The Pacifist Necromancer of Hogwarts

The students soon discovered that Professor Quirrell was missing. When Anthony announced to them that the remaining two sets of practical activities had been postponed to next semester, he did not receive as many whines and complaints as expected, but instead saw some thoughtful looks and exchanges of glances.

What's wrong? he asked confused, not knowing whether to take out the chocolate balls from the bag.

Cedric was pushed out. Under the eyes of his classmates with hidden expectation and nervousness, he asked in a low voice: Is it because of Professor Quirrell?

What?

Professor Quirrell - he's missing, Professor Anthony. Cedric explained, He was in a very embarrassed state when he came back after going out last time. We are all wondering what happened to him this time.

Anthony couldn't help but asked curiously: What do you think happened?

The students elbowed each other and said, Nothing, Professor.

But even if they didn't say it, Anthony soon heard from Professor Sprout about the speculation circulating among the students.

After it became known that the practice of Muggle Studies was being delayed, one theory quickly stood out from the crowd of speculations and gained the most supporters. They believed that Quirrell had not learned from the experience of returning in embarrassment after going out last time, and wanted to do something outside the school. As a result, he violated the secrecy law and was arrested by the Ministry of Magic. Many students said privately that it was because of Quirrell that they were unable to go to the Muggle world at this juncture.

But on the other hand, the students were not particularly disappointed. Firstly, because the event was postponed but not canceled after all, and the more important reason was that their minds were currently occupied by another very important thing: Dumbledore was going to open a club.

Out of some unknown state of mind, Dumbledore decided to name his club the Albacore Club, a mermaid snack. (Note 1)

The first meeting of the Tuna Club was a huge success. The entire hall was cleared, and students who wanted to join were waiting in the corridor with interest, holding their registration forms. However, after they listened to Dumbledore's mermaid demonstration, many people quit with regret.

No, I don't think my pitch is high enough. Anthony heard one student say, Are you there? Did you hear that? I was really worried that his crystal cup would be shattered.

Someone less tactful said: Screaming at the lake? I'm not crazy. I'd rather learn Potter's parseltongue... at least it sounds cooler.

It was hard for Anthony not to think there was some truth to what they were saying, especially after he encountered a group of screaming and talking teenagers in the hallway.

Myrtle was even startled, and then firmly felt that they were laughing at her shrill way of speaking, and sadly floated back to her bathroom - that day, Anthony sat in his office, thinking seriously Hogwarts drainage system design. After his neighbors escape Hogwarts, he finds himself the only flood victim.

…

With Dumbledore in charge of his club, Snape inevitably became the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, even though he was responsible for all the Defense Against the Dark Arts topics this year. And this made the students complain even more about Quirrell.

Temporary change of professor! Percy and another prefect complained, You know, we are taking O.W.Ls this year!

His classmate comforted him: It doesn't matter, Quirrell didn't teach anything anyway.

But that didn't ease Percy's anxiety. He began by trying to complain to anyone who would listen about the chaos of Hogwarts' staffing and management (If I could make the decision, I would...), interspersed with a few nuggets of knowledge (I also want to Asking Professor Quirrell about the Thirty-three Weaknesses of Vampires he taught in his last class), until he remembered that he had made an appointment with Professor McGonagall for career counseling.

After Anthony watched his chatter, he asked Professor Bubbaji in confusion: Is it difficult to pass the O.W.Ls exam?

Professor Boubaji laughed and said, No, not at all for us.

Then Mr. Weasley...

Professor Bubaji said: Okay, let me correct that. The difficulty of O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts depends on the subject, and generally speaking, the compulsory subjects that have been studied for a longer period of time are more difficult than the elective subjects like ours. .As for Mr. Weasley, I think he is just too nervous. This is very common among students, and every year there is a batch of hysterical fifth graders in the school.

Soon, her words were confirmed. With such a philosopher who kept asking people to talk about how the more he studied, the more he felt ignorant, the anxiety and almost despair spread rapidly among the students. And to be fair, Snape on the podium didn't make their future look any brighter.

During the review course organized by the organization, Anthony heard that a fifth-grade student cried uncontrollably in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. And all this was because Snape habitually ridiculed their knowledge and questioned whether they had learned anything in the previous five years.

You're so right! the student shouted, and then burst into tears, sobbing and sobbing, I learned nothing—nothing! There's nothing in my brain! I'm sure failed!

Anthony asked in shock: How did Professor Snape handle it?

We don't know, the student said.

But professors know. They discussed how Snape dragged the student by the arm through most of Hogwarts, and how he handed him over to Madam Pomfrey and asked her to give the student a cup of demulcent.

Severus has been very busy recently, Professor Sprout said. He is also responsible for Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts, provides employment counseling for Slytherins, and has to help supplement supplies when the school hospital is overwhelmed. Demulcent.”

Anthony compared his workload and took a silent sip of iced pumpkin juice.

After submitting the test questions to Professor McGonagall and Professor Bubaji, Anthony felt much more relaxed and had more time to enjoy the cool air and iced desserts in the summer staff lounge. In the past few days, as long as there were no classes, he would take his notebook and book and stay in the lounge to write and draw. Professor Boubaji joked that he had become the caretaker of the painting in the lounge, while Professor Flitwick said that the sofa where Anthony sat most often had become a human figure.

Professor McGonagall was looking at a piece of parchment with dense writing when she raised her head: Speaking of career counseling, Pomona, how many people in Hufflepuff want to enter St. Mungo's or the Ministry of Magic this year?

Similar to previous years, most people still want to go to Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade... What's wrong?

There are many more people in Gryffindor who want to work in these two places this year, but the number of people who want to play Quidditch has dropped a lot. Professor McGonagall frowned, You know, I used to receive... Quidditch stars, fire dragon breeding, self-employment... Even the Ministry of Magic usually has Auror-type positions.

Professor Flitwick said: There are a lot of people in Ravenclaw who want to go to St. Mungo's and the Ministry of Magic. He added half a cup of ice cubes to his soda and took a comfortable sip.

But Ravenclaw was like this in the past. Professor McGonagall said, At least half of the people in the Department of Mysteries are Ravenclaw graduates, right?

Anthony asked: Minerva, those who told you that they wanted to go to the Ministry of Magic, did they say they wanted to go to the Department of Physical Education and Sports?

Hmm... Professor McGonagall thought for a while, I didn't say anything specifically. What's wrong?

Anthony said: I heard a suggestion that they wanted to fundamentally change the rules of Quidditch and not just limit it to Hogwarts. In this way, I guess those who want to go to St. Mungo's have similar reasons. The reason is that the chance of injury in Quidditch is really high.

Professor McGonagall said: Great, I thought they really didn't want to play Quidditch anymore.

…

Anthony didn't have nothing to do in the lounge - he was working on his magic.

After knowing that Voldemort was not dead, Anthony couldn't help but think back over and over again about his confrontation with Quirrell. Even if he hid part of the specific situation from Dumbledore, he couldn't lie to himself: he found that his necromancy couldn't instantly kill Quirrell, or Voldemort... or both of them.

At first, he felt that Voldemort was just like him, probably devouring the soul of a creature before occupying its body. Beneath the shells of Troll and Quirrell, the two sides facing off are actually Anthony and Voldemort himself. But in countless recollections, Anthony gradually came up with a very strange idea: he felt that Voldemort was wrapped around Quirrell's soul like a dodder.

He felt that Quirrell was not dead.

He didn't know if this was crazy talk to comfort himself. But he will feel better when he thinks that he has let go not only the big devil who destroyed countless families, the thing that made him almost unrecognizable as a human being when he lost his mind, but also a small group of unlucky Quirrell souls. .

He even tried to stop Bloody Barro and asked the only fellow necromancer he knew if he knew of any magic that attached to other people's souls. But Barrow looked at him blankly for a long time, and told him in a hoarse voice that necromancers only communicate with the dead, and they have nothing to do with the souls of the living.

Even your mentor? Anthony asked.

Barrow said softly: I can't guess the mentor's ability...but I don't remember hearing him comment on other people's souls. He nodded to Anthony and floated away along the cellar corridor with a dull expression. . Several Slytherin students hurried past and secretly looked at Anthony who was standing there.

…

Anthony suddenly realized that in the many legends and records he had seen about necromancers, they were always accompanied by skeletons, ghosts, and inferi, but he had never heard that necromancy itself could kill living people.

This is really very logical, the only illogical thing is that it doesn't take into account that after it was lost for many years, a dead man suddenly learned the magic of necromancy inexplicably. From another perspective, Anthony couldn't help but feel that this was like a buy-and-get package.

He thought, just like a supermarket trying to sell its unpopular or expired products...Anthony's mind saw a grim reaper dressed in employee clothes, pointing at the items on the shelf with his scythe, opening his skeletal mouth, and speaking enthusiastically. Earth told him that if he purchased Resurrection, he could gain Soul Devouring and Necromantic Magic.

…

Voldemort fled, leaving behind him the students who were about to take the exam, Professor McGonagall who had not received the proposition, a triumphant Snape, a failed trap, a magic stone and Anthony who was doubtful about his own power. Yet there was one person in all of Hogwarts who was completely untouched by him.

When Anthony visited Hagrid, he was hit by the heat and closed his eyes as soon as he entered the door.

Huh, does it have to be like this? Anthony asked, unloading his heavy package.

Hagrid muttered to his beard and said, Oh, I'm sorry... He hurriedly helped Anthony open the bag of the package, looked at the books inside, and beamed with joy, Did you really get them all? Thank you so much. , Henry!”

It's okay. Anthony said, handing Hagrid One Hundred and Eight Tips You May Want to Know About Fire Dragons. The normal-sized book felt like a pocket book in Hagrid's hands.

Hagrid asked: Did he suspect it?

What? Oh, no, I think he might have thought I was running errands for students' career counseling. Anthony said, and then remembered something, By the way, do you remember that you wanted to give Professor Kettleburn a retirement gift?

Hagrid slapped his head: Yes, yes. Did you ask?

Anthony carefully took out a book from another bag: That's about it. Look at this... They are preparing to return it.

After Hagrid asked him to borrow almost all the books on raising dragons in the library (when Anthony borrowed the book discussing whether wine should be put into bottles and fed to young dragons), Mrs. Pince finally couldn't bear it. (who looked at him suspiciously), they inevitably thought of the drinking buddy at Flourish and Blotts.

After Anthony sent him a letter, he immediately received an enthusiastic reply. So after making an appointment, Anthony went to Flourish and Blotts Bookstore to collect a large pile of unsaleable books, and went to the Leaky Cauldron Bar for a few drinks with a friend he hadn't seen for a long time.

After he described the interesting book Hagrid wanted to give away, the dedicated clerk almost immediately thought of a long list of books they were ready to return. There happened to be a copy that day. It was sent to the bookstore by the author after he begged the publisher to publish it.

In the hands of the author, the arrogant book seemed just a little weirdly packaged, but when Flourishes and Blotts put it in the warehouse, it opened its big mouth and chewed up almost three entire bookshelves. The clerk just needed to get rid of the book before the bookstore owner found out, but the author was nowhere to be found.

You can burn it, Anthony suggested.

No, I'm a bookstore employee. The other party refused, I sell books or return books, but I will never burn books.

So Anthony spent three glasses of wine and bought this lawless monster book.

…

Note 1: Albacore, this word is simply spelled from the beginning to the end of Albus Dumbledore... Yes, Dumbledore drew inspiration from Professor Slughorn's Slug Club when naming it.