"Is this the Thunderbird?"
In front of Hagrid's hut, after completing the preliminary review of the piles of documents, William, who finally got a short vacation, admired this huge and beautiful bird in admiration.
It has three pairs of huge wings, stands taller than Hagrid, and is covered with orange feathers. At this moment, it is meekly enjoying the lunch provided by Hagrid - but even so, it still has an uneasy feeling. The power that can be easily disturbed.
"Of course, look at that sharp beak and sharp claws!"
Hagrid's expression looked like he was celebrating Christmas, and he couldn't stop smiling, "It's so beautiful, William!"
"Of course, it's very beautiful."
William nodded in praise - the thunderbird is a protected magical creature in the American magic world. Only wizards licensed by the magic world can take off a very small number of feathers to make wands at the specified time every year.
Such strict protection measures allowed Thunderbird feathers to be sold for sky-high prices on the black market, not to mention the whole bird that was smuggled out this time - he didn't know about the British side, but for Durmstrang The wand-making masters who provide wands there are absolutely willing to spend a lot of money to test the popular wand core materials in the United States.
From the perspective of the interests of the magical world itself, William does not rule out that the Ministry of Magic in various places may secretly help their own staff makers to open some small back doors. To be honest, William would feel strange if they did not help.
A well-made wand is a wizard's best partner and assistant, and it is absolutely impossible for an excellent wand-making master to work behind closed doors and only care about his own technology without referring to other companies' advanced content.
'Am I thinking too far ahead? '
He shook his head mockingly and shook the unrealistic thoughts out of his mind, but his eyes subconsciously glanced at the bird, which was well protected by the Ministry of Magic.
'It seems...the third pair of wings is indeed a bit bald...'
Probably because his glance was too focused, the ptarmigan that was eating made a cry of dissatisfaction, but was quickly stopped by Hagrid, who was adding food to the bucket. He murmured and comforted it, his eyes full. It is indescribable tenderness.
"Ah, William, please help me and bring those venomous snakes from my house - it seems to be more fond of venomous creatures."
'Why is it like feeding a cat? If the cat food is not enough, you have to add freeze-dried food or something...'
William muttered as he went back and used magic to pick up the bucket of extremely miserable dead venomous snakes.
But Hagrid is obviously a professional in this regard. As the viper joins in, the Thunderbird's eyes on William also become gentler - how many people can refuse to add chicken drumsticks to their bowl?
"It seems to like you a little bit, William."
Hagrid opened the wine cheerfully, trying to see if it liked it, and then added, "Just come here at noon these days. He will definitely be happy to help you finish what you have to do before school starts."
"That's great - school hasn't started long yet, and I haven't gathered enough ingredients for my potion yet."
"We need raw materials from the Forbidden Forest. The centaurs have picked a lot of herbs recently. According to the agreement with the school, they will hand over 30% to the school and then sell the remaining part through the school. I think you should be interested."
"Herbs from the Forbidden Forest?"
Wild herbs are most likely to be better than those grown in greenhouses, and they can also be considered as one of the economic incomes of the centaurs living in the Forbidden Forest. William must be interested - he is going to prepare the first pot of Fuling Elixir. All preparations must be done. Wild herbs are very effective. As long as they are handled properly, the failure rate should be lower.
"Well, they started selling it again this year. Last year, because of Sirius's escape from prison, they decided to temporarily pile up herbs in order to maintain sufficient potion reserves in the chaos. Dumbledore also generously agreed and exempted them from the payment they should have paid last year. Partially, the result…"
Hagrid snorted and gave the bottle of liquor to Thunderbird by the way. "There are too many herbs this year, but they can't be sold at a good price...really."
He is responsible for sales, purchases and collecting part of Hogsmeade's ground rent, and he is quite clear about this account.
"After all, wizard society is not very friendly to centaurs... If something happens, they won't be able to purchase herbs."
"That's right," Hagrid shook his head, "otherwise I wouldn't have helped them talk to Dumbledore about that excessive request."
"You will like those herbs. Snape used to choose them freely, but he is still on vacation this year."
Hagrid was cheerful and smiled extremely happily. He now has a good relationship with Harry, which caused his and Snape's originally only normal relationship to become...
Then William was dumbfounded.
Vacation?
Heh...holiday...
——
Mad-Eye stood in the yard, carrying out routine work carefully, checking every corner that might be attacked.
Still found nothing.
'Those guys are scared...'
He complained with dissatisfaction.
This has nothing to do with circumstances. His negative emotions mainly come from newspapers - why after he retired?
He complained to Crouch countless times and let go of Karkaroff, whom he had worked so hard to capture.
But he still admired Crouch because he was the first to stand up and accuse the Death Eaters, and was also the first to delegate various powers to Aurors and Strikers from the top of the Ministry of Magic.
Moreover, compared to other Death Eaters who were released for various excuses, Crouch's release of Karkaroff was the most logical - releasing one for the sake of more Death Eaters is a good thing.
But now the dissatisfaction has overshadowed the satisfaction - because he has joined Hogwarts, he is the last batch of retired Aurors to be transferred.
When he brought his wand and wooden leg and excitedly prepared to arrest people, the juniors proudly told him - Mr. Moody, we have almost done the job!
Yes, the work was almost done. Because of Malfoy's full cooperation, the people who should be arrested were arrested, and the people who should be interrogated were also interrogated. As a very famous former Auror, he could not lower himself. Did you go and finish the job of ransacking the homes of the batters?
This is very annoying - it's as if everyone has finished downloading, and you click on the link to find that it has been blocked. It makes people want to vomit blood.
What's even more irritating is that the self-defense professor at Hogwarts, the young man Dumbledore said was going to be his boss, also made a great show that night, killing a group of would-be eaters disguised as masked men. I was scared away!
To be fair, if he was here, those guys would not be scared away, but would be afraid that they would run slower than others, and the number of arrests would eventually be counted!
He made it his mission to capture dark wizards and Death Eaters throughout his life, but it was only after he retired that he caught up with the second major arrest!
But such a good opportunity actually slipped away from under his nose!
'To stop you from watching Quidditch, to stop you from watching Quidditch! '
He was even angry with himself, and the more he thought about it, the more angry he became.
"Forget it, let's not stay at home. Go to Hogwarts and keep an eye on that professor. Didn't the news say that Professor William has returned to Hogwarts now? I'll go to work early to see what Albus has given me. What place has been arranged!"
——
"Pack your bags and don't leave anything behind."
Sirius patiently told Harry, "I have to go to the office to work next. The house here has to be sealed with magic, otherwise it will be easy to provoke magical creatures - they like to follow wizards. If they are It would be bad if the Muggles next door saw it."
"Um."
Harry also took the trouble to pack his luggage. Although the summer vacation here was very restricted, when it came time to go to Hogwarts, he was a little reluctant to leave.
Or, more than a little.
"Don't look so depressed. You have to think about it. After you go to Hogwarts, Hedwig won't have to fly twice a day!"
"ah?"
Harry raised his head in surprise, and then saw Sirius's teasing eyes, and immediately knew that he had seen everything.
"Take good care of Remus. He is not good at taking care of himself. When I came out of Azkaban, I saw how thin he looked. I almost suspected that he ran out from there too."
Sirius made a joke to Lupine, which made Lupine roll his eyes.
"Just kidding, Moony, our batsman's honor - I heard the ministry is considering registering you as an honorary batsman?"
"Well, there are some special allowances."
Lupine nodded - as the 'former' hitter who was protecting the minors at the scene, Fudge spared no effort to win him glory. If the threshold for the Order of Merlin hadn't been too high, he would have even wanted to take this opportunity to get another one for Lupine. An Order of Merlin, Third Class.
"Then eat more, you are still too thin, Moony Face."
Sirius joked happily.
Then there was a thumping sound on the stairs, and Hermione ran down in a panic.
"What to do, Professor Lupine, Mr. Black!"
"What happened, Hermione?"
Harry asked a little eagerly. It was his first time to invite friends to his home. Ron couldn't come because the whole family was back. He didn't want Hermione to encounter anything unhappy.
"My suitcase can't fit in it – I've bought so many books these days that I can't even close the lid!"
Hermione looked desperate.
Because there was a professor in Harry's family who could easily answer the questions, she couldn't control herself a little. She couldn't throw away the book now, could she?
The three people downstairs breathed a sigh of relief - they almost thought something magical had happened. Because four wizards live in the house at once, theoretically all kinds of magical creatures and insects will gradually appear. Even if a guy like a Boggart who specializes in intimidation moves in, it is not impossible.
"I'll do it, Granger-san."
Lupine took the lead and went up, followed by two Gryffindors who were watching the fun.
However, there was no excitement at all. Lu Ping went up and clicked casually, and then expanded the box - just modifying and strengthening the traceless expansion spell.
"I remember that when we were in seventh grade, Professor McGonagall said that this kind of transformation that involves space is strictly prohibited..."
They remember prohibited phenomena better than others - after all, they must control the points they lose within the appropriate range to avoid losing too many points and being called to the office by Professor McGonagall.
"That's true. Even the magical society has stricter controls than schools."
Lupine nodded, "But Professor William told me that this is a necessary spellcasting behavior for work and is approved by the Ministry of Magic."
This rule is normal. If ordinary people dared to raise magical creatures indiscriminately like Hagrid, they would have gone in long ago, or they would have studied black magic like William and told them about it. The depths of Azkaban would not explain it.
Others would never admit such a thing as the Unforgivable Curse, but if William publicly stated that he did not know it, everyone would think that this year's professor at Hogwarts is a loser.
Other professors are also using it, but William uses it more flexibly due to special circumstances.
"Give students the qualification to cast spells in advance and violate school rules when necessary..."
Sirius showed envy in his eyes...
"Forehead…"
Lu Ping showed a confused expression, "Well, we don't violate school rules. Professor William told me last year that when you are in a bad mood and can't sleep, you can put on your robe and go to the corridor to catch those students who dare to wander around at night. Then It's the job of assisting administrators."
? ? ?
Harry and Sirius' eyes widened at the same time, and even Hermione's eyes looked a little strange.
"What about the forbidden book area?"
Sirius, with a hint of despair...
"Well, this is still available, but we have the highest authority to teach self-defense, and the content in all areas can be read freely."
There is no way, black magic has a great influence on wizards, and the other professors still have some symbolic restrictions, mainly to prevent them from giving students too much borrowing rights.
It's just that the rules are good, but they can't stop the talent Hogwarts recruits professors from being cursed and restricted.
"Go to work, Remus. I think we should not see each other again before the Christmas holidays. I feel like I want to duel you now."
"Actually there's more, we can talk about it at Christmas."
Lupine burst out laughing, and Sirius laughed and cursed before coming over and giving Lupine a light punch on the chest.
"Then, it's settled, see you on Christmas."
"Okay, see you on Christmas."
Lupine nodded, then took Harry's hand with one hand and Hermione's hand with the other, letting them each grab their suitcases and disapparate directly.
The next moment, Lupine took the two people who stumbled and the pet in the cage to the place next to the station that provided a place for Apparition.
"Come on," Lupine smiled and looked at the two of them until they got used to it, "we have to get on the train."
This uncomfortable but novel way of traveling is not new to the two of them, and they like this way of going directly to the station.
Go to the platform, go through the wall, and then board the train. The three of them quickly found their seats.
"By the way," Harry remembered something, "Where's Professor William? I remember that he also likes to take the Hogwarts Express to school."
"Him?"
Lu Ping endured it, but still couldn't help laughing, "He doesn't have to take the bus this year. He returned to school early and has important work to complete."
"besides…"
Lupine couldn't hold it back and decided to reveal some information, "Professor William thought it was not as fast as the Knight Bus, so he privately called it Hogwarts Special."