Harry Potter and the Burnt Badger

"Since the last time I chased him around, Slughorn has not returned to his own house for a long time. Especially after the news of Voldemort came out later, Slughorn simply stopped for a while. Just change a place to stay and live directly in the homes of Muggles who are traveling. Ha, if he hadn't told me about this in a letter last time, I have to admit that I never thought that there was such a way. .”

An old man and a young man climbed up the stairs and took the fire escape all the way to the back door of the fourth floor.Professor Dumbledore looked at the door, thought for a moment, then raised his knuckles and knocked on the window next to it.

Moon suspected that he felt that the door that had not been opened for an unknown period of time was a little too dirty.

Within a few seconds, the curtains of the window were opened, and a round and chubby head appeared in the window. As soon as he saw Dumbledore and Munn who was following him, the old man's eyes suddenly lit up, and there was another smile on his lips. His long and thick silver beard stood up, making him look like a walrus.

He opened the back door and said in a very enthusiastic voice: "Ha, welcome, welcome, ah, just sit down wherever you want. I'll get you two bottles to drink. I brought some wine made by elves, but I want to Fox definitely can't drink it, but fortunately there are some Muggle drinks here, and I don't know if Fox can get used to drinking them."

As Professor Dumbledore led Moon through the door, he turned his head and winked at Moon slightly, as if to say to Moon, 'Look, I knew he would be like this. '

Moon couldn't laugh or cry as they entered the house together. At the same time, he did not forget to recall the fire escape and close the back door.

"From the day I knew I was going to go back to Hogwarts to teach, I told Dumbledore that if there was anyone in Hogwarts who deserved to go back to teach Potions like me, it would be him. It could be you, and Harry Potter." Slughorn's voice came from the kitchen, "So I've always wanted to meet you, Fawkes, and I hope you won't find it too abrupt."

"No, sir, my uncle and the others often mention you to me. In fact, I am also very honored to come to see you." Moon responded loudly while looking at this Muggle house - they are now I am staying in the living room. This living room is not very big, but it is well decorated. It has large areas of beige color, beautiful wall coverings, exquisite wooden hangers, armchairs, soft and comfortable sofas and warm crystal chandeliers. , it can be seen that the people who live here must be very careful when decorating.

Moon walked slowly to the coffee table, picked up a book, and flipped through two pages. He found that it was a magazine related to fashion, and some of the pages had folded footers and marks.Combined with the women's coats on the racks, which are definitely fashionable nowadays, it seems that the hostess here is either engaged in a fashion-related major, or is a person who is keen on following fashion.

However, he didn't find anything related to the male owner here. Maybe the person living here is still a single girl.

At this time, Slughorn had also walked in with a tea tray. On the tea tray were a bottle of red wine, two goblets, a plate of ham and a plate of honeydew. There was another round glass next to it. It contained some kind of drink that Moon could not identify.

"Sit down, sit down, you don't have to stand." He glanced at the magazine in Moon's hand and said with a smile: "Muggles are very strange and always like to wear strange clothes. I don't understand them very well. Aesthetically, I always think it looks a little weird.”

Moon put the magazine aside, thanked Slughorn who handed him the drink, and then sat on the sofa.

"Ah, Golov, Ann, and Edgar, if you think about it carefully, it was many years ago that I taught them lessons." Slughorn himself picked up the wine glass and took a sip. He took a small mouthful, and then the smile on his face became a little brighter. "I still remember that Golov was always teaching Edgar a lesson at that time. That kid was really capable of causing trouble, and he would always cause some unexpected troubles. I was quite surprised when I found out he became an Auror."

Seeing that Professor Dumbledore seemed to have no intention of getting involved in this topic, Moon had no choice but to take the initiative and said: "It's really surprising - even my mother said so, and they are still the same now. If there is a chance, I think They will welcome you as a guest at Shafiq Manor."

"Of course, when you said that, I was really moved." Slughorn leaned on the armchair, his broad body almost completely integrated into the armchair. "I heard that you are very good at potions." Okay, right? Fox?"

"It's not very good, sir, but I think it's at least passable." Moon smiled shyly, already guessing what Slughorn was going to say.

Sure enough, in the next sentence, Slughorn immediately said: "Then I wonder if you have ever considered your NEWT subject? You know, your mother and two uncles all took refresher courses in Potions back then. I I think you will be no exception?"

"Yes, sir, if my grades pass, I will almost definitely take the NEWT course in Potions."

"Ha, good choice." Slughorn slapped his thigh. "After all, no matter what you do in the future, believe me, potions will be of great help."

Seeing that Moon nodded in agreement, Slughorn temporarily let go of Moon and turned to look at Dumbledore on the other side of the sofa, who was holding a Muggle magazine and reading it with gusto. "So , Albus, what are your plans regarding Snape? I think you should have talked to him about it? "

"Huh? Ah, Severus." Professor Dumbledore temporarily looked away from the magazine. "Yes, I have already talked to him. He is very happy to give up the position of Potions Professor and instead become a blacksmith." Professor of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. I have to say that you have helped me a lot by accident. After all, the candidate for the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year is almost making me want to break my head."

"I have long heard that he has been obsessed with that position." Slughorn took another sip of red wine, then shook the glass gently. "I heard that Kettleburn is also resigning, and will be the Professor of Care of Magical Creatures next year. You probably have to recruit people again?”

"That's not necessary." Professor Dumbledore also picked up the wine glass in front of him and took a sip. "I have found the right person."

Slughorn didn't seem to be surprised at all by Professor Dumbledore's answer. There was even a hint of disgust in his eyes, "Rubeus Hagrid? That half-blood giant? Merlin's beard, I have to say." , I doubt whether he is really qualified for the position of professor."

Professor Dumbledore glanced sideways at Moon and said with a smile, "Believe me, he will surprise you."

"Humph, anyway, he has been rehabilitated now, and he can be considered justifiable..." Slughorn muttered, "Fortunately, the little girl from the Bones family is now the minister, otherwise, if he is held accountable, There is plenty of trouble waiting for you.”

"Speaking of this, I heard that the Ministry of Magic plans to stop all applications of time turners and repurpose that thing into a pure research item. Is it true?"

Chapter 9 Small talk

Moon was actually a little surprised when he heard Slughorn's words.After all, theoretically speaking, in the upcoming semester, Harry and the others would be entering third grade and starting to choose courses.In other words, according to the original plot, Hermione should have already started preparing to get access to the time turner.After all, although school hasn't started yet, the elective courses for the third grade must be chosen at the end of the second grade.

Moon was still lamenting earlier, now that Sirius has been out of prison for a long time, maybe he can calm down a little bit in the next fifth grade.

If what Slughorn said is true, doesn't that mean Hermione won't be able to get her time-turner?

Hmm...actually quite good.After all, if she really got the time-turner, Hermione would definitely be as busy as she was in the original work. In addition, she also signed up for the Duel Club and the Gobstone Club... It was so sour that Moon couldn't help but feel happy just thinking about it. My head feels big.

And now, without the time turner, it can also prevent the little girl Hermione from really over-studying herself.To be honest, in Moon's opinion, not all courses at Hogwarts are so necessary to attend.If nothing else, at least the Divination class was very unsuitable for Hermione. Professor Trelawney was fundamentally incompatible with Hermione.

He felt that the reason why Hermione wanted to choose all the classes and take all the classes was probably because of the difficulty in choosing. Looking at the fancy electives, she didn't know what to choose for a while. It was somewhat useful and I wanted to give it a try, so I applied for the time converter and took all the elective courses.

While Moon was still thinking about these things, the conversation between Professor Dumbledore and Slughorn continued.

"Yes, it seems that your information is as well-informed as ever, Horace." Professor Dumbledore finally put down the magazine, although his eyes still looked at the lady's knitted hat in the magazine from time to time. "Actually, Before Amelia even took the stage, she had been criticizing the approval process for the use of the Time Turner. She felt that the process was a bit too simple. Personally speaking, she had always felt that it was a dangerous product. It’s better to let others use it as they please without approval.”

"So, not long after she took office, she wrote me a letter asking for my opinion on this matter."

Slughorn rubbed his beard, "Ha, with your temperament, you probably support Bones's idea, right?"

"Indeed." Professor Dumbledore chuckled. "I wrote back to her almost immediately and told her that I would be her unwavering supporter if she was willing to do so. So, she Relevant decrees were drafted immediately.”

"It's just that many people are not very supportive of this. I guess you should have some knowledge of this matter. There are people in the Ministry of Magic who have been using time turners to make profits, such as the simple review process. They resorted to fraud and gave the time turner to some people for private use. So, this whole thing has been delayed again and again until now, and it is finally over."

"Of course, I think it will take a few days for the announcement from the Ministry of Magic to be issued."

Slughorn hummed twice, probably expressing his agreement with Professor Dumbledore's point of view.

For the next hour, the two old gentlemen chatted endlessly on this topic.They first started talking about the time turner and Ms. Bones to the current Ministry of Magic, and then started talking about wizarding society, and soon began to discuss the aesthetics of Muggles - this part was mainly taught by Professor Dumbledore. , and Slughorn kept saying that he couldn't understand it all.

Moon listened silently, giving the two people a few responses from time to time, and witnessed with his own eyes that the second bottle of wine had bottomed out.

At this time, the topic between the two of them was once again brought back from Muggles to the wizarding world.

"Oh, hahaha, those damn Nordic wizards." Professor Slughorn's face turned red, and his eyes were about to wander to an unknown place, but he was still able to accurately express his usual expression on his face. Showing off his expression, "Ah, by the way, that Norwegian guy also told me that Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are preparing to reconvene the Triwizard Tournament?"

"Ah, this is important news. It seems that the guy at least didn't lie to you about his identity." Professor Dumbledore leaned on the sofa, with a bit of drunkenness on his face. "He is probably really Demus." A certain professor from Trang. Yes, as he said, we are discussing the reopening of the Triwizard Tournament——"

Professor Dumbledore took a soft cushion and put it behind his head.

"——To be precise, everything that needs to be discussed has been discussed. We all believe that it is time for this event to once again take the stage between the three schools. Moreover, this time it is Hogg's turn to be the host. Watts, by this time next year, you will have to start preparing for the event with us, Horace."

"Next year?" Slughorn muttered and asked, and then he belched after realizing it. "Yes, it's next year. There are approvals and filings. Ha, damn rules and regulations. They just refuse to let people do their own thing comfortably. I had a small business that was blocked by them before. If I hadn't been more or less connected in the Ministry of Magic, that business would have been... Well, it’s yellow.”

Professor Dumbledore did not answer immediately. Instead, he glanced at Moon first, and then smiled and said: "Many things are not as bad as they seem on the surface, Horace. If Hogwart is officially opened next year, it will It’s good news for Ci.”

"After all, this time, in order to ensure that there will not be such a high mortality rate in the game, we have decided to add an age limit - I think only 16-year-old wizards can participate."

"Hiccup -" After another burp, Slughorn suddenly lost his voice. Moon turned around and found that he had tilted his head and leaned to the side, and simply closed his eyes. .

Just when Moon thought he was probably asleep, Slughorn suddenly let out another short laugh, as if he was suddenly awakened from his sleep. "Ha! That's right, Ah. Don’t think! They will definitely lose the game!”

After that, the old man never raised his head again - he finally fell into a deep sleep.

Professor Dumbledore laughed dumbly, tapped his fingers in the air, and let a blanket fly over and cover Slughorn. "It's a pity, Moon, Slughorn is not usually so glum. , he seems to have been thinking about something during this period of time, which caused him to be a little too stressed."

Moon glanced curiously at Slughorn, who was already snoring, and asked softly: "Too much pressure?"

"Of course, Moon, he told the biggest secret of his life, and agreed to return to Hogwarts to teach, and all signs indicate that Voldemort is still alive, and may even be ready to make a comeback... ..." Professor Dumbledore took off his boots, lay down on the sofa, and covered himself with a blanket.It seemed that although he was not as drunk as he appeared, he was probably a little dizzy.

"Poor Slughorn, probably his mind is full of these things every day..." The half-moon shaped lenses were taken off by the old man, and he yawned hard, "Go to your room and sleep. Moon, this sofa is going to be occupied by me. Get some rest early, we both have to get up early tomorrow and go to a far away place."

"Okay, professor, good night." Moon responded, watching Professor Dumbledore slowly close his eyes, then turned off the light, stood up and walked to the bedroom next to him.

A soft and comfortable wooden bed, with pink sheets and quilts, plus two huge plush dolls - this bed didn't look like it was where Munn should lie down and sleep. He rubbed his head helplessly. Hair, and judging from the layout of various items in the bedroom, it is estimated that Slughorn has not rested in this room.

It saves the time to wonder whether the old gentleman is dead or not.

He thought for a while, opened the buckle bag on his waist, took out a rolled, tight and slim sleeping bag, spread it on the ground, and then took out two books and put them under his head.

If Professor Dumbledore hadn't told him to get up early and set off tomorrow, he would have gone back to Shafiq Manor to sleep.

The lights in the bedroom were turned off by Moon. The tightly drawn curtains did not let in even a trace of moonlight, and the surroundings were suddenly plunged into darkness.

It was only then that Moon suddenly realized that he had not seen the "chat APP" between him and Violet all night.

The young man sat up helplessly, illuminated himself with some light, and then took out the roll of parchment from his pocket.

"Have you had dinner?"

"Huh? Why can't I see your position suddenly?"

"Oh~ I remember, I just said last night that you should have met Professor Dumbledore by now?"

"Ah... Mom made a big pot of mashed potatoes at night, and they were so filling..."

Looking at the message left on the parchment, Moon couldn't help but feel happy. He took out a specially prepared pen from his pocket and wrote on it, "I am with Professor Dumbledore, now in London, I have to get up early tomorrow, good night."

He originally thought that Violet was probably watching TV at the moment, so he closed the pen cap and did not wait for a reply.But what he didn't expect was that before he could put the pen back into his pocket, a new line of writing appeared on the parchment - "Good night, Moon."

Now, he could indeed have a good sleep.

Chapter 10 Azkaban

The fierce wind roared across the sea, and in almost an instant, the strong wind completely blew through Moon's clothes.

This was the result after Professor Dumbledore specially reminded him in the morning and asked him to add a thick coat.

Different from the clear sky above London today, when Moon stood on the rocks and looked up, all he could see was the completely boundless iron-grey sky.The sounds that echoed in the ears were no longer the sounds in the city, but instead turned into fierce strong winds and the loud sounds of waves crashing by.

Professor Dumbledore turned his head and glanced at Moon beside him, and suddenly tapped Moon's shoulder with his wand.

A warm current suddenly surged into his body, instantly dispelling all the chill from Moon's body.

Then, the old man, who was no longer drunk from last night, raised his left hand and pointed in the direction behind Moon, "Look over there, Moon."

Moon turned around as instructed, and then immediately froze on the spot.

It was a huge stone tower that occupied almost half of the entire tiny island. The entire stone tower was roughly a cold dark gray, and it had a faint feeling of blending with the sky and the sea.

And around the stone tower, one after another tall figures wearing tattered dark cloaks are constantly flying around, like evil ghosts condensed from the depths of hell. What is even more uncomfortable is that they appear from time to time. It has to fly into the stone tower from a certain entrance, and it will take a while before flying out again.

Vaguely, when those tall figures floated away from the stone tower, Munn seemed to always be able to hear some shrill screams ringing in his ears.

He frowned and looked down at the top of the tower.Then I quickly discovered that at a slightly lower place, I could occasionally find an area covered with white spider webs.The ugly and ferocious Acromantulas lay quietly on the spider web, motionless, as if they were terrifying boulders growing on the tower wall.

They will not penetrate into the stone tower, but they will form a net outside the windows where the prisoners rarely see the sky, and then stay firmly there, staring at the prisoners in the cells every day, as if they are Keep an eye on the piece of meat that is about to enter your belly.

It was obviously self-evident what kind of place this was.

"Azkaban..." Moon murmured the name of this stone tower.

Before seeing this place with his own eyes, he had heard rumors about this place from many people, and had even read descriptions of this place in books.But to be honest, all that was far inferior to what he saw in person at this time.

Seeing those Dementors and Acromantulas acting arbitrarily and without any restraint, Moon took a deep breath and asked loudly: "Professor, is there no one managing this place at all?"

"No, Moon." Professor Dumbledore shook his head, and then raised his wand high. The next moment, a small boat slowly rose from the water and came to the reef where the two of them were. "Your first Once again, you are a natural Legilimency. If you directly apparate into Azkaban, you may not be able to withstand the... horror there. Summon your patron saint, and we will sit down. The boat passes."

Moon responded, waving his wand to summon his giant bear Patronus, letting it jump onto the water, following beside the boat, and then boarded the boat with Professor Dumbledore.

He finally understood that in such a Azkaban and such a group of dementors, it would be strange if they did not turn against each other when Voldemort came back.

No wonder Uncle Edgar refused to explain clearly what it looked like every time he mentioned Azkaban.

For a moment, he didn't even know whether he should say that the people in the Ministry of Magic were big-hearted, or that their brains really hadn't turned around.It is obviously the only wizarding prison currently in use in the British wizarding world, but it can actually tolerate it turning into such a terrifying appearance.

Where is this wizard prison?It's clearly a devil's cave.

Previously, he proposed to send the Acromantula here just to prevent other Animagus from escaping in the same way as Sirius in the original book - now it seems that his purpose cannot be said to have been achieved, but at the same time, It also clearly adds a lot of "color" to this hell on earth.

Seeing the boat getting closer and closer to the island where Azkaban was located, he sighed silently in his heart and began to think about how to deal with the mess he had made.

To be honest, he shouldn't have the slightest expectation for the Ministry of Magic. Even after Ms. Amelia Bones came to power, it didn't mean that she could handle everything well in such a short period of time.

He really didn't expect Azkaban to be like this.

If the Dementor Acromantula is allowed to act so wantonly here, then Moon dares to say that even without Voldemort, as long as any dark wizard association with sufficient strength is willing, there is a high possibility that these monsters can directly become magic. enemy.It is not impossible to use Dementors and Acromantulas as jailers, but they should be under the overall control of the Ministry of Magic, not...

This is what it looks like now.

What's more important is that now that the Acromantula has just been sent over, he can still stay outside Azkaban under the constraints of Aragog, not to collude with those dementors.But what happens after Aragog dies?What will happen to the prisoners here?

Besides being eaten by the Acromantula, Moon could not think of the second possibility.

However, you must know that Azkaban does not only imprison those heinous dark wizards who have released unforgivable curses on others or directly killed people.There are also some wizards who are not worthy of death and will be imprisoned in this wizard prison to complete their sentences.

But if the Acromantula really eats it, it won't be able to tell how long your sentence will be.

The old man and the young man said nothing, and just followed the boat a little closer to Azkaban.

After a while, under the guidance of Professor Dumbledore, the boat finally gradually touched the rocks on the outer edge of the island and slowly stopped.

The sudden appearance of the visitor made several Acromantulas look at him eagerly, and several Dementors in the sky swooped down and rushed straight towards Moon and Professor Dumbledore.Moon remained silent, but the giant bear that had been following the boat suddenly stood up, roared, and swung away all the dementors with one palm.

Having learned from the past, the Dementors were no longer impulsive, but imitated the behavior of the Acromantulas, and also looked at the two people who landed on the island.

Professor Dumbledore waved his wand and made the boat sink back into the water. Then he turned to look at Moon's face and asked, "How are you? Do you feel okay?"

Moon nodded lightly. Although there was an extremely huge feeling of despair permeating the island, with his current control over his own talent, he would not be unable to hold on.

only……

After a pause, Moon said in a deep voice: "If I walk in, I probably won't be able to maintain the Patronus Charm... There are too many negative emotions here."

Professor Dumbledore nodded happily, pointed his wand forward, silver smoke billowed out, and the familiar Phoenix Patronus, which was somewhat similar to Fox's imagination, jumped out with just a cry, Then the surrounding dementors retreated a long distance.