Bring a fairy tale to Hogwarts!

On the other hand, Victor quickly put Quirrell out of his mind—mainly because Quirrell didn't have enough to pay, and now that he was unwilling to make the deal, it would be a waste of Victor's persuasion.

After a quick calculation of the input-output ratio, he abandoned Quirrell without hesitation.

After getting off the carriage, he arrived at the entrance to Hogsmeade village.

Professor McGonagall was still waiting on the platform for the remaining students to arrive; it would be a while before she could take everyone to the Three Broomsticks for drinks. So, to kill some time, Victor decided to wander around Hogsmeade with the chattering students around him.

The atmosphere of Hogsmeade is completely different from that of Diagon Alley.

Because of its proximity to Hogwarts, this wizarding village is filled with shops that cater specifically to students: Bee Duke's Sweet Shop displays all kinds of candies and juices, Zoco's Joke Shop sells all kinds of prank supplies, and there is also an Owl Post Office and a small shop selling fashionable cloaks along the street.

At this moment, the shops were packed with excited students, who were spending lavishly on Galleons.

As Victor walked forward, he could still hear the excited chatter of the students beside him:

"Duke Bee, Joko's Joke Shop, and Three Broomsticks Bar... Oh, I want to go to every single one of them."

"But I heard that the things sold in Joko's joke shop are not very useful, they are just pretty and novel."

"Useless? You forgot about Fred and his buddy? I just saw them headed that way. Guess they'll be throwing some of their new dung bombs down the hallway next week..."

The effects of the "Dung Egg" are already evident from its name.

As the student who had been talking walked further and further away, Victor fell silent. He began to wonder if he should do a divination before going out next week, so he wouldn't accidentally run into a dung beetle.

Hogsmeade is not only a shopping destination for students and professors, but also a source of supply for problem students!

In his opinion, a line should be embroidered on the back of Fred and George's school uniforms:

This student is prohibited from buying dung balls!

Victor immediately decided to check on Fred and George, at least to stop them from buying dung balls and prevent the school from becoming a cesspool—this wasn't unprecedented; he'd only heard Professor McGonagall mention it once before.

But Victor didn't find the Weasley brothers near Zoko's joke shop. He walked a few more steps down the road and instead saw a peculiar building.

It was a small house on the edge of Hogsmeade, with a dilapidated yard overgrown with weeds, and the windows around the house were boarded up, making it look quite strange.

But the strangest thing was a shadowy figure lurking around the house.

As Victor approached, the figure was still huddled in a drafty crack in the wooden planks, not turning its head to look, focused solely on shouting into the space:

"...Did you find it? Don't waste time, or we won't even have time to get to Bee Duke..."

"What are you doing?"

A deep voice suddenly came from behind, startling the man so much that he almost jumped up. He stiffly turned around and revealed a familiar face—it was Lee Jordan.

When Lee Jordan saw Victor, he stammered:

"Teach, professor?!"

"Phew...it was the professor, you scared me to death..."

Victor raised an eyebrow and asked again:

"What are you afraid of?"

"...Nothing much, Professor. It's just that this is the Screaming Shack, Hogsmeade's infamous haunted house," Lee Jordan said.

"Rumor has it that you can hear a female ghost screaming here at midnight. Just now, I thought you really were a ghost..."

Who understands? While exploring a haunted house, I suddenly heard someone behind me say, "What are you looking at?" It's like something out of a horror story!

Not to mention that it was Professor Victor who came; given his temperament, it wouldn't be surprising to write a whole page of horror stories just for him!

But after he caught his breath, Lee Jordan suddenly remembered something equally important.

Wait, isn't he here to keep watch for the Weasleys?!

But by then, Victor had already walked to where he had been standing.

Victor easily found a gap leading into the screaming shed near where Li had just been standing. The wooden planks around the gap were unevenly broken, as if they had been torn out by some wild animal.

Because the shack was very dark, through the hole, you could only see two shadows groping around on the ground...

But it's obviously Fred and George.

Victor: "..."

Perhaps because they were too focused, the two didn't even hear the conversation outside, and called out without turning their heads:

"Wait a minute, Lee! We haven't found the secret passage yet! The Marauder's Map clearly says it's here... Ouch, cough cough cough, this dust is too much..."

Lee Jordan's face instantly turned to despair. He weakly pleaded, "Professor, please let me explain! They were actually—"

But Victor didn't even bother with him and just waved his hand.

He suddenly took a step towards the wall.

As he took that step, tiny specks of silver light inexplicably appeared on his black leather boots, forming a strange pattern on the boots, like a magical effect.

But before Lee Jordan could see what the pattern looked like, the next second, Victor suddenly disappeared into the air in front of him, scattering into a patch of silver light!

Only a little trampled grass remained, proving that someone had just been there.

"what?"

Lee Jordan was stunned.

……

Meanwhile, inside the Screaming Shack, Fred and George were still searching everywhere for traces of the secret passage, making a mess of the already dilapidated furniture.

"This shouldn't be..." Fred muttered as he flipped through the map, "The Marauder's Map clearly says there's a secret passage leading to Hogwarts, how come I can't see it?"

"Do you think we should ask for a map?" George suggested.

"No. If we have to ask the Marauder's Map for the location of the secret passage, what's the point of exploring?"

They continued searching the room.

The screaming shack was a mess, filthy, and hadn't been there for at least a decade. The wallpaper on all four walls was peeling off, brittle to the touch, and every movement sent a cloud of dust flying.

The noise Fred and George made while searching also sent more dust floating in the air, causing them to cough uncontrollably.

But just as they were searching, several silver specks of light suddenly appeared on the open ground in front of them, floating vaguely in the air.

The silver light flashed dazzlingly for a second, outlining the shape of a person in the air!

Then, Victor appeared there.

"clatter."

The soles of the shoes struck the ground, making a slight sound. The treads on Victor's black leather boots gleamed for a fleeting second before fading back into darkness.

George and Fred were stunned to see Victor suddenly appear. They looked at Victor, then at the gap that no one had ever used before:

"professor?"

"What are you doing here? How did you get in?"

As soon as Victor appeared, he glanced disdainfully at the drab surroundings, then pulled his wand from his pocket and uttered a spell:

"Completely cleaned up."

The dust in most of the room suddenly disappeared.

After he finished, he looked at the Weasley brothers, who were still stunned and dumbfounded by the large-scale magic, and asked them:

What do you all think?