Dumbledore looked around, taking in everyone's expressions. He looked a little tired, but still smiled and said, "Alastor, two Aurors from the Ministry of Magic have come. I've brought them here."

A tall man flashed in. Felix glanced at the serious-looking Kingsley, followed by Tonks. She had changed her hair into a short red one today, with tufts of hair sticking up randomly, making her look quite conspicuous. When Felix looked over, she waved enthusiastically.

From Tonks's open pocket, half of a blue, slender glass tube was exposed. It should be the new super bubble water from Future World...

Moody grinned at his two uninvited guests, very creepy, "Did Scrimgeour send you?"

"Mrs. Bones asked me to say hello to you, Alastor. We all care about you. By the way, I'm an official Auror!" Tonks said excitedly.

Sirius rolled his eyes, and Moody said hoarsely, "I hope they didn't let you off easy in the Stealth and Tracking class."

Tonks snorted softly, "You're too strict."

At this time, the dark-skinned Kingsley opened his briefcase, waved his wand lightly, and a piece of parchment flew out from it. The handwriting on it was dense, and there were already several handwritten signatures in the bottom column.

"Let's talk about the past later, Alastor." Kingsley said in his unique low and slow voice, "We have a mission. The senior officials in the Ministry are busy. On behalf of the Minister of Magic, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the Wizengamot and the Auror Office, I am questioning you about your experience in the past few months. They have prepared some questions... Principal Dumbledore?"

Kingsley glanced at Dumbledore cautiously.

"Ah, let's go out first. Kingsley and Alastor are old acquaintances. They won't clash." Dumbledore said to everyone with a smile, and then stopped Snape who was about to leave first, "Please wait a moment, Severus, I have a few small questions about the analysis report you handed me."

Everyone walked out of the ward, Madam Pomfrey closed the door, and Felix glimpsed Kingsley and Moody on the bed hugged each other from the last gap, "Bang!" The door closed tightly.

Sirius whispered, "Principal Dumbledore, my substitute teacher..."

"Sirius," Dumbledore's tone became more serious, "I won't reject your application, but it's obvious that you are not ready to be a professor now."

"But my grades are very good!" Sirius said angrily, staring at Snape who was showing a mocking expression on the side, wishing he could punch him in the face.

"I'm not referring to grades, you should know this," Dumbledore said.

Sirius's face showed a lonely expression again. Harry wanted to say something for his godfather, but Professor Happ, who was standing opposite him, shook his head slightly at him, so he had to hold back his compliments.

"Albus, should Professor Moody's contract be for only one year?" Felix said softly.

Dumbledore smiled knowingly, "Yes, Alastor has retired, and I can't make him too hard. The situation this year is special enough... It's really a headache to think that I have to write a new recruitment advertisement in half a year."

In the corridor outside the school hospital, Dumbledore and Snape walked upstairs. It seemed that their destination was the principal's office. Felix estimated that the analysis report mentioned by Dumbledore before should be for the residual potion they found in the Chamber of Secrets, which was probably used by Voldemort to maintain his body from collapse.

But it was not easy to ask in detail at the moment. He turned around and looked at Sirius, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville and asked them: "I'm going to Hagrid's place, you..."

"We too." Harry said immediately. Ron and Hermione nodded like little chickens pecking at rice. Neville looked around and touched his head.

"Then come together. Maybe you can help a little." Felix said happily. Seeing Harry's puzzled expression, he explained: "Hagrid's blasting-tailed skrewts grow too fast. The scary thing is that they don't need to hibernate yet and are full of energy. Hagrid asked me to make a few chains to prevent these aggressive creatures from surviving the first winter..."

The little wizards who were not unfamiliar with blasting-tailed skrewts turned pale.

They walked out of the castle, walking in the snow with one foot deep and one foot shallow. The biting wind penetrated their thick clothes. The little wizards shivered with cold. Although Sirius looked pale, he was much better than the one who was hit hard just now.

Felix waved his wand, "The Warming Charm is one of the most practical magics in winter, if you haven't bought the constant temperature locket."

They immediately warmed up and slowed down their pace. Harry was amazed. Hermione asked in surprise, "Professor, what is the spell of this magic?"

"Warm the body like a furnace."

"Is it easy to learn? If you learn it, can you achieve the effect of the constant temperature locket?" Ron asked.

"Your two brothers asked me the same question," Felix said, "but unfortunately, it only works in winter."

Ron pouted, "Now I finally understand why they are invincible in snowball fights."

"Professor, who is Mrs. Bones?" Harry thought of the name mentioned by Tonks. The surname sounded familiar.

"Amelia Bones is the current director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and has a good reputation." Felix said simply.

"Susan Bones' aunt." Hermione whispered.

"Sirius, do you know her?" Harry asked. He felt that from his performance just now, his godfather should know her.

Sirius thought for a moment, smacked his lips and said, "I have some impression... She was four years older than me when we were in school. She was a very smart and serious witch," he muttered softly, "I seem to have made her cry."

"What happened?" Hermione asked with interest.

"Oh, it was a long time ago..." He saw Harry looking at him with interest, and said helplessly: "You should know that you can't do magic in the school corridor..."

Harry and the others nodded.

"When I first entered school, I showed off the fluorescent charm in the corridor. Of course, I made some improvements... Amelia happened to see it, so she took the opportunity to deduct points from me. She is the prefect..."

"I don't think the prefect should have the power to deduct points." Ron muttered, he remembered that Percy deducted points in the second year.

Sirius smiled in understanding: "Remus is also a prefect, I happen to know some inside information, prefects can't deduct points casually, they must write an explanation for each deduction, and there are other restrictions... For example, Amelia only deducted two points."

"It doesn't sound like much." Harry said.

"Yes," Sirius said with emotion, "But I was very unconvinced at the time, and I ran to her eyes and continued to cast the Luminescent Charm, with colorful lights flashing on her glasses... She was naturally very unhappy and deducted points from me. I continued to cast the spell, and we were deadlocked for a long time. In the end, I was deducted about 200 points?"

Harry and the others stared with wide eyes.

Sirius smiled cunningly, "In fact, it was because the school had just started, and the scores of each college were not high. I remember that there were only a few rubies in the hourglass of Gryffindor College?"

"You just escaped like that?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"It's not that simple. I was locked up for a week," Sirius said nonchalantly, "but Amelia was not feeling well either. I heard that she finished writing those reports in tears."

Harry thought it would be better not to tell Susan Bones about this. She admired her aunt very much, but Ron thought the opposite.

"How about we hold a duel study group activity, Harry? The last activity was a long time ago." Ron said eagerly, "We can ask Sirius to be our instructor."

Sirius was a little tempted, but still refused, "I can't just go into Hogwarts casually, this time it was Hagrid who helped me."

They came to Hagrid's hut. Hagrid was busy in the pumpkin patch behind the house. There were only a dozen skrewts left, but they had grown a lot. Even in the winter snow, they were still energetic.

"You guys are here?" Hagrid said breathlessly. He roared and threw forward a skrewt that had broken free from its restraints. After a while, he climbed out of the snow. Everyone saw that the skrewt under his body was motionless.

"Is it dead?" Felix asked.

"Not yet," Hagrid said roughly, "Maybe it fainted." He turned the skrewt over, picked up a thick rope next to it, and tied it to the middle of its body. Felix guessed it should be the waist of the skrewt? If this creature has this body structure.

He approached and poked the thick, sunken shell of the skrewt with his wand. Its legs kicked weakly twice, proving that it was still alive.

Felix quickly cast a spell on the chains. He said to Hagrid, "I left some gaps, but if they continue to grow, they may need to be expanded later."

"I see," Hagrid said gruffly, "That's good."

As they sat on the blanket in Hagrid's hut, Hagrid still felt sorry for creatures like the skrewt: "They are quite docile and don't hurt people... but they like to fight among themselves. I don't know which side has influenced them. It may be the manticore. They always live alone." The hot tea in Harry's hand was

no longer fragrant.

Felix said, "It's better not to release them yet. Severus is studying the medicinal value of this creature."

"Cough cough cough cough!"

Neville suddenly coughed violently, "Oh, sorry..." He said with a horrified expression.

"What's wrong with him?" Hagrid asked in confusion, reaching out to pat Neville, and Neville fell to the ground.

Ron said with great understanding, "He may have thought of dealing with materials for blasting skrewts in the future..." Harry suddenly felt uncomfortable after hearing this. Snape always had the habit of punishing students for dealing with disgusting potion materials, especially those materials that were not very precious and could be mass-produced.

Whether it was the sticky and soft larvae of blasting skrewts or the mucus on their bodies, if Snape found some wonderful use for them, it would definitely become a nightmare for future students.

And Harry dared to guarantee that they would definitely be the first batch of students to be victimized.

Hagrid handed over a towel, and Neville took it. The towel immediately moved by itself and wiped his face, chin, and collar randomly. "Oh, sorry, it's an automatic cleaner!" Hagrid took it away with an apologetic look.

"No, it's okay." Neville said palely.

Hagrid looked at him hesitantly and brought a plate of hard biscuits from the inner room. "You can try this." Neville politely took a piece, and when he saw Harry, Ron and Hermione shook their heads firmly and slowly, he immediately put it down.

Fortunately, Hagrid didn't notice this. He was talking to Felix: "The blasting-tailed skrewt shed some shells. I don't know if they are useful to you, so I left some for you."

Felix nodded. "This is a new material. No one has ever seen it before, but I think it should have the characteristics of both the manticore and the fire crab. It's just hard to say which one it is more inclined to. If it is the former, its value will be very great."

"Mr. Scamander doesn't talk to me much about this. We just discuss some experiences in breeding magical animals," Hagrid said roughly: "Our directions are not quite the same... but some of his suggestions are very useful."

Harry knew that Hagrid was talking about the one in classroom seven. He suddenly thought of something and asked, "I heard that a lot of ghosts like it there?"

"Yes, I did see quite a few." Hagrid said, "I heard that they plan to ask Headmaster Dumbledore to find a cook. The memory is quite unreliable... but they are much more active than in previous decades."

"Do they have any candidates?" asked Ron. He was usually very interested in these weird things.

"There is one," Hagrid muttered, "Horace Slughorn. The Fat Friar was impressed by him. He said that when he was in school, he would sneak into the kitchen every night for supper, without missing a meal."

Harry knew the Fat Friar, that was the ghost of Hufflepuff House, but he didn't know who Slughorn was.

"Is it the Potions Master?" Hermione said in surprise.

"You know him?" Hagrid glanced at her, "He's a very interesting person. He was there when I was in school. He was the head of Slytherin House. Sirius must know him."

They looked at Sirius, who was sitting on the sofa holding Fang, scratching Fang's chin from time to time, making it hum with comfort. He said slowly, "Of course I know, an old man who likes to enjoy himself. He formed the famous Slug Club and brought together many Death Eaters."

"What?" Harry shouted in surprise.

"Oh, don't worry, he has nothing to do with the Death Eaters." Sirius said. He saw that Harry and the others' expressions were still very stiff, and explained: "He is just an old man who likes to enjoy life. He likes honey wine, pineapple candied fruit, and three-layer cushioned sofas..." He glanced at Felix, "I bet he must have set his sights on your company. When I went to find Remus, I saw a chair. That was his favorite."

When talking about the chair, Hagrid's expression became abnormal, and his eyes wandered to a toolbox in the corner. There was a red umbrella next to the toolbox.

"...He has the common problem of Slytherin. He likes to make connections everywhere, is vain, and doesn't think much of people without potential. Of course, he is much better than the current dean."

Felix gave him a reproachful look.

Sirius spread his hands, "I'm telling the truth. Well, let's ignore a certain unpleasant bat spirit," he continued, "In addition to his love of material enjoyment, he also has an amazing ability. He always notices students with potential. He builds a platform for these people to communicate and looks forward to getting rewards one day in the future. He likes this feeling."

"What about the Death Eater?" Harry asked.

"I've said before that, in addition to ability, he also values ​​background, and you should know what most of the Slytherins are like." Sirius said, "Not many people get in based on their real abilities, but Harry, your mother is one of the best."

"My mother?" Harry was shocked again. He didn't know why he was in a hurry to refute, but he still did it. "But, but she is a Gryffindor!"

"She got in based on her own ability." Sirius said, "Lily is very talented in potions. During the war years, the potions she brewed saved many people, especially when they were hunted by Voldemort. At that time, we could only hide in the safe house, and she was the only one who was playing a role."

His tone dropped, "If she and James could survive, Lily would definitely become the most dazzling potion master. What Snape..."

Sirius snorted twice, his contempt was evident in his words.

"What about you?" Harry asked. He was eager to know more, not about Professor Slughorn, but about Sirius and his parents.

"Me and James?"

"And Professor Lupin," Harry said, "I mean, Remus."

Sirius laughed, "I was, um... more rebellious," he winked at Harry, "I couldn't stand his style, especially after Regulus joined the club, I didn't want to get involved, James's situation was similar to mine, but he was more because there were too many Slytherins there, and he was very hostile to Slytherins..." "

As for Remus, he is both good in character and in study, but you know, his identity is a big problem."

"But I heard that his identity is kept secret, and few people discovered that he is a werewolf during school." Harry asked in confusion.

"I can explain this," Felix said, "You can't expect to hide it from a powerful wizard, especially when he is also a potion master."

...

The next week passed quickly. After the holiday given to employees by Future World ended, Felix moved to Diagon Alley and spent the last few days improving new products. Unknowingly, the new semester at Hogwarts began.