The Pacifist Necromancer of Hogwarts

It took Nearly Headless Nick and Anthony some time to convince Moaning Myrtle that descriptions such as Lockhart's bright blue eyes were not intended to be a caricature of Myrtle the Four-Eyed Dog.

It was late at night when Anthony returned to his room.

After washing, he lay on the bed and listened quietly to the rustling of mice in the cat's nest. Across the room, the cat was sleeping soundly on top of his closet.

Perhaps it was because Professor Lockhart talked endlessly at the party. Even though Anthony tried his best to let his voice blow like the wind from his ears, he could still feel a warm, confident voice chattering deep in his ears. It's like sitting on a train for too long. Even though you know that the white-painted metal chair under you is extremely stable, your brain still stubbornly insists that it is shaking.

When he realized that he had counted the 1,562 sheep, Anthony simply sat up, put on his coat, and returned to the office to delete the lesson plan. After today's conversation with Professor Bubbaji, he decided to add a little bit of Muggle history to the fifth year curriculum.

After finishing the lesson plan, Anthony found helplessly that he could no longer be sober. He returned to the bedroom and stared at the vague, furry shadow on the top of the closet for a while. The resentful mouse crawled out of the cat's nest and sat on his feet.

Anthony picked it up and whispered, Do you want to go for a walk?

…

The corridor outside the office was shrouded in silent darkness. Myrtle no longer sighed quietly in the bathroom, and there was no sound from behind the door of Lockhart's office. Anthony closed the door of his room gently, for fear of disturbing the tranquility.

He wandered aimlessly around the castle. The mouse poked his head out of his pocket, listening to the armor next to him tremble slightly as they or the breeze passed by. Several portraits were whispering, and Anthony vaguely heard them discussing a toad that had just jumped by.

He found himself inadvertently in the corridor of the Troll Tapestry. The troll in a tutu was lying on the ground sleeping, with Panama's hands curled into a trumpet shape, leaning over and shouting into the troll's ears.

Anthony thought of his undead magic training room, touched the head of the resentful rat, and walked back and forth in front of the empty wall three times.

But the door he was so familiar with didn't appear. Anthony frowned and walked a few more times, but the castle still didn't respond. The wraith mouse looked at Anthony curiously.

Just when Anthony was confused, the wall in front of him suddenly melted and flowed, and a door appeared out of thin air. Anthony watched helplessly as a red-haired head poked out and made eye contact with him.

Oh... good evening, Professor Anthony. Fred said calmly.

Good evening, Mr. Weasley - Anthony grabbed the door and peeked inside, —them. From the corner of his eye, he saw Fred stuffing a piece of parchment into his pocket.

George was sitting on a sofa with his back to Anthony. Roger Davis and his roommate, Emery Sheen, sat next to George and on the carpet, having a heated discussion.

Throw pillows were thrown everywhere. There was a pile of food on the low table between them, and next to the fries and chicken cutlets was a radio that was playing loud music (like a song by the Weird Sisters).

No, no, it's really not necessary, Emery said, stifling a yawn. No one wants a singing snake. He was a goofy-looking boy who was almost never in Anthony's class. Speaking, just sitting next to Roger writing notes, or staring at the spiders crawling on the wall in a daze.

It's not just singing. George leaned forward a little, This is just the beginning. As long as we can get the old snake to record the sound, we can ask Harry to record a few snake words for us.

But why would anyone want to make an old snake speak snake language? Roger asked, with Roger Snake wrapped around his neck. Let's talk about the idea of ​​disguising it as a tie. I think that would be interesting. .

George asked: Have any of you joined Dumbledore's club?

Did any of you notice the professor at our door? Fred asked angrily.

All three heads turned to Anthony. George slammed a very thick notebook shut, Roger pulled the old snake from his neck (he had just tied a Windsor knot with it), and Emery stood up helplessly, as if he didn't know what to do. .

Good evening, Professor Anthony, George said. Would you like some French fries?

Good evening, gentlemen, Anthony said, holding the door, I hope I haven't disturbed your party.

Nothing dangerous, Professor. Fred showed him deftly, Fries, chicken steak, toast, pumpkin juice, hot chocolate and...well, good music. He noticed Anthony looking at the radio. sight (which was doing a precarious handstand on its own antennae), gave Emery a covert kick. Emery quickly turned off the radio.

And lots of old Roger Snakes, Anthony said, looking down at a wooden crate in the corner. The box was entangled with old Roger snakes of various patterns and spots, in different colors and sizes, and some of them spit out, looking like the fuses of fireworks.

Well...that's right. George said, standing in front of Anthony, Professor, Professor Anthony——

His voice was interrupted by a series of strange sounds. George groaned. Anthony turned his head and saw Roger and Emery trying to cover the bags and boxes stacked in the corner with pillows (which had the logos of Bounce and Zuko's Joke Shop on them), but unfortunately caused a scene avalanche.

…

No one wanted to be in detention, so Gryffindor and Ravenclaw each lost ten points. Roger and Emery looked somewhat guilty, while the Weasley brothers were more concerned about whether Mr. or Mrs. Weasley would know about this.

Where did you get the money to buy these? Anthony asked.

Well, about this...

It's not gambling, right? Anthony knew that the Weasley brothers once wanted to let the audience place bets on the Quidditch Cup, but Wood refused harshly.

No, it's not. Roger said frankly, Professor Anthony, it belongs to Emery and I. We both contributed some pocket money, and Fred and George were responsible for bringing it to school.

Anthony looked at the four boys in front of him. Emery lowered his head. There were still a few invisible marks on Roger's neck, and he was holding a prank prop named after him. Fred and George, who knew Anthony better, were smiling expectantly at him—an expression Anthony was now very familiar with. Several times, he had seen them look like this to Mr. Weasley, begging him to help them hide it from Mrs. Weasley.

Anthony shook his head and smiled: Don't cause too much trouble to Mr. Filch, okay? Go back to bed now - or find an empty classroom later, but be careful not to be touched by me again.

He did not confiscate the magic fireworks, burping candy, and nose-biting teacups, which were probably worth more than fifty galleons. He just rummaged through the box with interest and took away the dung eggs.

Thank you, Professor, Fred breathed a sigh of relief, but an empty classroom is unreliable.

George also seemed to be recalling something and said: The ghosts passed through the wall, and then there was a scream, and Filch came.

…

Watching them each walk back to the tower of their own college, Anthony carried two bags of dung eggs and continued walking in the castle. The wraith rat hung on the bag and sniffed around curiously.

He took another look at the abandoned bathroom - the Weasley brothers' former laboratory and Tracy's potion brewing room. He found the gadget left by the Weasley twins with familiarity and pushed open the somewhat worn door.

Startled by the toilet stopper that greeted them cheerfully, the wraith rats jumped onto the broken tile floor and crawled downstairs. Anthony called a few times, only to hear the mouse gradually calm down. He looked around the bathroom and found that the shelves containing potion ingredients were somewhat empty, and the cleaned cauldrons were neatly placed beside the sink.

At this moment, there was another slight movement outside the bathroom door. With a creak, the door was gently pushed open.

Tracy Davis walked into the bathroom and stopped when she saw Anthony standing in the middle.

Anthony felt a little funny for a moment. One Xin, two Weasleys, two Davis - maybe I should go out more at night.

Good evening, Miss Davis, he said quietly.

Good evening, Professor Anthony. Tracy said politely, looking at the bag of dung eggs in Anthony's hand, Have you happened to see my pointed hat? I'm looking for it.

Unfortunately, no, Miss Davis, said Anthony, but I noticed that the bathroom seems to have been turned into a potion-making room.

Tracy's eyes swept over the shelf transformed from the toilet and the empty cauldron, and she said in a somewhat surprised tone: Yes.

I promise your peaked hat isn't here. Anthony said, walking past her and opening the door. Come on, Miss Davis. It's after curfew now. Points or detention?

Points off, Professor Anthony. Tracy said, following him out of the bathroom.

Anthony asked in surprise: Slytherin doesn't care much about scores this year? Okay, five points will be deducted from Slytherin.

Tracy smiled and didn't answer.

As they passed a window, Anthony took a closer look at Tracy's face in the moonlight. She still looks pale, but her complexion is much better than when she made the demulcent last semester.

In fact, Anthony had just seen her in class the other day. He noticed Katie Bell sitting next to her before class and seemed to be chatting with her about something. Just looking at Tracy's expression at that time, Anthony would even say that she seemed happier than last semester.

Professor Anthony?

Um?

Forget it. Tracy shook her head.

Anthony encouraged: You have piqued my curiosity, Miss Davis.

I know this is a very presumptuous question... Tracy said, raising her head and looking at Anthony, Professor, are you a half-blood wizard?

I'm a pure-blood Muggle. Anthony replied as usual, No, I don't think either of my parents were wizards. Why do you ask?

It's Draco, Tracey said. Draco and Pansy were discussing your lineage.

They think I'm a half-blood wizard? Anthony asked in surprise.

They don't believe you're a Muggle-born, Tracey corrected, Draco said Hogwarts never hires Muggle-born professors, and then someone mentioned your name.

Anthony certainly never paid attention to the family backgrounds of his colleagues. He couldn't answer for other professors, so he had to say: Now there is at least one counterexample.

Yes. Tracy hesitated, Professor Anthony, what do Muggle-born wizards think of half-blood wizards?

She seemed to mean the question. Anthony suddenly realized that there were almost no Muggle-born students in Slytherin - at least he knew of none.

I don't know what other people think, but since I don't know other conditions, I guess Muggle-born people may think that wizards are just wizards at first. At least I'm afraid many Muggles divide it like this: people who can do magic, people who don't Magical people, Anthony said. But, Miss Davis, the 'other conditions' are very important. As humans, we also pay attention to many, many things outside of our parent's lineage.

He looked at Tracy and said, Does this person smile? Does his teeth have straight teeth? Does he like to eat kale? Is he often late with his papers? Miss Davis, if you ever catch someone looking at you and just seeing 'Mixed Wizard', completely ignoring specific details like this... He thought of the eyes that penetrated the Necromancer sign and saw himself, and smiled, You know that person is a blind man.

…

They made their way down the stairs, illuminated by fluorescent lights.

Miss Davis, Anthony called to Tracy when he saw the stairs leading to the cellar, pointing his wand in the direction of the school hospital, at any time, whenever you feel you need it, you can go to Pomfret. Mrs. Ray. You know, she's a professional.

Thank you, Professor Anthony, Tracy said.

Anthony said seriously: Besides, if you need help, you can go to any faculty member. That's our job.

Tracy took a small breath, as if she really wanted to say something. In the white light from the tip of Anthony's wand, her eyes shone and her expression changed.

Anthony waited.

But in the end, Tracy just said: Professor Snape is also a half-blood, did you know this? After she said this, without waiting for his answer, she simply nodded to him, Have a nice day. night, Professor.

She quickly walked down the stairs to the cellar, and her black school robe quickly disappeared into the dark corridor.