Chapter 254 Night Tour, an Activity that Professors and Students Love

"What has the school board done recently?" Professor Sprout asked with concern.

"You know those photos of Mr. Creevey, Lucius Malfoy is not very happy." Professor Burbage said.

Professor Kettleburn said confusedly: "What photos?"

Professor Flitwick leaned over to explain the story of Malfoy and Snotlout. Professor Sprout nodded and took a sip of tea: "I know. He has always wanted to expel Colin Creevey from the school."

Professor Kettleburn was still listening to Professor Flitwick's story, and said without turning his head: "That's wishful thinking. Albus will not agree. They need to expel Albus first, and then they can expel Albus' students."

"Yes," Professor Burbage said, "I guess the minister is so eager to intervene in Hogwarts' affairs, and Malfoy must be instigating it. Creevey's parents are both Muggles, so Malfoy can't do anything to them."

Anthony said in surprise: "I thought he was a pure-blood." He thought Lucius Malfoy should not care about the lives of Muggles at all.

"Since the disappearance of You-Know-Who, he hasn't publicly promoted the pure-blood theory for a long time." Professor Sprout told Anthony, "I know people are saying that Malfoy was once a Death Eater-"

Professor Burbage sneered: "He is."

"-But Malfoy insists that even if he may have done something during the reign of You-Know-Who, it was because he was under the Imperius Curse. You may have heard a lot of opinions, Henry, but at least from the official perspective of the Ministry of Magic, Malfoy's actions at that time were not from his heart. He always likes to claim that he is a good person who abides by the law, and the Muggle Protection Act has come into effect. The Ministry of Magic has never found any evidence pointing to Mr. Malfoy's violation of the law."

"I must point out that this may be because the great philanthropist Mr. Malfoy continued to "from the heart" to fund various projects of the Ministry of Magic after the disappearance of that person." Professor Burbage shrugged and ate a small piece of honey cake slowly.

Professor Sprout said tolerantly: "The Ministry of Magic always needs some sponsors. Tea, Charity?"

…

Because he still had to prepare for tomorrow's class, Anthony wished his colleagues to enjoy their tea and cakes, and then left early.

Students played in groups on the lawn, or walked by the Black Lake, hitting the ice that had not yet melted with small stones. The afternoon sun shone brightly on the top of the Hogwarts tower, and the melted snow dripped down, freezing into crystal clear icicles, hanging on the eaves.

Anthony walked back to the castle along the path with fewer people and looked in the direction of the school hospital - after Sirius Black obtained a public legal identity, many reporters wanted to interview him, and people's letters of condolence and apology letters flew into the school hospital like snowflakes, which made Madam Pomfrey unhappy.

Anthony and Professor Sprout privately felt that Lockhart was not very happy either, perhaps because he was no longer the champion of Hogwarts' daily letter reception. Many of his admirers also diverted their attention from him to Sirius. Students were discussing how to see Sirius recuperating in the school hospital. The dishevelled and crazy-looking photo published in the Daily Prophet obviously only made them more curious.

Another dozen students walked out of the school hospital with their heads down and their ears smoking. Madam Pomfrey shouted angrily behind them: "This is the school hospital, not a museum!"

When the students passed by Anthony, Anthony heard one of them say in frustration: "Why can't we approach that area? Sirius Black will definitely not mind."

"Do you think that alarm line is really useful?" another person asked, "I bet at least three hundred people step over the alarm line every day. They can't punish everyone who steps over the alarm line, right?"

"The Weasley twins said they have a great way to bypass the alarm line." Another student said, while vigilantly scanning the surroundings. He met Anthony's eyes, quickly shut his mouth, straightened his body, and left with the most upright and serious expression.

Anthony secretly decided to increase the frequency of night patrols, but on the other hand, he had to admit that Sirius might be really happy to see the Weasley twins. From the illegal stories he heard starring James Potter and Sirius Black, Sirius and the Weasley twins must have a lot of common topics.

…

In his office, the ginger cat was eating the ball fish with pride. The ghost chicken heard the sound of the door opening, walked out to take a look, and then walked back to the bedroom leisurely.

"Good afternoon, cat. Good afternoon, chicken." Anthony took off his coat, "Where's the mouse?"

The cat continued to bury its head between the ball fish and the broken bag, and had no intention of answering him at all. The ghost chicken flew over his head and squatted. Judging from the state of the room, the cat and the chicken must have fought again.

Anthony arched his neck, and was pressed down by the ghost chicken so that he couldn't lift his head: "Well, I think I need to find it myself." He closed his eyes and felt the small light point belonging to the ghost mouse in his mind. The ghost chicken bit his hair and pulled it.

Following the guidance of the light, Anthony walked all the way to the toilet. After searching for a while, he found the ghost mice sleeping in his mouthwash cup. He looked down at the transparent mice in the cup and gently put them back in place.

…

At Professor Bubaji's reminder, Anthony decided to review the use of the post office for the students in the next class. When he looked through his lesson plans from last year, he discovered that there were so many things that he now felt could be changed.

The sky turned from light blue to pinkish purple, and then a dark blue rose from the horizon, slowly covering the entire sky. The light dimmed, and the resentful mouse climbed onto his desk and squeaked at him a few times. Anthony lit the lamp in the room, carelessly put the mouse into his hand and stuffed it into his pocket. The mouse crawled out dissatisfied and went to find his apple.

It wasn't until the orange-golden red afterglow of the sunset dimmed, and a deep night enveloped the sky over Hogwarts - that Anthony suddenly realized that he had missed dinner again.

"Did you just remind me to eat dinner?" he asked the resentful mouse while rubbing his forehead.

"Squeak." The resentful mouse said, not sure whether it was affirmative or negative.

"Well, thank you anyway." Anthony smiled and looked at the time, "I guess I have to go to the kitchen. I hope the house elves won't be annoyed with me."

He packed up the lesson plan, put the pen back into the pen holder, walked around the cat sleeping among the dried fish balls and the wraith chicken in doze, put on his clothes, and walked out of the office door.

The corridor was empty, and the dim torches did nothing to keep people warm. Myrtle sighed in her bathroom, and the almost headless Nick seemed to be talking to her, his voice amplified by the echo trembling in the cold air. Anthony heard Lockhart shouting, "That's it, Gilderoy, that's right," so he stepped more lightly.

That's one of the reasons Anthony loves the night. Every day is different, but the nights always reveal a certain leisurely familiarity and tranquility that never seems to change. Tonight was like countless nights before at Hogwarts.

Anthony paused as he passed the open window. The moonlight shone brightly on the unfinished snow on the lawn, and three rows of crooked footprints suddenly appeared on the snow and continued to extend - as if there were three invisible people preparing to visit Hagrid's cabin.

A certain name immediately jumped into Anthony's mind. Harry Potter has a high-end invisibility cloak and two very good friends.

Although Hagrid did promise him that he would never let students come into contact with Chimeras, for some reason Hagrid didn't seem to think that Harry and the others were also students at Hogwarts. Anthony suspected that Harry and the others were helping Hagrid take care of the Chimeras when Hagrid needed to clear snow, feed chickens, wax his broomstick, or patrol the Forbidden Forest, but he had never found direct evidence.

Several Chimaira beasts have already changed their teeth, and their majestic manes have begun to take shape. They often use their hard hooves and powerful tails to knock the crates loudly. Only uninterrupted meat can keep them alive. Be a little more at ease. Thankfully, they still don't produce the Chimaira's signature venom.

Anthony checked the magical beast books in the library for this purpose, and found out that the Chimera beast would only produce toxins when it eats enough toads, poisonous snakes and scorpions. When he found that Hagrid was preparing to capture poisonous snakes, he was serious Stopped him.

…

There was a firelight in the cabin, and Hagrid's huge figure turned around among the windows. Anthony could even see that Hagrid hung a few pieces of meat on the ceiling first, then cleaned up the stove, and started mending something under the lamp.

His shaggy head remained still for a while. At this time, the three lines of footprints had extended to the door. The cold wind brought the excited barking of Yaya and the sound of jingling chains. Hagrid's head shot up. He walked to the door, and the door opened - after a while, with a few bangs, Hagrid closed the wooden window, blocking all the light.

Anthony hesitated for a moment, but decided to let these students visit Hagrid late at night. He was willing to believe in Hagrid's talent for protecting magical animals that Professor Kettleburn praised so much. As long as he and Harry were together, the Chimera would not be a big threat.

Soft bird calls came from the owl hut, like a few owls talking in their sleep. Anthony took one last look at Hagrid's hut and continued walking downstairs, intending to see if the Weasley twins challenged the school hospital's alarm line.

He glanced at the door of the ward. No red hair, no glowing alarm lines, no angry Madam Pomfrey.

The lights in Madam Pomfrey's room were out and the door was closed, indicating that the conscientious lady was resting. The moonlight fell into the ward, the fireplace was beeping and the fire was swaying gently. The curtains of the hospital bed belonging to Sirius were draped, swaying gently in the breeze brought in by Anthony opening the door.

Anthony closed the door again and turned his head.

A student was standing in the shadow on the side of the marble steps, clinging to the stone bricks, seemingly in a dilemma. The night walker obviously planned to leave secretly when Anthony walked into the campus hospital, but he didn't expect that he just looked back briefly.

Anthony said amusedly: "Good evening, Miss Davis."