"No, Professor, it's less than a week since school started. Why is he here?"
In Professor McGonagall's office, William asked in surprise after being called in temporarily.
Just a minute ago, Professor McGonagall announced to him something that could barely be called important news - the Minister of Magic was going to visit Hogwarts, and the relevant letter had been sent by the Minister's office.
"Send money," Professor McGonagall glanced at William - the security operation to welcome the minister was going to be more elaborate this time to facilitate the fight for more funding. Of course, this task should be handled by the Self-Defense Office.
"During the summer vacation, the Ministry of Magic signed several large orders with the Magical Congress in the United States. Now is the time when the Ministry of Magic is rich. As you know, the herbal greenhouse has been filing application reports for a long time, but The school has been unable to divert this money."
"I understand," William nodded, "They came here specially to send money. As for us, we have to receive them well and try to make the Ministry of Magic happily send the money."
"Please maintain the necessary respect for the Minister of Magic, Professor William."
Professor McGonagall said serious words in a not-so-serious tone, "Also, remember to urge Lupine and the others to submit the application forms quickly. We are in a hurry..."
"No problem, Professor, I will keep an eye on something that will make them spend more time on the report," William promised - there is no doubt that Professor McGonagall plans to take advantage of this time when Minister Fudge comes to send money to get things done together. , then he won't be polite.
Speaking of which, he had heard about the order, but his consideration was not as far-sighted as Professor McGonagall's.
For Fudge, having money in the hands of the Ministry of Magic is not his political achievement. This money must be sent out for the public to see.
In the entire magical world, where is the easiest place to achieve political achievements? Where can changes satisfy most people?
Hogwarts, of course.
Almost all children from the British wizarding world come to school here. Minister Fudge came to the school and allocated funds to build a greenhouse for the school or improve the student life or learning environment. This is a headline that no one will object to - it can be done elsewhere. There are conspiracy theories, but there are none here.
'Sure enough, I still have a lot to do. '
While William was thinking about how to arrange Lupine to support Minister Fudge, he was also thinking about how to urge Lupine to write a report.
Professor Moody's side was fine, but Lupine's was very thorough in his experiments - he didn't even dare to report any banned materials. He didn't look like a professor who was studying and dealing with dark magic.
"But having said that, it is not always a good thing if a large order falls into the hands of the Ministry of Magic. The Ministry of Magic will be more and more happy to see the situation there."
The situation at the Magical Congress of the United States of America is becoming increasingly tense. According to some of the latest gossip William has obtained, there has been a serious labor shortage there recently - this is not good news, because it means that the latest batch of graduates have not integrated into the magical society.
Ilvermorny is basically based on Hogwarts, which means that their graduates are not over twenty years old at all, which is the age when they are most easily attracted to things like black magic.
Students who have just graduated have the strongest receptivity. If someone deliberately organizes them and then teaches black magic, a private armed force with combat effectiveness will soon be formed.
"The rain is coming..."
William sighed.
He was almost 60% sure that the Dark Lord was hiding there, and he was ready to report it to Dumbledore - but even if he didn't report it, he already knew the result.
Let's not talk about whether a guess can convince the Ministry of Magic - even if it is really useful, the Ministry of Magic can at most send a note asking them to be careful, and they dare not and cannot send Aurors to participate...
"Go to class with peace of mind, and improve the students' strength and your own strength... By the way, keep an eye on those guys in Azkaban, and you must not give them to the Dark Lord in vain."
——
"finally…"
Slughorn took care of himself in the mirror and made sure everything about him was perfect, "Finally it's me."
He was still a little ashamed, because he forcibly pushed Snape out of the upper class for his own little hobby-stealing his own student's job was not something worth showing off.
However, he didn't think this was a big problem - he had taken great care of the talented Snape when he was a student, and later supported the student to become the Dean of Slytherin, which was not illegal at all. It's just an illegal little hobby. It's neither a money grab nor a power grab. It makes sense no matter where you put it.
Perhaps it was a little too much to take in all three victorious warriors at once, but Snape wouldn't devote himself to the Divination class...
"On the other hand, Severus did pretty well in the other grades..."
As he spoke, he carefully took out his collection, preparing to give the students a showdown - although the magical elixir was completely out of bounds in the fifth grade classroom, they were not allowed to see the magic of the potion. If so, who can completely trust a new professor all of a sudden?
He also plans to recruit the students he missed before into his club!
"Forget about the Polyjuice Potion and the Love Potion - if you show the fifth year students that one, Albus will definitely talk about it. I have no intention of listening to his blabbering, so just the Felicity Potion... Well, keep pretending like that A small bottle is used to reward the best students, and he will be included in the bag."
He happily thought about it, and then carefully sealed a bottle from the crucible, "I have to use it sparingly. I don't know what bastard would fry the ingredients of the Fuling Elixir at such a high price..."
The key is that there is a price but no market - even he only managed to get some ingredients for the potion through a relationship. Recently, many raw materials are not available...especially recently, because the Fortune Elixir in the American magic world has been promoted to the sky. , making the materials even more difficult to grab.
"Okay, get ready for class!"
Several other less common potions were already placed in the classroom, but it was better for him to bring them there himself, such as the Fuling Elixir.
——
"Harry, have you noticed that something is wrong with Hermione?"
Ron whispered to Harry on the way to the classroom.
"There is one thing. She is so mysterious now that people can't figure out what she is doing..."
Harry was a little unsure - because this is the year of OWLs, and according to the other senior students in the lounge, many people will actually acquire all kinds of weird quirks this year.
"Hi! Harry!"
Just when Harry was about to explain to Ron, Angelina hurried over - she was Harry's new captain.
"Gathering on Saturday?"
"Yes, we will gather on Saturday. By the way, we will find our new goalkeeper and conduct a goalkeeper selection," Angelina nodded. "In addition, Professor McGonagall informed me that we may have to have a competition."
"Competition? The team is not perfect yet!"
Harry exclaimed - there is only one goalkeeper, and if a new goalkeeper is used, it will be a disaster.
"But the game waits for no one. We don't have much time to waste, Harry."
Angelina nodded and left quickly.
Her appearance successfully interrupted the original conversation between the two. Ron looked at the direction she left longingly and began to think deeply.
"Tell me, is it possible for me?"
"What?"
Harry was in a daze, which caused Ron to blush for a moment.
"That is, is it possible for me to become a goalkeeper..."
His voice was dry, not like him at all, and he even looked around after speaking to make sure no one noticed them before continuing, "As I told you, it's okay for mom to reward me. A decent broomstick..."
He had actually been thinking about this since the summer vacation - because the goalkeeper Wood in the school team had retired, so he exchanged the reward of becoming a prefect for a broom that could barely keep up with the trend.
Originally, he wanted to hide it and not tell anyone, but his experience as a prefect during this period made it difficult for him to hide his little secret, especially Harry's excellent performance during this period, which allowed him to completely Sharing some of his rather bold plans with Harry without any burden.
"Why don't you give it a try?" Harry asked happily. For a moment, they even forgot that it was the year of OWLs. "How is your skill?"
"It's not that bad," Ron breathed a sigh of relief. "Charlie, Fred and George always ask me to be the goalkeeper when they practice football during the holidays."
"Then do it, Ron, I think, how about we go to the court to practice tonight, and I can help you get a feel for it?"
"Of course." Ron laughed, and then suddenly thought of something, "You must keep it a secret, Harry, keep it a secret! I don't intend to let Fred and George know about it. Cheng, you have been laughing at me because I became a prefect..."
Obviously - he made a mistake. It didn't matter whether he was laughed at or not as a prefect. There was only one sister, but the Weasley family had so many brothers that if they didn't laugh at them, the twins would feel that this was a serious waste of resources.
The two people who had agreed to each other were in a very high mood at the moment, and happily forgot about the previous topic. Hermione was left to be frightened - if an amazingly talented student appeared in the potions class, she felt that she I almost cried on the spot.
——
"Good morning, classmates."
Slughorn tried hard to restrain his greedy eyes - during this time, he found out clearly that the best student in this class was not Harry!
Miss Hermione Granger is recognized as the best student, not Harry Potter! But even the Slytherin students thought there was nothing wrong with Harry's performance in winning the Triwizard Tournament!
This is a good thing!
He is not picky, as long as the students are outstanding, the rest of the looks, character, or even bloodline, etc. don't matter!
After the students sat in the classroom together, he started to ask routine questions with a smile.
"I have prepared several potions to open your eyes, of course, just out of interest - now, who can tell me what they are?"
As soon as this question was raised, he saw the scene that was widely rumored among professors, the know-it-all lady who could engrave textbooks in her brain.
The student named Hermione Granger answered all the questions perfectly, and even recognized the elixir on the podium at a glance.
Her intelligence even reminded Slughorn of Lily - she was like this back then, and even crushed Severus, whom he had always been optimistic about, in Potions class.
'If Harry could have Severus' talent, it would be... perfect...'
He looked at Harry under the podium encouragingly, hoping that he would stand up and give himself a surprise.
But I don't know if it was because Miss Granger was better at answering questions, or because of something else. After all the questions were asked, Gryffindor got a huge score of twenty points from him. Harry Still didn't stand up.
'It's time to make bigger moves. '
He is ready to use his most invincible move - no student can escape the temptation he brings, never.
"Elixir," he answered Miss Granger with a smile, "that's it. It's very complicated to brew, and if you make a mistake, the consequences will be disastrous. However, if it's brewed correctly, it's like the one in this crucible Likewise, you'll find that you'll be successful no matter what you do...at least until the medicine wears off."
…
"You know, too much of a good thing can be harmful... If the dose is too high, it will be very toxic. But if you take a little cautiously and in moderation occasionally..."
…
After a series of foreshadowing, he released the final temptation, "Well, I will serve as the prize for this class."
As his words fell, the entire classroom fell silent, and every bubbling and boiling sound of the potions around him seemed to be amplified tenfold.
"A small bottle of elixir," a small corked glass bottle, was held up by Slughorn to the class, "can bring twelve hours of good luck. From dawn to dusk, you No matter what you do, you will be blessed with good fortune."
"However, I must remind you that the use of elixirs is prohibited in organized competitions...such as sports competitions, exams or campaigns. Therefore, those who get the prizes can only use it on ordinary days...and then wait. Let's see how extraordinary that ordinary day becomes!"
He added - but I'm afraid no one can listen now.
…
'Everything is right, but why is the result like this? '
Looking at the pots of finished products, Professor Slughorn asked himself - to his surprise, Harry did not inherit his mother's potions talent at all.
In other words, it was inherited, but not completely inherited...
In short, the potion is not too bad, but it is not even close to perfect.
The prize finally went to Miss Hermione Granger, and the student was really excited.
But Slughorn still had some regrets - after the students left, he turned over Harry's potion and checked it over and over with dissatisfaction, as if he didn't want to admit that it was just this result.
"It's not that good, but it's not bad...what's the difference?"
Perhaps out of reluctance, perhaps out of disbelief, he patiently checked.
He even tasted the potion carefully and restored Harry's preparation process bit by bit.
Soon, he frowned, "You're just messing around... You haven't laid any foundation. What did he learn in the lower grades? Didn't anyone even teach you the basic points of attention in potions?"
"We can't go on like this! Make up classes, we must make up classes!"