Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 226 The Train Starts

In the next few days, Mike began the busiest time of his vacation, because school was about to start, and the two Weasley brothers, who were originally the company's leaders in managing the factory, including Mike, all had to go to school, so Mike urgently needed someone to replace him.

Although Shuke and Beta, the two house-elves, are capable enough to manage the factory and are also very loyal.

But their social status means that they cannot serve as leaders in such large factories.

Don't think that because all the factory employees are Muggle-born wizards, they don't care about social class. In fact, many wizards here care more about bloodline and class than pure-blood wizards.

In a nutshell, whenever their interests are damaged, they will jump out and raise the banner of racial discrimination, and whenever their interests are beneficial, they will turn deaf and dumb.

This is similar to some people in today's society.

So Mike needs an agent, and this agent must be a human, even if he can't do anything, as long as he is a human wizard. Otherwise, the workers below will definitely be dishonest.

So, after careful consideration, Mike picked out several of the most loyal employees from each team to form an administrative department, with Harris Carter as the director.

That’s right, it was the good young man who bravely stood up for justice.

On the other hand, Mike is still seizing every opportunity to practice the Patronus Charm.

Having said that, I have to emphasize again that Mike is really busy now.

Sword training, meditation, spell practice, Occlumency practice, Transfiguration practice...

These things one after another left him with almost no time to rest. In desperation, Mike had to shorten his sleep time. He now only sleeps four hours a day, which is far below the sleep standard released by the United Nations.

Fortunately, Mike is a wizard, and a wizard with extremely strong mental power. Let alone four hours, he can now rest well with only two hours of sleep a day.

As for the Patronus Charm, after Mike practiced alone for two days and found that the effect was too low, he went to see his teacher, Flitwick.

Flitwick had no doubt about Mike's motive for wanting to learn the Patronus Charm. As a professor at Hogwarts, he had already known about the Dementors' imminent arrival at Hogwarts and had told Mike about it.

What surprised Mike was that Professor Flitwick knew the usage and various tricks of the Patronus Charm very well, as if he was a master of the Patronus Charm.

However, when Mike looked down at Professor Flitwick with admiration and excitedly asked what his patronus was, Professor Flitwick remained silent.

Mike asked a stupid question. Although Professor Flitwick knew the Patronus Charm, he had not practiced it to the point where he could cast a complete Patronus.

This is very uncomfortable.

However, Professor Flitwick was not a stingy person. After a moment of silence, he told Mike the reason.

It turned out that Professor Flitwick had been learning the Patronus Charm since he was young, because in addition to its practicality, the Patronus Charm also represented noble status and virtue. However, no matter how hard he tried, how many teachers he consulted, and how much information he collected, he could not cast a complete Patronus.

This hurt Professor Flitwick a lot. He even doubted for a time that he had no so-called talent for spells at all. The Patronus Charm became a thorn in Professor Flitwick's heart.

So when Mike came to him for advice he agreed almost without hesitation, as he wanted to fulfill his wish on his apprentice.

Unfortunately, Mike's situation is similar to that of Flitwick.

In the few days left of the holiday, Flitwick, the master of theory, launched a brutal hellish training on Mike and taught him countless tips he heard from others.

Under this intensive training, Mike's Patronus Charm improved by leaps and bounds, and the brightness of the released Patronus Charm was directly upgraded from a flashlight to a white weaving lamp.

But he still couldn't release the physical guardian angel.

Finally, Professor Flitwick gave up hope.

Mike felt very guilty about this. He felt that he had disappointed Professor Flitwick. Although Professor Flitwick didn't say anything, Mike still felt uncomfortable.

But he had no choice but to say that spells are something that require talent, especially a very difficult spell like the Patronus Charm. If you can cast it, you can cast it. If you can't, it will be difficult to learn it in your lifetime.

However, Mike has not given up completely. Although he did not say it out loud, he still feels that this is due to Professor Flitwick's poor teaching. After all, it is hard to believe that someone who cannot cast a physical Patronus Charm is teaching you the Patronus Charm.

So he decided to wait until he arrived at Hogwarts and then consult the Patronus Charm masters in the school.

With this in mind, Mike, Harry and the Weasley family crossed the platform pillars again and arrived at Nine and Three Quarters Station.

Today is the first day of school and the platform is bustling with little wizards pulling their luggage and their parents who are worried about them.

Harry looked at the Muggle freshmen who were looking around with their mouths wide open in amazement, and said to Mike with a sigh, "Look, another freshman. Remember, Mike, we were like this back then, too."

Mike nodded perfunctorily and walked towards the train without looking back.

Hogwarts will have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year, Remus Lupin.

The new professor is a powerful wizard, a master of the Patronus Charm, and his Patronus is a wolf.

He is the Patronus Charm teacher that Mike found for himself. Mike is confident that as long as he has a good relationship with him, it should be a piece of cake for him to give him private lessons on learning the Patronus Charm.

However, just as Mike was hurriedly trying to get on the train to find Professor Lupin, a voice suddenly sounded beside him.

"Mike, is that you?" Lucius Malfoy's voice sounded, "What a coincidence, we are just about to send Xiaolong (Draco's nickname) to school."

Although he was very impatient, Mike still put on a smile and greeted the Malfoy family.

"Good day, Mr. Lucius." Mike nodded.

"It's been such a short time since we last met, and you've grown so tall. You're such a handsome guy. I don't know how many girls will send you love letters in the future." Narcissa praised Mike with a smile, and then she touched Draco's head. "Our little dragon is just too picky about food, otherwise he would have started to grow taller."

"mom!"

Draco shook off his mother's hand uncomfortably. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable with his mother doing this to him in front of Mike.

At this time, the Weasley family behind also noticed the situation on Mike's side. As the sworn enemy of the Malfoy family, Mr. Weasley's first reaction was that Mike was in trouble, so he brought a large group of people to surround him.

"Are you okay, Mike? Did they give you a hard time?"

"Don't worry Mike, they can't do anything to you with us here!"

Before Mr. Weasley could say anything, the Weasley brothers were already anxious to help Mike.

The smile on Lucius's face disappeared the moment he saw the Weasley family. He looked at them with an imposing and proud look. "Oh, look who is this? Aren't they the poor Weasley family?" Lucius glanced at the Weasley family's luggage, and then laughed, "It seems that your useless father is still useful. At least he can afford to buy brand new books this year. Congratulations, you finally don't have to use second-hand books anymore."

Noticing his gaze, Ginny quickly hid the books she had placed on the top of the suitcase. She had no good feelings towards Lucius at all.

Mr. Weasley became furious and stepped forward to grab Lucius by the collar.

Seeing that a fight was about to begin, Mrs. Weasley quickly grabbed him.

If it were anywhere else, the two would just fight, but this is Hogwarts' Nine and Three Quarters Station, and fighting here might affect their children.

Lucius secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this. He was really afraid that Weasley, this reckless madman, would fight with him here.

It's not that Lucius is afraid of Weasley, but there are so many people watching here. If the self-proclaimed noble Malfoy family were to fight with others here, and it's a physical fight, that would be a real loss of face.

Lucius was a smart man, and he knew very well that it was best to stop taking advantage of someone, so he stopped entangled with the Weasley family, put on a smile again, and turned to look at Mike.

"Mike, you are a smart man, but in my opinion, your understanding of this world is still too shallow. In fact, there are differences between pure-blood magic families. Some families have the title of pure blood but do not have the strength and wealth of pure-blood nobles. Regarding this, I think I can help you."

Although Lucius did not mention any names, his eyes kept glancing at the Weasley family. Some of the families he mentioned were self-explanatory.

Faced with such humiliation, the Weasley brothers' patience had reached its limit. Just as they were about to beat up Lucius, Mike reached out to stop them.

"Mr. Lucius, I think I can tell who is the best friend for me. Thank you for your kindness."

Upon hearing this, the Malfoy family's faces turned black. Narcissa and Lucius were still okay since they were adults after all, but Draco was different. He was so angry that he was shaking all over.

Mike found it a little funny. Draco and Lucius were indeed father and son. Even the words they said when trying to win people over were similar.

Yes, the words he had just used to answer Lucius were exactly what Harry had said to Draco in their first year.

"let's go!"

Lucius, with a sullen face, felt that he had lost face and could not do anything to Mike and the others, so he pulled Draco away.

As soon as they left, the Weasley family and Harry cheered.

"Mike, you're so cool!"

"Did you see the expressions on the Malfoy family's faces just now? Oh my god, it was so funny!"

……

They did not suppress their voices at all. Lucius listened to the cheers behind him and suddenly tripped and almost fell to the ground.

This little episode delayed them for a while, and by the time Mike and others checked their tickets and boarded the train, it was about to start.

Looking at the crowded carriages, Mike shook his head in embarrassment. It seemed that it would be difficult to find Professor Lupin today.

But he still had to look for what he was looking for, so Mike searched each carriage one by one. Unexpectedly, Lupin didn't find him but he found Hermione and Penelope who was maintaining order beside Hermione's carriage.

At work, Penelope is no longer as gentle and delicate as she was when she was alone with Mike. Her sonorous and powerful voice and every gesture reveal the aura of a strong woman.

Seeing this, Mike suddenly had an idea. He thought that maybe Penelope, an official, would know where Lupin was, so he asked, "Penelope, do you know where the new Professor Lupin is?"

"Lupin? Do you mean the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?"

"Yes."

Penelope thought for a moment, then said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Mike, I haven't seen him. But I can ask other classmates, and there should be some results."

Mike nodded with satisfaction, found a seat and sat down. Looking at Penelope busying around, he felt very emotional.

It would be great if I could have a secretary like Penelope, who is capable and pretty. When there is work to do, she can do it, and when there is nothing else, hehehe.

As he was thinking, Mike suddenly felt a furry creature in his arms. He looked down and found that it was Hermione's ugly cat with a flat face.

Perhaps because it noticed that Mike was looking at him, the big ginger cat meowed at Mike twice.

Although the cat looked a little ugly, Mike didn't dislike it at all. He smiled and started petting the cat.

"Crookshanks!"

Hermione ran out of the box in a hurry, and immediately saw Crookshanks lying on his belly and being rubbed by Mike.

"His name is Crookshanks? What a strange name."

Seeing Hermione suddenly freeze in place, Mike took the initiative to greet her to avoid embarrassment. However, his words offended the kitten in his arms.

Crookshanks rolled his eyes in a very human way, then jumped out of Mike's arms, and even grabbed Mike's hand before leaving.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I said the wrong thing."

The interaction between the man and the cat made Hermione laugh, and the atmosphere between the two became much more harmonious. Hermione picked up Crookshanks again and asked:

"Do you like pets, too?"

"Of course, I like pets very much. My favorite is dogs, especially black dogs."

Mike suddenly stopped here and swallowed.

"Why don't you get a pet then?"

Mike was stumped by this question. He couldn't tell her that he was afraid that the baby would develop feelings for him after raising him for a long time, right?
Mike thought about it for a while, and finally said, "Actually, I do have a pet."

"Oh? What is it? Can you show it to me?"

Hermione's eyes lit up immediately. She had always loved furry animals. Mike stopped wasting time and touched the pendant around his neck, saying softly, "Come out, Papi."

A black light flashed, and the raven Papi flew out from Mike's shirt and landed on Mike's shoulder accurately and gracefully.

(End of this chapter)