Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 128 Parents' Conversation
"Hahaha……"

The old wizard laughed heartily. "That's right, Seraphina is like that. When I was writing the Fantastic Beasts series, the first few installments went smoothly, except for the North American special. Seraphina read my manuscript and, citing the protection of North American animals, forbade me from publishing it publicly."

"In fact, the manuscript was leaked, printed and sold by pirated merchants, and it almost became a textbook for Ilvermorny."

The young wizards on the dance floor changed one after another, and the melodies played by the band changed from intense and fierce to soothing and melodious. The topics of the young professors and the old wizards ranged from the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts to the Greylock Forest, from the Black Lake to the mountain springs, and they got along very well.

Melvin also learned some information.

Newt Scamander was unable to complete his studies when he was young because he was expelled for a dangerous experiment related to martens. Since then, he has embarked on a journey around the world to save magical creatures, visiting more than 100 countries on five continents, and helping Dumbledore defeat Grindelwald.

He is currently retired and lives in Dorset with his wife, where they have three pet knuckleheads, a garden gnome and a bowtruckle.

A soothing waltz ended, and the open-air venue seemed exceptionally quiet while waiting for the musicians to adjust.

Melvin looked at the Bowtruckle poking its head out of the old man's pocket. After a moment's hesitation, he spoke: "Mr. Scamander, I have a question about a strange long-horned water snake on Mount Greylock."

Newt nodded, signaling him to speak directly.

"I met it in a mountain stream around second grade. At first, it taught me some simple spellcasting techniques, and I told it some interesting stories from school. After a while, we became friends," Melvin recalled. "It has profound knowledge and is familiar with the application of magic. It can even use the gem on its forehead for divination."

Newt looked into the young wizard's quiet black eyes, paused, and asked hesitantly, "Are you a Parseltongue?"

In the minds of ordinary wizards, Parseltongue is generally associated with dark wizards, so this question seems a bit out of place.

Melvin shook his head. "I don't speak Parseltongue, but the Horned Water Snake is fluent in more than one human language."

Newt sighed, "It must have a very long lifespan."

"Yes, it's over seven hundred years old. The first mention of it in the history of Ilvermorny is when the school was first founded..."

Melvin thought of that scaly snake face, which always rested its head on the rocks, staring blankly into the distance, spitting out its tongue but never stopping to talk, even more talkative than the professor.

I don't know how the snake's mouth speaks.

Melvin was telling the story about the horned water snake when he became distracted. Suddenly the water snake seemed to appear before his eyes again, crawling on the snake tree, with its head lowered and whispering goodbye to him.

Seven years of memories make people feel hazy when sorting out, and the horned water snake has seven hundred years of memories in its head. No wonder the water snake is always in a daze.

"It left me a snake egg."

Melvin reached into his pocket and pulled out a unique egg, showing it to Newt. "I'm not sure if this is its own egg or if it got it from one of its kind. The magic inside it is different from ordinary snake eggs. I don't know how to hatch it. Please help me."

Newt's hazel eyes lit up slightly as he took the snake egg and examined it carefully.

Slightly larger than a goose egg, its shell is a clean grayish-white with faint, almost invisible patterns that resemble stacked snake scales. It has a dim fluorescence that seems to have changed somewhat compared to a month ago.

"I've researched a lot, and this magical creature with unique magical powers basically can't be hatched naturally. It requires some kind of magical ritual," Melvin said, speculating. "I don't know exactly what the ritual is, so I don't dare try it."

Newt observed the snake eggs while observing Melvin.

Wizards who have been dealing with magical creatures for a long time can always use certain intuitions to distinguish the attitudes of other creatures. Humans are also animals, and their thoughts will be unconsciously revealed through actions and expressions. They may be full of vigilance, accumulate malice to prepare for attack, or ignore it carelessly.

The young professor in front of him was polite, spoke gently and thoughtfully, and was able to chat freely even though they had never met before. He was clearly a Slytherin, but when he told the story of the horned water serpent, the sincerity was unfaithful.

"you are right."

Newt withdrew his gaze and handed the snake egg back. "The hatching of magical beasts of different species requires following a ritual. There are requirements for weather, astrology, climate, and temperature. If you try recklessly, it will only disrupt the magic and hatch strange things."

"Mr. Scamander, can you help me?"

"You're lucky, or perhaps you're trustworthy." Newt put the curious Bowtruckle back into his pocket. "The water snake has almost completed the initial hatching ritual. All that's left is for the little creature inside the egg to absorb the magic energy and break out of the shell."

Melvin's eyes suddenly lit up: "What should we do?"

"Have you heard of brood parasites?" Newt explained. "Some birds place their eggs in other birds' nests to hatch their offspring. This snake egg also needs brood parasites. When I go back, I'll find some magical snakes with powerful magical powers to provide the eggs with magical energy. When the time is right, they will hatch successfully."

"A powerful snake-like magical creature."

Melvin repeated, his tone somewhat complicated.

"You need to be extra careful and choose a gentle snake. Some aggressive snakes will smash the eggs. You also need to be careful about feeding. Don't let the incubating snake feel hungry. It may mistake the eggs for food..."

Newt gave many more reminders.

According to his personality when he was young, he would probably take the snake egg and hatch it himself, but this snake egg has a very special meaning, and Newt respects the choice of the horned water snake.

From a distance, he saw his companion standing next to Ms. Bones, waving at him. It seemed that he had to go over and talk to him. Newt nodded slightly at Melvin:

"Professor Lewinter, if you have any difficulties, you can write to me. You can ask freshman Rolf for the address and just say I told you."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Scamander."

"..."

Melvin looked down at the gray snake eggs, his mind drifting back to Hogwarts.

The original plan was to play the pen pal game with Riddle for a few more weeks, perfect the character of the Fantastic Beasts assistant, wait for the right time to open the Chamber of Secrets, use the basilisk to lead out Slytherin's training plan, and then find a way to trick Riddle into helping hatch the horned serpent.

I didn't expect to get an answer from Mr. Scamander.

The pen pal game still needs to be played, but there is no need to develop characters, and the secret room problem does not need to be delayed.

……

The melody on the dance floor started playing again.

After dancing four dances with the Eckmore family's niece, Lockhart finally had time to bring up the matter of introducing his school colleagues to Mrs. Eckmore. He straightened his blue tuxedo, flashed an impeccable, radiant smile, and, seeing the witches' inviting glances, firmly shook his head. Although he had enjoyed the ball, that was the main reason he was attending the evening.

"Mrs. Aikmo, long time no see, you still look so beautiful!"

On the outer circle of the dance floor, Lockhart held up two glasses of champagne, one for himself and one for Mrs. Edgemore. "At the book signing a while ago, I heard several staff members say that the work of the Transportation Department is very boring. Is that true?"

Mrs. Aikman took a sip of champagne and glanced at him without commenting.

Lockhart may be popular with young witches and housewives, but to the powerful woman running a department, he's just a pushy writer.

If the adventure stories in the book were all true, she might look at it with more respect.

But Lockhart cannot prove that, at least not yet, he has not shown the characteristics described in the book.

Lockhart didn't seem to feel ignored, and his signature smile was still on his face: "It's like this, after I became the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, I quickly became friends with my colleagues. They all admired my legendary story, and I also respected their respective talents.

"For example, Professor Lewynter of Muggle Studies. Perhaps you've heard of him. He's the founder of the Magic Mirror Club. He invented the Shadow Mirror that took the wizarding world by storm a while ago. It's quite innovative, isn't it?"

"..."

Mrs. Edgecombe frowned slightly.

Lockhart paused, and when he saw that she hadn't interrupted him, nor had she walked away, his smile grew wider.
"Professor Lewynter hopes to make my book into a movie. I told you it's boring and just a rehash of my adventures, but he said readers need a more intuitive experience than just text. They can learn more useful things and it can help more wizards."

He sighed pretentiously and swirled his glass. "Ha! To help more people, how can I refuse?"

Mrs. Aikmo frowned even tighter. "If all you're going to say is this kind of nonsense, you don't have to say anything."

"I'm used to explaining things in detail. Maybe it's a writer's occupational disease."

Seeing her put down her glass and turn to leave, Lockhart raised his voice and spoke faster, "Professor Lewynter wants to work with you to use the Floo Network to send images into the homes of ordinary wizards."

Mrs. Aikmo glanced at him and chuckled, "So you can speak normally?"

……

Under the tarpaulin of the buffet area of ​​the Nott Manor banquet, hundreds of candles floated in the wind, swaying slowly, illuminating the surroundings with dim shadows. Occasionally, a flying insect would land on the contact area between the wax and the candle wick, causing sparks to splash.

The middleman, Lockhart, was introducing Mrs. Edgemore with his signature smile on his face, his teeth shining in the night: "Mrs. Edgemore, this is Professor Lewynter."

"Melvin, this is Mrs. Aikman from the Transportation Department."

"Nice to meet you."

Melvin was dressed in a black and white robe. He shook hands with her while looking at this powerful mid-level official in the Ministry of Magic.

She looked to be around 35 years old. Halfway through the party, her neat short dark brown hair was still combed meticulously, her bean paste-colored lipstick had not faded at all, and her well-maintained face still showed traces of her youth. There were fine lines at the corners of her eyes and mouth caused by long-term seriousness and tension.

The dark grey dress robe was tailored just right, the fabric was very textured, and paired with a pearl necklace and pearl earrings, it was in line with his impression of a pure-blood family.

In terms of rank, this lady is not as good as Umbridge and cannot influence the formulation of bills and policies. However, the transformation of the Floo Network is a complicated project. If the cooperation of this official from the direct department is won, the promotion process will be much smoother.

Mrs. Aikman smiled faintly in response, a polite one, but her eyes were unconcealed, full of assessment and judgment.

"You want to cooperate with me?" she asked softly, "Why?"

Melvin said frankly, "The upcoming home mirror needs to be integrated with the Floo Network. I need a partner who can truly manage the Floo Network, not a minister obsessed with power and wealth, or the head of the Auror Department or the director of law enforcement who makes wild guesses and suspects that the mirror is a conspiracy."

Mrs. Edgecombe was still puzzled. "According to what I've heard, although Professor Lewynter has only been here a short time, he has already overpowered Minister Fudge and his loyal servant Umbridge twice in the past two years. With the assistance of Madam Marchbank and Dumbledore, even if Fudge has been frequently sending people to the Wizengamot recently, you can achieve your goal as long as you are a little more forceful."

The news about the Inquisition was not blocked. People inside the Ministry of Magic knew the truth very well. Any discerning wizard could see that Madam Bones and Crouch were neutral, the prestigious old wizards supported Melvin, and Fudge and Umbridge could do nothing with the Shadow Mirror.

Melvin paused for a moment and said, "What I want is win-win cooperation. We need to quickly establish the framework of the Shadow Mirror and the Floo Network, rather than wasting our energy on meaningless disputes."

"What can I get?" Mrs. Aikman said without any concealment.

"Fame, fortune..."

Melvin saw that the witch's eyes showed no sign of change. He paused for a moment and asked tentatively, "Marietta's growth?"

Upon hearing his daughter's name, Aikemo suddenly fell silent and looked at the young professor intently, asking him to give an explanation.

The dim candlelight flickered. Even with the magic protection, some moths still managed to fly towards the candle, splashing the burning wax. A beetle swayed and landed on Mrs. Aikman's shoulder.

Melvin's dark, calm eyes shone with the confidence of a professor, reflecting the flickering light. "Marietta is now in her third year and has enrolled in my Muggle Studies class. Although we haven't been together for long, I can tell there were problems with her upbringing. Her talents and personality have been suppressed and distorted."

The eyes of the student's parents in front of him suddenly became sharp, and the polite smile was completely restrained.

"In my first class, all students had the opportunity to introduce themselves and explain why they chose this course. Most people thought it was interesting, but Marietta was influenced by her roommate. The Ravenclaw Quidditch team was recruiting new members, and regardless of talent, most students wanted to try out. Marietta wasn't sure what she was thinking, so she procrastinated until the registration deadline. Only after her roommate's persuasion did she finally fill out the application form..."

Melvin looked at the beetle on the parent's shoulder and said with a smile, "I believe there are many examples like this. You parents of students should have noticed it too."

"Everyone has a different personality. Why do you say it's a problem of family education?" Mrs. Aikmo's tone was still cold, but her actual attitude had changed.

Melvin gave the answer: "Because of parents like you, you bring your work status back home for a long time and treat your children the same way you treat your subordinates. To be frank, you are very controlling and lack warmth. This has led to your child's current personality. She has no opinions, procrastinates and hesitates, and shrinks from taking action. She does whatever others say to her!"

Mrs. Aikman's face was stern and hard. "What do you want?"

"I won't use students to negotiate with parents." Melvin finally backed down and shook his head. "This is just a professor's advice to parents. I hope you'll listen. Regarding the Magic Mirror Club, I can promise you generous profits and support for promotions, but that's all."

Mrs. Aikman was stunned for a moment, and her tense expression gradually relaxed.

(End of this chapter)