The days of hanging out at Hogwarts

The Gryffindor common room fell silent for a moment.

Seamus, who was playing cards, stared at the crackling exploding cards in his hand in horror. The little wizard beside him tacitly stayed away from him.

Percy hurriedly greeted him: "Professor McGonagall, it's so late, what can I do?"

"There is urgent news that needs to be notified to Wood, about tomorrow's Quidditch match..." Professor McGonagall had a serious expression, looking around the lounge, frowning slightly, "Please call Longbottom for me. I didn't see him."

"Okay, Professor." Percy nodded and waved to Wood. While Wood was talking to Professor McGonagall, he quickly ran to the window and took Neville over, who was staring at the window in a daze.

Wood whispered a few words to Professor McGonagall, as if he had learned some bad news, and his face became a little ugly.

As Neville panicked and followed Professor McGonagall out of the common room, Seamus' exploding card exploded, breaking the brief silence.

Members of the Quidditch team gathered around: "What happened?"

"Yeah, Oliver, tell us."

Wood opened his mouth and spoke with some difficulty: "The school has restricted broomsticks for the Quidditch game. Firebolts can't be played?"

The broom was suddenly changed on the eve of the competition. Harry was stunned for a moment and suddenly became nervous. He asked: "In this case, what model is the school's limited broom?"

"Nimbus 2000."

The team members relaxed after hearing this and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter. Generally speaking, we don't suffer."

"And Hufflepuff will definitely not adapt to the new broomstick. Everyone is at the same starting point."

"..."

Watching the team chattering and discussing tactics, Hermione turned her head slightly after finishing her homework and looked at Loren: "What do you think Professor McGonagall wants to do with Neville?"

Loren glanced outside the window. It was dark. The wind whistled through the closed glass window and reached his ears, leaving only a small whistle-like sound of airflow.

He whispered: "For the coming thunder and lightning."

…

In the magical world, some pure-blood families are declining and dying. This is the consensus of many wizards.

I don’t know how many years ago, the three Peverell brothers, who defeated the God of Death, became famous in the magic world with the Deathly Hallows, and the Peverell surname was engraved in the legends that have been passed down through the ages.

Sadly, there may be traces of their bloodline, but the Peverell family is dead.

In the last century, the Gaunt family claims to be of Slytherin blood. Old Gaunt Marvolo was imprisoned for attacking Ministry of Magic officials, arrests and other crimes. His body was tortured by dementors. Not long after he came out of Azkaban Just die. His son Morfin Gaunt killed Muggles and died while serving his sentence in Azkaban...

Some well-informed old wizards heard that the Gaunt family had a daughter, but they hadn’t heard the news for many years and she was probably dead.

The Gaunt family died.

The most mentioned person in the Leaky Cauldron is Mr. Crouch, who is currently the head of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Magic. His son was a Death Eater and died while serving his sentence in Azkaban. Mr. Crouch Sr. was a dedicated man. After his wife died of illness, he had no intention of remarrying.

"The Crouch family is probably going to die too..." the guests in the tavern said.

In addition, the Longbottom family is also highly discussed.

The once famous Auror couple were tortured crazy, and their child was a squib... Looking at the face of the old Mrs. Longbottom, Principal Dumbledore allowed the child to study at Hogwarts.

Many well-informed people believe that the Longbottom family is in decline, and that Longbottom may also die in the near future.

This view has recently been overturned.

The two heroic Aurors, the legendary Longbottom couple, recovered and were discharged from the hospital. In less than half a year, they captured more than a dozen wanted criminals and brought several Death Eaters who had escaped trial back to the Inquisition. Under the guidance of the dark wizard, In the group, his reputation is almost as good as Mad-Eye's - even though he has retired.

What’s even more surprising is that according to what the students at Hogwarts said during the summer vacation, the Longbottom child was not only not a squib, but was actually very good at dueling...

After graduation, he will probably become a ruthless character like his parents.

In the cold windy night, his robes were blown by the cold wind. Neville followed Professor McGonagall and walked slowly and arduously towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest, preparing to drink when the first thunder and lightning resounded across the sky. The secret potion begins the Animagus transformation ritual.

The wind was so strong that Neville was staggered by the blow, and it was a bit difficult to walk. Professor McGonagall waved her wand, and a light shimmering shield enveloped the two of them, blocking the howling cold wind. Outside the shield.

Professor McGonagall took Neville's hand and led him slowly towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest where the secret medicine was buried.

The experienced and knowledgeable Minerva McGonagall is an Animagus herself. After sorting out last year's research and publishing many articles on human body transformation, she said that she is the most powerful Anima in the magical world today. It’s no exaggeration to say that Gus is one of the top experts.

Professor McGonagall knew that tonight's ceremony would most likely fail, but she was still willing to take her students to try, especially this child named Neville.

Holding mandrake leaves in your mouth, burying the secret medicine, chanting spells at your heart morning and night, waiting for the right weather... Animagus is really a very troublesome magic. In this era, the Ministry of Magic registered Animagus. There are only 7 people in Sri Lanka. Counting the scattered non-staff personnel, you can count them on two hands.

In short, this is a very difficult thing. Since the opening of the Animagus teaching class at Hogwarts, Granger, the first grader, Morgan, the other first grader, and the proud and pure Slytherin group have Blood, those smart people in Ravenclaw failed.

Only Neville had made it this far.

In the eyes of many people, Neville Longbottom is not a smart student, his magic talent is not top-notch, he is not good at Quidditch, he has no athletic talent, and he has a reserved and dull temperament... But in the eyes of several professors, Neville is a 100% good student. He is not greedy for power. He diligently does the things in front of him and tries his best to grasp what he can grasp.

In Professor McGonagall's opinion, although Neville always spoke in a low voice, stuttered a bit when he was nervous, and looked timid, he had shown real courage, the courage of Gryffindor.

When we arrived at the place where the secret medicine was buried, although it hadn't rained yet, the air was already filled with water vapor and so humid that Professor McGonagall had the urge to wash her face.

Professor McGonagall looked up at the clouds in the sky, secretly counting the time in her heart, and noticed that Neville next to her was trembling slightly. She waved her wand and sprayed out several bright blue flames, which floated around the two of them.

There was a warm feeling in the firelight. Neville wanted to tell the professor that he was not cold, but he was too nervous, but he could not say it.

"Neville, do you insist on reciting the incantation to your heart every day?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Um."

"Did you hear the second heartbeat?"

"..."

Neville nodded and shook his head again, looking unsure.

The patient professor didn't care and began to whisper some precautions during the transformation process, including body shape, wildness and reason...

Professor McGonagall sniffed the water vapor in the air and suddenly warned: "Attention, a storm is coming."

Neville raised his ears and waited for the coming thunder, staring closely at the marked point where the secret potion was buried, mentally anticipating the next move.

The light flashed away, briefly illuminating the world shrouded in darkness, and a roar resounded through the sky.

Neville quickly dug out a bottle of blood-red potion from under the tree root. He held the wand in his right hand and put it against his heart. Feeling the roaring heartbeat like a drum, Neville took a deep breath and said: "Amado, Animo, Animado, Animagus."

Neville heard another sound appear in his restless heartbeat, a heavy drum-like heartbeat mixed with small drumbeats, beating non-stop.

Starting from the heart, a tearing pain gradually spread throughout the body. One second, every inch of skin was swelling and cracking. The next second, the cracked skin became tight again and kept shrinking, as if it was crushing the muscles and bones under the skin.

Neville felt a force squeezing his bones, as if they were being crushed into clay and then molded into another shape.

Dark brown hair grows from the cracks in the skin. The hair is divided from the top of the head. The front and back are divided into two colors. The front is dark brown and the back is gray and white. It is impossible to tell what kind of animal it is... Teeth It has become slender, but its stature is slowly shrinking.

Big raindrops fell, hitting the leaves of the shrubs and grass, making a snapping sound.

Professor McGonagall observed Neville silently, without saying a word, and there was no joy in his eyes. His magic robe remained unchanged, which meant that the transformation was a failure.

Sure enough, just as Neville endured the pain and observed the changes in his body with joy, the transformation suddenly stopped, his hair shrank back inch by inch, and his fangs gradually returned to their original shape...

A few minutes later, Neville, who was soaked by the rain, collapsed in the muddy water. His robe was wet and clinging to his skin. The cold raindrops relieved the burning pain on the surface of his skin, and every bone exuded an aching feeling. It felt like his body's instinct wanted to sleep right here, not even wanting to move a finger.

But Neville still struggled to get up, making sporadic splashes in the muddy water.

Professor McGonagall knelt down, touched his forehead with a thin but warm hand, and said softly: "Neville, you have done a good job."

Neville forced a smile, his consciousness gradually blurring.

…

In the Gryffindor boys' dormitory, the weak candlelight was still on.

There was a recently opened candy gift bag on the table. The brightly colored wrapping paper was torn to pieces and it was a mess.

In the library of the Book of Fantasy, Loren, with flames spurting from the tip of his wand, swung his arms, trying to stop the endless fire in this way, but it was of no use and instead fueled the fire.

The raging flames sprayed on the bookshelf and spread to the entire bookshelf in an instant, bursting out with blazing light and heat. The huge flame ball surged. A bucket-thick ash snake emerged from the fire ball and crawled along the bookshelf next to it... …

This scene happened repeatedly, and soon the whole library was enveloped in fierce fire. The dense fire-ash snakes and pythons gathered together, entangled and twisted, and merged into a hydra breathing fire, roaring and screaming, heading straight towards Loren rushed over.

Loren trembled with fear, and threw the wand into the fire. With a wave of his hand, the sea of ​​​​fire with huge waves of flames disappeared, and the library returned to its original state.

Flamel's eyes twitched at the side, and he said quietly: "If this were in Hogwarts Castle, you would have burned all the teachers and students in the school to death."

Loren laughed twice and scratched his head: "Why do I feel like I am getting better and better at setting fires, but there is still no progress at all in extinguishing and controlling the flames?"

"Because the magic of Lihuo itself cannot be controlled or extinguished." Flamel said unhurriedly, "Your talent can only make the power of Lihuo stronger. To prevent the spread of Lihuo, you can only Stop the magic and use a counter-spell or a finishing spell."

"You sound experienced," Loren said.

Flamel's expression froze, he turned around, waved his hand and disappeared, as if he was too lazy to pay attention to him.

"Can't control..."

Loren thought about the ash snake giant, the flame hydra, and the earth-shaking waves of flames he had just seen, with fire rising in his eyes.

In the dormitory, Harry, Ron and Seamus were lying on the bed with their backs to the head of the bed, covered with soft and warm quilts. They were eating snacks and looked at the door from time to time.

Seeing that the room was too quiet, Seamus asked in a low voice: "Do you think Neville can succeed?"

"Don't you want to learn from Animagus? Why do you care about this?"

Ron, who was playing chess on the quilt, ate another of his chess pieces and threw a strange-flavored bean into his mouth. Then his face twisted and he rolled on the bed in soreness. He rolled under the bed.

His nose and eyebrows were sore and crooked, but no one paid him any attention.

"I still want to learn, but it's too troublesome..." Seamus muttered quietly, "And I care about Neville."

"It's really troublesome." Harry sipped the mandrake blade in his mouth and sighed, "I will damage the blade during tomorrow's game. There is a high possibility of this happening."

Loren, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly raised his head and whispered a reminder: "I'm back."

As soon as he finished speaking, the bedroom door was pushed open, and a soaked Neville dragged his exhausted body in with a chill.

Seeing his appearance, Loren and others guessed the result.

The words of congratulations that had been prepared for a long time could not be uttered, and the comforting words lingered on the lips, and they were worried that they would irritate Neville, who had just experienced a failure, and the dormitory fell into silence for a while.

"ah--"

Loren stretched his body carelessly and said in a lazy tone, "The teaching class is about to recruit new students. Neville, you have to be the forerunner to share your experience."

After changing into his yukata, Neville subconsciously fantasized about that scene and shook his head nervously.

"Tsk." Loren shook his head, "You are the one closest to success among us. Even if Professor McGonagall doesn't let you go on stage, others will pester you and ask, Mr. Longbottom."

"I, I'm going to take a bath first." Neville said in a panic, and ran into the bathroom as if he was running away.

The three Harrys tilted their heads, a little confused, wondering how Loren did it. A few simple words made Neville come out of the depression of failure.

After taking advantage of the bath time to plan the words to share his experience, Neville walked out slowly.

However, the roommates did not ask about their Animagus experience. Instead, they smiled and waved to him: "Come and try the new strange-flavored beans. Ron likes them."

Ron's expression was twisted and disgusted, but he still nodded: "Yes, yes, you can also bring some to Hannah to eat when watching the game tomorrow. She happens to be from Hufflepuff, so it's best to give it to the team. People try it.”

"Poison before the game, right?"

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Amidst the laughter, Neville walked over to taste the candies with his roommates, even though he had already brushed his teeth.