A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

The other two dwarfs tapped their feet to the beat with gloomy expressions, performing stiff dance movements.

Then, to the astonishment of the young wizards, a gloomy-faced "little Cupid" wearing golden wings and carrying a harp began to sing—

"Ari Lala~"

"We are messengers of love~"

"Kicking other people's calves all the way, tirelessly~"

"A declaration of love~"

Felix suddenly froze, staring blankly at the three dwarfs, his hair standing on end.

The other young wizards felt much the same way; Harry's face seemed to be twitching, and Ron was grinning and leaning back as far as he could.

Hermione listened expressionlessly, but her lips were tightly pursed, making her look about seven-tenths like Professor McGonagall.

Harry thought to himself that if anyone sent this guy to confess his feelings to him, he would be so ashamed that he would turn into steam and disappear on the spot.

After singing that awkward part, the dwarf stopped. Throughout the song, Professor McGonagall's lips trembled, "You...you..."

"Madam, we're professionals. I can even choreograph a dance on the spot, a combination of singing and dancing..." The dwarf's face twitched from side to side, as if searching for a target. Whichever direction his gaze fell, a space would appear in that direction.

Finally, the little man's gaze kept shifting between Harry and Felix.

Felix felt a tightness in his chest. Few people could make him feel nervous, but this little man in front of him had undoubtedly done so.

He strode out, his wand silently casting the Silent Spell – "Silence".

The little man opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound. He frantically touched his throat.

"Professor McGonagall, what happened?"

McGonagall said with a helpless look, "Giddro Lockhart's special Valentine's Day program is to dress up dwarfs as Cupids and have them confess their love on Valentine's Day."

“…” Felix said, “He really thinks far ahead. It’s been almost half a month since he was arrested.”

Professor McGonagall said, “In fact, he booked it a month in advance, and according to them,” she snorted at the gnome, “they are very popular.”

She cleared her throat and said to the dwarves, "You have not entered into a cooperation agreement with Hogwarts, so I regret to inform you—" Professor McGonagall was speechless.

Several dwarfs were weeping bitterly, creating a strange scene—they were silently shedding tears with serious and gloomy expressions, which made the young wizards watching feel very complicated, unsure whether to laugh or feel sorry for them.

“We’re willing to offer a discount…” said the leader of the dwarves. “It’s too difficult; our team is going to go hungry.”

Finally, Professor McGonagall took them away, leaving the problem to Dumbledore to worry about.

Not long after, the latest news arrived—

Dumbledore agreed to let the dwarves perform at the Valentine's Day party, but refused their offer to deliver love letters and read confessions to students for free.

In the common room, an upperclassman provided more accurate information: "It is said that Dumbledore did this to welcome the newly appointed Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

Chapter 117 Discussion (Available for purchase on the 31st)

The day before Valentine's Day, Hogwarts was filled with a restless, youthful energy, and the whole school came alive.

Among the young wizards, various tips for confessing one's feelings began to circulate, from the method and location of confession—under mistletoe being the most popular choice—to what clothes to wear when confessing, all of which were compiled into a set of sayings.

There was even a sudden outbreak of substandard love potions, and several professors had to put a few students in solitary confinement to stop the trend.

So the young wizards' attention shifted to the star students of each house, and they started discussing which wizard was more handsome and which witch was more beautiful...

Some of the more popular ones even have dedicated admirers. For example, Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff was already very popular, and his talent displayed in several dueling classes quickly spread his fame to other grades and houses.

Harry has been somewhat troubled lately. With the double boost of his savior aura and the school's special contribution award, his fame remains consistently high. Especially after the Basilisk's corpse was displayed at the school, everyone's fear of the Basilisk has correspondingly transformed into awe for Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

But this awe was more evident in Harry, because he was the only one who displayed exceptional combat talent—his disarming charm even surpassed that of many older students.

This earned him a group of admirers among younger students.

"Harry, there are a few girls staring at you over there. Can't you do something about it?" Hermione said irritably.

Harry looked at the group of first-year girls in the corner of the library with a helpless feeling. They were quite bold, staring straight at him, and when he looked over, they hid their faces behind their books and giggled.

Ginny was doing her homework not far away, occasionally glancing at Harry while flipping through her book.

Before long, Harry's troubles were resolved by himself; Mrs. Pince, the librarian, waved her wand and chased away all the noisy girls.

He breathed a long sigh of relief.

Ron was somewhat envious, because the people who liked listening to his stories were mostly boys, and the stories were gradually losing their popularity.

As the three of them left the library, they began to discuss the new professor.

"I wonder what the new professor will be like. I hope it's not another Lockhart or Quirrell..." Ron said with lingering fear, as those two had left him with a huge psychological scar.

“I can learn something from dueling class too.” Harry didn’t seem to care much; dueling class was his favorite course this year, but unfortunately it was only twice a month.

“Harry, Duel Class and Defense Against the Dark Arts are different. Defense Against the Dark Arts teaches you to defend against danger, while fighting is just one way to defend against danger,” Hermione said. “Actually, Snape’s theory is quite in line with the requirements of Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

Ron stared at her in shock, as if she had said something outrageous.

“Oh, don’t say that, I’m just giving an objective evaluation,” Hermione said.

Harry didn't speak; his objection wasn't to Snape's views on dueling, but to Snape himself.

On this point, the two were quite in sync: he disliked Snape, and Snape disliked him.

So he changed the subject, saying, "Any rumors about the new professor? Let's not talk about dwarfs..."

As they were talking, a dwarf walked past them with a gloomy face—they had brought their entire troupe of twelve after Dumbledore had agreed to their Valentine's Day performance.

These short, green-skinned children walking around the school became a unique sight this February.

Harry was very glad that they didn't usually wear golden wings and carry harps.

The three watched the dwarf disappear from sight, and Hermione answered his earlier question: "The new professor is called Damocles Belby. He is a potions master who just received the Order of Merlin's Medal for inventing the Wolfsbane Potion."

"Potion Master? Wolfsbane Potion?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"The Order of Merlin? Lockhart's show-off stuff?" Ron said with disgust.

The little witch first told Harry, "Wolfsbane is a new potion invented this year that allows werewolves to remain conscious during their transformation under the full moon—" Then she looked at Ron, "Professor Belby received a second-class medal, unlike Lockhart's."

Harry nodded.

"How do you know all this so clearly?" Ron asked curiously.

“I heard it from Professor Hyp; he’s good friends with the new professor, and he’s the one who recommended him to Dumbledore,” the little witch said.

Ron clicked his tongue. "Then why did he recommend his friend? I mean... the curse?"

Hermione shook her head; she couldn't understand Professor Hyp's actions either.

Privately, she actually thought Professor Hyp had made a mistake. But she still countered Ron, saying, "The new professor is only teaching for half a semester; I think he probably doesn't think it's very dangerous." She said this without much conviction.

Ron muttered, "That's dangerous too."

Their questions were somewhat answered in the evening in the common room.

Ginny said somewhat awkwardly, "Luna's mother died in a magical accident. She told me that if you want to research anything new, you're bound to encounter all sorts of dangers..."

"...unless you do nothing."

Ancient magic script office.

Felix sorted through his spoils, having spent the weekend dividing the basilisk's materials with Snape.

Other professors weren't very interested, except for Kettleburn and Hagrid, who came to see it a few times.

Professor Kettleburn's attitude was the purest; he said with a regretful look, "If we could raise it... I mean, we would have to be fully prepared."

Given the professor's exaggerated experiences, Felix was highly skeptical.

Hagrid's attitude was more complicated. He stroked the basilisk's scales with his large hand and said with a hint of sadness, "I was fired because of it. My father had just passed away not long before, and he loved me so much... It was a really dark time."

He wiped his tears with a dirty handkerchief and told Felix about his sorrows.

But before Felix could think of any comforting words, Hagrid quickly composed himself, looking at the basilisk's fangs and empty eyes, and said, "What a fascinating creature, isn't it?"

……

What lay before Felix was a green snakeskin and its separated scales, along with a dozen or so venomous fangs.

These are all the results of processing. Originally, the scales of snake skin cannot be peeled off. Like most snakes, the so-called scales are actually the product of the snake's surface skin and keratin buildup.

But with the help of magic, nothing was a problem; he easily separated the scales, keratin, and snake skin.

The basilisk possesses extremely high magic resistance, comparable to a fire dragon. Even a spell hitting its thick scales might only create a small dent.

He considered making a close-fitting soft armor so that ordinary spells would have no effect on him.

As for the scales, Felix hasn't figured out what to do with them yet—they're incredibly magically inert.

He could only hope that Professor Snape could discover a use for the basilisk scales, preferably turning them into a rare potion substitute.

Chapter 118 Valentine's Day (Available for purchase on the 31st)

Felix stared at the shimmering green snakeskin in front of him, pondering how to make it.

'First, we need to remove the impurities. This step can be similar to the process of using the Binding Vine, however, the characteristics of the Basilisk and the Man-Piercing Willow Branch are completely different...'

……

Valentine's Day, February 14th.

When the young wizards went to the Great Hall for dinner, they found that the four walls were covered with large, dazzling pink flowers, and many heart-shaped confetti were constantly falling from the light blue ceiling.

Even the usual corridors are decorated with holly and mistletoe.

Many young wizards and witches were laughing foolishly while eating.

On this day, professors will turn a blind eye and not meddle, but don't expect them to smile at you either.

“I bet Percy will be so jealous if he sees this,” Ron said, pointing to several couples holding hands in the distance. He and Percy had made up, but he still couldn’t help but tease him a couple of times.

But none of this mattered to them. Harry, Ron, and Hermione ate breakfast and rushed off to class.

It was evening.

They dragged their weary bodies into the hall, where many young wizards were already seated at the long table.

As expected, they saw the dwarves dressed as Cupid, but they stood obediently on a makeshift platform, playing their harps with gloomy faces—not unpleasant to listen to, at least not enough to make one want to run away.