The Ancient Wizards of Hogwarts

Chapter 108 When will you die?

Eighth floor, Hogwarts Headmaster's Office.

boom!

Snape opened the door unceremoniously, without any respect for the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

Ash and Lupine were a little behind him, and their eyes were somewhat subtle when they saw this scene.

Dumbley had already put on a set of snow-white pajamas and a purple robe with gold on it. He was sitting in a high-backed chair, carefully reviewing the documents on his desk by the faint candlelight.

Hearing the sound of opening the door, he raised his head slightly, his sharp blue eyes swept across Snape, and then touched Ash behind Snape, with a gentle smile on his face:

"Ah, good evening, Ash."

"Good evening, Dumbledore."

Ash nodded in response and asked proactively, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Oh yes."

Dumbledore, still smiling, pointed to the chair opposite, "Sit down first."

Dumbledore asked:

"Want something to drink?"

Ash shrugged and said in a joking tone:

"Actually, I want to drink Coke, but unfortunately you don't have it here."

"That's a Muggle drink, and I really don't have it here."

Dumbledore also looked quite regretful, and suddenly changed the topic, "But I can bring some back when I go to London on business next time."

"Then black tea." Ash replied.

Dumbledore smiled and nodded, waved his wand to make the teapot automatically pour a cup of tea for Ash, then looked at Snape and Lupin and asked:

"So, what do you want to drink?"

Lu Ping waved his hand:

"I don't have to. I want to have a good sleep at night."

Snape responded abruptly:

"I wouldn't mind helping you."

"Help me? How? Use potion?" Lu Ping asked in surprise.

"Use to pass out."

Snape said coldly, "I guarantee this will give you a baby-like sleep. You can sleep in the corridor until the next morning until you are discovered by students who get up early."

"Then it's better to skip it."

Lupine smiled bitterly and declined Snape's 'well-intentioned' proposal.

Ash held the teacup floating in front of him, feeling the temperature from the cup with his palms, and took the initiative to change the topic:

"Dumbledore, why did you come to me?"

"It's still because of what happened last time."

Dumbledore did not mince words and spoke frankly, "When Professor Lupine was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts, he had to take Wolfsbane potion regularly one week before the full moon night of each month. But this potion It is very difficult to make and extremely expensive. Even Severus cannot guarantee that he can prepare it successfully every time."

"So I hope you can cooperate with Professor Lupin to study how to avoid the curse of werewolves getting out of control on full moon nights."

Lu Ping added softly:

"Mr. Black, this is of my own free will."

"As long as I can get rid of the werewolf's 'curse', I am willing to do anything and pay any price."

Ash frowned slightly and said in a low voice:

"Professor Luping, I have to remind you that although I have been conducting relevant research, research does not happen overnight. The process may be long and even painful!"

"It doesn't matter, my life is long enough and painful enough."

Lupine's tone was still calm, but his face showed a trace of weathered fatigue.

From the moment he was bitten by the werewolf, his life was filled with nothing but pain.

For more than twenty years, he endured the torture of the werewolf curse every month, even nearly killing others on several occasions. To Lupine, this was no less than the most cruel torture in the world.

It is precisely because of suffering that Lupine's words are not even half false.

For him, as long as he can get rid of this curse, he is willing to pay for it, even his life!

Even if he dies for this, as long as he can find a way to solve the werewolf curse, at least other werewolves can be saved, right?

Having said that, Ash naturally had no reason to refuse.

He took the initiative to reach out to Lu Ping, smiled and nodded:

"Then, I hope we can work well together, Professor Lupin."

"It's a pleasure to work together." Lupine was stunned for a second before coming back to his senses, reaching out and shaking hands with Ash.

Snape looked at all this coldly and said nothing.

For Lupine, as long as Ash's research can achieve practical and effective results, he is willing to pay everything for it.

As for Snape, he didn't care whether Ash's research was fruitful or not, he only cared about Lupine.

In other words, he only cares about when Lupine dies!

——

"Professor Lupine is indeed a good man!"

On the way back to the common room, Ash couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

In the original novel, Lupine is definitely the only good guy in the small group of Marauders.

But this good man is just like Meirenzong Carter. Although everyone knows that he is a good man, not many people like him.

If Ash were to rate his impressions of the Marauder Four, from high to low they would be:

Lupine\u003eJames\u003eSirius\u003ePeter Pettigrew.

But according to the evaluation of the four predators' trust in each other, Lupine's situation seems extremely embarrassing.

In James' eyes, the person he trusts most is undoubtedly Sirius, followed by Lupine and Peter Pettigrew.

In Sirius's eyes, the only person he trusted the most was James, and both Lupine and Peter Pettigrew had to step aside.

In the eyes of Peter Pettigrew, James and Sirius, who were strong and often bullied others, were the 'heroes' he most longed to be. On the contrary, he was not very fond of Lupine, who had a gentle attitude.

This can also be seen from their respective Animagus forms.

James is a stag, and in Western legends, the stag is the king of the forest, the protector and leader of all other creatures.

Sirius is a dog, and dogs are symbols of loyalty in almost every culture. And Sirius's loyalty belongs only to James.

Peter Pettigrew is a mouse, which is just like his own character, timid and cowardly.

To describe the life of Peter Pettigrew in one sentence:

Know the small etiquette but not the great righteousness, stick to the small details but not the great virtue, pay attention to the trivial details but ignore the integrity, fear the power but not be virtuous, the strong will be robbers and bandits, and the weak will be humble.

When he was in school, James was the undisputed school bully, so he was attached to James.

And when Peter Pettigrew left Hogwarts, he suddenly found that the world suddenly became clear, and it turned out that there was someone stronger than James. So he decisively switched to Voldemort's command without any psychological burden.

Only Lupine is different from the other three.

He is a werewolf, and the werewolf's 'curse' tortures him all the time, making his heart violent and cruel, but he always carefully restrains this 'instinct' and does his best to suppress the cruel instinct.

But it was his repression that made him feel more alienated from other people.

Whenever James and Sirius bullied other students, Peter Pettigrew happily acted as a cheerleader. Only Lupine stood by and watched every time, which inevitably made people think that he was pretending to be noble.

Snape thought so, so he was equally filled with hatred for Lupine, who didn't really bully him.

Even though Lupine apologized to him in person, Snape still scoffed.

Since you think they are doing something wrong, why don't you stop them? Why do you want to join them?

Since you are all in cahoots with them, why bother pretending to be noble?

Having to be a bitch and erecting memorial arches at the same time is even more disgusting than the average bitch!

Sirius thought so too. He had always disliked his 'old friend' and did not even regard him as a true friend for a long time.

Dumbledore wanted Lupine to study normally and to protect him from being discovered that he was a werewolf. He specially arranged for Lupine to transform every month in the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade, a safe and private place protected by various spells.

But Sirius took the initiative to tell Snape how to enter the Whomping Willow, and encouraged him to enter the Shrieking Shack on a full moon night, hoping to kill him with the help of Lupine, who had transformed into a werewolf. Of course his heart is 'good' and he wants to get rid of this scourge for James.

But what about Lupine? What will happen to him as a murderer?

With Lupine's character, he will definitely blame himself very much, and the guilt for killing Snape will always torture him. And Dumbledore could no longer protect Lupin. Expulsion was the lightest punishment, and he might even be imprisoned in Azkaban.

You can figure out how serious the consequences of killing your classmates are with your toes, but Sirius subconsciously ignored it. Because he just wants to get rid of the scourge Snape for James. As for what will happen to Lupine as a murderer, Sirius doesn't care at all!

But James still cares.

Although he was a complete bully in school and did almost everything, he was really considerate of his friends and family.

He may not have wanted to take the opportunity to kill Snape, but out of protection for his friends, he didn't want Lupine to become a murderer, so he took the risk to rescue Snape.

It can be seen from this incident that there is an essential difference between James and Sirius.

The only friend Sirius identified as his was James from beginning to end, and James really regarded all three of them as friends.

Of course, even friends have to be divided into three levels.

In James' heart, Sirius always comes first.

So when they learned that Voldemort was looking for them, James still chose to make Sirius the secret keeper instead of Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard in history.

This decision is actually the right one.

With Sirius' loyalty to James, he would not betray James even if he died.

As long as Sirius remained the Secret Keeper, James and Lily would never be discovered by Voldemort.

But it's a pity that Sirius likes to be smart and makes Peter Pettigrew the secret keeper.

Why Peter Pettigrew and not Lupin?

Because he doesn't trust Lupine.

At that time, the Order of the Phoenix had already suffered heavy losses due to the betrayal of insiders, and most of its members were killed by Death Eaters within a year. There are very few core members left alive, excluding Dumbledore's small group, almost only the Marauders four remain.

There is no doubt about Dumbledore's small group. Neither Dumbledore nor Minerva McGonagall can be the mole. Alastor Moody has always been at the forefront of the fight against the Death Eaters. He personally More Death Eaters were captured than members of the Order were killed by Death Eaters.

So no matter who it was, they had already turned their suspicions to the small group of predators.

James and Lily were eliminated first because they were Voldemort's primary targets.

Unless they are seeking death, they can't be Voldemort's dogs.

The suspicion of Sirius was quickly dispelled, because James trusted his friend from beginning to end. And while Sirius was serving as the Secret Keeper, James and Lily had indeed been safe and sound.

Ever since, the only suspects left were Lupine and Peter Pettigrew.

So, which one is more like a traitor, the gentle Lupine or the cowardly Peter Pettigrew?

The answer is undoubtedly Lupine!

Yes, the usually gentle and elegant Lupine is even more questionable than the humble follower Peter Pettigrew!

Because werewolves were all on Voldemort's side, and Lupine happened to be a werewolf.

If he doesn't doubt who does he doubt?

Sirius was undoubtedly suspicious of him, so Lupine couldn't even get close to James' house.

Dumbledore also suspected Lupine, so he specially transferred Lupine. He said he was going to carry out a secret mission, but in fact he was testing Lupine.

As for Sirius being worried about Lupin's "furry little secret" and his uncontrolled transformation on a full moon night and being captured by the Death Eaters, he never revealed where James and Lily live, which is completely nonsense. talk.

Because werewolves lose control predictably, they only lose control on full moon nights.

The full moon nights were equally predictable, and as secret-keepers, they were sure to be with the Potters at all times.

At worst, wouldn't it be enough to lock Lupine in the basement until the night of the full moon?

In order to prevent themselves from harming others, most werewolves come here every full moon night, and the effect is remarkable.

What's more, it was only when Sirius was convinced that Lupine was the mole that he dared to let Peter Pettigrew become the secret keeper.

But this was always the wrong decision. Sirius's cleverness undoubtedly killed his best friend, and also made him accused of betrayal, and he was imprisoned in Azkaban for more than ten years.

As an Animagus, he could have escaped at any time, but he didn't. Instead, he was willing to stay in Azkaban and suffer torture. Because he always believed that he had killed James and Lily, and being locked up in Azkaban was the punishment he deserved——

Only on this point, Sirius and Snape were on the same side.

They all thought they had killed Lily.

But this doesn't change the fact that they are enemies, even if they both want to protect Harley and make up for their mistakes.

As for Lupine.

What does this have to do with Lupine?

He was always an outsider.

Professor Lupin is undoubtedly a pitiful person, and Ash also sympathizes with his plight.

However, this doesn't change anything.

Ash sympathized with him, but only with sympathy.

He has no interest in saving werewolves, but he still has the desire to use werewolves for himself under the guise of saving werewolves.

To do this, real werewolves must be studied and a solution to the werewolf curse must be found.

This is something neither Baizi nor Setsuna can do, because they are never real werewolves. They have neither the contagiousness of werewolves nor the risk of losing control on a full moon night.

Aike can turn them into humans, but such experience doesn't do much to solve the werewolf's curse. It is impossible for Ash to use the precious magic stone to lift the curse of every werewolf. He is not that noble.

Therefore, if we want to solve the werewolf's 'curse', we must conduct experiments with real werewolves and find out the corresponding laws.

Although Ash had captured many wizards during this time, he didn't even have a werewolf among them.

After all, werewolves are ostracized by wizard society and rarely appear in people's sight. This will certainly make their lives more difficult, but it will also make it more difficult for wizards to capture werewolves. This may not be a kind of protection for werewolves.

And now that Lupine has offered to serve as a guinea pig, Ash certainly has no reason to refuse.

There is no doubt that Lupine has "great righteousness". He is willing to devote his life to the werewolf group and his life for a great cause.

But it's a pity that he was the wrong person after all.

Ash will use him to research ways to remove the werewolf curse, but it won't be a one-and-done solution.

Because it doesn't provide enough benefit, resolving the curse once and for all would be a waste of money.

Therefore, Ash's purpose is very pure, that is, to find a sustainable development path that can make the best use of the water.

Before he knew it, Ash had returned to Ravenclaw Tower, and the eagle-shaped knocker blocked his way.

The eagle's beak slowly opened, and a female voice as gentle as music sounded:

"Phoenix or fire, which one comes first?"

"fire."

"Why?"

"Because the phoenix rises from the ashes."

"That makes sense."

Click!

The door opened slowly, perhaps because Ash had returned a little late. There was no one in the common room, and the lights had long been turned off.

No, that's not accurate either.

Because the common room wasn't really empty.

A blond girl was sitting next to the Ravenclaw statue, admiring the scenery outside the arched window with dull eyes.

The hazy drizzle that had lasted all day did not know when to stop. The bright moon poked its head out from the dark clouds and shed silvery light on the earth.

Ash asked softly:

"What are you looking at?"

"moon."

The girl answered him in a murmuring voice.

The girl's voice was as soft and sweet as a lark, which made Ash not leave in a hurry, but stood aside and watched her quietly.

The blond hair that reaches her waist is messy, but still as dazzling as gold. The eyebrows are also golden, but the color is very light. The girl has exquisite facial features, but her eyes seem to be out of focus, looking a little dull and absent-minded.

Ash knew her, Luna Lovegood.

Even in Ravenclaw, which is famous for its weirdos, Luna is the most unique kind.

The light blue dress clung to her body wetly, and her glistening feet were bare on the cold floor without shoes or socks.

The girl's pink feet are small and exquisite, slender and well-proportioned, like soft and delicate white jade, and like a fresh lotus flower, which makes people want to taste it.

She was obviously looking at the moonlight outside the window, but the girl seemed to notice Ash's gaze, and her pink toes curled slightly.

"Why do you want to look at my feet?" She suddenly raised her head and asked softly.

"Then why are you looking at the moon?" Ash asked back.

"Enjoy the scenery." The girl tilted her head and answered him softly.

"Me too."

Ash's words were as calm as his heart. He sat down next to her and asked softly:

"Why don't you wear shoes?"

The girl hugged her knees and moved her feet backwards to avoid Ash's sight, but her voice was still soft:

"They disappeared, and while I was taking a shower, I thought it was probably the nymphopods that were causing trouble."

The girl's expression was very serious, as if such a creature really existed in this world.

"Do you need me to help you find it?" Ash asked.

"Um."

Luna seemed to think for a while and nodded slightly.

"ACCIO!"

Ash waved his wand gently, and with the surge of magic, a pair of pink plaid canvas shoes flew down from the chandelier above their heads.

"I never knew it was there..." Luna looked up at the chandelier with a surprised expression.

Ashwen smiled and said:

“Sometimes you just have to look up and get the answer.”

"Hmm~"

If the girl realized something, she then turned around to face Ash and stretched her pink and white feet in front of him.

"What are you doing?" Ash asked doubtfully.

"remuneration."

Luna said in an innocent voice, "You can touch my feet."

Ash's eyes were a little subtle, and he asked out of curiosity:

"Can I eat it?"

Luna thought seriously for a while and replied softly:

"I can still use these feet, but not yet."

"No, I mean, can we kiss?"

"Hmm~"

Maybe it was because Ash's serious inquiry didn't seem fake. After careful consideration, Luna nodded gently and said, "Yes, if you don't mind being dirty."

Ash laughed dumbly, and for a moment he didn't know how to continue.

If it were Penello-senpai and Qiu Zhang, they would agree even though they were shy.

If it were Harry and Hermione, they would have run away shyly after hearing his rude question.

If it were Cassandra, she would blush and call him a pervert.

If it were Shiroko and Setsuna, they would obediently stuff Yuzu into his mouth.

And if it was an anaconda, she would probably feel strange and ask him if he wanted to kiss other places as well.

But Luna is different from everyone else. It can only be said that the crazy girl deserves her reputation, although she should not have such a nickname yet.

"So……"

Ash lowered his head to look at the girl's pink and white feet, and reached out to touch them.

Well, it was smooth and soft, exactly as he imagined.