Hogwarts Slytherin

"It's okay, I can borrow the invisibility cloak from Potter."

Snape half-smiled: "Are you sure he will lend it to you?"

"How...why not?" Reggie's face began to look a little unnatural.

I'm coming.

"hope so."

Unexpectedly, Snape didn't do what he suspected. He just said it lightly and then gently revealed it.

……

At night, Reggie returned to the dormitory. The injury on his face had long been healed by the potion, and he was sitting at the table thinking about something.

******

It was a gloomy morning in Wu Shi Orphanage.

"I admit, I was very confused when I received your letter, Mr. Dumbledore." Mrs. Cole sighed.

"In all these years, no relatives have ever come to see Tom."

The haggard woman took the young Dumbledore to Tom's room. As if she suddenly remembered something, she added meaningfully: "Some accidents have happened to other children, very terrible accidents."

"Button." Mrs. Cole opened the door without waiting for a reply, "Tom, someone is here to see you."

"How are you, Tom?" Dumbledore greeted him proactively, walking into the room with a velvet coat in his hand.

As soon as he came in, he met Tom's wary gaze.

But Tom quickly turned his back. After Mrs. Cole left, Dumbledore did not try to break the silence. He looked at the sticker on the wall curiously and tried to pick it up and take a closer look.

"Don't touch!" The little boy didn't look back, but it was as if there were eyes behind his back.

The already gloomy weather outside started to rain lightly, and seven strange-shaped stones were placed by the window sill.

Dumbledore received permission and sat on the edge of the bed.

Tom looked away from the window and turned around to meet Dumbledore's eyes.

When 11-year-old Tom looked at the tall adult Dumbledore, there was no fear in his eyes, but a cold scrutiny.

"You're a doctor, right?"

"No, I'm a professor."

Tom's eyes became wary, "Professor?" He chewed the word carefully.

"I don't believe you. She wants me to see a doctor. They think I'm different from other people."

Dumbledore didn't show any disrespect because of Tom's age, "Well, maybe they're right."

"I'm not a madman." Tom still showed no emotion, as if the person being regarded as a madman was not him.

"Hogwarts is not a madhouse, Hogwarts is a school, a school that teaches magic."

Tom's eyebrows moved slightly, but he didn't speak.

Dumbledore leaned forward. "You can do something, can't you, Tom? Something that other children can't do."

"I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals listen to me without barking. Whoever I want to cause misfortune will suffer. I can hurt them as long as I want to. Who are you?" "

"I'm just like you, a different person."

"Prove it to me."

A fire suddenly burst into flames in the closet nearby.

Tom's expression finally changed. He stood up and looked at the burning wardrobe, first with panic, then with a touch of ecstasy.

Dumbledore kept staring at him closely and raised his eyebrows: "I think there seems to be something trying to get out of your closet, Tom."

Harmonicas, rocks, just random gadgets.

"Stealing is not allowed at Hogwarts, Tom. At Hogwarts, you not only need to learn how to use magic, but also how to control magic. Do you understand what I mean?"

Tom's eyes returned to their original coldness, and his lips moved but said nothing.

Until Dumbledore walked to the door of the room.

"I can also talk to snakes, which is unusual among wizards, right?"

Dumbledore paused, turned around and looked at him thoughtfully: "Yes, a very rare ability."

After saying this, the entire scene began to disintegrate and distort piece by piece, and all the buildings were like a puff of smoke being blown away.

Principal's office.

Dumbledore also left the meditation spray and put the silver wire back into the glass bottle.

At this moment, he has changed a lot compared to what he remembered. He has taken out this memory and read it countless times.

In fact, since Voldemort applied for the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for the last time, he began to organize all his memories about the other party.

"Voldemort." Dumbledore muttered softly: "Fly away from death."

"Tom, you have laid bare your fear. To transcend death, you must first be unafraid of it."

******

After the Yule Ball, Hogwarts was mostly empty.

Strictly speaking, the next day is the real Christmas.

Before that, Reggie had signed the stay-at-school list without hesitation.

Only this year, Snape did not stay, but chose to go home.

Lily was very happy about this. They lived not far away, and it was always a pleasant thing to have good friends as companions on the way back.

Reggie was a little worried about this.

After Snape came back from leave, he never told them about the situation at home.

But judging from the situation of returning home this Christmas, I am afraid that Snape's mother is in very bad condition. If even the potion is ineffective, this means that Ms. Prince does not have much time.

After training in the evening, Reggie sneaked into the Hogwarts kitchen. His appearance was immediately warmly received by the elves.

The departure of students left them somewhat "idle".

While biting into the apple pie, Reggie chatted with them casually: "Did you all come to Hogwarts voluntarily?"

This question stirred up a hornet's nest, and they eagerly began to express how lucky they were and how honored they were to serve the little wizard.

Realizing what a big mistake he had made, Reggie quickly swallowed the food and casually pointed at an elf not far away who was silently cleaning the fireplace. "Getting clothes doesn't mean you get freedom? Why not?" Do something...well, different?"

In addition to its own house elves, Hogwarts also takes in many house elves who have been abandoned by their owners and some whose families have been exterminated and have nowhere to turn.

Even this group of neurotic races who like to serve wizards have a chain of contempt.

House elves who are given clothes by their masters are at the bottom of the contempt chain.

The house elf whose clothes were pointed out by Reggie seemed to have heard something very bad, and its eyes the size of tennis balls were instantly filled with tears.

"Nunu is a bad elf! No wizard would want a house-elf with clothes, no where else but Hogwarts!"

It cried sadly.

The house elves surrounding Reggie showed no comfort or even a hint of sympathy when they saw this.

Instead, he puffed out his chest proudly, highlighting the dirty rags he wore on it, as if he was wearing the supreme honor.

The house elves wearing clothes lowered their heads when they heard this, wishing they could disappear.

Reggie stopped talking.

As far as he knew, only British house elves were the most servile.

In fact, if he hadn't discovered another side of Nubis and conducted an in-depth investigation of house elves in other countries, he would have thought that this race was all of the same virtue.

House elves in Germany have their own organization, and they even cheat and help wizards do bad things to get paid.

The house elves in Country M will capture similar species and then develop a secondary market, buying them at low prices from other places or capturing lone species of the same species and selling them to wizards in their own country.

The Norwegian house elves once even freed themselves and launched a war against the local wizards. If the country's wizards had not provided timely support, they almost succeeded in rebelling against slavery.

In Britain, both house elves and magical pets are eager to die for their owners.

Except for their own golden-winged roc.

Bibi Dong is a very good dog. If you can ensure its sincerity, it may have an effect beyond imagination.

******

On the last day of Christmas, Regis came to the Hogwarts kitchen again.

Today he saw Nunu, the house elf in clothes. It was still hiding aside to clean the fireplace. It seemed like a house elf that had been "bullied" - other house elves were not allowed to join forces. It works.

Tomorrow is homecoming day, and there are many figures in the kitchen. They are fighting in every corner of the castle, eager to tear apart Hogwarts and rebuild it.

"Mr. Duke!" Nunu's big bat-like ears twitched, "Do you... need anything?"

Reggie smiled at it and nodded: "Nunu, I have something to ask you for help."

"Wha...what? No, no, no, Mr. Duke, you don't need to say please, Nunu is willing to do anything for you!" Nunu almost jumped with excitement, and its voice became shrill due to excessive excitement.

Reggie raised his index finger and put it between his lips.

Nunu immediately covered her mouth when she saw this.

well.

He gave it an appreciative look, "That's it, Nunu, my paper on Transfiguration was left in the library." Reggie's voice was filled with a hint of anxiety at the right time, "Today I went back to the dormitory and found my paper. It’s gone. I think it was only on the fifth shelf on the far left side of the library. I took it out, and probably forgot to put it back later - can you go look for it for me?”

After he finished speaking, Nunu released the hand covering himself, and its big tennis-ball-like eyes were even bloodshot, "Mr. Duke... If Nunu remembers correctly, the library is closed now!" "

Reggie looked at it sincerely, earnestly and beguilingly: "This is exactly why I came to you, Nunu, I need your help."

Some of the elves in clothes started to get curious. Reggie lowered his voice a little, and inadvertently got closer to it. "As far as I know, you are not restricted by the castle and can use Apparition in the castle."

"but……"

"Please, Nunu. You know, Hogwarts will resume classes tomorrow. You don't want Professor McGonagall to give me an E for this, right? You are the only one who can help me now." After saying this, Reggie bowed slightly. bend over.

Nunu jumped up as if frightened!

"Oh! No!" It quickly covered its mouth again, "Mr. Duke! Nunu will help you find your homework paper now!"

"Then I'll go back to the room and wait for you." Reggie smiled with satisfaction.

After Nunu left, Reggie soon left the kitchen.

basement.

Reggie stood in front of the window and stared at the dark lake outside. There was a pile of parchment on the table next to him, and the top one was his Transfiguration homework paper.

His paper on transfiguration was certainly not lost.

He tricked Nunu into going to the library tonight just to test a certain idea in his mind. Whether the British wizard was powerful or the house elf was loyal, he still had doubts.

Is that a house elf who has regained his freedom and no longer has an allegiance to him, and still has no sense of autonomy?

Dobby and Kreacher both proved that even house elves are autonomous.

When given the opportunity to become powerful, will they refuse?

******

Not long after, a house elf suddenly appeared in the dormitory.

At this moment, Nunu's eyes were filled with tears, and she looked more depressed than before setting off. It was probably because she did not find Reggie's paper.

"Ugh! Bad Nunu, Mr. Duke, Nunu searched all over the library, that's why it took so long, but still didn't see the paper Mr. Duke needed."

Reggie didn't blame him. On the contrary, he seemed to blame himself.

"Sorry, Nunu, Anthony gave me back my transformation paper not long after I came back."

Good guy.

Lying on the bed and pretending to be dead, Anthony suddenly felt that this guy spoke so skillfully. He didn't know if he had been used as an interface many times like now.

Sure enough, British people like to do one thing on the surface and another behind the scenes.

"Oh, poof!" Nunu wiped her nose with the clothes on her body and said in a low voice, "That's great, Mr. Duke! This way you can still get an O in the Transformation Technique!"

Reggie nodded, not feeling the need to be modest at all.

"Thank you for your willingness to help me anyway, Nunu. I think it's your master's loss for giving you the clothes. I can tell you without hesitation that you are one of the best house elves I have ever met."

Nunu looked so lucky that she almost fainted.

Reggie looked sincere, as if he was speaking from the bottom of his heart.

In the end, the house elf thanked him profusely and said before leaving, "If you need anything in the future, you can just call me by name, Mr. Duke! Nunu is willing to serve you."

It's really fun.

After Nunu left, a real smile appeared in Reggie's eyes.

Really interesting isn't it?

After a moment, a voice came from the curtain on the side: "Do you think it saw it?"

Their dormitory was simply decorated for Christmas. The originally monotonous green room had some colorful ribbons, and there was even a small Christmas tree in the corner with some random ornaments hung on it.

"Maybe, I'll see if I can see it tomorrow."

Anthony didn't speak anymore, and he didn't know if he fell asleep.

Thinking about it, it was late at night. Whether Nunu saw the things it put there, we will find out when we go to the library tomorrow.

House elves are indeed a perfect enslaved race, and they are also a race with high magical attainments.

Just like all children can't resist the temptation of candy.

House elf, can you resist the temptation of a wand?