Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 192 I Know the Smell of a Cockroach Pile

Seeing this, Mike quickly closed the bag, preventing the cockroaches in the bag from crawling out.

The name "Cockroach Pile" means a pile of cockroaches, but it is not real cockroaches, but a kind of candy made in the shape of cockroaches. It is a very strong-tasting candy.

Feeling the wonderful touch of the cockroaches constantly squirming in the bag, Mike frowned in disgust, pinched the mouth of the bag with his index finger and thumb, and returned it to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore was not surprised by Mike's reaction. In fact, he had recommended this "delicacy" to many people and was no longer surprised by it.

He took the bag, took out a bunch of still crawling cockroaches and threw them into his mouth and started eating. Not only that, Dumbledore showed an extremely intoxicated expression while eating, as if he was eating some kind of delicacy.

After eating one, Dumbledore took out another cockroach and handed it to Mike who was looking at him in shock.

"There is an old saying in the far east that one should not judge a person by appearance, which means that we cannot judge a person by appearance alone," said Dumbledore. "Come and try it. I promise you will not be disappointed."

Looking at the cockroach-shaped candy still jumping around in front of him, Mike was a little at a loss.

To be honest, Mike believed that he had a relatively strong acceptance for this kind of heavy-tasting food. For example, he had eaten the disgusting-colored heavy-tasting food called preserved egg that was popular in the ancient oriental country, although only once.

He had tried insects before, but they were fried, and he ate the cleaner bee pupae. To be honest, they tasted pretty good.

But looking at the pile of cockroaches still jumping around in front of him, although Mike knew in his heart that it was just a piece of candy, he still didn't dare to touch it.

It's like putting a piece of chocolate-flavored shi and a piece of shi-flavored chocolate in front of you and asking you to choose which one to eat.

After hesitating for a while, under Dumbledore's encouraging gaze, Mike finally reached out for the cockroach-shaped candy.

To be honest, he was quite interested in this notoriously strong-tasting candy.

Of course, he didn't take the whole cockroach directly, but just broke off one of its legs.

Holding the slender leg in front of him, Mike discovered that there was a difference between this candy called cockroach pile and real cockroaches.

Although the legs of a real cockroach can remain active for a period of time after being broken off, their flexibility and range of motion will be greatly reduced. However, the legs on the body of a cockroach are no different from when they were attached to the body after being broken off, and they are also swinging violently.

Mike gritted his teeth, threw the cockroach leg into his mouth, then closed his eyes and began to chew.

After just a few bites, Mike opened his eyes and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

The smell of cockroaches' piled legs is surprisingly good!
Unlike real cockroach legs, the legs of the cockroach pile are hard. When Mike bit them into pieces, his mouth was filled with the aroma of coffee.

If you have to describe it with a common candy, the cockroach legs taste like coffee candy, the best kind.

Seeing Mike's shocked look after he finished eating, Dumbledore quickly handed him the pile of cockroaches with broken legs, his eyes full of expectation and encouragement.

After trying the pile of cockroach legs, Mike's opinion of this candy that looked exactly like a live cockroach changed drastically. He hesitated for a long time before taking the candy from Dumbledore, and finally closed his eyes and threw the pile of cockroaches that were still struggling desperately into his mouth.

As soon as the cockroach pile entered his mouth, Mike began to chew it desperately. He didn't want to feel the feeling of live cockroaches crawling in his mouth, so he wanted to use this method to kill the cockroach pile quickly.

However, the cockroach pile is just candy, it has no life at all, and there is no such thing as death. So no matter how Mike chews, the cockroach pile in his mouth keeps crawling.

Mike chewed quickly, trying not to give up the goosebump-inducing feeling in his mouth. As he chewed, an increasingly strong aroma of coffee spread, passing through his throat and rushing straight into his nasal cavity.

Mike was surprised to find that, despite the horrible feeling of live cockroaches crawling around in your mouth, the cockroach pile actually tasted pretty good!

The wings, limbs and shells of the cockroach pile are made of coffee candies, while its abdomen is made of soft candy. When you bite it, the milk chocolate syrup inside will gush out, releasing a rich sweet taste that neutralizes the small amount of bitterness in the coffee candies, leaving only the rich coffee aroma.

Mike didn't even make the motion of swallowing, and the cockroach pile completely melted under his chewing in a short while.

"Want another one?"

Seeing that Mike had finished eating, Dumbledore took out another pile of cockroaches and handed it over, saying with expectation in his eyes.

"No, Principal. I think just one of this delicacy a day is enough." Mike quickly refused. Although the cockroach pile tasted good, it was too creepy to eat. Mike didn't want to try it a second time.

"You're right. The more delicious the food is, the more we need to exercise restraint. It's just like being a human being. We must remain rational in the face of temptation." Dumbledore stopped trying to persuade her. He put away the cockroach pile and said, "Thank you for having dinner with me, Mr. Townley. To be honest, I haven't enjoyed a meal so much in a long time."

Dumbledore's words were extremely sincere, and Mike couldn't tell whether they were true or not, so he could only respond with a routine compliment.

Dumbledore did not lie, he indeed enjoyed today's dinner very much.

Often the older people are, the more they like children. Dumbledore is no exception. What he likes to see most is the smiles of children, so he always invites students who come to his office to eat desserts and candies. He believes that sweet things can make people happy.

However, no one knew why, perhaps because they were too nervous in front of their headmaster or for some other reason, only a very small number of students were willing to try the candies given by Dumbledore. No student dared to try the pile of cockroaches, which made Dumbledore very disappointed.

But today Mike not only ate his cake, but also tried his collection of cockroaches, which made Dumbledore, a candy lover and kind grandfather, very happy.

Of course, Dumbledore once suspected that Mike ate those things on purpose to please him.

But when he saw how Mike ate, he gave up the idea and came to the conclusion that the kid was really hungry.

Mike certainly had no idea what Dumbledore was thinking. As Dumbledore had concluded, he ate what Dumbledore gave him simply because he was hungry. Mike had also wondered if Dumbledore would put some potions like truth serum in his food, but he rejected this guess in an instant.

Are you kidding me? A great wizard like Dumbledore needs to drug me to deal with me?
After that, the two chatted for a while about the Hogwarts campus before Dumbledore finally got to the point.

"Mike, can you tell me what happened last night?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Mike's expression suddenly froze, and the atmosphere in the office suddenly became gloomy.

"Okay, Headmaster Dumbledore." Mike sat up straight and said slowly, "That night I was suddenly awakened from my sleep and found a piece of parchment beside my pillow, which said, 'Penelope is with me. Come to the Forbidden Forest alone now and don't tell anyone.' So I went to the Forbidden Forest.

I believe you already know what happened next. The person who sent me the letter was Percy, or more precisely, Voldemort. He subdued the eight-eyed giant spiders and centaurs in the Forbidden Forest and attacked me, so I was forced to fight back. "

Dumbledore looked directly into Mike's eyes while he was speaking, as if he could tell from his eyes whether he was lying.

Mike knew that wizards of Dumbledore's level didn't need to chant spells or use wands when casting Legilimency, so he also used all his strength to practice Occlumency, hoping to deceive Dumbledore.

"So where is the parchment, Mr. Townley?" After a long silence, Dumbledore looked away and asked.

"It spontaneously combusted after I watched it."

After he finished speaking, the office fell into silence.

It was unknown how long it was before Dumbledore spoke again: "Well, Mr. Townley, thank you very much for coming here today despite your injuries. I am very sorry for what happened to you. It was my fault as the headmaster that I failed to protect you."

"You are too kind, Principal. I should be the one apologizing to you. If I had told you about this matter right away, perhaps it wouldn't have become such a big deal."

"Well, let's stop being so polite to each other. I think it's time for you to go back. If you don't go back, your friends will probably be worried." Dumbledore smiled kindly and said, "I hope you can recover soon and devote yourself to your studies again. I wish you can get good grades in the next exam."

Mike was quite surprised to hear Dumbledore mention his friend, because when he just woke up, there was no one around him.

But Mike didn't think much about it. Dumbledore's gaze just now put a lot of pressure on him. Now he didn't want to stay in this place for a second, so he stood up and said goodbye.

But when Mike was about to walk out of the office, Dumbledore called him again.

"One more thing. The diary has been confirmed to be Voldemort's Horcrux after testing. As a reward for destroying the Horcrux and saving your classmates, I have decided to add 100 points to Ravenclaw and award you the Hogwarts Special Contribution Award." Dumbledore smiled, "Finally, I hope you can forgive Hagrid's rudeness. He is actually a very good person, but his understanding of some things is not complete enough."

"Thank you very much, Headmaster Dumbledore. This is what I should do." Mike turned around and looked at Dumbledore in surprise and said sincerely, "As for Hagrid's matter, I never took it to heart from the beginning. Hagrid and I are also friends. When I said I would hold him accountable, it was completely out of anger."

……

As he set out on the road back to the ward, a bright smile broke out on Mike's face.

What Dumbledore just expressed was very clear. He awarded Mike a special contribution award and added 100 points to Ravenclaw in exchange for Mike not holding Hagrid accountable.

The price Dumbledore offered was not small, and adding 100 points was nothing. The special contribution award was really impressive.

As far as Mike knew, the review process for the Hogwarts Special Contribution Award was extremely strict. Once the winner was awarded, his name and trophy would be permanently displayed in the Hogwarts trophy room, to be worshipped by generations of young wizards.

At the same time, this award can also add points to future wizard rating exams and play a significant role in future job hunting.

This deal was a perfect deal for Mike, so he agreed to it without any hesitation.

Mike hummed a little tune all the way back to his ward. As soon as he opened the door, he found that his ward was already crowded with people.

Penelope was lying on Mike's bed in pain. There was a dinner on the bedside table next to her. Mrs. Weasley was half-kneeling beside her, patting her back gently and saying words of comfort to her.

Harry, Franklin and the rest of the Weasley family looked anxious and guessed where Mike might be.

As soon as Mike saw this scene, he understood. It turned out that the reason why there was no one around him when he woke up was because Penelope and the others had gone out for dinner. Now they should have brought food back for Mike but found that Mike was missing, so they were worried.

"Wow, I didn't expect my room to be so lively?"

Mike deliberately said this in a very exaggerated tone, and suddenly everyone in the room's attention was drawn to him when they heard Mike's voice.

Penelope raised her delicate face with pear blossoms on it and looked towards the door with a pair of red and swollen eyes.

The moment Penelope's eyes lit up when she saw Mike, and she quickly stood up and wanted to say something.

But someone was faster than her.

"Mike, I'm so grateful to you!" Mrs. Weasley took two steps at a time and walked forward, holding Mike's hand, choking with sobs, "Thank you for saving Percy. Really, if anything happened to the child, his father and I really don't know what to do!"

"Yes, Mike, this time it's all thanks to you." The Weasley brothers also gathered around and expressed their gratitude, "Principal Dumbledore told me everything that happened. Percy is really lucky this time!"

Mike was a little at a loss as he looked at Mrs. Weasley, who was holding his hand and crying, and the three Weasley brothers and their father Mr. Weasley, who were standing beside him with a grateful look on their faces. He didn't know what to say.

At this moment, Mrs. Pomfret's voice suddenly came from the corridor:
"Weasleys, come here quickly! Percy is awake!"

(End of this chapter)