Chapter 63 Black Magic Substitute

When Xie Lin opened his eyes, it was not yet bright. It was probably between four and five in the morning. Most of the students in the auditorium were still in a deep sleep. It seemed that the night talk last night really consumed a lot of their energy.

Daphne was lying beside him, holding his left arm tightly with both hands, her delicate face pressed tightly against his chest, and the hot air from her mouth and nose sprayed on his left ribs, making him feel a little itchy. The satin-like golden hair spread all over his chest, and a few of them mischievously tried to get into his nostrils, making him want to sneeze.

On his right side, Meredith occupied his right arm and slept peacefully. Looking closely, the arrogant little girl in the past has gradually revealed her peerless grace, with delicate eyebrows and eyes, and a little charm in her heroic spirit.

Both girls are excellent life partners. If you get one of them, it is a blessing from the previous life. When Xie Ling thought about how he could have the best of both worlds, he could not help but feel a sense of satisfaction in his heart. He felt that he had not let down the chance given to him by God to live his life again, and he immediately showed a happy smile.

He heard people walking in the hall, and Dumbledore was talking not far away. It must be because he was worried about the safety here and came in to patrol in the early morning.

Seeing Dumbledore walking towards Percy, Xie Ling quickly cast a "sharp hearing and clear eyes spell" on himself. This spell is one of the family spells of Lestrange, which can enhance the acuity of senses. Lestrange's spells are generally related to the five senses and six senses, which may be related to their family's hobby of torturing spells.

"How is it here, Percy?" Dumbledore's voice was gentle.

"Very good, sir, everything is under control." Percy's voice was slightly sharp, and he was obviously excited to report directly to the headmaster. "Nothing has happened since last night."

"Very good, thank you for your hard work." Dumbledore should be nodding to Percy. "Severus?"

A footstep came hurriedly, and the robe made a sound of wind. The blowing air also carried a slightly spicy smell. Sherin recognized that this was the smell produced by the sliced ​​wolfsbane. Then this person should be Professor Snape.

"Headmaster, I have searched the entire fourth floor, and he is not there. Filch also went to the underground classroom and did not find him either." Snape's voice was full of fatigue, probably because of the all-night search.

"Very good, then what about the astronomy tower? Professor Trelawney's room? The owl shed? The flying broom shed? Have these places been checked? Has Hagrid contacted his friends to check the forbidden forest?" Dumbledore's voice was not loud, obviously not wanting to wake up the sleeping students.

"Everything has been checked, he is not there."

"Very good, I always thought he would not stay and not leave." Dumbledore's voice obviously began to bring a sense of relief.

"Then Headmaster, what do you think about how he entered the school?" Snape's voice was a little angry.

"There are many possibilities, Severus. They are not the same, but I think the one you think is absolutely wrong." Dumbledore's voice was extremely serious.

"Remember our conversation - Headmaster -" Snape's voice was lower, and Sherin had to concentrate to barely distinguish it. "At the beginning of the school year, I objected to your appointment -"

"Okay, Severus!" Dumbledore interrupted him.

"But, without internal help, he can't get into Hogwarts..." Snape seemed to still want to insist on expressing his point of view.

"Okay, Severus. I don't think anyone in the castle will help him get into the school. That's it, I'm going to find the Dementors first." Dumbledore raised his voice slightly.

Then the voices fell silent, as if Snape had left, and only Percy was still patrolling there, and it was thanks to him that he was in such a good spirit.

When the professors announced that the search was over and Black had left the castle, the three girls thought of Sherin's inference last night, and the look in their eyes when they looked at Sherin began to become very strange.

Dumbledore was not disappointed by this - he had made sure that the intruder did not stay in the school, which was a good thing. Eliminating the danger hidden in the school was the most important thing at the moment.

In the next few days, everyone in the school talked about rumors about Black. The rumors about how he entered the castle became more and more mysterious - Hannah Abbott of Hufflepuff heard that Black could transform into a flowering bush!

In addition to the rumors that were spreading more and more mysterious, many things in the castle had changed.

For example, the damaged portrait of the Fat Lady had been taken down from the wall, and replaced by a portrait of Sir Cadogan in full armor and his fat gray pony.

The little lions of Gryffindor were very unhappy about this. Sir Cadogan spent half of his time provoking people to duel with him. The other half of his time was spent on figuring out ridiculously complicated passwords, and he had to change the passwords at least twice a day. This troubled Neville, who had a poor memory, so he had to write down the passwords on a piece of paper to avoid being in a difficult situation where he couldn't get into the common room.

For example, Harry was now under close surveillance. Professors walked with him in the corridor for various reasons and excuses; Percy followed him everywhere, like an extremely arrogant guard dog.

Of course, these things had little to do with Schelling.

Since the Patronus Charm Exchange, Schelling's popularity has reached a new height.

Many Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students have developed a liking for this junior student who is highly capable but approachable. When Schelling walks in the corridor, he always meets students from these two colleges who greet him enthusiastically and proactively. As a result, the entire Slytherin College no longer seems so annoying - the young wizards of Slytherin began to interact with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students in a friendly manner.

Another thing that also made Schelling popular was another thing.

Schelling's "Me and the Basilisk at Hogwarts" was successfully published at the end of September. In just one month, it climbed to the top of the sales rankings of wizard novels, earning Schelling a considerable number of gold galleons and adding a lot of fame to Schelling. It can be said that he gained both fame and fortune.

Although many people knew about Schelling's killing of the Chamber of Secrets Basilisk last year, they did not know the details, let alone the danger. Only after reading this novel did they deeply understand how amazing it was that Schelling could successfully kill the Chamber of Secrets Basilisk as a second-year student.

Under the students' extensive word-of-mouth publicity, the content of "Me and the Basilisk at Hogwarts" became the hottest topic in the school, even overshadowing the topic of Sirius Black - everyone was worried that they could not fit in this topic and ordered the book from Diagon Alley, making it almost everyone in Hogwarts had a copy.

On Friday, in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, the students were surprised to find that Professor Lupin was absent due to illness, and Professor Snape would take over the class.

The students were in an uproar - this was probably the first time since everyone entered the school that they heard that a professor was absent due to illness. The infirmary, with Madam Pomfrey in charge, has always been known for its strength, and there are few diseases that cannot be cured. There are even rumors that the level of the infirmary is not inferior to St. Mungo's Hospital. As an outstanding adult wizard, the professor rarely has such symptoms. According to the recollections of the students who went to the school infirmary yesterday, Professor Lupin was not there.

"What happened to Professor Lupin?" Dean Thomas asked anxiously.

"Maybe I should teach you how to respect professors, Mr. Thomas." Snape had a chilling smile on his face. "I'm not Professor Lupin, I don't have such a good character. Gryffindor will deduct ten points for disrupting the class order and disrespecting the professor."

"I'm sorry, professor." Hermione reacted. "I'm sorry, we're just worried about Professor Lupin's condition."

"No life-threatening..." He said slowly, but his tone was so cold that it seemed to freeze out of thin air. "Now back to your class, Professor Lupin didn't leave any record of what you learned..."

"I'm sorry, sir, we learned Boggarts, Red Hats, Kabbahs and Grindylows (Grindylows were learned after Halloween, a few days ago)," Hermione said quickly, "We were just about to start learning-"

"Quiet," Snape said coldly, "I didn't ask any questions. I just criticized Professor Lupin's teaching for lack of rules."

"But he is the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we have ever met!" Seamus Finnigan shouted. He admired the strength that Professor Lupin showed on weekdays and was a staunch supporter of Professor Lupin.

"It's just what you have seen, Mr. Finnigan." Snape's face still showed no joy or anger. "You are too easily satisfied. You know, I always think that dealing with red hats and grindylows is the level of first-year students. Well, today we are going to talk about-" He opened the textbook, searched for a long time, and then gently uttered two words: "Werewolf!"

"Sorry, professor." Hermione stood up again, "According to the progress, we should learn about hinkypunk."

"Miss Granger, are you a teacher? Or am I?" Snape pursed his thin lips. "I'm talking to all of you!" He stared at the whole class fiercely.

"Well, who can tell me the difference between a real wolf and a werewolf?" Snape asked, with a strange light flowing in his eyes.

Everyone sat motionless and silent, with the exception of Hermione, who suddenly raised her hand high as usual.

"Could it be that--" Snape's voice began to be full of sneer, "Professor Lupin hasn't told the third-year students the difference between the two?"

"We told you," Parvati said suddenly, "We haven't learned the chapter on werewolves yet, we are still learning--"

"Quiet!" Snape said angrily, "Yes, I can't believe that I would meet a class of third-year students who can't recognize werewolves. I must tell Professor Dumbledore how backward you are..."

"Please, sir," Hermione said, still holding her hand high, "werewolf and real wolves exist in a few small places. Difference. The snout of a werewolf——"

"This is the second time you have spoken without permission, Miss Granger." Snape said coldly, "Gryffindor will lose another five points for an intolerable know-it-all."

Then he turned and said, "Shaylin, you speak!"

To be fair, Shaylin felt that Snape was right, although the little lions were also quite innocent - how to identify werewolves is actually a first-year course, but it's a pity that such an important class was ruined by Quirrell. Under Quirrell's stuttering explanation, most of the little wizards must have been daydreaming, and only extremely studious students like Hermione were the exception.

Shayling first took the silver tooth out of his pocket, then used Transfiguration to transform the table into a motionless werewolf, and let the two stand side by side, pointing out the subtle differences between the two while explaining in detail.

Shayling's explanation was vivid and interesting, and even the little lions of Gryffindor listened very attentively. Even Hermione had to admire him - if she had explained it just now, she would never have been able to do it as well as Shayling.

Snape didn't expect Shayling to do this, but it was just what he wanted, so he gave Slytherin 15 points. This time the extra points didn't make the little lions unconvinced, after all, Shayling's explanation really made them understand - Ron complained a few words like "sensationalism", but no one wanted to pay attention to him, which made him feel very boring.

Before get out of class ended, Snape gave homework about werewolves - a paper on how to identify and kill werewolves, at least two sheets of parchment.

While the students were complaining about their homework, the first Quidditch match of the semester was about to begin the next day.

Originally, the opening match was between Slytherin and Gryffindor, but Slytherin captain Marcus Flint did not want to play against Gryffindor in bad weather, so he found an excuse to swap the order of the match with Hufflepuff - changing the match to Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff, which made Gryffindor furious, and even Hufflepuff was quite dissatisfied with Slytherin's behavior.

Cedric, the new Quidditch captain of Hufflepuff, complained to Sherin about this more than once. Flint's actions really attracted a lot of hatred for Slytherin, enough to offset the goodwill Sherin had worked so hard to win for Slytherin.

Schelling didn't take it seriously. Flint was a diehard pure-blood. He and Schelling had conflicts in their ideas. Schelling also knew that there would be a dispute between them sooner or later, so he chose to stand by and watch Flint's suicidal behavior.