Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 449 Professor's Invitation

After finishing the negotiations with the Muggle Prime Minister, Mike welcomed the start of the school year at Hogwarts.

When he and Franklin stood in the crowded 9 3/4 station again with their luggage, he felt as if he were in another world.

He did so many things this summer, especially the contract he signed with the Muggle Prime Minister at the end, which caused an uproar within the Freemasonry.

Most of them, led by Franklin, were extremely happy.

After all, Mike had secured some exaggerated privileges for them, which meant that no matter what their previous family background was, their families would be able to live a good life from now on.

But a few people still expressed concern about this matter.

This is simply ignoring the non-existence of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, and this organization will definitely come knocking on your door afterwards.

Mike completely scoffed at this. At this stage, all wizards are afraid of the country where Voldemort is wreaking havoc. Even if the International Confederation of Wizards had ten times the courage, the other party would not dare to set foot here again.

Thinking of this, a hint of sarcasm appeared on Mike's face.

Franklin on the side said in a somewhat strange tone:

"Mike, are you okay? The train is about to leave, let's get on."

Hearing this, Mike immediately restrained his expression, nodded, and took the lead to overtake the Hogwarts Express.

There were so many people on the platform, everyone was trying to squeeze towards the train entrance, fearing that they would miss the train. No one knew what they were doing earlier.

But when Mike appeared in front of them, they all made way at the same time, respectfully sent Mike into the car, and then continued the previous crowd.

This scene made many freshmen look surprised. They could not imagine that those ferocious-looking seniors would treat a person so respectfully.

"Mike, everyone respects you."

Franklin said with a grin, while Mike just smiled and shook his head.

Due to age issues, many senior members of the Freemasons and even the Fraternity, including Benjamin, have already graduated. Before coming, Franklin had been worried whether their influence in Hogwarts would be affected. But now it seems that Mike's reputation has not only not been affected, but has even become wider.

Because Mike was a prefect and had to enter the prefect's carriage, Mike and Franklin separated and walked towards the prefect's carriage alone.

Everyone on the street looked at him respectfully, and many brave ones would come up to him and give him daily greetings.

Mike was a little annoyed by this and couldn't help but quicken his pace, wanting to get into the prefect's office to get rid of these annoying flies.

But things obviously would not go so smoothly. When he stepped into the prefects' carriage, everyone in the carriage except the Slytherin students stood up and looked at Mike with excitement.

"Mike, you're here!"

"You finally came!"

"Senior Tang Li!"

……

Mike was instantly surrounded by dense greetings, and he had no choice but to force a smile and respond to everyone over and over again.

Fortunately, the class leaders of the three major colleges were not fools with single-digit emotional intelligence. They did not pester Mike and quickly returned to their positions.

But the look they gave Mike was still burning.

Of course, not everyone likes Mike.

After sitting down, Mike turned his gaze towards Slytherin, where Draco, who had replaced Chris as prefect, was sitting side by side with Pansy, looking at Mike indignantly.

Perhaps they noticed Mike's gaze and quickly turned their eyes to the side.

Mike wanted to laugh when he saw this behavior. Compared to Chris, Draco was really far inferior.

"Mike, have you read the report titled "The Star of Savior" in the Daily Prophet?"

A somewhat unfamiliar voice came over, and Mike turned his head to look, and saw a blonde girl who looked familiar, wearing Ravenclaw school robes, who should be the new prefect of Ravenclaw, looking at him with a flushed face.

"Of course. I read every issue of the Daily Prophet."

Mike said with a smile.

He knew exactly what the girl was going to say.

The cause of the incident was a report in the Daily Prophet in August, which made some speculations about the prophecy between Harry Potter and Voldemort, and proposed that since Harry Potter was able to defeat Voldemort when he was a baby, he can still save the wizarding world of Britain again today.

If it were just that, it would be fine. After all, people with common sense would understand that those people from the Daily Prophet only tell lies, so everyone could just laugh it off.

But the problem is that in order to prove that its point of view is correct, the Daily Prophet also broke an explosive news.

It was about the battle that took place in the Ministry of Magic at the end of June, in which it was Harry Potter who defeated the Death Eaters and Voldemort.

The public was originally skeptical about this matter. After all, the Ministry of Magic’s troops were not vegetarians. Rather than an underage wizard, they were more willing to believe that it was those powerful Aurors who defeated Voldemort.

Everyone was waiting for the Ministry of Magic to publicly refute the rumor on this matter, but surprisingly, in the face of such a situation, the Ministry of Magic did not even say a word!

This incident gave people great confidence. They all saw Harry Potter as the one who could defeat Voldemort and gave him the title of "Star of Hope".

Logically speaking, Harry Potter should be treated like a hero wherever he goes, and in fact this is the case, but it is different in Hogwarts.

As people who witnessed the night raid on the Ministry of Magic firsthand, many people had a deep understanding of the incident and were well aware that the biggest contributor to that operation should be Mike and all of them.

Harry Potter now takes all the credit for himself, which is undoubtedly an act of theft in everyone's eyes!

Thus, a boycott movement against Harry Potter began. Mike could almost imagine it. Except for a few close friends like Ron and Hermione, the rest of the people, no matter how good their relationship with Harry was before, would probably not treat Harry well now, not to mention the others.

Mike's prediction was correct. When Mike said he had read the report, the Ravenclaw female headmaster's face turned red and she said angrily:

"Harry Potter is a thief. He stole the honor that belongs to you!"

The girl was very excited, but Mike just smiled.

He didn't take this matter to heart. After all, he already had enough honors. Besides, this honor had no use to him except to attract the attention of the Death Eaters and Voldemort. So he gave it to Harry, and it could also let him help attract attention to himself.

On the contrary, he looked down upon the Daily Prophet, the Ministry of Magic and even those who pushed Harry to the position of 'Star of Hope'.

Faced with a powerful enemy, instead of doing their best to defend their homeland, they actually expected an underage child to defeat the enemy!
This kind of behavior makes Mike feel sick! But just because Mike doesn't care doesn't mean others don't care.

As soon as that girl said this, everyone in the carriage went crazy. Everyone, even some senior prefects in Gryffindor, were madly cursing Harry Potter for stealing their honor.

On the contrary, the Slytherins did not participate in the criticism. They just looked at everyone with a sneer, as if they were watching a dog-eat-dog fight.

Ron and Hermione in the crowd saw this and their faces turned red. Their bodies kept shaking with anger and they finally joined in the verbal fight and spoke up for Harry.

It's just that their power is too weak. Faced with the attack of so many people, their voices are easily drowned out.

Hermione was so anxious that tears were about to flow down her face, and seeing this, Pansy, Draco and others from Slytherin laughed even louder.

Mike just watched coldly. His previous conversation with the Muggle Prime Minister made him understand one thing: the masses have always been forgetful, and the best way to erase something is to deal with it coldly. If he rashly got involved now, things might get even bigger and stay in people's minds longer.

However, at this moment, a snow-white envelope came in from the door of the prefect's carriage, which was not a secret room, and floated into Mike's hands.

Other people in the car also saw this scene. They all stopped arguing and stared at Mike intently.

In full view of everyone, Mike opened the envelope and saw it clearly written on it.

Mr. Mike Townley:

I would be very happy if you would have lunch with me in Box C.

Yours faithfully
Professor Sgraughhorn.

Mike's eyebrows twitched. It seemed that Professor Sgrahorn was very confident that he must know his identity, so he didn't even mark his identity as the new Potions Professor on the letter.

And looking at Mike's expression, everyone's curiosity was aroused.

Especially the Ravenclaw prefects sitting next to Mike. Out of politeness they have been restraining themselves from peeking at the contents of Mike's letter. This feeling is not pleasant.

The Ravenclaw girl who had spoken to Mike before might have felt that her previous behavior had won Mike's favor, so she boldly asked:

"Senior Tang Li, what does it say?"

"Nothing." Mike generously handed the envelope to everyone and asked them to circulate it in turn. "It's just an invitation. It's from the new Potions Professor."

Everyone passed the invitation around, and after seeing Professor Slughorn's autograph on it, their admiration for Mike deepened.

Most of the prefects present here come from families with some power, and most of them have heard from their parents and elders that this famous potion master likes to curry favor with powerful and famous people. And now the other party has sent an invitation to Mike before he even arrives at Hogwarts. This eager behavior just shows that Mike is extraordinary.

At this moment, several more letters came in and fell into the hands of the girl sitting next to Mike and a Slytherin boy.

However, Draco and Pansy were not included.

This made the two men look unhappy. They muttered something that Mike couldn't hear, while secretly paying attention to the door of the carriage with their peripheral vision.

Unfortunately, it seemed that all the letters in this carriage had been delivered. After waiting for more than ten minutes, no other letters flew in.

Draco's expression turned even darker when he saw this.

The girl next to Mike was extremely happy. She jumped up, took Mike's hand and said excitedly:

"It's getting late, let's go, Senior Tang Li!"

"Ok, no problem."

Mike readily agreed and walked out of the car first, but he calmly shook off the girl's hand.

The girl looked a little lost, but she quickly adjusted her mood and continued to follow Mike.

After Mike and the girl left, the entire carriage became silent. The Slytherin boy who received the invitation looked at the time and said righteously:

"Draco, don't worry, there must have been something wrong with your invitation. I'll go ask Professor Slughorn for you now."

Hearing this, Draco's face darkened and he said angrily:
"Go ahead! It's just an invitation from an old man. I don't want to go!"

However, the Slytherin boy didn't even listen to what Draco said and left the carriage without looking back.

Seeing this, everyone in the car burst into laughter, and Draco's face turned red.

Mike was completely unaware of the farce in the carriage. At this moment, he was walking towards box C with the Ravenclaw girl.

The girl was a very talkative person and obviously had a crush on Mike.

So, Mike learned a lot of information about her from her.

For example, her name is Emma Walker, and she is the only daughter of the Walker family.

For example, her family is in the business of beauty and hairdressing products, mainly targeting the mid-to-low-end market. Many well-known mid-to-low-end magic cosmetics on the market come from her family.

From then on, Mike roughly understood why she was so hostile to Harry.

The fact that Harry stole everyone's honor was probably just an excuse. The main reason was probably because Harry's grandfather invented the hairdressing spirit.

This cheap and easy-to-use hair product dealt a heavy blow to the Walker family's business.

They are a family feud!

Mike and Emma walked into carriage C, talking and laughing. At this moment, there was only a fat old man sitting in this huge carriage.

He had a shiny bald head, two walrus-like mustaches and a huge belly, and looked quite festive.

"Good afternoon, Professor Slughorn."

Mike and Emma greeted with a smile.

The latter only then noticed the two of them, and quickly stood up with a smile, greeting them warmly:
"Oh! Mike and Emma are here! You are the first, come and sit down."

Mike's lips curled up into a smile, and he sat down leisurely opposite Slughorn.

Today he wanted to see what kind of medicine this old man was selling.

(End of this chapter)