In the next two days, Felix found that he could always run into Filch in various occasions.

From the staff room, the Ancient Runes classroom, to the entrance of the hall, and behind a pillar in the corridor, he could see his reserved and flattering face from time to time... Felix had been waiting for the news that the Weasley twins were put in detention, but there was no news at all. He guessed that Filch spent all his time thinking about how to "encounter" him by chance.

On the third morning, Filch squatted at the door of the Ancient Runes office with a bucket, a rag and other cleaning tools, working hard with a panting breath.

"Hey..." Filch showed his big yellow teeth, "Professor Happ, I see that the door is a little dirty..."

"Come in and sit down, Mr. Filch."

Filch refused and flashed in swiftly, showing agility that was completely inconsistent with his age. When he saw Valen entertaining himself on the sofa, controlling a bunch of colorful little people to dance with his special wand, his eyes seemed to light up.

"Mr. Filch?" Felix called him twice before he came back to his senses.

Filch rubbed his hands and flattered, "Your Niffler is really smart, and it is said that he can write."

"Thank you." Felix said briefly, "Bang." He closed the door.

...

"I am a Squib, Mr. Happ." Filch whispered, "A Squib is..."

"I know the definition of a Squib." Felix said, "We can get to the point faster, because I find that you seem to be struggling for a long time." "

Oh, okay, okay." Filch said pitifully, "Squibs... well, we are never taken seriously, we are second-class citizens, even worse than those house elves, at least they can use magic... You don't know, every day I have to carry a kerosene lamp and fight wits and courage with those naughty and night-out students..." "

I remember that the school purchased a batch of small magic lamps." Felix reminded him.

"Yes, yes, but the light is too bright, and it is not easy to catch people." Felix said cunningly.

Felix remained silent. He didn't want to comment on the war between Filch and the students at all. He only knew that Hogwarts needed someone to help maintain order, lock the door at night, and clean the castle in his spare time, so Filch was there.

Filch did a good job, but he also expanded his power infinitely and repeatedly suggested that the school restore corporal punishment. The root cause was naturally out of jealousy of students.

At the same time, Felix also understood why Filch came to his house.

"...We don't even have a birth record! If we want to prove our identity, we can only confirm it by looking up the names of our parents...When I was ten years old and had not shown any magical abilities, my family was very frustrated. When I was eleven years old, I naturally did not receive a notice from Hogwarts. They began to discuss sending me away and sending me to a Muggle school, but they failed because there was a war outside at that time!" Old Filch said angrily: "There were people dying everywhere, they were scared, so they had to leave me behind... and pretend that I didn't exist, because I made them feel ashamed, and other relatives in the family didn't come to the door..."

"Professor Hepp, Mr. Hepp, you naturally know how much I have been ridiculed. After I became an adult, I wandered around the magic world alone. If it weren't for Ms. Oakbai's encouragement..."

"Idris Oakbai?" Felix asked.

"That's her. She was a good person, better than anyone else. It's a pity that she died ten years ago. Good people don't live long..." Filch said emotionally.

Felix blinked. He heard similar statements in the headmaster's office, where the fat Slughorn was eating a sugar-frosted pineapple and lamenting the unfortunate experience of Lily, one of his favorite students. Felix believed that these words were completely sincere, because Slughorn paid the price of a small bottle of Felix Felicis.

The full name of Oakbeth mentioned by Filch was Idris Oakbeth. Her only well-known contribution was the establishment of the Squib Support Association, the purpose of which was to help the Squibs living in the wizarding world to the best of their ability...

Oakbeth died ten years ago at the age of 113. But in Filch's mouth, it became "Good people don't live long"...

"More than 20 years ago, I was still doing odd jobs everywhere. I couldn't even afford to buy newspapers. I picked up people's leftovers every day. Until one day," Filch's face suddenly flushed, his eyes widened: "Do you know what I saw?" "

A job advertisement?"

Felix outlined the image of a stubborn, cynical, idle middle-aged man in his mind: doing humble work, full of jealous flames in his heart. He certainly had better choices, but he spent his entire childhood in the magical world. Letting Filch leave would be tantamount to killing him. He just muddled through his days until one day, this middle-aged man got a newspaper from a trash can or a wizard on the street that completely changed his fate.

Seeing the job advertisement above, there was Filch, the administrator of Hogwarts Castle.

"That's right! I came to Hogwarts after all! Although I came 30 years late, I still came. I saw the young students, sir, you don't know how jealous I am of them..." Filch looked crazy, half of his face twisted and trembling strangely, as if he was confessing the dark secrets in his heart for the first time.

Valen, who was playing with the colorful figurines, was stunned and stared blankly at Filch, whose expression was out of control. He looked at the big devil and then at Filch, not knowing whether to sneak out and call his cat over. His snot was about to drip into the iron bucket.

Fortunately, Filch took out a dirty handkerchief from his pocket in time. He blew his nose hard as if to vent his anger, and the corners of the handkerchief flew everywhere. Filch raised his head, showing his red nose, and smiled flatteringly: "Mr. Happ, I'm sorry to make you laugh. You are one of the few people in the school who has helped me. I don't think there is any need to hide it."

He met a pair of silver eyes, and the silver light covered the pupils and the whites of the eyes. He had never seen such a scene before, and he was so frightened that he couldn't speak.

"Filch, do you know the definition of a Squib?" Felix asked.

Filch felt puzzled. He wanted to explain it at the beginning of the conversation, but was stopped by Felix. Now Felix brought up the topic again. Filch thought he was mocking him and his face turned ugly.

"Like many concepts in the wizarding world, a Squib is a very broad concept. We can define it from various angles." Felix said calmly: "The commonly used definition in the wizarding world is that a person who is born in a wizarding family but cannot show any magical ability is called a Squib."

Filch looked at him blankly.

"Professor Hemp?"

"I hope you can notice the subtle difference here. This is the key to maintaining the conversation." Filch's face showed obvious confusion, but he shut up obediently. Professor Hemp's expression at the moment was a little scary. "Many parents are actually unable to confirm whether their children are Squibs or not, and there is no way to quantify it... What really makes them give up is the notification letter from Hogwarts. If they have received it, then they are naturally not a Squib. Even if his spellcasting was clumsy at the beginning... You actually have experience in casting spells, right?" Felix asked suddenly.

Filch was stunned. He stammered, "I didn't, I didn't."

"No, you don't understand me..." Felix's silver eyes stared at him, staring at the meager magic in his body that was like a stubborn stone, but this was just an exaggerated metaphor. From any angle, magic and stone are two different things. They can't be the same.

Felix murmured, "It's not a complete spell, but those small, occasional experiences that you even think of as illusions: fiddling with a small piece of paper, reducing some of the force before the cup breaks... You have had this experience, right?"

"I..." Filch pondered and pretended to think, "It seems so... That's right!" He suddenly shouted, scaring Valen again, and he raised his little wand to block it. Filch tried to open his eyes as wide as possible, flashing with memories. "I remember a few years ago there was a particularly stubborn stain. I used a whole bottle of detergent but it didn't work. I just stared at it, stared at it... I was a little dazed, and then it disappeared... Does this count?"

He looked at Felix expectantly.

"We can try it." Felix said with interest. He jumped up from the armchair, as if staring at an interesting experiment.

Half an hour later, Filch left excitedly.

"Mr. Filch," Felix called him from behind, "Your magic reaction is too weak. If you don't mind, I want to ask..."

"Oh, no, this is good enough for me," Filch smiled happily, holding a small wooden stick inlaid with gems in both hands, "Even if it can only succeed once in ten times, it's a great thing for me!"

But not for me, Felix thought.

After careful study, he found that the magic fluctuations on Filch were much weaker than those on Valen. Even comparing Valen and Filch together is a bit bullying. Although Valen is a Niffler, he is a normal Niffler, not a Squib Niffler.

In terms of talent, he is simply better than Filch.

Felix spent a lot of time and effort, and finally added five "amplification circuits" to make it work a little. The final result is that the small wooden stick in Filch's hand is inlaid with seven gems: one stores magic power, five are engraved with amplification circuits, and only the last one is equipped with a real magic cleansing spell.

This is the best it can achieve at present.

Felix pulled back his chaotic thoughts and said calmly: "You misunderstood, Argus. I meant to say that your situation is very typical. I plan to take time to study a few more similar cases. Of course, it's not. Now you should meet some friends who have the same troubles as you, right?"

Filch blinked twice and asked tentatively: "Do you want to meet them?"

Felix shrugged, "You also said that the Ministry of Magic doesn't have their names. It's not easy to find them..."

After closing the door, Felix sat on the sofa and played crackling exploding cards with Valen.

But his thoughts had flown to other places.

Squibs have always played the role of invisible people. In contrast, the Ministry of Magic's recent introduction of preferential policies to attract werewolves to register voluntarily is enough to illustrate their attitude.

Filch is of course not important, but the Squibs group naturally connects the magical world and the ordinary world. If one day the wizarding world is forced to be open, the most suitable candidate Felix can think of to travel between the two worlds is the Squibs group.

Felix seemed to see the second trump card waving at him... Well, he decided to ignore it for the time being, Voldemort is still alive and kicking. He plans to throw the preliminary work to the employees of the "Future World" company.

There must be something for them to do.

"Chi! (You lost!)"

Felix came back to his senses and saw Valen take out a small notebook from his pocket and quickly record it, "On a certain day of a certain month of a certain year, the great devil lost to the genius Niffler Valen for the first time..." Felix was embarrassed and angrily confiscated the notebook.

"This one doesn't count, let's play another 100 games!"

...

In the last Ancient Rune class before Christmas, Felix looked at the students who were in no mood to attend class.

"Professor, Professor Flitwick allows us to move freely in class." A student boldly hinted. His words attracted a low murmur of approval, "Yes, professor, you only need to leave two minutes at the end to assign homework." Another student said boldly.

Felix looked at them with a smile, "Not impossible. I'll assign homework first. If you think you should move freely in the remaining time, I totally agree..."

A suppressed cheer had already sounded from the audience, and the two students who spoke enjoyed the heroic gaze.

"Since some students cannot cast spells during the holidays, I will not leave practical homework. All the content is on the 'Answer Parchment'. You will find a new gift symbol on it... The one hanging on the Christmas tree, yes, that is your holiday homework."

The students opened the parchment one after another.

Harry stared at the 'Christmas tree' in a daze: there was a little lion under the tree, looking silly. It kept jumping up and spreading its claws to pull down the gift box hanging on the branch, but of course it was in vain.

There was also a pattern of a glowing wand next to the gift box.

He turned his head and saw Hermione poking it with her wand happily, and the gift box on the tree immediately fell down and was pounced on by the anxious little lion. "Bang!" The little lion was buried by the test paper.

"Very innovative, isn't it?" she said happily.

"Yeah, it looks quite festive." Harry muttered, and there was no trace of joy on his face.

"You know, the year of OWLs." Felix said happily at the podium, and after a while, he pretended to have just noticed the gloomy atmosphere in the classroom, "Oh, don't be like this, I always hope that you can study happily... How about this, I can give you a chance."

All the students raised their heads.

"If you can prove to me that you have really mastered this part of knowledge, and my homework is just making you repeat meaningless work... I can consider reducing it appropriately." Felix said with extremely sinister intentions, "I specially prepared for an exam, which is not necessary. It is really not good to have an exam before Christmas..."

The students who had just been shouting for free time were silent. They stared at each other for a long time, and finally looked at Felix.

"Hurry up and hand out the test papers, professor!" A student yelled.

This speech basically marked the end of the open and secret struggle between the professor and the students, and the students were defeated.

Of course, they also felt that it was worth it.

Harry spread out the thick test paper and was about to answer the questions when Hermione rustled the paper. He couldn't help but glance at the side and found that Hermione was quickly browsing the test paper with a happy face. Harry was inspired and followed her example. He soon discovered a secret.

The test paper was divided into ten parts, including translation, reasoning, and the steps of making twelve amulets. Thinking of the professor's explanation, Harry immediately started from the part he was best at. Ron was just answering the questions silently. Harry used his mouth to signal twice but he didn't notice it, so he had to give up helplessly.

Time passed little by little, and there was only the subtle rustling sound of the feather pen rubbing against the parchment in the classroom, which sounded pleasing to the eye.

Finally, the bell rang.

Harry raised his head and looked around the classroom. He found that only a few students had finished the test paper. Only Hermione was staring at the test paper and checking it, muttering to herself.

"Stop answering questions," Felix announced, and all the papers flew towards him and were neatly stacked on the podium. "I'll finish marking them before the holiday...Okay, you can leave now."

The students exchanged excited and excited looks with each other, packed up their things and left the classroom one after another.

"You go first," Draco Malfoy said to his two followers. Crabbe and Goyle frowned, as if they didn't understand, until he said it again, they shrugged and left alone.

Draco stood in front of Felix, with fine beads of sweat oozing from the tip of his nose.

"This is it, Professor Happ," he said hesitantly.

Felix raised his hand to stop him, turned his head and glared at Harry, Ron and Hermione who were still lingering at the door and refused to leave. "Bang!" The door slammed shut in front of them. "Now you can talk."

Draco was stunned for a moment, and whispered: "Professor, I want to ask if you have time at Christmas. I want to invite you to my home..."

"Lucius asked you to ask?" Felix asked calmly.

Draco looked up at him, his face showing no emotion. He stammered, "No, no, it's me... I think... well, you've always been very caring towards me, not only teaching me the Disillusionment Charm and Apparition, but also the advanced magic of Occlumency. Even if my father knew, he would let me express my gratitude." Felix

looked down at him. His light yellow hair and pointed chin were exactly like his father's. Felix didn't speak for a long time.

"Don't think too much. You have no right to get involved in many things. All you have to do is enjoy a happy holiday."

"But Potter and the others..." Draco's pale face flushed, and he said unconvincedly.

"They are different from you." Felix said firmly, "I wish you a happy Christmas in advance, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco turned away stiffly, and he pushed open the door. "Draco?" He heard the professor's voice, and Draco turned around excitedly. Professor Happ stood in front of the huge window, and the clean and transparent sunlight outside poured into the classroom and cast on the professor's back. This made it impossible for him to see the man's face clearly, and he squinted his eyes.

"Is your wand made of hawthorn wood?" the professor asked.

"Yes, professor," Draco said.

"Wands made of this material are particularly suitable for medical magic. You might consider it."