Chapter 477 Meeting with Slughorn

In the corner of the bathroom, the dirty clothes that Mike had taken off were gone, replaced by neatly folded clean clothes and a fluffy bath towel.

Mike knew without thinking that this was definitely the work of the house elves. Since Mike solved the food crisis for them yesterday, they began to worship Mike like a father, and taking some clean clothes was a piece of cake.

Mike picked up the towel and began to wipe his body. At this time, he also noticed that a figure had appeared in the reef painting hanging on the wall.

Mike looked closely and found that it was a blonde mermaid.

The mermaid looked like she had just emerged from the sea, with water droplets hanging on her body. The wet blonde hair stuck to her fair skin, and water kept dripping from it.

She just sat on the reef like this, with a meaningful smile on the corner of her mouth, looking at Mike with bright eyes, and she didn't mean to look away at all.

As if noticing that Mike was looking at her, the mermaid's body slowly twisted, her hands kept moving around her body, and she even stuck out her tongue to lick the water droplets at the corners of her mouth.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Mike smacked his lips. Compared with Myrtle just now, this mermaid was much more powerful.

He had a hunch that this mermaid would have a wonderful show for him.

But just as Mike was about to get closer to take a closer look, Myrtle on the side screamed and pounced on the portrait, cursing the mermaid while her little hands kept scratching on the portrait.

Unfortunately, ghosts cannot touch real objects, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't hurt the portrait at all.

However, Myrtle's crazy behavior scared the mermaid in the painting. She screamed and jumped into the sea, disappearing without a trace.

"You bitch! You only know how to seduce men! I curse you to be locked up here for another thousand years!"

Myrtle was still cursing at the portrait, while Mike got dressed and left. Since there was no good show to watch, he had no interest in staying in the bathroom any longer.

It was already noon when he left the bathroom, and Mike went straight to the Great Hall. He planned to have lunch here and then visit a key person.

Because of Dumbledore's revenge, the place seemed sparse at this time, and only a few students who had not made any mistakes were still gathering here to eat lunch.

At the same time, Mike also noticed that the four gem hourglasses representing the scores of the four major colleges in the lobby of the Great Hall had also changed.

Except for the hourglass of Ravenclaw, the gems in the hourglasses of the other three colleges had completely disappeared, which meant that their college scores had been deducted by the professors.

Mike smiled and found a seat to sit down, and then a large amount of food appeared in the empty plate in front of him, piling the entire plate high.

This scene made the two Gryffindor students nearby drop their jaws in shock. There were only a few green beans and a dry steak on their plates.

It was obvious that the house elves had begun to retaliate openly. When the hall was destroyed, Gryffindor was the most enthusiastic.

Mike shook his head and began to enjoy this overly rich lunch.

At this moment, a hand gently patted his shoulder.

"Hey! Mike! You are finally discharged!"

Mike turned his head and saw Ron looking at him excitedly.

His eyes fell on Mike's plate again, and then his eyes became a little strange.

"Um, your lunch is a little different from ours, it seems... too rich."

"No, it's your illusion."

"Is... is that so?" Ron scratched his head, turned his head and waved behind him, "Let's not talk about this for now, I brought Harry and the others here. Harry, Hermione, don't be embarrassed, come here quickly."

Mike looked in the direction Ron waved, and saw Harry and Hermione looking at this place from a little further away.

When they saw that Mike had discovered them, they no longer hid and slowly came to Mike's side.

But Mike found that their expressions were a little awkward and their limbs were very stiff.

"Mike, I'm sorry, we couldn't visit you when you were in the hospital, and we didn't come to pick you up when you were discharged."

Harry rubbed his hands and said awkwardly, while Hermione beside him nodded hurriedly.

"It's not our fault, Mike," Ron explained. "Madam Pomfrey didn't allow us to visit you, and your discharge date hasn't been announced, so...ah!"

Ron was halfway through his words when Hermione stepped hard on his foot. Suddenly, his unfinished words turned into screams.

Mike smiled and shook his head, saying softly,

"Ron is actually right. It's not your fault, so don't take it to heart."

Hearing this, Ron immediately raised his head and glared at Hermione and Harry with his face twisted in pain, muttering something like 'see I'm right, Mike won't care'.

Harry and Hermione still lowered their heads, obviously, they haven't let it go.

Mike sighed and began to enjoy his lunch.

He really didn't take it to heart, but Hermione and Harry didn't think so. They felt very sorry for Mike.

Ron, who was rubbing his feet, saw the scene suddenly become quiet and asked:

"Mike, do you have any clues about the assassin?"

As soon as he said this, the two Gryffindors around them immediately stopped what they were doing and pricked up their ears to listen carefully.

The riots in recent days were caused by Mike's attempt to catch the assassin. This was undoubtedly a big news.

Mike's mouth curled up when he heard this. He cleared his throat and deliberately raised his voice to answer:

"Unfortunately, I haven't caught the assassin yet. But I have a new idea. I will visit Professor Slughorn after lunch. I believe he will give me some important help."

Mike's voice echoed in the hall, and many students who were eating lunch raised their heads in confusion.

When they saw that the person who was speaking was Mike, the expressions on their faces immediately became wonderful.

Mike was also secretly observing their reactions. When he saw that several Slytherin students sneakily left the hall after hearing what he said, a slight arc appeared on his face.

...

After lunch, Mike went to Professor Slughorn's office alone.

Just now, Hermione and Harry both expressed their concerns about Mike's practice of telling his next plan in public, but Mike was fearless because this was exactly the effect he wanted to achieve.

At the same time, he also rejected Harry and others' request to accompany him to visit Professor Slughorn, on the grounds that too many people present would be detrimental to his negotiation with Slughorn, which made Harry and others very depressed.

Mike soon arrived at the door of Professor Slughorn's office. Mike did not knock on the door. There was no need to do so. At this time, a lot of magic was entangled on the door of the Potions Professor's office. This was obviously a sign of multiple prohibitions, so Slughorn in the office was likely to have discovered him.

Sure enough, after Mike had waited for a while, the door of the office opened, and Professor Slughorn, wearing a plaid suit, appeared in front of Mike.

Slughorn's fat face was filled with a smile as bright as the sun. He opened his hands and smiled and said:

"Merlin, look who this is, Mike, it's great that you can come to see me! Come in!"

As he said that, Slughorn made way for the body that completely blocked the door.

Mike nodded and entered the office expressionlessly.

As soon as he came in, Mike smelled a fragrance. This smell smelled like the smell of some burning plants, but it was not pungent. Instead, it smelled like a refreshing feeling.

Mike's eyes turned back and forth in the office, and finally determined the source of the smell - a half-smoked cigar standing upright on Slughorn's desk.

This cigar was obviously not an ordinary one. The half-burned snow-white ash on it did not fall off like ordinary cigarettes, but firmly attached to the cigarette butt that was still emitting light smoke.

"Aha! This is a Nepalese cigar. The tobacco leaves inside are grown by the Nepalese goblins on the snowy mountains." Slughorn noticed Mike's gaze and explained with a smile, "These tobacco leaves have the effect of refreshing and relieving stress. I have to say that although those goblins are a little ugly, the tobacco leaves they grow are really good. However, due to the low production, the cigars and cigarettes made from this kind of tobacco leaves are very expensive."

After that, Slughorn came to the desk with a big belly, picked up the cigar and took a big puff.

As the cigarette butt hidden in the thick ash lit up, Slughorn's face showed an expression of enjoyment. He slowly closed his eyes, held his breath for a while, and then spit out the smoke in his mouth that was so light that it was almost invisible.

"What a treat!"

Mike didn't look at Slughorn's intoxicated expression. He was observing the office at the moment.

Obviously, Slughorn was a real old noble. There were a lot of artworks from various countries in his office, such as ancient porcelain from China, fancy headdresses from the Incas, and bizarre silver ornaments from ancient Persia. Mike even found a half-open coffin in the corner, which contained a mummy wrapped in yellow bandages.

But these were nothing. What really shocked Mike was the huge bookshelf behind Slughorn's desk. In Mike's magical perception, the books on it were emitting a rich white magic aura. They were all magic books!

Knowledge is wealth. This sentence is completely true in the wizarding world. This whole row of magic books also made Mike really realize how rich Slughorn in front of him was!

"Mike, you must try this cigar. This is a rare opportunity. I failed to get the tobacco leaves of the Nepalese goblins this year. This is my last chance to survive." Mike

looked over and saw Slughorn taking out a cigar from a wooden box and handing it to him.

Slughorn obviously didn't say anything, because his expression at the moment was extremely painful.

Mike naturally wouldn't do anything to take away someone's goodness. He shook his head slightly and rejected the other party's kindness.

Seeing this, Slughorn seemed to be relieved, but he was muttering hypocritical words like "what a pity".

After Slughorn carefully put away the cigar again, he looked at Mike again and said:

"So, Mike, what do you want to see me for this time?"

"Yes, in fact, I have something that I need your help with, professor."

Mike paced in the office and said to Slughorn with a smile.

Mike was very polite, because in his opinion, Slughorn was not as stupid as he showed.

In fact, in Mike's eyes, Slughorn was simply a model of great wisdom and foolishness.

Although he looks obese, his mind is actually filled with wisdom and worldly wisdom.

In this turmoil, Slughorn immediately stopped the potion class and sealed himself in this office with many powerful restrictions, which made him not affected at all compared to other professors.

Moreover, although he acted as a coward, he was actually very bold!

You know, it was the time when Voldemort was rampant outside, but even so, he accepted Dumbledore's invitation and came to Hogwarts to teach.

This is the most authentic act of surrendering to the enemy. If Voldemort gains power, his end will be very tragic!

If nothing unexpected happened to Mike, the old man Slughorn must have some trump card that would make him not afraid of Voldemort's trump card!

This trump card may be a powerful magic prop, the knowledge in his brain, or his extraordinary network of relationships.

But there is no doubt that Slughorn is definitely a capable person, and Mike will never despise such a person.

On the other hand, looking at Mike's smiling face, Slughorn was a little flattered. He trembled and didn't even notice the ash of the cigar in his hand falling on the carpet. He said quickly:

"Oh! This is my duty as a professor! Tell me quickly, as long as it is within my ability, I will definitely help you."

Slughorn said it firmly, but his heart was beating.

He was a little afraid that Mike would really make some unreasonable requests.

"Really?" The kindness on Mike's face became even stronger. He slowly walked towards Slughorn and finally whispered in his ear, "Don't be nervous, Professor. I just want to know, is there really no way to remove the side effect of the truth serum that has the probability of turning people into idiots?"