Chapter 625 Quidditch Selection

When Felix returned to his office, it was already late and the sky turned inky black.

Valen yawned in boredom while letting the tip of his special wand spray colorful sparks. He couldn't understand: Why can the guy who blew up the little snake do incredible things with his special wand? It is obvious that he has more gems.

When he saw the big devil push open the door and come out, Valen immediately jumped on his shoulder and chattered non-stop.

"You can't compare him with Filch," Felix said, "Filch really hasn't been exposed to magic in all these years, so even if he changed his special wand, he has to rely heavily on the built-in magic in the gems..." He looked at the desk, where there were several letters, and there were also messy owl claw prints and biscuit crumbs on the table.

Valen patted his chest to show that he had entertained the guests.

"Well done."

Felix walked to the table and sat down, opened the letters and quickly read through them. The first two letters were from Ms. Bones and Lupin respectively. The only surprise was that Rita Skeeter also wrote to him.

The owners of the letters gave a brief introduction of their recent situation. Ms. Bones was the most concise one because she had been writing letters during this period, so many greetings were omitted.

"... Everything is fine. Sirius sent me a set of puzzles today, saying that it is a pastime for Muggles... Merlin, I have no idea what's going on in his mind. Don't I look busy enough?" The next few paragraphs were all about Sirius, and mentioned his new job, but most of them were complaints. In addition to making Felix more regretful that he couldn't catch him before school started, there was no other use. "He is not the only one collecting intelligence, but I lack someone I can trust completely. There are rumors in the ministry that I am preparing a whole set of reform plans, but I feel more like a puppet. Felix Hep, you bastard, you never told me that you opened the "Future World" company in the Muggle society, with seven branches!"

Felix grinned. After so many days of correspondence, Ms. Bones was familiar with him - or maybe she learned it from Sirius. Felix wrote this down. He picked up the feather pen and wrote back.

"Amelia, those seven stores are useless in future plans. The clerks don't know that their boss is a magician, which will seriously frustrate their work enthusiasm... Regarding the manpower issue, I do have some suggestions. If it is for confidentiality, I suggest that you expand the Muggle Affairs Department to a limited extent. The reason is also ready: the old laws cannot keep up with the changes of the times, and there is an urgent need to expand the provisions. For this purpose, a lot of information needs to be collected..."

Felix glanced at Rita Skeeter's pink envelope and suddenly had an idea. .

"...I can recommend someone. She has a place in the Muggle newspaper industry and has access to valuable information. She also has the advantage of a keen sense of the media...You should have heard of her name, Rita Skeeter. It's strange that she has been so successful in the past two years. It's incredible, isn't it?

Also, you can talk to Mundungus about the smuggling issue. I believe you will be shocked, but don't reveal any information to him - he is famous for reselling intelligence. When he is in trouble, you can even buy him off with a glass of hot whiskey..."

The second letter came from Lupin. Felix looked at the densely packed form on it. It was obvious that Lupin was going to explain official business.

"...A total of 127 exclusive wands were sold. The buyers all had close connections with the wizarding world before, so they quickly passed the Ministry of Magic's review.

The only exception was Mrs. Arabella Figg. Dumbledore wrote me a letter to plead for her, but it was actually unnecessary. When I saw that she lived in Privet Drive, I understood everything... The Ministry of Magic's office two streets away was crowded with people, and many parents of students also came to give it a try. In short, it was quite lively. Of course, this business was advertised as 're-employment skills training'. I don't know who came up with this term... But frankly speaking, it will take time for them to obtain official approval. The wizarding world cannot accept so many people at once..."

"Arthur is very happy recently. His son Percy has become the youngest director of the ministry. It is said that he is younger than Chesterton Avery. Of course, Avery is a thing of the past. His death is still an unsolved case. No Death Eater has admitted his crime... Percy is now busy negotiating and preparing materials with the magic ministries of fourteen countries every day. Penelope said that he plans to learn two more foreign languages ​​and strive to surpass Mr. Crouch. I think this is really a difficult task..."

Felix wrote back happily.

However, when he unfolded Rita Skeeter's letter, he was not very happy. This woman came to ask for money! She took the popularity of the exclusive wand as her own credit. Felix disagreed. He didn't remember when he expressed this meaning. Therefore, when Felix relayed the letter to Valen, he not only immediately gained an ally who shared the same hatred with him, but Valen also volunteered to help write a reply letter. Felix agreed with a smile.

He read the entire two pages of parchment rebuttal without changing a single word, except for a brief mention at the end that the Ministry of Magic was rich and had a chance to make extra money recently. But you must keep your mouth shut, otherwise the consequences will be much more serious than illegal Animagus...

After finishing all this, Felix stretched and paced in front of the window.

He stared at the dark outlines of the castle, the forbidden forest, and the mountains in the distance, but what he was thinking about was the tributary that branched out from the depths of Voldemort's memory. In fact, it is too early to call it a "tributary" now. At best, it is just a small spring. Without Felix's help, it would not exist at all.

The cool night breeze blew on his face, bringing him the scent of lush plants. Valen climbed up along his trouser legs, looked at the black lake sparkling in the moonlight, and handed him a chocolate frog. Felix tore open the wrapping paper and bit off the head of the chocolate frog.

The sweetness and bitterness of the chocolate melted around his mouth, and he looked at the chocolate frog picture. The picture showed an angry woman with long black hair and a pair of half-moon framed glasses. She was holding a huge sign that read "No Suppressive Spells".

Felix glanced at the witch's name: Carlotta Pinkstone. He was stunned. That radical activist? He turned the picture to the back, and sure enough, her introduction was printed on it:

Carlotta Pinkstone (1922-Present)

An activist who advocated the abolition of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy and told Muggles that magic really existed. Ms. Pinkstone had been imprisoned many times for openly and deliberately using magic in public places.

If I calculated correctly, this person would be released this year, Felix thought, a year earlier than Barty Crouch. He planned to pay attention to the latest newspapers, which were less than four months away from the end of this year.

Felix yawned and rubbed his forehead. When he returned to his bedroom, he saw that the tower light in the principal's office was still on. It seemed that he was not the only one who couldn't sleep tonight. He just didn't know whether the school would replace the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at the speed of light.

It turned out that Dumbledore had somehow convinced Grindelwald that the next few classes would only be about silent spells. But Felix didn't think that Grindelwald subscribed to those Muggle military magazines purely out of interest.

This is not groundless worry. Dumbledore once asked for a Marauder's Map. It is hard to say that it was not because he was worried that the old man would sneak out and bring back a full set of Muggle military equipment as a teaching aid.

Perhaps it will not be long before the course progresses to the chapter of "How to Identify and Defend against Small Firearms". Grindelwald does not even need to worry about part of the outline. Felix gave a detailed introduction in "Magic in the Muggle World"...

Because of the requirements of silent spells and wandless magic runes, students with red faces and staring at a plant or food on a plate can be seen everywhere in the school during this period. If you stare at them for a while, you will find that the expressions of these people quickly slide from fierce to dull. Felix sees similar scenes almost every year, but still finds it interesting. Those students are like programmed programs with similar expressions. Felix really wants to write to the Weasley twins to provide ideas for their new products.

Silent spells are not specific spells, but a set of spellcasting techniques that are used in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Transfiguration classes. The sudden strict requirements made the sixth-year students feel severely frustrated. They seemed to have returned to the last two months of the fifth-year OWLs exams, and they were all in a trance.

"Am I in a nightmare?" Seamus complained loudly, "Silent spells, ancient magic runes require wandless casting, and the Herbology class also requires us to deal with tentacles that spray sticky juice..."

After two days, the students finally realized that none of the sixth-year advanced classes were easy. Especially silent spells and wandless manifestation magic runes, which are not something that can be mastered in a short period of time. It is said that Professor Hepp claimed in the fifth-year class that he has prepared a large detention room for students who cannot meet the requirements and have not written papers.

"This is true." Luna said to Ron in the stands at the Quidditch selection on Saturday.

Ron had a bitter face. Of course, he didn't touch a word of his paper. What's worse is that he is not sure whether he has met the standards. During breakfast, Hermione advised him not to have any more luck, "Unless the professor only focuses on you from beginning to end in the next class and gives you dozens of chances, but that is impossible!"

Success rate, yes, this problem troubles all students who have chosen the ancient magic course.

Obviously, the professor's cunningness is far beyond the imagination of the little wizards. Of course, he will not give a person dozens of chances. That is unrealistic. There are already enough students in the class. Even Ron can't think of any reason for the professor to agree. But the problem is that no student can succeed 100%. Neville gave up early and asked Hermione for the reference book list assigned by the professor in advance, and read the big book with a lot of effort.

Seamus and Dean in the same dormitory were affected and barely read a few dozen pages. The hypnotic effect was amazing.

So when Ron's eyes moved away from the messy Quidditch field - Harry was busy as the captain - he saw Luna's fingertips jumping with several magic symbols, and he almost dropped his jaw.

"How did you do it?" Ron swallowed his saliva. He could see clearly that Luna didn't hold a wand in her hand.

"What did you say?" Luna said cheerfully. She liked the hustle and bustle, but also liked the quiet. So when half of the Gryffindor students and a small number of students from other colleges came, it was no surprise that she was here. Besides, her good friend Ginny also participated in the selection. Her fiery red hair was very dazzling on the field.

Ron pointed at the magic symbols on Luna's hand, his eyes widened.

"You have to make friends with them," Luna said, "Each of them has its own personality. Some of them I'm not familiar with yet, and they have strange tempers... But in general, they are quite easy to deal with."

"Can you tell me more?"

Ron was a little confused, but he felt that this insight was very fresh. Maybe he could write Luna's words into the paper?

Luna introduced it in more detail. In her eyes, each magic symbol has its own personality and emotions. She can even tell some stories about magic symbols and find corresponding characters for them. "I think this one looks like Harry." She said.

Ron stared at the purple rune that Luna pointed at, and then looked at Harry who was shouting hoarsely on the field. He really couldn't imagine what the two had in common. Was it because the messy halo was similar to Harry's hair, or was there a flat lightning shape at the tip of the symbol?

What made him even more confused was that he didn't understand why in Luna's eyes, he was associated with the ugly khaki symbol.

"I think it looks like you. Your colors are both dirty yellow." Ron countered, feeling insulted.

"It seems you have found the trick." Luna said, and then turned her head to the field.

Ron looked at the field with some boredom. He didn't know how Luna made the Ancient Runes class look like a Divination class, but Professor Hep was completely different from Trelawney. If he dared to hand in such an assignment with an attitude that would fool Trelawney, Professor Hep would definitely put him in detention until Christmas.

...

Harry looked at Ron and Katie Bell who were enjoying themselves in the stands with envy. He felt that this selection was terrible. Because there was no age limit, many first and second grade students also signed up, and even occupied the majority of the places. These people, let alone competing with the official players, would be difficult even if they were asked to use 70% of their broom speed. For example, just now, a chaser was so nervous that he even threw himself into the goal, causing the audience to laugh.

That was not all. The boy was probably too ashamed and rode his old comet broom away and never came back, as if he was going to hide in the castle. For this reason, Harry had to chase him and get the broom back, but he still let the tearful boy go.

When Harry returned to the venue, he seemed to have assumed the role of the boy, and half of the spectators pointed at him and were overjoyed.

Harry was very glad that Hermione didn't come. He rejected most of her suggestions on the grounds that Hermione didn't understand Quidditch. This seemed to have frustrated Hermione's self-esteem, so when she arrived, the selection was almost over. In the end, Harry took the new players around the field for a flight, and the students in the stands clapped their hands to show their respect.

"So, the tryout went smoothly?" Hermione asked alertly when they got off their brooms.

"The results are promising," Harry said stubbornly, and made up his mind that if Hermione asked for specific details, he would refuse her questions on the grounds that he could not disclose the team's secrets. But Hermione just looked at the audience leaving the stands, raised her eyebrows, and did not comment.

"It's like watching a wonderful comedy." Luna commented happily.

Hermione and Ginny bent over with laughter at the same time. Ron did not laugh, which made Harry feel in his heart how strong their friendship was.

"Let's go, I saw smoke rising from Hagrid's hut when I came here." Hermione stood up and said seriously.

Harry pretended not to see the tears of laughter in the corners of her eyes.

Luna took Ginny away mysteriously, so the remaining three turned around and walked towards Hagrid's hut.

They were going to save a friendship that was on the verge of breaking, because they had wisely chosen not to take Hagrid's advanced class. This was said by Ron, who pessimistically predicted that Hagrid would have Grawp guard the door with a big stick, and they would have to go through a life-and-death struggle before they could see the sulky Hagrid.

As they approached the cabin, they heard a loud sniffling sound, and the three of them looked at each other cautiously.

"Oh, God." Hermione said sadly, obviously thinking that Hagrid was crying sadly.

Even Harry and Ron thought so. It couldn't be that he had a cold, could it? They approached uneasily, thinking about how to comfort Hagrid. They hardly thought of other possibilities, and that's why Harry was so surprised to hear the voice of a second person in the room when he nervously went up to knock on the door.

"Yes, those heartless little ones... Potter never wrote to me on his own initiative, not even one, and I gave him the precious Felicis!" Slughorn said absentmindedly: "Hagrid, can I attend its funeral? I have never been in close contact with an Acromantula..."