Chapter 231 The Flamels

Because he had to prepare for tomorrow's class, Anthony left quickly and missed the rest.

It was not until the next morning that he heard that Harry had not seen Lupin.

Snape apparently met this "suspicious person who appeared in Hogwarts for no reason" in the corridor and immediately knocked him out. Lupine didn't even have time to utter a complete sentence.

By the time Dumbledore and Fudge showed up at Hogwarts with a few Aurors, Lupine had become "a dangerous werewolf who had infiltrated a school full of underage wizards" and was being locked up under the supervision of the dedicated Potions Professor. There was a wry smile in the cellar.

Contrary to Anthony's expectations, even though Dumbledore failed to find his own witnesses, the Ministry of Magic arrested Peter Pettigrew without hesitation. In addition, Fudge also assured Dumbledore that a court session would be arranged as soon as possible to restore Sirius' reputation.

"That's nothing surprising," Professor Bubbaji said, spreading a thick layer of jam on his toast. "Our minister would love for everyone to know about it. Come to think of it, Barty K. What a huge mistake Rauch made by sending the innocent Sirius Black to Azkaban for eleven years without trial."

Anthony suddenly understood: "Mr. Fudge deeply regrets this..."

Professor Boubaji nodded: "And we have corrected the mistakes that Crouch Sr. once made, and are committed to ensuring that all cases can receive fair rulings."

Professor Flitwick leaned over and asked with concern: "Has the court date been set?"

"Not yet, but probably within the next few weeks." Professor Boubaji said. "All members of the Wizengamot have been notified, and the minister seems to want to make this retrial very grand."

"Are you going too, Caredi?" asked Professor Flitwick.

"Of course." Professor Bubaji said without hesitation, "If the court time conflicts with my class, I will let the students take the test in class. The test papers have already been released - students had better pray that the retrial will be scheduled on the weekend. , because those are the questions that we thought might be too difficult and were not selected by O.W.L and N.E.W.T. I happened to look them up the day before yesterday.”

Anthony cut the omelette on his plate: "Can I have one?"

"No problem." Professor Bubaji said with a smile.

…

Although not many people saw Lupin or Peter, the students somehow got wind of it.

Anthony would sometimes hear them arguing in the corridors about whether it was Professor McGonagall or Snape who got rid of unknown Hogwarts intruders, or whether the two worked together. Once, Anthony even heard Stinson swearing to tell his classmates that he saw Snape kill someone with his own eyes, and Professor McGonagall threw the body into the black lake and fed it to the giant squid.

Hagrid heard the news from Harry and came to the castle to ask Anthony for confirmation. After answering in the affirmative, Anthony spent more time calming Hagrid's anger.

"Despicable villain! Traitor! Scum!" Hagrid roared, waving his fist and hitting Anthony's desk (the things on it shook dangerously), "If I had known earlier, I would have let Fang take over. The rat was torn to pieces! But what did I do? I offered the rat pie!"

"How could you know, Hagrid?" Anthony comforted, "If it weren't for Mr. Lupin, no one would have discovered his flaw."

Hagrid roared and walked around the room: "That dirty guy has been living in the same dormitory with Harry for more than a year! How can he be so embarrassed! I have never liked rats, those dirty ones Everything should be fed to Norbert——"

The wraith rat made a faint squeaking sound and tried to look up at Hagrid.

Hagrid didn't hear it at all. His voice rumbled and echoed in Anthony's office: "When I think of Sirius staying in Azkaban for eleven years, I want to tear that traitor to pieces! Take Harry to his aunt and uncle Before going home, I also met Sirius. He asked me to give Harry to him, saying that he would take good care of Harry, but I refused - I really should have said a few words to him! Harry’s godfather, but he was unjustly imprisoned without even having a chance to say goodbye!”

"He is Potter's godfather?" Anthony asked.

"Of course, he is James' best friend." Hagrid stopped and said matter-of-factly, "He and James are inseparable, everyone knows."

Anthony said confused: "But Mr. Potter doesn't seem to know this. Even when Minerva told Potter that Sirius Black was his father's good friend, she never mentioned that Potter also had a godfather." He gave Hagrid poured a cup of tea and pushed it towards the other side, "If you are thirsty."

Hagrid hesitated and sat down. "Oh, I can understand." He said sullenly, picking up the cup and drinking it all in one gulp, "Sirius has probably gone crazy... There is no good in letting Harry know that he has lost a godfather..."

"Why do you all think Mr. Black is crazy?" Anthony said.

Hagrid said, "You don't understand, Henry, he spent eleven years in Azkaban. No one could stay awake, no one..." He took his handkerchief out of his pocket and blew it very loudly. nose.

Anthony was silent. Although he only slept there for one night, he was very sure that there were still many sane prisoners deep in Azkaban. The dementors didn't have as much of an impact on them as one might think.

Maybe he should let Professor McGonagall or Dumbledore know that.

…

"I must say that I'm not too surprised." Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "I have long suspected that dementors have a greater impact on ordinary people. Those who are truly cruel may not be bothered at all. Sad about the loss of happy memories.”

Anthony said: "If that's the case, Mr. Black..."

"Have hope, Henry," said Dumbledore. "Always hope."

"All right."

Dumbledore smiled and pushed a piece of parchment to him: "I happen to be writing a letter to you, Henry. Just read it."

Anthony took it in confusion: "What is it..."

The message on the note was quite brief and obviously not yet finished.

"Henry:

"I hope you find A Brief Introduction to Magic easy to understand, but in any case, the spell mentioned in the last letter has been found. I found it in "The Life and Death of Magic in the Sixteenth Century" (marked below in small print chapter and page numbers), but Nico clearly thought he had a better way.

"Besides that, I think I should let you know that my old friends have arrived early..."

"Monsieur and Madame Flamel are coming?" asked Anthony, "when?"

"I don't know," said Dumbledore, "but I got the news this morning. They went fishing in Loch Lomond for a while, and then had a dispute with an osprey. Nico unfortunately fell into the dispute. They were defeated, so Perenal thought of sending me a letter asking me to lend them Fox."

"What?"

Dumbledore explained: "Although Nico and Perenal are talented, their bird language is not very fluent. Nico has always complained that the birds talk too fast." He nodded to Anthony, "I want to talk to you Find out when you will be free to meet him."

"Now, sir," Anthony said without hesitation.

Dumbledore's blue eyes flashed with pleasure: "That's what I thought. In that case, let's go."

…

Nico Flamel, an energetic man with a small goatee, shook Anthony's hand as soon as they met.

"You must be Henry. I've wanted to see you for a long time." He looked Anthony up and down, his voice soft and loud, still with a faint French accent, and then turned his head, "Sit down, Ah! Si, you are too tall.”

Dumbledore sat on the tree stump next to him, his posture very leisurely. His silver-white hair and beard were swaying gently in the wind, with a smile on his face. Perenal handed him a grilled fish.

They were beside Loch Lomond, and the tent canvas was rustling in the cool breeze. The fishing rod was leaning against the tree trunk, and the fishing line and the wicker basket containing the bait were thrown carelessly on the ground. The lake water is clear and there is no one around.

"Come on, Henry, sit down too." Nico said, pulling Anthony with him and sighing, "These days, necromancers are as hard to find as alchemists."

Anthony looked down. There was a newspaper on the ground. In the photo, a gloomy and strong wizard was sitting on a broom staring at him, with a carnival crowd behind him. The title read "Krum saves the day - again!" 》. Anthony turned the page of the newspaper and sat on "Senior Undersecretary Ms. Umbridge on Strengthening the Rule of Law: The Way Forward and Resistances Overcome."

"Don't say that, Nico," Perenal stopped, "We are two alchemists, but Henry is only one. Twice, Nico, twice as much, your math is really bad. "

Nico said disdainfully: "Ha, mathematics, the most useless thing in the world." His alert eyes looked at Anthony, "Do you have any other opinions, Henry?"

His gaze seemed as penetrating as Dumbledore's. There is no need for Anthony to lie: "Aside from the beauty and charm of mathematics itself, I think it is still very useful, especially basic arithmetic. We use it almost every day."

"What are you doing with arithmetic?" Nico asked. "Arithmetic?"

Anthony said: "Well...shopping and settling accounts?"

"The Philosopher's Stone, Henry." Dumbledore reminded him. He had already eaten half of the grilled fish.

"Oh, that's right." The Philosopher's Stone means endless gold, and Nico and Perenal really don't need to settle accounts.

Nico said: "The more precise the mathematics, the less room there is for magic. When your brain is filled with numbers and grids, you can no longer feel the breeze of magic."

Perenal also agreed and said: "That young man named Isaac lost his alchemical talent in this way. It's a pity. Alchemical talent is thousands of times more precious than gold, but the only few who have it are Talented people have to calculate how many times it is.”

"But aren't there still many alchemists now?" Anthony asked carefully, thinking of the alchemy snake customized by Pansy. "There are those who customize family emblems for family estates, and there are also those who sell props in Diagon Alley..."

"Alchemist, real alchemist! Not those poor imitators!" Nico waved his hand, "Seriously, my few disciples are not that good either. You are a necromancer, Henry, you will call those toy Are the dark wizards of the Inferi a necromancer?”

Anthony nodded: "I haven't seen the Inferi yet, but I understand what you mean."

"Have you never seen the Inferi?" Perenal said, putting down the grilled fish, and reaching out to hold Anthony's hand and shake it, "Oh my god, how much of your soul have you mortgaged to death?"

Anthony was a little surprised that she knew so much about necromancy, but he quickly thought of her age.

He said frankly, "I don't know."

Perenelle frowned slightly, and Nico laughed.

"Good job!" Nico said loudly, "I'm really tired of those gloomy necromancers who use souls to do math! 'Pledge one-third of the soul', 'I plan to cut the soul in half' or 'A ghost is eight-ninths of the soul, but without consciousness'... I get upset when I hear such statements."

Dumbledore said, "Speaking of this, Nico, Perenelle, I was just about to ask you to check whether Henry is a necromancer."

"Can you control corpses?" Nico turned to Anthony and asked.

"Yes."

"Control skeletons?"

"Yes."

"Summon ghosts?"

Anthony nodded. The Flamel couple came here to solve the problem of his ghost chicken.

Nico said with satisfaction: "Okay, Albus, he is a necromancer."

Perenelle suddenly asked: "Do things around you wither and die when you sleep?"

"Sometimes... well, often," Anthony admitted, smiling at Dumbledore, "There is a reason why my pets are all dead, sir."

Perenelle said: "Just asking, you can't still hear the whispers of the dead?"

"No." Anthony shook his head.

"You do look sane," Nico said, "Okay. He is a necromancer among necromancers, Albus."

Dumbledore said gently: "You don't seem very surprised."

"Albus, you don't understand." Perenelle said slowly, "Just talk to Henry for a few more words, people like us can immediately recognize that he seems to be missing something. Senior necromancers and various undeads - as well as Nico and me - often lack something."

"What is it?" Anthony asked.

"In a hurry." Perenelle smiled. "Nico and I came here to study a pet wraith chicken, but until now, we have been eating grilled fish here. Since you didn't rush us, you obviously made a very big deal with death."

Anthony said confusedly: "I don't understand."

Nico said: "When death avoids us, we have endless time and therefore endless patience." He paused and added, "Except for the three-day game of stealing the Philosopher's Stone. That's really too annoying."

Dumbledore said happily: "You said 'three days', Nico. You used math."