Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 228 Crook Hill and Spotted

"Now I finally understand why Minerva loves her new wand so much."

In an empty classroom on the second floor of Hogwarts, Professor Flitwick looked at his wand as if it were a priceless treasure.

In the magical world, most wizards don't easily change their wands, not only because of their emotional attachment to the wand, but also because of their long-established spellcasting methods.

While studying at school, wizards were used to casting spells with their wands. Suddenly changing wands meant breaking every spellcasting habit established over the years and re-establishing the flow of magic for each spell.

For some wizards who haven't changed their wands in decades, this is akin to asking a right-handed person to suddenly start writing with their left hand.

But if the wand is exceptionally good, then that's a different story, just like Professor Flitwick's current mood.

On one hand, he really liked his original wand, which was a friend he met at Ollivander's wand shop and later helped him win two dueling tournaments.

This is also one of the reasons why he didn't immediately go to Siron after Professor McGonagall showed him that special wand a few years ago... He already had a great wand.

But now, Professor Flitwick feels that he was somewhat inconsiderate at the time.

Even the closest comrades-in-arms can't coordinate as smoothly as one's own arm... That's Professor Flitwick's current feeling.

The feeling of complete control was something he had never experienced before; he couldn't even feel that he was holding a magic wand.

He also found that using this wand was particularly convenient.

He couldn't quite explain the exact feeling, but it was a feeling that he didn't need to keep an eye on his opponent's movements; he could just focus on casting the spell.

“Oh, this is the Whomping Willow.” Professor Flitwick touched the patterns on the staff and quickly recognized its origin.

"If I'm not mistaken, is it the one in the school?"

“Yes, I’ve collected some twigs that won’t damage the main trunk, but they’re just right for making a wand.” Siren nodded and explained, “But please keep it a secret and don’t let Professor Sprout know.”

“Of course,” Professor Flitwick said, then muttered under his breath, “In fact, if Pomona knew about this, she would be the first to come after me.”

"What did you say?" Xilun didn't quite hear him.

“No, it’s nothing.” Professor Flitwick shook his head. “But I got a great deal using the willow branch for the staff. The Galleons I paid you probably wouldn’t even buy this willow branch.”

"It's alright." Xilun was also a little distressed, but he still pretended to be calm and said, "Anyway, I didn't buy those willow branches that were used to hit people."

Professor Flitwick smiled but said nothing, and tapped the vase on the table again with his wand.

The vase spun and rose into the air, then slowly swayed up and down like it was dancing.

“I think Garrick is old enough to consider early retirement,” Professor Flitwick exclaimed sincerely. “Siron, you are now fully capable of taking over the Ollivander Wand Shop.”

“I’m afraid Headmaster Dumbledore wouldn’t agree to me dropping out of school to run a wand shop,” Siron said with a shrug.

“Don’t forget about Minerva,” Professor Flitwick said half-jokingly. “If she knew I was encouraging a Gryffindor to give up his studies, she’d probably come looking for me to duel right away.”

"To be honest, I'm not confident I can defeat Minerva's superb shapeshifting magic."

The two chatted for a while longer until class was about to start. Then, Xilun hurriedly left the empty classroom, ran to the underground classroom, and finally sat down in his seat before the bell rang.

Unable to find a reason to deduct points, Snape looked somewhat disappointed.

“Our busy man has finally arrived. Can we begin the class?” he asked, drawing out his words.

The Slytherin students immediately burst into laughter. "Potter, why are you wearing a hat in the classroom!" Snape whirled around. "Five points deducted from Gryffindor, and you'd better take off that stupid hat, or you'll lose ten!"

Seeing Harry angrily remove his pointed hat, Snape walked to the front with satisfaction and pointed with his wand at what was written on the blackboard.

"This is what you're going to learn about today... a stimulant, used to prevent the user from falling asleep. I think you're familiar with it."

Snape's gaze swept over several Gryffindor students. "I've heard that every year on the day before school starts, some people go to the school hospital and ask for 'wake-up drugs' under various pretexts."

Dean Thomas and Simon Finigan instinctively lowered their heads.

Snape also keenly noticed this, but unfortunately, the person he most wanted to see was not among them.

“You won’t need to go to the school hospital next time,” Snape sneered. “Of course, that is, if you dare to drink the potions you brew yourself.”

"What are you all waiting for? Why don't you hurry up and get the materials? Do I really need to remind you of something so simple?"

Everyone immediately stood up and ran to the storage cabinet in the corner to get the materials.

“Moonstone, mint leaves, lemongrass, dew, unicorn hair…” Xilun looked at the materials he had received, then looked up at the contents of the blackboard.

Great, I've got everything.

As Siron began grinding the moonstone, Harry popped up from the side.

"I almost thought you were going to be late."

“So close,” Xilun said. “That was thrilling.”

“But it’s alright if you’re late, right?” Harry said. “Didn’t you go to see Professor Flitwick? He should be able to put in a good word for you.”

Do you think Snape would care about that?

"Hmm... well, I don't think so." Harry gave a wry smile. Snape's favorite thing to do was probably deduct points from Gryffindor's grades. Even Professor Flitwick, who was also the Head of the House, would probably find it difficult to change his mind.

"Have they made up yet?" Siron poured the ground moonstone powder out of the mortar and glanced behind Harry.

Ron and Seamus, Dean sat together, while Hermione sat at a table further away, next to Parvati Petit.

“They had made up,” Harry sighed. “But last night, Crookshanks suddenly lunged at Scabbers for no reason, and then they started arguing again.”

"When?" Xilun paused for a moment and asked.

“It was shortly after dinner last night,” Harry said. “Ron and I were chatting in the common room, and Scabbers was in his jacket pocket. Crookshanks happened to come back around that time, and for some reason, he pounced on Scabbers as soon as he saw him.”

"The Gryffindor common room was in complete chaos. It took them more than ten minutes to catch the cat."

Xiren had no idea what was going on in the common room. He had been in his dorm all night finishing up his wand and hadn't paid any attention to what was happening.

Strange, shouldn't Crookshanks be with Tom? The two of them are like a cat now; wherever Tom is, Crookshanks can be found nearby, and vice versa.

But Siren was certain that Tom hadn't returned to the dormitory yesterday; only Crookshanks, the cat, had come back. And why had it suddenly become interested in that spotted mouse again?

……

(End of this chapter)