A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

Chapter 703 Negotiation Progress

Is it a house-elf?

Harry's heart skipped a beat as he recalled Hermione's words at Gringotts: the house-elves of the future world and Hogwarts had agreed to join the Pan-Magic League, and the Ministry of Magic would next gradually purge the house-elves from the hands of the ancient families, especially those being abused...

The house-elves of the Futureworld Corporation were in remarkably good spirits, perhaps due to the smiles on their faces, or perhaps because their clothes were closer to normal human aesthetics. They weren't just wearing pillowcases; you could distinguish their shirts, pants, and the strange strips of cloth used for decoration. This was better than Hogwarts. For a moment, Harry suddenly understood Hermione's long-standing persistence.

He looked up at the lively little ones on the second floor, trying to spot a familiar one. It wasn't easy; he scanned back and forth twice but couldn't find Dobby. Just as he was wondering what was going on, he felt a hand tug at his pants.

Harry lowered his head.

"Dobby?"

"Harry Potter, sir! Hello!" A house-elf looked up at him with big, round eyes. He was dressed somewhat like Professor Flitwick at school. It was Dobby, whom Harry knew well. His eyes were glistening with tears of joy at their long-awaited reunion.

Harry had a bad feeling. Dobby took two steps back and then pounced into his arms, his long, thin arms holding him tightly, his thin nose poking Harry's stomach painfully. Harry struggled to break free. "You too, Dobby," he said breathlessly.

Dobby took a few steps back and looked Harry up and down with a smile.

"Harry Potter, sir!"

Harry looked Dobby over. He was in good spirits, and his clothes showed his unique taste in many details. For example, the magenta sweater under his coat seemed to be a Christmas gift from Ron some year ago. Over the sweater was a tie with a green circle with two black dots embroidered on the tie clip. Harry guessed that it was Dobby's handiwork, but he didn't know what it meant. The house-elf also wore two thick socks of different colors, and he walked without making a sound.

"Mr. Harry Potter, please come with me."

The house-elf grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him through the crowd, up a steeply curved spiral staircase.

"Wait, wait, Dobby, I didn't come alone, I came with some friends, Ron, Neville, Hermione—" Harry said, looking back and seeing Ron being watched by his twin brothers, Neville with Mr. Ollivander, seemingly having Mr. Ollivander examine his wand; Hermione was completely gone, she had just been there a moment ago—

"Dobby knows, it was Dobby who called Miss Granger away. Dobby has something to give to Mr. Harry Potter!"

"You called Hermione away?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Yes, Dobby is following Mr. Lupin's advice, and Dobby is willing to help," said the house-elf who was leading the way. They went up to the second floor. "Dobby has prepared a coming-of-age gift for Mr. Harry Potter—"

"Oh, um, thank you, Dobby." Harry paused, suddenly realizing that his seventeenth birthday was only a few days away; the past month had flown by. But then he remembered that Bill and Fleur's wedding was also scheduled for these few days, though he wasn't sure if it would go ahead as planned. And—why was Lupin looking for Hermione?

Harry's mind raced with all sorts of thoughts, but all his doubts vanished when he saw a house-elf wearing a pink, lace-trimmed pillowcase. "Dobby, is that Sparkle?" He recognized Sparkle's big brown eyes and its nose, which looked like a flattened tomato—or rather, he remembered the latter more.

But what truly made him distinguish her from a group of house-elves was that she was one of the few who still wore a pillowcase as clothing.

"It's Sparkle," Dobby said. They walked down the escalator to the Great Hall of Sword Keep, where Harry could see the backs of people's heads.

"But she's still wearing her pillowcase, why? Isn't she free now?"

Dobby slowed down. "Sparkle can't forget Mr. Crouch. Sparkle has been counting down the days, saving money as she goes. Three years, two years, now there are only six months left."

So Barty Crouch has six months left in prison? Harry thought to himself.

They passed through a dozen doors, each flanked by ten-foot-tall magical golems. These golems had been useful during the Death Eater offensive, and some were also placed in the Ministry of Magic's main hall and important corridors. They stopped before one door, which, if anything, had two handles, one of which was unusually low.

When Harry saw Dobby turn the handle effortlessly, his doubts were answered.

Inside the door was a huge, spacious circular space. Harry glanced around and saw that it was divided into several areas. Besides the two rows of small stools in the work area, there was also a place for house-elves to rest. All the furniture was miniature, and Harry thought he had grown taller.

He instinctively turned around, and Hermione's figure flashed past on the fifth floor.

……

"Professor, you're here too?" Hermione was surprised to see Felix as she closed the door from inside. Dobby had only told her that Lupin was looking for her, without mentioning anyone else. Therefore, although Sword Keep was theoretically Professor Hyp's property, she wasn't very confident of seeing the professor here.

Sometimes Hermione had a distinct feeling that if the professor were to resign from the university one day, he might hide away somewhere no one could find him (like on the moon) to study magic, only to suddenly remember he still had a group of friends after three or five years and then come out to visit them. But the professor was actually not very good at interacting with people; many of his reactions were pre-planned, used directly in different situations. This secret was only known to his closest confidants. Furthermore, the professor wasn't a particularly enthusiastic person; very few things could move him, which is why he always seemed so composed.

Felix, of course, had no idea what Hermione was thinking. He nodded to her, gesturing for her to come over. There were other people in the spacious office; Hermione looked around in turn: Lupin, Snape, and—

"Professor Slughorn?"

Hermione's voice rose slightly as she looked in surprise at the short, plump old wizard curled up in a ball on the sofa. His round body was encased in an exquisite and magnificent robe, and his walrus-like beard twitched up and down. He was none other than Slughorn, the Potions Professor at Hogwarts.

“Come here, Miss Granger, we were just talking about potion simplification,” Slughorn said kindly. Hermione found a seat, and he continued, “Felix mentioned you had a similar experience, teaming up with students from four houses last year, right? To prepare for the OWLs exams…”

"That's a completely different matter from what we're discussing," Snape said coldly. He hadn't forgotten that the source of those simplified recipes was the textbooks he had used before, which were essentially shortcuts. He had been very proud of them in his early years, but later abandoned them because they did nothing to improve potions.

“You’re quite right, Severus,” Slughorn said absentmindedly, “but I think the cleverness and leadership shown here are commendable… Of course, we’re talking about something more difficult, and my suggestion is to start with the easy parts; it’s all in the textbooks!”

Hermione listened for a while and realized they were talking about how to make potions available to ordinary people. Snape had warned in class not to try to give potions to Muggles because you couldn't be sure which potions required the wizard's own magic to work, and no potions master had ever compiled statistics on that.

Snape and Slughorn chatted idly, spouting potion theories not found in textbooks. Hermione listened, only vaguely understanding, wishing they would speak more slowly so she could jot them down. Just then, she heard a soft chuckle.

Hermione stared blankly at Felix.

Felix lowered his head, a slight curve to his lips visible in profile. He coughed lightly twice, pulled a silver pocket watch from his pocket, and said calmly, "If you don't plan to develop a career in potions, there's really no need for you to listen. I've compiled a chart of spells and potions; their effects are all pretty much the same… I'm here today because of something else; I need your opinion. Oh, I recommended you; I think you're suitable…"

Before Hermione could speak, Snape suddenly looked at Felix and said sarcastically, "The beauty of potions lies in the subtle differences. Some people give up on this subject early on and naturally cannot appreciate its subtleties and the beauty that can captivate the soul."

Hermione blinked. Was this implying that Professor Hyp didn't know anything about potions? She then looked at Professor Slughorn.

While Slughorn wasn't as direct as Snape, he conveyed the same meaning indirectly. Hermione's tried-and-tested ability to summarize came into play again, concluding that both meant roughly the same thing—don't listen to laymen's nonsense.

Felix rolled his eyes, flicked open the watch cover, and Valen emerged, ducking to avoid the Dark Lord's hand. He ran to Hermione, gesturing wildly. Hermione's heart skipped a beat—a golden card? She looked at Felix, who stiffly turned his head away.

Just then, the door opened from the outside, and Ms. Burns and Mr. Weasley walked in. Both of them looked exhausted.

"You look tired. Are the negotiations not going well?" Lupin asked gently.

Mr. Weasley took off his glasses and bent down to wipe the lenses with the corner of his clothes. He was balding, which made one worry that in a few years he might have a similar hairstyle to Slughorn. Mr. Weasley muttered, "Probably not. The Muggle Prime Minister brought in a bunch of legal experts who were nitpicking the wording with us. In short, we've made little progress all morning."

“We are outnumbered,” Lupin said. “This hinders our development in many areas, such as law. Of course, it doesn’t have to be exactly the same. I’ve always believed that the purpose of law is to articulate our expectations of society using limited language.” He paused, then continued, “We have contingency plans for this situation, right?”

"Of course," Ms. Burns managed a smile, casting an admiring glance at Felix. "Because of the existence of the Pan-Magic Alliance, they have no excuse to order wizards around, but they want to restrict wizards' freedom through cumbersome laws. We timely proposed the concept of joint law enforcement and an external window, catching them off guard. Negotiations will continue tomorrow."

According to Felix and her ideas, wizards will not completely loosen restrictions for a long time, and each will be managed separately. They will only enforce the law together when their paths cross. Moreover, this will not be planned from the beginning, but rather a case-by-case strategy will be adopted, accumulating little by little to form a set of rules.

Joint law enforcement is for dealing with emergencies, and both sides also need a stable communication channel. Currently, there are two options on paper: one is a shop selling special items for wizards, and the other is to establish a fixed location where both sides can freely exchange and interact within a certain area, including but not limited to cooperation and communication in science and magic, allowing ordinary people to also have the opportunity to come into contact with magic, etc.

They chatted for a while longer before Ms. Burns got down to business, saying, "The law is the focus of the next round of negotiations, determining the bargaining power of both sides. I don't think it will be easy to reach an agreement. We just happened to discuss trade issues this morning, and if there's still no progress by tomorrow, I'm prepared to discuss that first."

"Letting them see the potential benefits of magic will help us achieve a better outcome." Felix nodded in agreement, then asked, "Has Babajid Akinbad contacted you?"

Ms. Burns sighed. "No, he just sends a representative every day to request a copy of the day's negotiation records. To be fair, he's a very capable man, but he's now facing a completely unfamiliar territory and is responsible for dozens of Ministries of Magic. He can't and dares not make decisions lightly."

She shook her head; without the help of others, she would be helpless even if she were placed in that difficult position.

"You've hit the nail on the head," Lupin pointed out incisively. "He himself didn't understand it and was afraid of making a mistake. So the opportunity was missed."

"Let's find a suitable opportunity to invite him to meet," Felix said.

"The right time?" Ms. Burns pondered for a moment, as if she had thought of something. "I'll arrange it. There are two more things. The first one—" she looked at Snape and Slughorn, "—is related to potions. First potions, then healing. Magic still has a significant advantage in this area."

"I need manpower," Snape said calmly. "A lot of manpower."

"Alright," Ms. Burns nodded. "There's a group of potions temporarily residing in Diagon Alley, and I'll extend an invitation to them on behalf of the Ministry of Magic. Professor Slughorn, I know you're getting on in years and have the right to enjoy a peaceful life, but right now, we need your help. Even just some advice would be appreciated."

“Oh, of course, that’s no problem,” Slughorn said. “I’ve been retired for decades and finally found that the school is the best place for me. I think I’ll stay at Hogwarts forever, but if the students aren’t interested in learning at all, I, as a professor, will have nothing to do.”

He said thoughtfully:

"It was Dumbledore who reminded me... Alas, in his final days... he said that the school is the safest place and the best place to retire. If even the school loses its peace, other places will only be worse."

The people in the room fell silent, as if they had suddenly remembered something. If they had anything in common, it was that Dumbledore had spoken to them several times in the past few months... for different reasons each time.

"The second thing is..." After a moment of silence, Ms. Burns adjusted her monocle and continued.

……

"A television interview?" Ron looked at Hermione in surprise, as if she were talking about something unbelievable.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"You could say it's a way for both sides to build trust. As you know, the Ministry of Magic is preparing to select some non-magical individuals to visit wizarding society. It's the same principle," Hermione explained. "It's not just me; Mr. Weasley and Professor Slughorn are on the list too."

"My dad's going to be on TV?" Ron said excitedly. "He didn't even tell the family. Oh, right, he's been too busy lately."

"So I have to get ready, there are only a few days left," Hermione said hurriedly. "I need to go to the library to do some research—"

"You probably won't find what you're looking for in the library," Harry reminded her.

"How could there not be? Wizarding history, wizarding culture... there definitely will be." Hermione rolled up her sleeves, looking ready to get to work.

(End of this chapter)