The Pacifist Necromancer of Hogwarts

Because he ate too many snacks, Ian could only stand on the edge and watch helplessly as his classmates ate hot dogs stuffed with ketchup and mustard. Mark Hughes was the quietest of them all, but he very deliberately dangled the hot dog under Ian's nose twice.

Smells really nice, Ian said longingly, sniffing and rubbing his belly.

Anthony told him that he still had sandwiches from the Hogwarts kitchens in his backpack, and if he felt hungry later, he could choose between a salmon sandwich and a chicken sandwich. Ian looked gloomily at the hot dog in Cedric's hand - not too much toppings, not too little, the shell slightly crispy, the juices glistening on the bites - and nodded.

People were coming and going around them. It's a good time to have lunch, and both people who have just come out of the pedestrian park and tourists who have just arrived are holding a variety of fast food and street snacks in their hands. The ground was wet, there were muddy footprints on the tiled steps, and the rain had not dried on the white-painted benches.

They took the food and walked while eating. The students were not interested in feeding the parrots (It's like feeding owls, Roger said, rubbing his ears, and they're really noisy.), but were enthusiastic about feeding a sad-looking animal that was sleeping on its stomach. I watched it for a long time.

It's so weird. Angelina tilted her head and whispered, I can't tell what kind of animal it is. Looking at it from some positions, you will think it has the face of a dog, and in some positions it doesn't look like a dog at all. It The ears are round and pointed.”

Ian said: I feel like a bear. Look at its nose! Its paws!

Does a bear have a tail? Roger pointed to the long black plush strip curled on the tree trunk behind the animal and asked cautiously, Is that a tail?

Annie also raised her head: It should be. Is this a monkey?

Professor? Cedric turned around, Professor Anthony? What is it?

Bintong. Anthony looked at the introduction sign next to him. It has long furry hair, tufted ears and a long and bushy tail. It is generally black in color with a little white hair. He looked up. After comparing it, he nodded, That's it.

Angelina glanced at the sign and shouted, You're cheating, Professor Anthony!

Oh my God, we are like a group of illiterate people, guessing here and there. Roger came to his side and read: Ling... Ling is a member of any family, a cat-like omnivore...

What is 'Lingsuizhike'? Annie questioned.

What's an 'omnivore'? Cedric asked.

Viverridae... I hope I read it correctly, Anthony explained, It's a system people use to classify living things, but we don't usually use it in our daily lives. Except for references to cats and canines, you basically don't hear anyone other than experts using the vocabulary in this system.

I know about cats, Angelina said. Felines mean animals that look like cats, such as lions, tigers, and cheetahs.

For example, cats themselves. Anthony smiled and nodded at her. Omnivores mean that they are not vegetarians, but they also eat vegetarian foods such as fruits and vegetables. In contrast, there are herbivores. , refers to animals that particularly like to eat plants, such as the zebra we just saw, and the horses we are all familiar with——

Ian whispered something to Cedric, and Cedric secretly laughed with him. Roger leaned forward curiously, and Cedric whispered something in his ear again, and Roger also laughed.

—and carnivorous animals, which refers to animals that especially like to eat meat, such as the tigers and lions just now. What's wrong?

Roger motioned for Anthony to come closer, and then said to him very quietly: Beauxbatons horses are alcoholics, Professor.

What? Anthony asked confused, then realized that his student had just made up a new word.

It's true, Professor Anthony. Ian said, I have a pen pal there. He also leaned into Anthony's ear and whispered, Those horses only drink single malt whiskey, and students sometimes go to the stables to steal Drink.”

Anthony also whispered: Considering that single malt whiskey is strictly vegan, I assume their horses are still herbivores.

What about the salamanders? Annie also came over and asked curiously, What are the feeding habits of salamanders?

If you had to divide it...herbivore, I guess, Anthony said, it needs firewood for the fire it needs to live on.

It's not common to see six children and one adult whispering in a circle, let alone several people dressed in different styles, and there is a sleeping binturong next to them. Angelina soon noticed that people passing by were looking at them out of the corners of their eyes.

At her reminder, they hurried to the next animal and pretended to comment on the tree inside and the box in the corner. Anthony pointed to the sign next to them and told them that there used to be bears here, but they have now moved away.

Besides the binturong, another animal that surprised them was the anteater. At first, the students looked at the creature with its elongated head and big, fluffy tail and couldn't even find where its head was.

Oh my god, what is this? Ian stared at the long-haired anteater, Is this an animal?

Anteater, Anthony said, As the name suggests, it eats ants.

I don't like this name. The life of an ant is really not easy, huh? Ian said, refusing to look away for a moment. If I were an ant, I would have been obsessed with it the first second this thing appeared above my head. Scared to death.

Roger looked at the introduction: They will use their claws to tear apart insect nests, and then directly use their tongues to prey...

Worse, Ian muttered. It makes him sound more like a Death Eater.

…

After coming out of the snake house, everyone was very tired. Anthony bought a marshmallow for everyone and brought Ian a side of French fries.

The wooden tables and chairs in the grass were still wet. The wind was blowing loudly, and the trees above their heads were shedding leaves one after another. The water-stained leaves fell on their table, making a loud snapping sound. Anthony took out some spare raincoats and asked them to put them on the chairs, but before he could remind them, the students had already leaned on the backs of the chairs, making their clothes wet.

It's almost impossible to finish a marshmallow without getting your face all sticky. The students buried their faces in the fluffy colorful clouds, eating the corners of their mouths and the tips of their noses, laughing at each other about how they had glued their hair on. Annie wore her long hair, her head raised, and she was eating in a very embarrassed manner. Angelina couldn't stand it, so she threw her two braids behind her shoulders, rummaged in her bag for a long time, and lent her a hair tie.

Ian had already finished his own marshmallow, but he had somehow convinced Roger to try dipping the chips into the marshmallow, and the two were working together to stick the chips into the blue marshmallow. Anthony went to buy a corn dog himself and sat at another table watching them.

Take it, dragon! Ian yelled, pointing his eaten marshmallow stick at Anthony.

Anthony took a bite of his corn dog and said, What do you want from me, brave man?

Ian was thinking, when Angelina answered from a distance: Passing O.W.L certificate!

Ian showed a painful expression and pointed the sign at Angelina: Take it, dragon!

Ha, come on! Angelina said energetically, finishing the remaining marshmallows in several bites. She stood up, took a wizard duel salute, and then was pulled by Annie to sit down.

That's a sword, not...a stick. Anne whispered.

Angelina said: But you look at the way he holds it - it's clearly - you know what it is.

Roger said fairly, That's a marshmallow stick. He took a bite of his own marshmallow. Um, Ian, do you really think marshmallow chips are good?

…

The owner of the manor has also opened his own hedge maze. Do you want to visit it? Anthony asked the group of children who were glued to the chairs.

Roger asked, What is a hedge maze?

Anthony said: I don't know. I probably planted hedges according to the planned route and used hedges to surround the maze so that we visitors can get lost in it. He looked at the students' expressions and laughed, It's very interesting. Attractive, isn’t it?”

Ma...why would they make something like this? Roger asked puzzledly, Aren't we here to visit the zoo? I thought they would at least put some animals in each dead end of the maze.

Put the lion on, Angelina suggested. Chase behind the visitors—no, the challengers—and you won't be considered victorious until you reach the finish line. Isn't this much more fun?

That sounds like something we would do, Cedric pointed out. But we'll be a little more creative and maybe have the hedges move around to change the path of the maze.

Then the meaning of solving maze puzzles is lost. Anne said, What kind of maze is a maze that keeps changing its path? An unlucky person can't even find the correct path by constantly trying.

That's right, Mark said suddenly, that sounds like something we would do. Make completely unreasonable rules and then everyone plays by them? Great! Think of Quidditch— —”

The classmates looked at him, including Ravenclaw's Chaser, Gryffindor's Chaser and Hufflepuff's Seeker.

Pretend I didn't say it, Mark said, concentrating on eating the marshmallow again.

…

Since no one was interested in the nobleman's big house, they went back to see the animals again.

Someone had somehow brought a dog in, and the majestic German shepherd got into a fight with an unknown animal, and its owner got into a fight with a zoo employee. The students watched with great interest a demonstration lesson in Muggle disputes, while Roger tried to sell his own marshmallows with chips stuck in them to a crawling turtle.

After leaving the zoo, because there was still some time, Anthony took them for a walk aimlessly.

The sun gradually set. The wheat fields were extremely empty after harvesting, and the slanting sunlight gilded the wheat stalks and the ground with gold, but the chill of the night was already revealed in the back of the low hills.

At Angelina's request, they drove further along the road until the fields were far behind them. After a while, the sun dropped near the horizon, so blinding that Anthony decided to turn around.

Can we go there, Professor? Ian asked, pointing to a distant hill as the car turned. There seems to be something there.

Anthony narrowed his eyes: What?

Cedric moved to the middle and took a closer look: There is indeed something... like a house. It's probably a village.

Seatbelts, Mr. Diggory, Anthony drawled. Cedric smiled sheepishly and sat back quickly.

Can we go to the village, Professor? Ian asked. When we went to Diagon Alley, we could still see some urban Muggles, but I haven't seen many rural Muggles yet.

I wouldn't want to go there if I were you, Roger said, looking around through the car window. I think I know what it is.

what is that?

Malfoy Manor, Roger said grimly, I came here once... to find the grandfather who kicked us off.

Oh, that's right! said Anne. Jesus, let's go. I don't want that nasty Malfoy Manor to ruin our practice.

Malfoy puts his manor next to a Muggle community? Angelina asked funnyly, Then they are more pro-Muggle than Hogwarts.

This is actually not the Muggle side. Ian said thoughtfully, It is surrounded by mountains, wheat fields that belong to someone who doesn't know who they are (Malfoy's. Anne said), lions, tigers, monkeys... And then there was the other estate. I guess they just didn't expect that some of the neighbors would suddenly decide to turn the estate into a zoo and open it to all visitors.

Roger suddenly laughed.

What's wrong? Annie asked.

I'm thinking about the owner of the zoo, Roger said. A long time ago, there was a nobleman from Wiltshire who wanted to go for a walk. So he walked, walked, walked...

Anthony laughed too. Cedric took over: We walked to the bottom of a hill. 'What's that up there?' He thought, 'But forget it, I just remembered that I have something to do.'

And then, like magic, at that moment he suddenly remembered that the circus master was coming to visit him, Anne said.

I want to buy those lions! Ian pretended in a rough voice, I must not miss those lions.

Then he sat in the living room and looked at each other with the lions, Angelina said enthusiastically. 'Put them in the farthest place from me in the manor,' he said, 'and let everyone else come and see. Lion. Sell tickets and make back the money you spent on the lion.'

“If tourists pass by that hill,” Mark participates, “they will remember that there is a zoo nearby and they can’t wait to run over.”

Anthony concluded: The owner of the manor lived happily, happily and richly from then on.