than half a month ago, under some "chance", it overheard the master's secret and learned what the master was going to do. In its view, if Harry Potter continues to Hogg next semester, If Watts goes to school, everything will be over - he knows that Harry Potter will definitely die in Hogwarts, and by then, no one in the world will be able to stop the mysterious man.

Dobby felt that something had to be done.

This is where it hurts: it can't do anything because it can't find Harry Potter.

Of course, poor Dobby would not know that due to various changes, Dumbledore had strengthened the protection of Grimmauld Place early, set up the Fidelity Charm, and personally acted as the secret keeper.

For Harry, who, apart from staying at 12 Grimmauld Place, would only let Sirius Apparate him to play games in the wilderness every day, it was strange that he could be found.

And this kind of fruitless search undoubtedly started to make Dobby feel even more worried.

…………

A few days later, just as Moon and the others thought, the owls of Hogwarts brought them the books and teaching aids they needed to buy for the new semester - other things were normal and the quantity was not large, except for the A series of books with strange names made everyone dumbfounded:

"Break with the Ghost", "Wandering with the Ghouls", "Holiday with the Dominatrix", "Walking with the Trolls", "Traveling with the Vampires", "Wandering with the Werewolves", "With the Tibetan Snowman" "A Year Together"...

And all the above-mentioned books have a common author.

Gilderoy Lockhart.

In fact, this is not surprising. Just from the harmonious and unified way of naming these books, we can roughly tell that they were written by one person.

At the dining table, Hesper looked at the letter in his hand in disbelief and said confusedly: "Oh my God, is Lockhart here to teach us, or is he here to sell books? Merlin's socks, how could he have such a thing?" Rare people?!"

Edgar leaned over curiously and took a look at the contents of the letter.Quaid put down the letter and said in a muffled voice: "You are indeed a liar. As a professor, you can sell a few books."

"I ordered several sets of Lockhart's books by mail." Moon swallowed the meat in his mouth and put the knife and fork aside. "Quaid, you don't have to buy it when you go to Diagon Alley in two days, Hai." Siper, if you are missing any copy, you can get it directly from me."

"Huh?" The uncle turned to look at Moon curiously, "How many sets did you buy? Why did you buy so many?"

"Lockhart's books are extremely expensive. Ginny will also go to school this year. Mr. Weasley hasn't been promoted yet, but he has to bear four sets of Lockhart's books. This burden is a bit heavy for them." Moon wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin. "And I also mentioned this to Professor Dumbledore. Other young wizards from poor families should also receive a subsidy this year - not enough to buy all the books. But it can alleviate a lot of financial pressure.”

Golov, who was sitting at the head of the table, also nodded slightly and said, "Well, Professor Dumbledore sent letters to all of us school directors, mentioning this matter. Except for a few people, everyone else Everyone agreed."

"Is there anyone who disagrees with this kind of fame-earning thing?" Edgar curled his lips. "They are all extremely rich, and they don't have enough money to buy books."

"This reputation is too small." Golov chuckled: "What's more important is that students from wizarding families are not the only ones with poor financial conditions. The reason why they did not agree is because they want Professor Dumbledore to modify the funding standards. , funding is not open to young wizards of Muggle origin."

Edgar's eyes almost rolled to the sky, and An shook his head helplessly. In a sense, the obstacles these pure-blooded fanatical wizards caused to the magic world were no different than those dark wizards who committed murder and set fire. Where has it gone?

The next morning, after finishing breakfast, the family agreed on the agreed time and rushed to Diagon Alley together.When they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, they discovered that Violet and her daughter, Sirius, Harry, the Weasley family, Cedric and his father were already waiting here. Arlin was almost there. They arrived at the Leaky Cauldron at the same time as Moon and the others, leaving only the Gall family and Hermione family who had no news.

Ginny still maintained her shy look at home, following Mrs. Weasley closely from beginning to end. Fred and George held Cedric aside mysteriously and said something unknown, and Hesper and Quaid quickly joined in the conversation between Harry and Ron.Only Moon, Violet, and Percy stayed with their parents, chatting with the adults.

About seven or eight minutes later, Hermione walked into the Leaky Cauldron with her parents, followed shortly after by Garr and his parents.

"Sorry, sorry, there's a big traffic jam today." The two families couldn't help but apologize again and again. Everyone didn't pay much attention to these things. After chatting for a few more words, they hurried to Diagon Alley to start today's shopping. trip.

During this time of year, Diagon Alley always becomes packed with people and extremely lively, and this year is no exception.This large group of people had already seemed a bit bloated when they entered the Leaky Cauldron, and when they entered Diagon Alley, it went without saying that if they continued walking, they would probably cause a traffic jam in minutes.

So, at Moon's suggestion, he took his three roommates, Fred and George together, and went alone with Violet, Mrs. Evelina and Ann to buy the things they needed. Percy chose A person acts alone.In this way, the remaining people can move better after downsizing.The meeting time and place were set at Flourish and Blotts Bookstore half an hour later - there was a long queue there, and no one except Mrs. Weasley wanted to go there too early and join in.

As for whether you will miss the classic scene where Ginny is stuffed with a book...

Moon didn't even think that that scene would happen again today.

Not to mention whether Lucius Malfoy will bring Draco to Diagon Alley today, at least it is not like what is described in the original book. Only Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Weasley face Lucius Malfoy alone. Malfoy.This time, they were accompanied by Golov, Sirius and Edgar, too many to mention. If Lucius Malfoy dared to provoke a physical conflict, he would not stand today. Then walked out of Diagon Alley.

Moreover, in order to maximize the effectiveness of the 'Wolf Who Cried' plan, Mr. Weasley's first real surprise inspection has not yet officially begun, and Lucius Malfoy may not be desperate enough to use such a stupid method again. Work with journals.

Sure enough, until half an hour later, everyone met again around Flourish and Blotts Bookstore, and no one saw the Malfoy family.

"So, we only have the Defense Against the Dark Arts textbooks left to buy for next semester, right. Oh, the book signing will officially start in half an hour. I dare say that everyone in line here must have already waited. Not enough." Mrs. Weasley patted her hair, trying to make it as smooth as possible.

Hermione was also very excited. She clutched the book list and once again introduced to her parents in a low voice how many great achievements Gilderoy Lockhart had. It seemed that Harry had not had time to read "Gilderoy Lockhart". He is a liar” the news was shared with her.

"Actually -" Moon finally found a suitable moment. He patted Mr. Weasley on the shoulder, who was standing by and thinking about whether to drag other men to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink or two, and shouted loudly Said: "——Sir, I talked about a cooperation with the school newspaper a few days ago. The bookstore showed its sincerity and sent me several sets of Gilderoy Lockhart's sample books. I happen to have two sets left over for use, so I think all you need to do is buy two more sets."

Mr. Weasley looked at Moon blankly for two seconds, and then suddenly smiled. Just as he was about to refuse, he heard Moon continue: "You also know that I don't like Gilderoy Lockhart very much. If If you refuse, I will have almost no other use for those two sets of books besides stepping on the bed - after all, I didn't spend a penny."

The words that Mr. Weasley had just spoken were interrupted again. He sighed, raised his hand and patted Moon's shoulder twice.

"Thank you-"

"You're welcome." Moon took two steps back. As soon as he reached Violet's side, he saw Harry, Ron and Hermione standing quietly at the end, arguing fiercely.

"I mean, Moon isn't completely right about everything, is he?" Hermione raised her little face. "Think about it, if Gilderoy Lockhart is really a liar, Professor Dumbledore Why let him be the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts? Don't you think Moon is more powerful than Professor Dumbledore?"

Harry showed an expression of "As expected" and shrugged helplessly. Ron, who was standing next to him, didn't know who to support for a moment - he himself wasn't sure of the truth yet, so he had no choice but to He spoke a few words to smooth things over, trying to ease the relationship between the two of them.

Fred and George have always been afraid of chaos in the world. After hearing the quarrel, they immediately came over and said quickly:

"Not always--"

"That's right, Fred, 'just think about it' -" George said, imitating Hermione's words - "even Professor Kettleburn can come and teach us."

"No, George, 'think about it' -" Fred also began to imitate vividly "-Professor Kettleburn has not even half of his limbs left!"

Then?

Then, before Hermione could lose her temper, Mrs. Weasley, who noticed the chaos here, dragged Fred and George away again.

Moon watched this farce dumbfounded, and suddenly noticed Violet tugging on her sleeve.

"Is what they say true? Is Gilderoy Lockhart a liar?" Violet looked at Moon in surprise. "Merlin's beard, my mother is also a fan of Gilderoy Lockhart..." Grandma also said she could find almost no mistakes in Lockhart's books, except for some lack of detail."

"This..." Moon looked forward, and sure enough he saw that although Mrs. Evelina did not keep arranging her hair like Mrs. Weasley, she also glanced at the closed door of Flourish and Blotts Bookstore from time to time. .

He rubbed his hair, thought for a while, and nodded.

"Gilderoy Lockhart is indeed a liar."

The reason why he hesitated was not because he was worried that Violet would not believe in him—in fact, it was quite the opposite. He knew that Violet would definitely believe in him unconditionally, just like his mother and two uncles.