Harry Potter and the Burnt Badger

She stretched out her hand, gently put it on Moon's hand, and then shook it slowly and firmly.

"Let's go, Moon."

"...Hmm." Munn responded in a low voice, and after Uncle Golov disapparated, he also launched his own teleportation technique.

King's Cross station is still as noisy as ever, full of travelers coming and going.Of course, there are some familiar faces among them.Moon and others took the trouble to greet them and followed the flow of people to the 9 3/4 platform.

Uncle Golov entered first with Hesper, Quaid and Owen, followed closely by Ann and Moon.

"Oen, let's go and send Hesper and the others to the car."

Just after crossing the platform, Moon heard Uncle Golov say this with a smile. Then, when Owen wanted to turn around and say something to Moon, Uncle Golov grabbed him by the collar. , walked towards the front.

Ann's hand never let go, which is funny to say. Moon felt like an ordinary little wizard who had just turned 11 years old and was about to go to Hogwarts for the first time. He was so panicked. Only when I can feel the warmth of An's palm can I feel an inexplicable sense of peace of mind.

"It seems like you haven't had much rest throughout the whole summer vacation, right." An said softly. It was obviously a very soft voice, but it could clearly pass through the noise of the surrounding people and reach Munn's ears. " Promise mom not to put too much pressure on yourself, okay?"

Moon's nose suddenly felt a little sore. He nodded silently, only to feel that the warmth coming from his hands suddenly became extremely heavy.

"You have been a smart and keen child since you were a child. You are always observing, thinking, and reading. You seem to be very passive, but in fact you are very active in everything and always have your own ideas and opinions." An gently hugged Moon , patted his back, "That's good. Mom has always been proud of you, not just me, but your two uncles, every one of your relatives, I think even your father should be the same."

"No matter when the time comes, we will still be behind you."

"Hmm...I know." Moon pursed her lips and smiled at An.

"Okay, let's get in the car." An raised her hand and smoothed the scattered hair on Munn's forehead, and then couldn't help but mess up Munn's hair again, and said with a smile in her eyes: "You should let Wei Erlit will dye you that color again."

Moon also raised his hand to brush his hair, then stepped forward and hugged An.

By the time Golov returned here, Moon had already stepped into the car and disappeared from An's sight.

…………

Unlike previous years, after getting on the train, Moon did not immediately look for the carriage where Cedric and the others were, but went straight to the prefect's carriage.

That's right, during the holidays, when he received a letter with a list of new teaching materials and teaching aids, he also received his prefect badge - there is almost no doubt that Moon is the fifth-year Hufflepuff boys prefect. , and Violet is the girls prefect.

So this year, he had to go to the prefects' carriage to receive instructions, and then start to inspect each carriage like Gabriel and Percy in previous years.

However, just halfway through, he met someone he didn't expect.

"Percy? Violet? What are you two doing..."

Percy picked up a piece of paper in his hand, and with a smile on his face said before Violet: "Ah, Moon, I'm so glad to meet you here, I think this saves at least a little time - —I think you don’t know yet, but there is a new professor this year, Mr. Slughorn, whose full name is Horace Slughorn. He is a respectable gentleman, not only Hogg An old professor before Watts, he has a wide circle of friends and a good reputation."

In fact, from the moment Percy mentioned the "new professor", Moon had figured out what this was all about.But looking at the helplessness on Violet's face, and looking at Percy's excited look, he knew clearly that Percy had probably been shouting with Violet for a long time.And if he didn't want Percy to continue nagging endlessly, he'd better listen to Percy finish now.

"Anyway, Professor Slughorn sent someone to the prefects' carriage to invite the three of us - that is, you, me, and of course, Violet." He added this sentence He repeated the words again, "Go to the carriage where he is and participate in a small lunch party. Let me tell you, he really can't wait, right? In fact, it would be more reasonable to hold such a party in the evening, and we might as well Time to finish our patrol."

"You're right, Percy, absolutely right." Moon nodded, "But I think the train is about to start, maybe we should set off quickly to avoid being the last one to arrive, what do you think?" "

Percy was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly said: "That's true. That would be a bit too rude. Let's leave quickly."

As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately dove into the crowd.

Violet was relieved and didn't forget to give Moon a thumbs up.Moon sighed, took a step forward, took Violet's hand, and led her in the direction Percy was heading.

To be honest, he really didn't have much energy to think about these things recently, so he forgot about it.However, Slughorn would be so impatient...

It's actually quite normal, isn't it?

Chapter 27 Slughorn's Lunch Party

There is no doubt that Percy was obviously busy thinking about "formal" issues, but he forgot that everyone was going to have a dinner in the castle that evening.

However, if it must be said, the reason why Slughorn was so "eager" to invite these people to the party during lunch time is not completely without reason - the "high-quality students" waiting for him to invite this year The quantity was unprecedentedly rich, and it even reached the point where it couldn't fit in a private room, so he had to divide it into two batches: one at noon and one in the evening.

Just counting on the fingers - Moon Fox and Harry Potter, these are simply the people who must be invited without any controversy.

Immediately afterwards, Violet Evelina, not to mention her famous grandmother, just the fame given to her by the picture album she created with Pomona Sprout last semester. It was enough to make Slughorn look at the girl in a new light.

Then there are the children of Arthur Weasley's family. If it were a few years ago, Slughorn would really not have much feelings for the Weasley family.But now?Don't be kidding, anyone with a bit of brains can see that he is a rookie at the Ministry of Magic.Although he is indeed a bit older in age, that is called rich experience - as long as the position of minister is not changed, the current position is definitely not the pinnacle of Arthur Weasley.

Of course, two representatives from this family will be enough, and there is no need to invite all of them. One is about to graduate, and his academic performance is so outstanding that he is absolutely outstanding even in the entire history of Hogwarts. Percy Weasley, and then Plus Ron Weasley, who is said to be very close to the little savior, is perfect.

Of course, we can't forget Cormac McLaggen. This guy's uncle, Tiberus McLaggen, also holds an important position in the Ministry of Magic and is very close to many people, even after Cornelius Fudge stepped down. , also not affected much.There is also Neville Longbottom, who is also from Gryffindor. Although I heard that he is not very famous in Hogwarts, his parents are both famous Aurors. They ended badly, yes, but they are still famous. of.

By the way, I almost forgot about Hesper Shafiq and Quaid Shafiq, who are both children of the Shafiq family, as well as Daphne Greengrass and Astoria Greengrass. After the old man Dennis Greengrass began to show up, the Greengrass family was no longer the declining pure-blood family it had been a few years ago.

Plus Blaise Zabini, Marcos Belby, Theodore Nott[Note 1], Terence Higgs, Orsino Slaston, Susan Boyne Si...

Merlin at the top, Slughorn had to admit that after running out of fingers to count, he had to make a list on parchment.

As for how he knew this thing so well - ha, the shrewd Mr. Slughorn never fights unprepared, especially in matters like this.

Obviously, even though he had only selected two important children among the many children in the Weasley family, the number of names on the list still did not allow him to invite them all in one box.And Mr. Slughorn, who is too happy, obviously has no ability to divide himself and himself, and he doesn't really know how to divide himself.

So these people were divided into two groups.

It seemed that more important dinners would involve inviting more important people, like Moonfox, like Harry Potter.In the beginning, Slughorn had indeed planned this.But when he realized that among the people he was planning to invite, there was also a male president of the Hogwarts Student Union and two fifth-year Hufflepuff prefects, he suddenly understood that this time, he had to do the opposite. Come.

Think about it, his banquet can help these people stay away from the boring and annoying "patrol work". At the same time, these people who should be patrolling come to his banquet, which can in turn create a wave of publicity for him.

It's simply a win-win situation, a win-win situation.

What's more, although the meals he personally brought had a spell to help keep them fresh, it was better to eat them earlier than later.Besides, in the final analysis, even if he can share the meal, the second wave of people who come in the evening will always be a bit suspected of "eating leftovers".

Slughorn would rather let the remaining people "eat leftovers" than give this quota to Moon Fawkes and Harry Potter.

no way.

I have to say that Slughorn's idea was very good, and he did achieve what he wanted.At least Moon and Violet didn't really want to go on patrol, because it didn't make much sense - throwing all the prefects from the four colleges into the carriage to patrol was, to be honest, a bit of a waste of resources.As for Percy, he is very enthusiastic about patrolling, but as he is the president of the male student body this year, he no longer has to be responsible for specific patrols, he only needs to issue orders.

Just like that, eight people, headed by Professor Slughorn, Moon, Violet, Percy, Harry, Ron, plus Susan and Cormac, crowded into the same private room.

Fortunately, among these people, only Professor Slughorn and Cormac occupied more horizontal space, and the remaining few were relatively slender.Otherwise, this private room would have been filled to capacity long ago.

Yes, after much thought, Professor Slughorn decided to put Hesper and Quaid in the evening - because almost most of the people who came at night were Slytherins.

As for Neville Longbottom, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini and a few other less important people...

Professor Slughorn decided to invite them to tea.

"Ha, it's time to suggest that Dumbledore also cast a traceless stretching spell on the private room. What do you think, Moon?" As soon as he sat down and introduced each other to everyone, the food was still floating down and he placed it on the table. At that time, Professor Slughorn had already started his joke, "Oh my God, this is the first time I think he is so stingy."

Moon smiled and nodded, "You are right, Professor, it is indeed necessary to have a few larger private rooms."

Professor Slughorn looked at the meal he had brought and stroked his beard with satisfaction. He didn’t know whether he was satisfied with Moon’s answer or with the sumptuous food on his table. “Uh-huh, no. I know whether you are used to it or not, but to be honest, I always feel that the food on the express train is mixed with the smell of licorice wands, haha, hurry up, you’re welcome, try them all.”

As he spoke, he picked up the knife and fork and enthusiastically gave Moon a portion of squab, and gave Harry a large piece of lamb chop. "I hope it will suit your taste."

"By the way, Percy, Ronald, how is your father? Yes, of course I know Arthur. I was my teacher when he was at Hogwarts. Ha, his grades back then were not like Percy's. Xi is so good, right? But who would have thought that now he has achieved quite a lot, which is really proud, right?"

Ron didn't answer. To be honest, he was the most awkward person on the whole table at the moment. In his panic, he didn't even understand Professor Slughorn's question. He only heard the professor shout His full name, so while nodding his head with a red face, he quickly buried his head and chewed something unknown.

Relatively speaking, Percy behaved very calmly. Although he was also very flattered, at least he could respond to Professor Slughorn's question. "Thank you for your concern, Professor, I am very excited. My father It’s been pretty good lately, I heard he’s going out for dinner with some dignitaries in the next few days.”

"Oh, kid, this is a bit surprising to me. I thought he would be very busy -" Professor Slughorn joked with a smile, which actually made Percy panic. He seemed to think that Professor Raghorn was implying that he was lying, so he hurriedly explained.

"Of course, he's really busy, but, uh, I mean-"

"Okay, okay, Percy." Professor Slughorn pressed his palms, "I understand what you mean."

Percy's blush even spread to his neck. He responded, lowered his head, and poked the oyster meat on his plate with his fork in annoyance, as if it was his own mouth.This made Ron almost laugh out loud. Sure enough, if he wanted to alleviate the embarrassment, he still had to rely on the help of his family.

"So, Cormac, does your uncle still enjoy hunting as much as before?" Professor Slughorn said as he comforted Percy with two larger oysters. He seemed to have mistakenly Thought Percy liked that thing a lot.

Cormac McLaggen's performance is undoubtedly much better than that of Percy and Ron. After all, Percy and Ron have no experience of dining face to face with big people and chatting about these status-laden topics, while Cormac This is commonplace.

"Yes, Professor, we just went to Norfolk Island a few days ago. In addition, after learning that you were coming back to teach this year, my uncle also specifically told me to take care of you for him." Cormac said proudly. He smiled and said, "He hopes you can often visit him."

"Of course, of course." Professor Slughorn nodded with a smile, and then turned his gaze to Violet, "Oh, Violet, let's have a piece of pumpkin pie, I think you will like it. So, I guess your grandma must have mentioned me to you, right, Euphemia. Ha, we communicated a lot about academic matters back then. Although she specializes in herbalism, I still insist that she There will also be good developments in potions.”

Violet smiled sweetly and nodded obediently, "My grandma did mention you to me. She said that you are a very capable potion scholar, especially in the study of blessed elixirs. There is almost no one else who can compare with you at the moment." You’re better.”

In her response, Violet was obviously very decent, but the fact is... After learning that Slughorn was coming back to teach, the first thing Ms. Euphemia did was to tell Violet It talked about Slughorn's "glorious deeds" over the years for nearly an hour, especially Slughorn's shrewdness and his excessive enthusiasm for famous students.

Chapter 28 After the party

Next, Slughorn spent a full 10 minutes praising how much Susan's eyes resembled those of the current minister's lady - no way, that was the only thing about Susan that was similar to her aunt, Ah. Miriam Bones is somewhere close.

During this period, Harry was very happy watching the fun.Originally, he was not very happy to come, but now, he wished he could watch it for a while longer.

Think about it, not only did he have something to talk about to tease Ron back, but he also saw Percy in such embarrassment, which was not something you could see anywhere.

But soon he stopped laughing, because Slughorn's next target was himself.

"Now! Harry Potter." Slughorn moved forward, as if he was about to stand up. "Ah, let me think about it, let me think about it, where should I start? Harry, the Boy-Who-Lived, you have done things that many people would never dare to think of. Some people say that you have extraordinary powers, and of course, there are occasionally some trivial rumors about you, or about James and Lily's..."

After hearing the names of his parents, Harry's breathing suddenly became a little faster, even though he often heard something about his parents from Sirius and Remus, and he received such a gift last year.But at this time, he still couldn't help but feel a little excited.

Harry's reaction undoubtedly made Slughorn very satisfied. "Yes, Harry, I know your parents - of course, how could I not? They were once my students, especially yours." Mom. Oh, Lily, even today, when I think of her, I am still full of emotion. She was my favorite student back then."

Everyone except Moon looked at Harry, and Harry blinked, and then whispered: "Yes, Sirius told me that my mother's grades in Potions are very good."

"Very good, yes, Harry, very good. She has a rare potion talent. Except for Professor Snape before you, I have never seen anyone with a more potion talent than her." Silla Ghorn was not stingy with his praise at all. It can be seen that he really, really likes Lily. "It's amazing. I can't even believe that she is a little witch from a Muggle family."

The excitement that had just arisen in Harry's heart was extinguished at once, and he remembered Sirius's comment about Slughorn again. This was the reason why he was not willing to come before - Slughorn En is a very, very typical old-school Slytherin. His nature may not be bad, and he even values ​​talents and talents far more than bloodline.But in the final analysis, Slughorn is still a wizard with pure blood concepts.

"In fact, I have a friend who is also a Muggle. Her talent is also very high. She is No. 1 in our grade, and she is like this in every subject." Harry said bluntly: "I want the family and Origin means nothing, Professor."

Professor Slughorn, who was choked, did not refute Harry, and even said with a smile without any hesitation: "Maybe you are right, Harry, just like there are always surprises in life, who knows?" Can you say that young wizards who are not from pure-blood families will not be very good?"

"Anyway, Harry, you must let me meet your classmate later. After all, no matter how talented you are, you cannot do without the help and exploration of the professor, right, hahaha."

Harry nodded sincerely without being refuted. Of course, in his heart, he still wanted to use Hermione to prove to the professor in front of him that the concept of pure blood was wrong from beginning to end.

"Moon, ha, please forgive me for talking to you last." Professor Slughorn put another piece of pastry on Moon's plate. "After all, we met during the holidays. I think you shouldn't You’ll blame me for this, right?”

"Of course not, Professor." Moon laughed.

"How should I put it? You simply exceeded everyone's expectations. A rising star, right? You even won the Medal of Merlin and Merlin's socks. When I was young, I would never have done it. Still studying at Hogwarts like you."

"Anyway, if I remember correctly, this is your OWLs year. I've seen your transcript. It's perfect, with O's in every subject. I even asked for a copy of your Potions class. The test paper has a perfect score. Even if you look at it with a very critical eye, there is no doubt that it is a perfect score." Professor Slughorn's tone was full of appreciation, "I even think you can achieve such results in OWLs. "

"So, I think I'd be very sad if I didn't see you in my class next year."

As he spoke, he laughed out loud first, and after receiving Munn's assurance, his whole face started to smile.

The lunch did not end until an hour later. During this period, Professor Slughorn told many interesting anecdotes about the famous wizards he had taught, including Violet. and Moon's family.Occasionally, he would chat with everyone again.

Overall, the atmosphere in the second half has been good. The only flaw is that Cormac accidentally stated his vision.

"When Oliver Wood leaves next year, I will immediately run for the new goalkeeper and captain of the Quidditch Academy team. By then, Harry, we will be teammates fighting side by side."

This sentence was not pleasant to Harry. Although Oliver always arranged some hell-like training for them, Harry undoubtedly liked Oliver very much.Because of this, he did not give Cormac a good look, and once even made the atmosphere slightly stalemate.Fortunately, Professor Slughorn diverted the topic in time so that the scene did not become too ugly.

When leaving Professor Slughorn's private room, Harry wanted to complain to Moon about Professor Slughorn's little party, but Susan and Cormac McLaggen were still there, and Purple Xi was even more excited.Therefore, Harry could only suppress the burning complaints in his chest, only said goodbye to Moon and Violet, and left in a hurry with Ron.

The same was true for Susan and Cormac, so after a while, only Moon, Violet and Percy were left in the corridor outside.

"Phew, this is really good, isn't it, Moon." After everyone left, Percy finally stopped being arrogant (although everyone could actually see his happiness) and said to Mu En with joy. En said, "Did you just hear that? Professor Slughorn said that from time to time this year, he will hold more formal gatherings, and we can all join his club. I mean, this is a rare event opportunity, right?”

Moon patted Percy's shoulder helplessly, "Maybe, Percy, it's time for you to return to the prefect's carriage? Logically speaking, the student union president should be sitting there."

"Ah... you're right, Moon, I almost forgot about this." Percy woke up from a dream and hurriedly said: "By the way, you don't need to go on patrol, the duty time has already come. It’s almost lunch time. Although Professor Slughorn’s lunch started early, it lasted for a long time. It’s almost time now, so you can just go find a place to sit.”

"Okay, let's go back first." Moon took off his prefect badge, put it in his pocket, said goodbye to Percy, and then took Violet's hand and walked towards the Hufflepuff students There are more carriages.

The sky outside the window was still very gloomy, and it seemed that it was only at that moment in London that it seemed a little clearer outside.Many little wizards are looking forward to it not raining at night, but as the express train heads towards Hogwarts, this small hope becomes increasingly impossible - the iron-gray sky is not only It didn't clear up, and it even became increasingly heavy.

Moon and Violet did not sit in the same cubicle, but each returned to the cubicle where their roommates were.Of course, before that, the two of them followed the example of Percy and Penello last year and whispered for a while in the car connection.During this period, Violet did not forget to reveal the silver bracelet she had worn for several years—it was a Christmas gift from Moon when she was in first grade.

Moreover, on the way back to school after the Christmas vacation that year, the two of them chatted for a short time in the car connection just like today.

When Moon found the box where Cedric and the others were, his three roommates were enthusiastically commenting on several posters.Looking at their enthusiastic expressions, Moon would have almost thought they were looking at a pictorial of some glamorous actress if he could not clearly see the dozen or so Quidditch stars printed on the poster.

"Don't be ridiculous, the best Seeker is of course Viktor Krum!" Arlin said loudly, "And don't forget, he is still very young - even about the same age as us."

"Ahem -" Moon smiled and closed the door of the compartment, and at the same time said righteously: "I beg to differ. In my opinion, if you want to say who is the best seeker, then I will have to recommend to you the talented players of Hogwarts, who are also very young, but have become the soul of the team, and will one day go to the professional arena——"

"Harry Potter!"

Cedric, who had already opened his arms and was smilingly waiting for Munn to say his name, immediately became "annoyed" and swooped down to wrap Munn's neck in his arms, saying angrily: "Okay! It seems that some people After becoming a prefect, I forgot the name of my roommate, right?"

Chapter 29 Moon’s problem

"So, after all, I still don't quite understand - why do you suddenly need to change the professor of Potions?" Cedric asked curiously, "Professor Snape is not like Professor Kettleburn. It's time to retire." His grade, not to mention that Professor Sgrughorn is much older than Professor Snape, right?"

"And..." Arling added from the side, "The real question is, if Professor Slughorn comes to teach us Potions, what will Professor Snape do?"

Moon held the licorice wand given to him by Gal and was about to answer, but Gal said first: "What's going on with you two? The professor of Potions has been changed from Professor Snape to Professor Slughorn, right?" Is it good? Are you actually starting to like Professor Snape? I mean - even if he doesn't curse so much now, he's still not very likable, right?"