Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 333 Invitation

Slughorn thought he was wrong.

He welcomed the two visiting people into the house.

It can be seen that he welcomes the arrival of Toby, a student, but when he is facing Dumbledore, his attitude is not so friendly.

"Don't think I don't know."

After Slughorn brought over the glass full of mead, he placed Dumbledore's glass heavily on the coffee table, making a loud noise.

"I've read the original report in The Quibbler, and it looks like it was written by Toby himself, but you're everywhere - you asked him to do it, why do you have to My proud student getting involved in this trouble?"

Slughorn turned out to be speaking for Toby.

Dumbledore glanced sideways, and Toby took a sip from the cup in front of him as if nothing had happened, and then praised: "It tastes good, is this the bottle I gave you?"

"Yes, it's your gift." Slughorn turned his head and said with a smile: "I've been keeping them, and I'll take them out to treat important guests when they visit—of course, this doesn't include you. , Albus, your glass of mead is just ordinary mead, I can't bear to give you such a good thing."

It seems that Slughorn misunderstood both Dumbledore and Toby deeply, and he was completely in the attitude of asking the blame.

"Maybe there is some misunderstanding between us." Dumbledore put down his cup lightly and said, "But judging by your appearance, you don't intend to explain it to me, so - where is the bathroom?"

Slughorn hummed and pointed in the direction of the corner of the stairs. After Dumbledore got up and walked away, he gradually relaxed and let out a long sigh of relief.

"I can't understand this old friend more and more."

Slughorn shook his head and said, "How did he think of leaving Hogwarts, and even planned to run for the next Minister of Magic—is he completely confused?"

"Who knows." Toby said with a natural expression, he didn't seem to know the secret at all, and he didn't regard himself as the culprit at all.

Slughorn sighed, and after a short silence he asked, "What happened to Severus, why did he suddenly resign?"

This was the result announced by the school to the public, and only a handful of people knew about Snape's defection to Hai Erbo.

"And judging from your tone just now, it seems that he has provoked you. What's going on? I remember that you two had a good relationship when you were in school, and you often went to the party of the Slug Club together—— Am I Shouldn't this question be asked?"

Toby's face gradually darkened, and Slughorn stared at him for a moment.

"It seems to be." He said regretfully, "It's a pity. Do you know where he went? You don't know? Well, don't make yourself too uncomfortable, child, this kind of thing happens from time to time, and no one can do anything about it." avoid."

It is estimated that he made up a lot of scenes in his brain, which are all related to the reason for Toby and Snape's falling out.

"I can't forgive him."

Toby said abruptly: "He did something very excessive, it is impossible to forgive him, sooner or later, I have to find him again, and let him suffer."

Slughorn was taken aback by Toby's gloomy tone, and he quickly persuaded: "Don't be impulsive, it's not worth it, you are now the vice head of Hogwarts-even though I haven't had time to congratulate You, but—you really don’t need to ruin your bright future. Think about it, how young you are now, and you will have some useful things in the future. "

But Toby didn't feel better because of these words. He even planned to find Snape out desperately, and at worst let Al teach the students in the next semester.

Slughorn saw that something was wrong with Toby's state, and he couldn't imagine what kind of conflict the two had.

"As much as I hate to mention it, but—look at me, Toby."

Toby looked around at the arrangement of the room. There were ottomans, ottomans, drinks and books, boxes of chocolates and a pile of bulging cushions, plus a noble piano in the corner.

Slughorn's life wasn't as bad as his tone suggested.

"Not these." Slughorn waved his hand and said, "It's useless to just look at these, I mean compared with the time when I was teaching at Hogwarts. Although my retirement life is very good , but it’s still a lot worse than that time—do you know what I mean?”

Toby didn't quite understand.

"I remember that you resigned voluntarily." He asked curiously, "It's not that you were fired. Is there any secret behind it?"

Slughorn seemed to panic for a moment, and he said quickly, "No, that has nothing to do with what I'm trying to say. What I'm trying to say is—don't be hard on yourself, it's not necessary .”

"Maybe you can think about it carefully. Even if you achieve your goal in the future, what can you do? Then you can be happy?"

Although Slughorn was obviously deliberately diverting the topic, the scene in front of him was too similar to the scene where the other party comforted Toby.

[I don't understand, sir, I'm only a Muggle-born, but why was I sorted into Slytherin? 】

[Oh, come on, Toby, blood is not a big deal, I made many Muggle-born friends when I was in school, and they are all as good as you, or even worse than you. 】

It was because of this conversation that Toby realized the important factor of blood—all because he was more Slytherin than Slytherin, so he was selected into this academy.

So, if you think about it from another angle, what did the real Salazar Slytherin do when he faced this kind of thing?

History and what happened to Toby in the past have given the answer.

Due to the law of conservation of magic, the ideas of Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor have gradually become at odds.

He didn't want to trust Muggle-born wizards, thinking that sooner or later they would squeeze the living space of pure-blood wizards to nothing.

Salazar Slytherin may have foreseen the impending break, but before that, he did not really fall out with the other three founders, but first worked with Rowena Ravenclaw to study The soul built a secret room under the castle to pass on his will.

And, at the request of the little-known fifth founder, House Centaur, Salazar Slytherin promised to allow Muggle-borns into his college someday in the future.

But the premise must be that the other party has great ideals, just like himself.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Toby became the candidate.Regardless of whether his ideals can satisfy Slytherin or not, his recent experience alone is enough to shock many people-he discovered the devil that Andros became, and Merlin who became the god of death, and the one who was alive Thousands of years of Haierbo.

It is estimated that Slytherin's subsequent adventures are not as bizarre as Toby's recent experience.

And it's far from over.

Even without mentioning the influence of those dead wizards, just referring to the law of conservation of magic has gradually affected wizards in the entire magic world.

Many of them were even willing to believe Toby in order to help Dumbledore get rid of the investigation.

But like Merlin said to Toby before disappearing.

[All this is far from over. 】

Hai Erbo is still alive, the Ministry of Magic needs to carry out reforms in advance for possible disasters, the broken soul in Harry still exists, and Lily, who is not sure if she is really alive, is also missing.

Plus traitor Severus Snape.

As far as Toby knew, apart from James, who had never really turned to him, the only remaining subordinate of Hai Erbo seemed to be Snape.

No one knows what he will do in the next period of time, and where he is hiding.

Toby specifically looked for the dilapidated house in Spider's End, where the Snape family used to live, but there was no one there, and there was no clue that Snape had gone back.

Toby was facing the same situation as the original founder, but the difference was that the one who left was Snape, but the one who stayed was himself.

It was difficult for him to bring into the identity of Godric Gryffindor, but he knew what the founder did later-continue to teach in the school, and never withdraw from Slytherin House He didn't use other methods because of pure contradictions.

Toby sometimes even thinks that if Slytherin had stayed, he would have done the same thing.No matter how deep the conflict is, it will not affect the colleges established by each other.

However, Toby was not the founder of Hogwarts after all.

He was destined to be more Slytherin than Slytherin.

At this moment, Dumbledore re-entered the room.Obviously, the atmosphere still didn't look very good, but he said cheerfully, "It seems that you guys had a great time chatting. Well, Toby, I think we should go."

"Go?" Slughorn was taken aback. "Are you leaving now? Don't ask me any more about inviting me back to work?"

"Oh, yes, I forgot." Dumbledore seemed to have just reacted and asked, "So are you willing to accept the invitation?"

"I think I should think about it again," Slughorn said with feigned reserve.

"Then think about it slowly." Dumbledore was about to turn around and leave decisively.

"Hey! Can't I promise?" Slughorn shouted impatiently, as if he was worried that the opportunity would slip away: "I promised to go back to Hogwarts, and I didn't say I would refuse, you What are you doing in such a hurry?"

"Because we still have a lot of things to do." Dumbledore pushed the door open, he said without looking back, and Slughorn, who stayed where he was, became more and more dissatisfied.

After leaving the house, Dumbledore and Toby walked along the street in silence for a while.

After a long time, Dumbledore said, "I thought you couldn't help but ask me why Horace accepted the invitation so easily."

"Because it couldn't be more obvious." Toby said a little distractedly: "The dean doesn't like you, but when you decide to leave Hogwarts, even if we don't come to him, it is estimated that the dean will ask for it. Back to Hogwarts."

"Besides, I can also see that the reason why you brought me this time is not to ensure the smooth invitation, but because you plan to ask the dean to help me explain, so that I don't have to think about those nasty problems—like I was still in school."

Dumbledore did not hide his purpose at all, he said: "From some perspectives, Horace is indeed a very good professor, he is better at solving some of the students' distress, although many of them are related to Fame and fortune are related, but it has indeed brought him a lot of benefits. From my point of view, the Slug Club will probably have to be re-established."

As he said, he turned his head and looked at Toby with light blue eyes and asked, "So, I want to know, will this help you?"

Along with Dumbledore's questioning, Toby gradually concentrated his attention and came to the result of his own thinking.

"Yes." He said in a soft voice, "It's really helpful. I've already figured it out. I really shouldn't be so entangled with Snape. He is irrelevant and not the root of the problem."

Dumbledore stopped, and he heard from Toby's tone that the development of the matter seemed to deviate from his original intention a little bit.

"It's the Mason Gate."

Toby said with bright eyes: "One thing I did was extremely correct, and even I admired myself - I was very correct in naming this magic item. The god of death revealed his true face inside the Mason Gate , that is, Merlin. And the Mason Gate is exactly what I found from the burial place of Antioch and Cadmus, and none of them was left behind, so maybe Merlin left it for them on purpose."

"One more thing, I don't know if you remember—the lake water of Avalon is the magic liquid I used to cure the Longbottoms. I found it from the city under Loch Ness."

"Now we can probably guess that those lake waters may be used to heal wizards who turned into devils. But, or, is it also left by Merlin for them?"

"At the very beginning, also at the beginning of everything, Merlin, he may be the founder of Loch Ness City, became the first wizard to be sacrificed, and was finally captured and turned into a unique god of death-although this is different from ordinary wizards. The devil turned out to be different, but perfectly reasonable."

"Because according to the legend, Merlin is the child of a wizard and a demon. A person like him will also be regarded as an enemy by pure-blood wizards, because his bloodline is not pure enough."

"After his failure, the residents of Loch Ness City decided to change their plans. Some people would live there forever, and then send out an additional small number of wizards—such as the three dead brothers, so that they could inherit the desire for revenge."

"It's really a legendary story." Dumbledore had to interrupt: "But what exactly are you trying to tell?"

"What Merlin left me." Toby said with quick thinking: "He left the magical lake for Loch Ness, and he also left the Mason Gate for the three brothers of the Peverell family—since I also saw If I passed him, or saw him when he was awake, then, will he also leave me something?"

"Related to the god of death, something that can completely ignore anyone's betrayal."

Worthy of being more Slytherin than Slytherin.

Instead of entangled in the betrayal that has already occurred, Toby simply intends to prevent the possibility of another betrayal in advance.

Even if it cannot be prevented, it is necessary to completely stop the possibility of adverse effects.

Just when Dumbledore silently rejoiced that this kind of thing might not be so easy to find, Toby suddenly said excitedly: "I thought of it!"

"The magic ball and the scepter, I brought them out of the Mason Gate, and one has Merlin's brain in it, and the other has been used by him."

"This time, he left not only one creation, but two and left them all to me."

"Death Merlin"

Toby suddenly looked at Dumbledore, ignoring the astonished eyes of the other party and said: "The magic ball and the scepter correspond to Merlin's dual identities. He left me with more than strength, and the curse he gave me must not be so simple. "

"That's a key, a key related to Merlin."

"Perhaps, this is the way to truly control the god of death, what Hai Erbo wants—"

"It's all in my hands."

Dumbledore never expected that on the way to invite Slughorn, he would find another invitation by accident.

And this invitation is only between Toby and Death.

(End of this chapter)