Hogwarts: A Chinese-Style Professor

Chapter 178 Brushing Teeth in Progress

The Knight Bus had no seats, only six beds with brass pillars, each with a candle lit on a bracket beside it, illuminating the wainscoting walls.

With a loud "bang!", Harry was thrown backward by the immense inertia of the train starting.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that not only was Professor Levi sitting motionless on the edge of the bed, but even the big black dog was standing firmly, looking at him with its bright, lively eyes. Harry felt that the dog was mocking him in a good-natured way.
But how could a dog possibly do that?
He roused himself and looked out the dark window, where he saw that they were now traveling steadily and quickly along a completely different street.

This Knight bus keeps veering onto the sidewalk, but it never hits anything.

The rows of lampposts, mailboxes, and trash cans all jumped aside to make way for the car as it drove by, and then returned to their original positions after it had passed.

Harry was engrossed in watching when he saw Professor Levi stuff two pieces of chocolate into the big black dog's mouth—"Woof!"

Without any hesitation, the big black dog opened its blood-red mouth and swallowed the two small chocolates in one gulp, chewing them carefully—if it weren't for Li Wei's quick movements, it seemed as if it had wanted to bite Li Wei's fingers as well.

"professor."

"Ok?"

Harry hesitated, then stopped himself in his tracks—dogs, it seems, can't eat chocolate, right?

But he ultimately decided to pretend he didn't see it—no matter what happened, with Professor Li Wei around, it was never his place to worry.

Harry felt a little uncomfortable—he had always been afraid of Professor Levy because of his poor academic performance.

After inexplicably stumbling upon a place under his tutelage, he continued to study under his senior brother, Qiao Weili, and actually had very little, if any, interaction with his actual teacher, Li Wei.

He instinctively turned his head and saw Stan open a copy of the Daily Prophet. The front page featured a large photograph of a man with a sunken face and tangled long hair—as Harry looked over, the man in the newspaper slowly winked at him.

He looked strangely familiar.

Stan noticed his gaze, chuckled, and handed him the newspaper.

"What, doesn't the Savior usually read the newspaper? This is the most vicious criminal we've seen recently."

"No—I just saw it in a Muggle newspaper."

Harry took the newspaper in a daze, not noticing that the black dog across from him had started baring its teeth again—though it seemed to look rather smug.

It glanced at Harry and saw that Levi was taking apart his toiletries and ignoring him, so it tentatively stretched out its paw. Then, it came to Harry's side—standing, it was now almost the same height as Harry, who was sitting.

Harry turned his head and glanced at it, feeling slightly uncomfortable—but he had already come to regard the big dog as Professor Levy's new pet, so even though it was smelly and dirty, he immediately took a liking to it and did not try to stay away from it.

"Sirius Black—he looks scary, doesn't he?"

Harry held the newspaper close to the candlelight and began to read:
Blake is still at large.

The Ministry of Magic confirmed today:
Sirius Black, considered one of the most notorious prisoners ever held in Azkaban's castle, remains at large.
Harry stared at Black's blurry eyes, the only thing that seemed to be alive on that sunken face—his skin was waxy white, making him look like a vampire.

"He looks scary, doesn't he?"

Stan said from the side.

Did he really kill thirteen people?

Harry was somewhat alarmed.

"Yeah, it caused a lot of trouble in broad daylight, right in front of witnesses." "Ugh—!!!"

The big black dog next to Harry, listening to their conversation, suddenly let out a low growl like a broken bellows, which sounded extremely frightening.

Hey—why do you look a little angry, my friend?

Harry was about to speak when he suddenly heard Professor Levi wave his hand.

"Cleaned up."

To avoid aggravating the big black dog, he specifically recited the name of the spell.

A gentle breeze swept by, and all the fleas, dirt, and bloodstains on the big black dog were swept away.

He then took out a toothbrush covered in toothpaste and handed it to Harry.

"Harry, could you please brush this big black dog's teeth for me? His mouth stinks terribly."

"Okay!"

Upon receiving instructions from Professor Levi, Harry immediately focused all his energy on the task at hand.

The Knight Bus sped through the darkness, scattering bushes, bollards atop pedestrian islands, phone booths, and trees along its way. Harry, swaying in the carriage, pondered the best way to brush the big black dog's teeth.
He thought for a moment, then simply let the big black dog stand in front of him. He then put his arms around the dog's neck, pried open its mouth with his left hand, and began clumsily brushing its teeth with his right hand.

Brushing a dog's teeth, how novel!

Harry was having some wild thoughts while diligently brushing the dog's teeth. He soon felt the dog beneath him begin to tremble—its thin, bony flesh quivered, the tremor traveling through Harry's body to his heart.
For some reason, Harry suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

He didn't understand where this idea came from, and continued to carry out Li Wei's orders—he looked up and found Professor Li Wei looking out the window—his expression was somewhat similar to his own when he first rode the Knight Bus, only with a touch more emotion.

Harry stared at his expression, becoming somewhat engrossed—the toothbrush head poked the big dog's gums, eliciting a low growl of displeasure.

"Feel sorry."

Harry quickly snapped out of his reverie and began brushing its teeth with complete focus—the big black dog closed its eyes again, contentedly enjoying the brushing service from its godson.

So the conversation ended abruptly before the topic of Sirius was finished—Stan seemed a little unsatisfied, but seeing Harry so engrossed, and not daring to tease Levi, he reluctantly sat back down.

After some time, Harry felt his arm getting sore from brushing—he tentatively picked up the water glass and held it to the big black dog's mouth—and it actually lowered its head and drank the water, then gargled and spat it out.

"Professor—your pet is so smart!"

Harry was pleasantly surprised—in such a short time, he had completely fallen in love with the big black dog—and he couldn't explain why.

"Wang-"

The big black dog growled, seemingly dissatisfied with Harry's use of the term "pet."

"Yes, it's very human-like, isn't it?"

Rewi snapped out of his daze, chuckled at Harry, and then began to talk to him about the previous incident.

(End of this chapter)