Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 138 Professor McGonagall won’t blame me, right?
A dark red and black mark, slightly larger than the palm of an adult wizard, was branded on the limbs of the eight-eyed giant spider. The pattern was a skull with a poisonous snake spewing out of its mouth.

Melvin casually placed his wand on the giant spider's head, not caring about its reaction. He half-knelt down and looked at the mark with the help of the blue flames floating around. His dark eyes were bright, and he occasionally showed a thoughtful look.

The marked Aragog lay on the ground, with the black and gray bristles on his body standing up, and the other seven spider legs kept trembling, making a clicking sound along with the mouthparts.

Melvin gently stroked the mark on his forelimb. The mark was surrounded by smooth shells, and it felt slightly rough, with a frosted texture, as if it had been polished with something.

The emerald green on the skull and the snake's eyes gradually dimmed, no longer as bright as when the spell was first cast.

The Dark Mark is more than just a tattoo; it's a magical mark on the person cast the spell, binding their soul to the person they're marking. It can be seen as a communication system between Voldemort and his Death Eaters, used to mark locations, transmit warnings, and verify identities.

The Dark Mark created by Voldemort contained his unique soul and dark magic mark, and Melvin could not imitate this mark. What was imprinted on Aragog was just a pattern with a simple function.

President Dippet was right to refuse Riddle the position of professor. He was not a qualified professor.

Melvin studied the mark and whispered, "The foundation of this tattoo has been constructed, but the core is still empty. We just need to wait for Voldemort to return and he can easily fill the gap. But don't worry, he wouldn't bother branding the Dark Mark on a beast like you."

Aragog held up one of his front legs tremblingly, and the other seven legs were even limp on the ground, not daring to answer.

"Hagrid was still young at the time, but I heard him tell you that every day after class he would tell you what he had learned in class. Dumbledore was the Transfiguration professor at the time, and he always loved to talk about the principles of life and work. He would also read letters from my father to you..."

Melvin put down his front paws, retracted his wand, and asked, "You should learn something, right?"

Hearing the wizard's question, the old Acromantula once again recalled his childhood life in that castle and in that cupboard.

To it, Hagrid was a qualified breeder. After hatching from the eggshell, it was fed with the leftover bread crumbs on the table. Later, it asked for meat patties, steaks, and fresh meat with blood... Hagrid risked being discovered and told his roommate that he was big and easily hungry, so he put the meat in his pocket and brought it down to it.

Taking care of a young Acromantula occupied almost all of the young wizard's spare time. Hagrid treated it as a friend. It happened that the Acromantula could speak human language and would unconsciously talk about things in class. As a result, Aragog did learn a lot of what wizards called knowledge.

How to deal with dangerous animals in the forbidden forest, how to communicate with gentle magical animals, how to store food, what kind of nest to build in the wild in winter...

These contents were of great help to the entire tribe during the first few years of life in the Forbidden Forest.

Occasionally, they would talk about Hagrid's parents: his mother was a giant who abandoned them after giving birth to Hagrid, and his father was a short wizard who jumped onto a cabinet when he received his acceptance letter to Hogwarts.

Then he died, during Hagrid's second year, the year he hatched.

When Hagrid talked about this, he kept crying, crying and laughing, which was annoying.

He was later expelled from school, and Hagrid said that fortunately his father died early and did not hear about his expulsion.

There was a time when Aragog had longed for this kind of family affection. Later, Hagrid found him a wife who laid more than a hundred eggs at a time, and a full clutch hatched in three months.

In order to feed these little creatures, it traveled deep into the Forbidden Forest all day, fighting with those dangerous animals and coaxing those gentle magical creatures. Once, it almost offended the unicorns and was hunted by the two tribes. It was Hagrid who interceded for him and the incident was barely covered up.

Then winter came, and half of the little spiders in a nest froze to death. Aragog did not feel sad, nor did he cry like Hagrid. He even felt a lot more relaxed, and learned a lesson, which was not to lay eggs and hatch them in autumn.

This is probably what we can learn from humans.

Aragog buried his head in the ground. He couldn't see anything, but this action showed that he didn't dare to resist and tried not to anger the young but somewhat evil professor.

"As a tribe living in the Forbidden Forest, the centaurs and unicorns already have their own civilizations, while you Acromantulas are nothing but barbaric animals." Melvin shook his head, not expecting to hear any insightful answers. He just tapped the front leg with his wand.

"Click..."

The hard shell broke with a sound, and the eight-eyed giant spider twitched continuously in pain, but it still crawled on the ground, not daring to make any extreme movements.

The spider's legs fell to the ground, and orange-yellow flames rose up. The shell and flesh turned into powder in the quietly burning fire. The dark red black magic mark flickered for a while, turned into a gray-black smoke, and dissipated without a trace.

"From now on, you must restrain your tribe and not harm any human children. Otherwise, you and your descendants will be thrown into this pit and burned to ashes. Do you understand?"

Aragog suppressed the pain and said respectfully, "As you command."

After crawling and waiting for a while, it heard no sounds around it and the spider web did not vibrate at all. It knew that the professor must have left, so it slowly stretched out its legs and began to move.

……

[Burning Flames]

【Whirlwind Sweep】

The sunken nest echoed with the sound of the little witch chanting spells.

The flames ignited by magic fell on the surface of the giant spider's trunk, and the dry and dense black-gray bristles were instantly ignited. The bright orange flames flowed along the gaps in the shell, and then ignited the soft head and abdomen. The skin was charred brown, and the flesh was bloody and blurred, with the aroma of roasted protein.

The aroma of meat filled the air, wailing and roaring were drowned out by the sound of colliding articulations, and dense spider webs came from all sides of the steep slope. The giant spiders that hunted in the Forbidden Forest all year round hid behind the spider webs, ready to pounce, waiting for the three little wizards to be entangled so that they could rush over and have a feast.

No spider webs fell on the three people, and the spider webs were ignited when they were still some distance away from them.

The whirlwind carried flames, sweeping up more spider webs and spiders, forming a circular wall of fire. It was not large in area and momentum, but the reckless spiders crashed into it and were like moths to the fire that were ignited, wailing and retreating in a hurry.

Occasionally, a lucky spider would break through the blockade, but would be immediately knocked out by the repulsive spell, some of them would be dizzy and some of their shells would be broken.

[Retreat the enemy three feet]

Harry and Ron's faces were illuminated by the firelight, one with a resolute expression, the other pale with his eyes twitching constantly.

"Insects are afraid of fire, and so are these spiders!" Harry repelled two giant spiders that pounced on him. "Hermione, their fur ignites easily, so they're afraid of flames. Let's slowly move the fire circle and break out!"

"Spiders are arthropods." Hermione manipulated the whirlwind to control the direction of the fire.

"Now is not the time to correct me!" Harry said helplessly.

"Breaking out is impossible. This nest is several hundred meters steep. It would take us half an hour to climb up, and we'd still have to deal with them chasing us once we get outside." Hermione tried her best to remain calm. "Let's push in and rescue Professor Lewynter. Only he can lead us out."

"But his wand is broken."

"Professor Lewinter can cast spells wandlessly!"

The sound of incantations echoed from the sunken nest. The mist quickly dissipated, leaving behind a dry, acrid smoke. The swarm of eight-eyed giant spiders gradually stabilized, no longer recklessly charging into the flames. The rhythmic clicking of their limbs colliding created an unsettling atmosphere, and all three felt the pressure.

"Look out! They're digging!" Harry and Hermione shouted at the same time.

The flame barrier was breached.

Like a sudden rainstorm in summer, crackling dirt and rocks were thrown down, gathering from all directions to the bottom of the central pit, breaking through the safety circle condensed by the flames.

The giant spiders clung to the steep slopes, and the claws on the front of their legs were like shovels, lifting up clods of earth and throwing them down from above. The flames could not ignite the earth, and it covered the burning spider webs, extinguishing the burning barrier.

After two or three uneven rounds of scattering, the ground at the bottom of the depression was several feet thick, forming a flat platform.

The three little wizards were like fragile lambs, exposed without any protection in front of the densely packed eight-eyed giant spiders.

Although there was still residual heat from the flames, Hermione felt a chill all over her body. She stared blankly at the giant spiders slowly approaching, and truly felt their weakness and their powerlessness.

They thought they could do what Dumbledore couldn't, find out the truth about Myrtle's murder, and restore Hagrid's reputation, but the reality was that they could do nothing. Without the professor's help and guidance, they could only become the beast's dessert.

"I've implicated Professor Lewinter." Hermione muttered softly.

Harry and Ron beside them didn't hear clearly. At this moment, they could only hear their own heartbeats, rumbling and slowly closing with the clicking sound of the giant spiders, making them feel breathless.

"Our wands aren't broken yet, we can't give up just like that!" Harry suddenly shouted, "Hermione, you deal with the spiders over here, Ron, you keep an eye on this side, each of us in one direction, let's get out!"

Hermione slowly pressed her lips together and tightened her grip on her wand again.

Ron was a little stunned. He opened his mouth but didn't say the frustrated words in his heart.

At this moment, the spider had approached the platform at the bottom of the pit, approaching slowly but resolutely. The eight eyes on its head were cruel and vicious, and its mouthparts were shining with a cold and eerie light.

[Retreat the enemy three feet]

The emerald green light bloomed again.

The magic spell was thrown out with all his strength and without reservation, whistling out with a sound of breaking through the air, and hit the nearby spider directly. The carriage-like beast was overturned and flew backwards, but more spiders immediately swarmed up, densely packed.

It was late at night, and the first half of the battle had already consumed most of their energy. Casting such a spell with all their strength, squeezing out every bit of magic power in their bodies, the three young wizards were soon exhausted and their vision went black.

Harry held on to the end. He vaguely heard the sound of his friend falling to the ground next to him, and he fell backwards as well. His eyes were blank and he could not see anything clearly. He could only release the repulsive spell by instinct.

The spiders finally surrounded them, and the sound of their mouthparts and front claws colliding was particularly clear.

Harry slowly lost consciousness and his pupils gradually dilated.

The eight-eyed giant spider bit the delicate neck of the little wizard, slaughtering and bleeding him, which it learned from humans.

There was a click, as if hitting some insurmountable barrier.

There was a human-like doubt in the spider's eyes. After a moment's hesitation, it bit towards the abdomen again, intending to empty the internal organs first, but its sharp mouthparts were blocked again.

That's the Iron Curtain!

The transparent, invisible iron curtain suddenly expanded, overturning the eight-eyed giant spider in the entire depression.

……

"Oh my God! What torture they went through! All the magic power in their bodies was drained away, not a single bit left."

"Poor child, even in times of war, few wizards are this tired."

"Look at them, their brows are furrowed when they sleep. They must be having nightmares, and they are suffering in their dreams."

Three clean white beds were placed in the middle of the infirmary ward. Surrounding the beds were the headmaster and the young professors. Dumbledore, wearing crescent-shaped glasses, had just returned from the lounge. He was still wearing blue pajamas, and his beard was tied together with a pink cloth strip.

Melvin could only stand on the bed to make room for Madam Pomfrey to heal. He drank several bottles of potions that looked terrible and cast spells to treat the scratches on his body. Seeing that they were still frowning and having nightmares, the school doctor poured them another bottle of joy potion.

The little wizards then slowly relaxed their brows and fell into a sweet sleep.

"Professor Sprout and I were in the greenhouse this afternoon when we ran into them going to play with Hagrid. I followed them and heard they were planning to ask Aragog about what happened back then..."

Melvin briefly recounted what happened, omitting some unimportant details. "I didn't interfere too much. I let them feel the real danger and, by the way, warned the Acromantula tribe."

"Feel the real danger! Is this something a professor should say?" Madam Pomfrey murmured in a low voice, full of resentment towards him.

"Appropriate setbacks help them grow. Only when they understand pain can they know how to protect themselves. After the wounds heal, they will cherish each other more." Dumbledore was very open-minded. After all, the three of them were just overworked and were not seriously injured.

He sighed softly. "When Hagrid first released Aragog into the Forbidden Forest, the centaurs strongly objected. However, I couldn't find a better place to put him, so I kept putting it off. He reproduced very quickly, and by the time we realized what was happening, the Acromantula population had grown and was difficult to relocate. The centaur elders always complained about me when they saw me."

"..."

Melvin remained noncommittal. He didn't think the principal couldn't move a group of spiders. Who knew what the old principal was thinking?

Dumbledore stroked his beard and looked at the young professor beside him. "I hope they don't miss tomorrow's Quidditch game, otherwise this lesson will be even more painful. What do you think, Melvin?"

"Quidditch?" Melvin was stunned. "If we lose the game, Professor McGonagall won't blame me, right?"

Dumbledore spread his hands to indicate that he didn't know either.

Melvin couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

On one side was the Slytherin team, and he encouraged Draco to nominate himself and replace the original Seeker based on his ability.

On one side is the Gryffindor team. He took the risk of taking his ace player, who might miss the game due to exhaustion and coma.

Professor McGonagall wouldn't misunderstand him...

(End of this chapter)