Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 235 The Girl Embracing

As the dance performance drew to a close, the orchestral music shifted from lively to somber, cool-toned lighting enveloped the stage, and simple tombstones were adorned with flowers and vines. Dry ice props billowed out white mist, and the appearance of the ghost added a touch of mystery.

The lights above the audience seats came on, and the audience members, who were sitting below the stage, pulled themselves away from the performance, leaned back in their chairs to breathe, and whispered to each other.

Judging from the applause at the end of the performance, it was a very good show, and the dancers and the music left a deep impression.

"Are you planning to adapt the ballet for a film screening? Are you going to adapt it or screen the original version directly?"

Melvin, sitting in the back row, asked, "It seems there are no professional dancers in the wizarding world. Perhaps the Veela could learn, but I would recommend collaborating with a theater troupe. Their orchestral music, choreography, and stage design are constantly being improved."

“My mother’s idea was to pursue two plans simultaneously. In the short term, the performances would be extracted directly from the memories and played. In the long term, the plan was to hire Veela to learn dance and music, and to adapt the story to better fit the wizarding background.”

Melvin nodded, watching the actors leave the stage in an orderly fashion: "According to the rules set by the Magic Mirror Club, directly screening Muggle content requires their consent and obtaining copyright permission through legitimate means."

“Copyright…” Christine repeated the somewhat unfamiliar word.

"The creators in the Muggle world have exclusive rights to their literary, artistic, and technological creations, which are used to protect their works from being used by others without authorization. The Magic Mirror Club established copyright rules from its inception, prohibiting wizards from arbitrarily misappropriating Muggle images for profit."

Melvin explained, "If the Rozier family needs it, I can introduce you to a Disney executive who is very experienced in copyright management."

"Could you help Rozier obtain authorization from the theater company?"

Christine frowned: "What I mean is, if something goes wrong during negotiations between wizards in the magical world and a Muggle theater troupe, it could lead to a massive leak of magic, a serious violation of the secrecy law."

“You need to disguise your identities and set up shell companies…” Melvin smiled, “That’s why I said you need experienced professionals.”

"Is she a wizard working in the Muggle world?"

"She's a Muggle, and she was my assistant when I worked at the theater..."

Melvin got up to leave with the others, but suddenly stopped. He saw a wizarding newspaper on the front row seat, which seemed to have been left behind by Mr. Delacour when he was engrossed in reading it.

As the theater closed, Furong and Gabrielle walked out, holding hands to prevent themselves from getting separated.

Ahead were their parents, also holding hands and snuggling together, occasionally whispering in each other's ears, reminiscing about the feeling of dating when they were young. Even though they were middle-aged wizards in their fifties or sixties, they were still as affectionate as young couples, without worrying about setting a bad example for the children.

"Was the ballet good?" Hibiscus asked Gabrielle, looking down at her.

The little girl looked confused, nodding and shaking her head. It makes sense; what love story could a child under six understand? She probably thought the neat and gorgeous dances were beautiful, but she couldn't understand the plot at all, and she sat there blankly for hours.

Hibiscus ruffled the girl's hair: "I understand. From now on, let them go out alone on these dates. We can stay home and read storybooks, play with Caramel, and you can learn a few simple spells with my wand."

Gabrielle smiled like an angel and shook her sister's hand back and forth: "We can also read the newspaper."

"newspaper?"

Furong paused for a moment, remembering that her father had bought a newspaper on the way here and tucked it into his sleeve to take into the theater to pass the time before the show started. Gabrielle had even peeked at it a few times. Turning to look at her parents in front of her, they were holding hands and shaking each other, but their sleeves were empty. It was hardly the case that they had stuffed a newspaper in there.

What about the newspaper?
Furong opened her eyes wide.

The middle-aged couple hurriedly called off their romantic date, and the whole family jumped around anxiously like rabbits.

"Don't worry, don't worry, the theater isn't ready to be cleaned yet. We can still make it back now." Madame Delacour hurried back.

Mr. Delacour followed behind, sweating profusely. He had left the wizarding newspaper at the Muggle theater. If it caused any big news, he would be brought to the Ministry of Magic's courtroom tomorrow: "By Merlin, violating the Statute of Secrecy and causing a magical leak is punishable by at least three years."

"You also have close ties with the Veela, and are suspected of being outsiders causing chaos. This usually carries a heavy sentence, likely five years..."

"Furong, you don't need to remind me of this."

The family hurried back against the flow of people. They had only gone halfway when two young audience members called out to them. A man and a woman, their faces obscured by the dim lighting, stood beside them with a smile in their eyes. The woman asked in a Parisian accent, "Sir, did you leave something behind?"

"Yes Yes."

With his heart pounding, Mr. Delacour spoke with some excitement.

"Is this the newspaper?"

The wizarding newspapers, rolled up and handed to me, were made and printed with inks quite different from Muggle newspapers. Fortunately, they were rolled up, with only half of the text visible, and the moving photographs inside were not exposed.

Mr. Delacour thanked him repeatedly as he took the photo, but his gaze couldn't help but drift towards the young man, whose slight upturn at the corner of his mouth was unsettling.

“Hmm…” Mr. Delacour wanted to ask them if they had opened it and looked at it, but he was really not sure, and it would be too suspicious to ask rashly.

Just as he was struggling with his decision, Fleur suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Professor Rozier, you've come to see a ballet too!"

Christine nodded and smiled at Fleur: "My friend and I came here to do some research. We were sitting right behind you, and we didn't say hello because we were worried about disturbing your performance. Be careful when you're in the Muggle world in the future, and don't leave any magical items behind. We covered similar cases in Defense Against the Dark Arts class."

"It won't happen again. Thank you so much, Professor Rozier."

"..."

While the teachers and students were exchanging greetings, Mr. Delacour was somewhat dumbfounded, but he was also relieved. At least he didn't have to go to the courtroom or cast a forgetfulness spell on strangers.

Watching Christine see the Delacour family off, Melvin chuckled and said, "Aren't you going to introduce me to them?"

“I’ve already introduced you. I told you you’re a professor at Hogwarts, the one who’s recently become famous, Melvin Levent. But they just asked me to give them my greetings; they didn’t intend to come over and say hello.”

At this point, Christine looked puzzled. "I don't know if it's just my imagination, but when the museum incident was mentioned, they seemed to deliberately distance themselves from your thoughts."

“Perhaps it’s just a language barrier.” Melvin didn’t seem to care too much. “Let’s continue talking about the dance drama adaptation. I think the way the ghosts take revenge on the unfaithful men is very clever. Making them keep moving their hands and feet to stop the death just happens to match the effect of the dance spell.”

The young witch nodded, like a student asking for tutoring after class, and turned to ask, "But how does a ghost cast a spell?"

Melvin's gaze fell on her shoulder, noticing a few strands of hair resting on her fair and graceful neck. He paused briefly. "It could be changed to the pets kept by ghosts. In Taranto, southern Italy, there is a poisonous spider called Tarantula. Those bitten by it will dance wildly until they die."

"..."

On the streets of Paris at night, streetlights come one after another, the older ones slightly dimmer, casting shadows and dappled light on the ground.

A rustling sound traveled through the dim night sky. Melvin looked up and saw a dark shadow flying low approaching. It was a sharp-eyed owl, staring straight at Melvin, flapping its wings and landing in front of him.

"A letter for me?" Melvin asked, somewhat surprised.

I took it from the owl's beak; it was a short note, and the handwriting was familiar:
"Professor! Bastian needs help."

……

Late at night, in a luxury suite at a hotel.

The elegantly decorated bedroom had only a side lamp on, and the crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling was dim. The girl lay weakly on the bed, her brows slightly furrowed even in her sleep. She was covered with a thin blanket, which rose and fell evenly with her breathing.

Melvin stood by the carpeted bed, a few feet away from the Obscurial girl. A head peeked out from the doorway not far behind him. Hermione and her parents were outside, and not wanting to disturb Bastian who had finally fallen asleep, they didn't come in with them.

Upon receiving the news, Melvin bid farewell to Christine and arrived at the hotel in just five minutes. After briefly learning about the recent situation, he immediately began to check on Bastian's condition.

Even St. Mungo's might not be able to cure such a rare case as the Obscurus, not to mention that Melvin is not a professional healer and can only rely on his own keen magical perception to judge Bastian's current condition.

After the inspection, Melvin turned off the side light, left the bedroom and closed the door behind him. The Granger family immediately surrounded him.

Hermione was indeed a calm and collected wizard. Without any intention of greeting or pleasantries, she immediately began to explain the situation: "Since we returned from our stroll down the Champs-Élysées two days ago, Bastian has had little appetite. At first, we thought she was just too tired, so we told her to rest, but she hasn't gotten any better in the last two days."

Mrs. Granger added, "We suspected food poisoning or heatstroke, but Bastian's symptoms didn't match; she was just unusually weak, weak for no apparent reason."

Mr. Granger opened his mouth, but finding nothing to add, he sighed regretfully, "At first she could still get out of bed and walk around. She really wanted to go to Disneyland, but in the end she couldn't."

Hermione took a deep breath: "Professor, Bastian... will she get better?"

"It might not be so optimistic; there's a chaotic and powerful magic flowing through her body," Melvin thought, considering how to proceed.

He looked up at the dentist couple beside him. Their candlelight-like eyes were filled with sorrow. Although they hadn't known the Silent Girl for long, their kind nature had already built up a deep bond between them, and they refused to abandon her as a stranger.

"The soul is the source of magic. Bastian suffered great psychological trauma in his childhood, which twisted his soul and alienated his magic, turning it into a violent and powerful parasite, the Obscurus."

Melvin explained in the simplest terms possible, "The parasite mentioned here does not refer to an Obscurus as a kind of creature, but rather it is a creature that gradually grows stronger by absorbing the life force of a wizard until it goes out of control and explodes, causing the Obscurus and the Obscurus within the wizard to dissipate together."

"Mo Mo Ran?"

Hermione, hearing the term again, couldn't help but ask, "Didn't Bastian undergo a transformation?"

“After her transformation, Obscurus became less violent, more gentle and controllable, and could obey Bastian’s orders and be used at her behest.” Melvin sighed. “But she also became more powerful, growing much faster. Her body could not bear such great power, so she became weak and powerless.”

Magic is a power that wizards are born with, which grows as they develop. It is gentle and harmless, and can subtly change a wizard's body and extend their lifespan. However, the transformed Obscurial power is completely different. It is difficult to tame, has strong destructive power, and can even devour a wizard's life force to grow itself.

Bastian's pure and kind soul caused the Obscurus to change again, becoming less violent, but still beyond the capacity of a six-year-old's body.

“Even if she is an Obscurial, the other Obscurials that day were older than her, and they could move around freely. Why did Bastian suddenly become so weak?”

“Because Bastian’s power far surpasses theirs,” Melvin said softly.

Will she get better?

“Magic tends to stabilize after a wizard reaches adulthood, and if she can successfully pass her 17th birthday, she should be fine. However…” Melvin paused for a moment, “Obscured ones almost never live past ten.”

With a creak, the bedroom door opened a crack, revealing a girl who had been eavesdropping behind it.

Bastian met their gaze, her deep blue eyes glazed over, dimming as if the world had faded in her eyes.

Hermione moved closer, knelt down, and hugged her tightly. Tears streamed down her face silently. She suddenly felt very sad. This girl had been living in a cult for so long, and now that she had finally started a new life, a bright and beautiful future did not welcome her.

"It's alright." Bastian wiped Hermione's tears with his sleeve.

Hermione couldn't speak, she just hugged the girl tightly, tears soaking her collar. Although they had only known each other for less than two weeks, she already considered Bastian family and wanted to go to Disneyland with her, a place she had been looking forward to for a long time. When she turned 11, she would take her to visit Hogwarts.

She felt as if her heart was being squeezed, and the more Bastian tried to comfort her, the more she wanted to cry.

“Don’t worry…” Bastian lowered his voice, “I will live to be 10 years old, then celebrate my 17th birthday, and live a good life.”

Hermione was still in tears.

“I’m serious, you have to believe me. Professor Levent isn’t an Obscurial, how would he know anything about Obscurials? He didn’t even know I was eavesdropping behind the door…”

Hermione showed no sign of stopping, and Bastian's youthful face showed helplessness: "Are you going to keep doing this? You promised to take me to Disneyland and to Hogwarts. How am I supposed to play or go to school like this?"

Hermione slowly recovered, her clenched heart seemingly filled with some kind of power. She raised her head, her expression solemn like that of a knight embarking on a long journey:

"Let's go to Disneyland, tomorrow!"

(End of this chapter)