Chapter 637 Discussion
The students left one by one, holding the documents, and the last person to leave closed the door.
"Bang."
The staff lounge fell into silence, with only Professor Binns leaning against the fire and snoring intermittently, looking peaceful. However, the tranquility was soon broken. Felix leaned back in his chair, "Would you like a cup of tea, everyone?"
Professor McGonagall, Snape and Grindelwald raised their heads, with different expressions.
"I don't mind," Grindelwald said slowly, "You can write the retention and probation report anytime."
Professor McGonagall's sharp eyes immediately moved away from Felix, as if she had found a new focus. "I have to remind you, Professor Bagshot, that you have been procrastinating on this matter for several weeks." "Thank you, Minerva," Grindelwald said politely, "It's just that every time I think about it, I have new insights..."
"It seems that Mr. Bagshot is still a person who pursues perfection," Snape said indifferently, "I'm sorry I haven't heard of your reputation before."
"I didn't stay in England for a long time. It was too cramped and the weather was not good." Grindelwald said.
"Crack."
Several people turned their heads, and Felix calmly bit off half a crisp biscuit. While they were talking, three plates of pastries, two pots of hot tea and four cups were placed on the table. "I don't think we need to consider Professor Binns for the time being, unless any of you want him to join the chat..."
No one paid attention to him.
Grindelwald poured himself a cup of honey tea, Snape stared at the faint halo on the table, the fourth plate was trying to break free from the table, and Felix pushed the iced jelly with a cat's smiling face to Professor McGonagall to make room for the fried jam donuts.
"An alternative food summoning spell?" Snape asked.
"I invented it," Felix said. "The secret is to discuss it with the house elves in advance... I deliberately added a halo to make it look more magical."
Professor McGonagall was a little disapproving.
"Felix," she lowered her head to look at the soft and bouncy cat jelly for a while, pursed her lips and said, "I must communicate with you about the teaching plan. Animagus transformation is extremely dangerous-" "
Minerva, I believe in your eyesight. We are watching." Felix said, "And I still stick to my point of view. The biggest obstacle for Animagus is not those tedious preparations in advance, but how to control the wildness in the heart when transforming for the first time. Ninety percent of the danger occurs at this stage."
"I totally agree, Felix," said Professor McGonagall, and then asked with some doubt: "Have you mastered Animagus too?" She originally thought that Felix just sorted out the study notes passed down from generation to generation in the Black family and gave them to students.
"Sort of."
"Sort of?" Professor McGonagall gasped and knocked over the cup in front of her. She waved her wand and the cup immediately returned to its original shape. She asked without even looking at it: "What is your transformed form?"
"A swift." Felix said without hesitation.
"I have never seen your name in the announcement published by the Animagus Registry." Professor McGonagall said seriously: "So my teaching career has made major mistakes in succession. A total of four students have practiced illegal Animagus under my nose?"
"Well, to be precise... I don't know whether what I practiced is Animagus. As for registration... Miss Granger has been too busy recently, I am embarrassed to trouble her." Felix began to make up a lie.
Professor McGonagall stared at Felix, her chest rising and falling rhythmically.
Snape and Grindelwald were silent at this time, eavesdropping on their conversation without making a sound. As far as Snape knew, Felix had never learned Animagus during his school years, at least not in school. Because his mouth never stopped, he kept asking questions. He remembered that Felix had even earned a nickname for this, which seemed to be... the wandering sphinx?
But there was no guarantee that he would do something privately during the holidays or after graduation. It was entirely possible.
Grindelwald thought of Dumbledore's Animagus.
"... Therefore, if students experience this feeling of being on the verge of losing control, it will help them stay rational when the real Animagus transforms." Seeing that Professor McGonagall had no intention of letting go, Felix pouted at Snape.
"But," Snape put down his teacup and said slowly, "How do you grasp the scale in the middle? Don't tell me... you got inspiration from that Death Eater who punished students for breaking the rules."
Felix knew that the Death Eater he was talking about was Crouch Jr., who had disguised himself as Moody and turned Draco Malfoy into a ferret not long after school started.
"Yes," Professor McGonagall said, with a tremor in her voice, "I don't think you will forget the bad experience of the witch Hicks Crawleyon?"
Felix looked at her in confusion.
"What is that?"
"Claureen was a witch in the twenties. Something went terribly wrong during her first Animagus transformation. She was overwhelmed by the uncontrollable wildness in her heart and lost her mind. Her family didn't realize something was wrong until a week later. They realized that there had been a storm during that period, and their daughter was practicing Animagus at that time..."
"Then what?"
"They found Claureen and restored her to human form, but she was completely unconscious and took three months to recover at St. Mungo's." Professor McGonagall said seriously, "She was even lucky. There is evidence that more than seven cases of wizard disappearances in the past century have been suspected to be related to failed Animagus transformations."
Felix thought thoughtfully.
"I think this story tells us how important it is to have a reliable brain and friends... Minerva, I'm more curious about how Claureen's parents found her, because as a rule of thumb, her state at the time was no different from that of a real beast."
Professor McGonagall glared at him fiercely and said angrily.
"Because Cloraine's parents insisted on casting a spell to force every animal they saw to appear, and they persisted for three days. Later, one kilometer away, they found a cow happily eating wild strawberries. The stripes on its body were exactly the same as their daughter's favorite clothes..." "
...Cloraine, who recovered, was terrified of that experience and refused to perform Animagus Transfiguration for the rest of her life. Therefore, the Ministry of Magic did not register her name."
It may also be that the transformed form is really useless... Felix thought, and he said in a relaxed tone:
"Okay, I admit that the story is scary, and it feels terrible to lose control of your body, but you don't think that with the two of us here, you can still let the students run away, right? If you really insist, we can set up a control group - think about it, Minerva, we are fully capable of controlling the danger within a reasonable range, and once successful, the new practice method will greatly improve the safety of the Animagus itself."
After a moment of silence, Professor McGonagall's will was somewhat loosened.
Although she was a little old-fashioned at ordinary times, it was a habit she developed when facing naughty students. She also had the characteristics of Ravenclaw, and she was almost assigned to Ravenclaw College when she entered school. She had a strict attitude towards knowledge, and she never lacked courage.
Otherwise, she would not have mastered the Animagus.
What made her hesitate was that she was not sure whether to take risks with students, and how much risk to take. She looked at Felix, and Felix smiled confidently.
"Then bring out your plan," said Professor McGonagall. "If there is even the slightest problem, I won't agree."
"No problem," said Felix cheerfully. "I bet those students won't finish reading the materials, so we have plenty of time..."
The door was pushed open from the outside.
"It's so lively, I heard it from outside," the bloated Slughorn squeezed in breathlessly, holding a small fruit basket in his hand. "So you are hiding here, I was wondering why I couldn't find you after dinner..." When he saw Grindelwald, his face showed a sharp expression.
"Horace," said Professor McGonagall, with a faint blush on her face, "someone sent you something again?"
"Oh, what are you talking about?" Slughorn rarely boasted about his connections, but fiddled with the buttons on his vest nervously, muttering softly, "It's from Carlotta Pinkstone. I knew her when I was young, and she wasn't so crazy...stubborn at that time."
He put the small flower basket on the table and tore open the wrapping paper to reveal the candies and preserves inside.
"Ah, it's my favorite... You're welcome." He said, his chubby fingers nimbly picked up a piece of pineapple sprinkled with icing sugar, and poured himself a cup of tea with his other free hand, lowering his head and sniffing it gently, "Honey tea, it's a perfect match."
"So, what are you talking about? If you don't mind, I would like to introduce you to the small party I prepared for Christmas. Many celebrities will be invited," he glanced at Felix secretly.
"Thanks, Horace." Professor McGonagall said disapprovingly. She and Slughorn have been colleagues for many years and know the temper of this potion master very well. "It can be seen that retirement for many years has not made your teaching ability rusty, and you are still at ease."
"To be honest, I'm not used to it." Slughorn said with a smile: "It's changed a lot from before I retired, for example... the good seedlings have been picked up, which is natural. Many excellent colleagues have emerged in the school..."
In the evening, Harry, Ron and Ginny, who finished Quidditch training, dragged their heavy feet back to the common room.
"Did the training go well?" Hermione asked while reading the Animagus information. She waved her wand, and the dirt and dusty faces of Harry and the other two became clean and fresh. She was now proficient in using silent spells.
"Thanks," Ginny said weakly, "Except Harry and Katie, everyone's condition is up and down. If we are lucky, we can play an amazing score; but if everyone is in a very bad state..." She shrugged her shoulders.
Harry was too tired to talk. He had been shouting tactics all day, and his throat seemed to be in trouble. Even swallowing saliva hurt.
Hermione looked up at them and said calmly, "It may be a little unkind, but I still suggest that you take some time to read the information the professor gave us, so that you don't be unprepared when the time comes--" "
Hermione, we know what we are doing." Ron slumped on the sofa and said carelessly, "The most important thing now is Quidditch! You don't understand, we are in a fight with Malfoy, and I dream of hitting him in the face with a Bludger."
"Are you going to take over the job of the Beater? What about the goal? Let it learn how to dodge the Quaffle by itself?" Hermione said sharply.
Harry smiled silently, but quickly restrained his smile. He thought it was a smart move to keep Ron's fighting spirit.
"So I told Perks and Gutt about my dream in detail," Ron said, rolling his eyes, and then Hermione pulled out a book from the pile and read from the middle. "They were so inspired that they decided to help me realize my wish. You're welcome, Harry." He waved to Harry.
Hermione snorted, leaned over and grabbed another book, carefully counted the pages, and then lowered her head to take notes.
"Hermione, how do you do it?" Harry asked hoarsely.
"Oh, what?"
"Reading several books at the same time."
"They were originally together," Hermione explained, "Aren't you used to the professor's style? He always likes--"
"There are even annotations?" Ginny leaned over and looked at the information placed in front of Hermione, asking curiously, and then she read out what she saw with a smack of her mouth, "For reasons to keep calm, refer to Chapter 12 of the "Compendium of Spells Invented by the Spell Experiment Committee" 'Don't Study Magic When You Are in a Bad Mood'."
Harry shouted in disbelief: "Is this all the stuff in the information?" He felt his throat begin to smoke.
"Almost every page has... Oh, just the first third, the part provided by Professor McGonagall has no annotations, she wrote it all on it. In fact, Professor McGonagall only added safety precautions and failure cases, as well as her personal comments and notes."
Several people looked at each other. After a long time, there was a loud bang, and Ron fell over from behind the chair.
"Are you okay, Ron?" Harry pulled him up from the ground with half concern and half amusement. When Ron stood up, his face was still in shock.
"I was thinking of staying up late to read the materials after the game, but it's impossible to read them now." Ron said palely, and then said as if he saw a savior, "Hermione, you must lend us the notes."
...
Almost in the blink of an eye, time came to the weekend.
The ceiling of the hall was a blue sky with white clouds, which meant that today was a good day. When Harry and his friends came down, the Gryffindor students greeted them enthusiastically, and Harry also saw Luna. He sincerely hoped that a miracle would happen, such as Professor McGonagall wanting to host the game herself...
When he changed his uniform in the locker room and led the trembling players to stride into the court, the cold wind blew his hair, and his heart had completely calmed down.