HP: Azkaban's Outstanding Graduate

These idle little wizards are always full of energy, and during such a festival, if no professors were at the castle, they could probably turn Hogwarts into a complete mess in just one night.

So at times like these, the school corridors are never short of patrols: professors, ghosts, and Filch and his cat.

However, since Christmas is tomorrow, the young wizards were relatively well-behaved today. Sagrais mailed out letters and gifts one by one, and then went to the library to kill time.

The next morning, the campus was filled with a festive atmosphere. After having breakfast in the auditorium, Sagres returned to his office, where, unsurprisingly, his window was piled high with letters and gifts.

Sagres casually picked up a dark blue parchment envelope, sealed with a falcon totem in outstretched wings, its edges sprinkled with gold dust.

This was from the kestrel. He raised an eyebrow and opened the letter.

"Dear Mr. Raven:

First of all, I want to thank you for what you entrusted to Nightingale to deliver to us, although I am not satisfied with it at all...

I must say, that peculiar wand truly amazed me; if there were a contest for the 'most terrifying wand design of the year,' it would definitely be in the top three.

But Mr. Raven, haven't you considered that it might seem strange for a young woman like me to carry such a wand? What kind of terrifying old witch do you see me as? Or is your user experience awareness even worse than that of a troll in ballet shoes?

Of course, I, Eliza Lumina, am not as careless as you. This return gift is carefully selected and I guarantee you will be satisfied.

Finally, please allow me, as a professional fortune teller, to give you some free advice: next time you give someone a gift, refer less to the illustrations in "Demystifying Black Magic" and more to "Fairy Fashion Yearbook".

Your sincerity

红隼

During the most chaotic time of the winter night star trails

Enclosed with the letter was a gift box, which Sagles opened to find a Muggle book—"A Collection of English Jokes".

He pursed his lips helplessly. He had long expected that Red Falcon was not very satisfied with the design of her wand, but her resentment seemed to be deeper than he had imagined, with a hint of complaint in her words.

“He’s much bolder than when we first met.” Sagres flipped through a couple of pages of the joke book, found it was full of outdated jokes, and put it down casually.

Next came Thunderbird's letter, along with a book he sent about the cores and shafts of North American wands. He flipped through it casually and found that it was all stuff he already knew.

Then came two letters from other Bronze Feather members, wishing him a Merry Christmas and asking if he was interested in accepting a commission, which he declined without hesitation.

Then there were his students. Although he only taught at Iphamoni for a year, he had quite a few students who loved him. Most of the letters they sent were about their current situation and complaining about the new teacher.

He remained noncommittal, picked up the last letter, and a familiar scent wafted from it; it was a letter from Nightingale.

Dear Mr. Raven:

While the morning mist still lingered deep in the Pyrenees, the 'Emotional Spell Analysis Chart' you sent was already on my desk. The spellcasting nodes on the chart were broken down very clearly, and I think I should be able to master this magic soon.

To be honest, this will be of great help to my upcoming teaching, so please allow me to say thank you.

Also, when Lochteus sent me a letter, I noticed it was much less verbose than before; I wonder if that's just my imagination.

Enclosed in this letter is an amethyst bottle containing my newly concocted perfume potion, 'Deep Blue Song'. This is a Christmas thank-you gift I made especially for you after learning about the Potions tradition in Beauxbatons. I hope you like it.

Note: If you look closely, you'll also find a dwarf wine barrel demon inside the bottle, stealing perfume—it insists it's the muse of "The Song of the Deep Blue." I couldn't do anything about it, so I sent it along with the letter.

May the starlight guide your research direction.

Follower Nightingale

On Christmas Eve

Sagres opened the bottle cap and glanced at the barrel monster inside. The monster was immediately frightened and slid to the bottom of the bottle, refusing to come up. Sagres smiled, put the cap back on, and left the office.

The Christmas party at Hogwarts was quite lavish, with roast turkey, roast sausages, butter peas, and potatoes. Everyone at the party seemed very happy. Professor Flitwick told Dumbledore a joke, which made him laugh heartily.

A drunken Hagrid even kissed Professor McGonagall on the cheek, and surprisingly, McGonagall wasn't angry. Instead, she was amused by Hagrid's drunken state and chuckled, her wizard hat tilting to one side.

After finishing his meal, Sagres left the Great Hall. On his way to the library, he encountered the Weasley twins with Harry and the others, a group of young wizards having a lively snowball fight.

The battle was quite intense; as Sagres walked down the corridor, snowballs nearly hit him.

"I'm sorry, Professor." It was unclear whether it was George or Fred who apologized to Sagrais, and then rushed back into the snow.

Sagres stood there watching them play, a smile unconsciously creeping onto his face, until the soaking wet group walked together toward the common room before he finally started walking toward his office.

Just then, Filch suddenly darted out of the porch with his cat, grabbed the twins by their sweaters, and pulled Harry by the arm, roughly trying to drag them away.

"Is there a problem?" Sagres asked coldly when he saw the agitated Filch.

“Professor, look at the corridor, it's flooded…” Filch tugged at the little wizard he was holding, “They did it, I’m going to hand them over…”

“But this doesn’t violate school rules.” Sagles interrupted Filch directly. He didn’t like this self-righteous old Squib at all, because the other man had caused him a lot of trouble since he was a student.

Sagrass slowly walked up to them, touched them with his wand, and the young wizards' soaked clothes instantly dried. Then he simply waved for them to leave.

The Weasley brothers and Harry left Filch with grateful smiles on their faces, while Sagles ignored Filch's grim expression and turned to leave.

He felt he had been quite magnanimous, considering that the only people in the entire school who could get along well with Filch were probably Snape and the cat named "Mrs. Lorris".

When he was in school, the other person often cooperated with Snape to catch students who were out at night in the castle. If they were unlucky enough to run into Peeves causing trouble, then demerit points and detention were basically a foregone conclusion.

Sagres returned to his office, put Filch out of his mind, carefully considered the teaching content after Christmas, and then took out a quill and parchment to write a letter.

Dear Ms. Xuexiao:

I have a request regarding troll specimens:

In next month's "Spell Theory and Practice" class, I need to demonstrate to students the differences between three troll subspecies (mountain monster, river monster, and forest monster) and how to deal with them. I would greatly appreciate it if you could provide the following individuals:

1. Alpine Rock Monster (must have its head and horns intact, for demonstration of its attack methods)

2. Rhine River Mud Giant (It's best to bring aquatic barnacles to analyze water system mutations)

3. Black Forest Moss Giant (Please ensure the glowing moss colony on its back is undamaged)

The three seamless stretching crystal bottles enclosed with the letter each contain a static opal enchanted with a powerful shrinking spell:

- When the troll enters within ten yards, chant "Subdue," and the spell woven within the stone will compress it to doll size.

- During its imprisonment, the troll will fall into a dreamless slumber, and its life activities will completely cease.

1. The specimens are for academic demonstration purposes only and will be returned in the same manner after the demonstration.

2. As a token of my gratitude, I will present you with a phoenix feather pen that I found in Flippant Lane. The pen is engraved with "To the most cunning cargo escort." I wonder if it is the one you lost last year?

Your friend

Raven

Sagres placed the parchment and three crystal bottles into an envelope, stamped a raven-shaped seal on the sealing wax, then summoned Lochtis, fed it a handful of mithril, and handed the envelope to it.

Watching the messenger raven fly away, he couldn't help but imagine what kind of expression these young wizards would have when they returned to Hogwarts after Christmas and saw the surprise he had prepared for them.

That way, we can also take the opportunity to test their knowledge.

Smile faded, and Sagres got up and walked towards the library.

Chapter 21 Night Tour

When Harry Potter, a first-year student, received a Christmas gift from Dumbledore—the Invisibility Cloak left by his father—an impulse kept swirling in his mind.

Wearing this invisibility cloak, Hogwarts Castle was essentially open to him; he could go wherever he wanted. He wouldn't be caught by Filch, nor would the professors see him.

He could even use the invisibility cloak to check out the restricted section of the library to find out who Nicolas Flamel was and what that annoying Snape was looking for behind the trapdoor.

However, he had a thought he hadn't told anyone: he hoped that when he first used the invisibility cloak, he would be alone, because it was something his father had left him.

Harry thought this through and then took action as night fell.

Wearing an invisibility cloak, he slipped through the doorway of the common room, down the moving staircase and through the long corridor, and then into the library—everything went remarkably smoothly.

Until he met someone in the restricted book section—Professor Greengrass.

Fortunately, the bookshelf shielded him from disturbing the other person. Professor Greengrass seemed to be reading very intently. Harry quietly hid the lamp inside his Invisibility Cloak and then tiptoed past him from behind.

He didn't bother to see what Professor Greengrass was reading. Anyway, the restricted area was large; he could just sneak the book back to his dorm and return it the next night.

He moved through the bookshelves without disturbing the professor. Harry was very pleased with his invisibility cloak, which made him even more curious about his father.

What kind of person is he? Why does he possess such a magical invisibility cloak? Did he do this while studying at Hogwarts, wandering around the castle at night wearing the invisibility cloak?

A series of questions flooded his mind as Harry wandered absentmindedly among the bookshelves, then he seemed to hear a voice calling to him.

He stopped in front of a row of bookshelves and reached out to take a thick book off the shelf.

"The Book of Answers"—that's what it says on the cover. The faint call grows stronger, as if telling him that as long as he opens this book, he can find the answers to all his questions here, just like its name suggests.

Normally, Harry would have refused without hesitation, because Ron had told him many times that books of unknown origin were dangerous.

But at that moment he was completely captivated by the book, so much so that he turned to the title page without hesitation.

"Ah~"

A piercing scream suddenly came from the book.

On the book's cover, a grotesque face seems to be struggling to squeeze out of the book, and the scream comes from its mouth.

Harry was startled by the sudden change. He slammed the book shut and hurriedly put it back in its place.

The screams stopped, and everything that had just happened seemed like an illusion, but reason reminded him that it was all real.

Because he heard footsteps approaching, and more than one...

Harry put on the Invisibility Cloak and stood up abruptly, knocking over a lamp in his haste. But he didn't care anymore; the footsteps were getting closer and closer. If he got caught, how many points would Gryffindor lose?

Without looking back, he ran out of the restricted book section, narrowly avoiding Filch and his cat at the library entrance, slipping past their glaring eyes and disappearing into the darkness.

After running for a while, Harry felt he had run far enough, so he stopped to catch his breath.

"Professor, you said you would notify me if you found anyone loitering around the school or trespassing into the restricted book area."

Harry was startled by Filch's sudden voice and almost cried out.

"The forbidden section? Who is it? Did you see it?" Snape's voice rang out, and Harry was even more terrified.

“It’s me!” Sagras emerged from the darkness.

He held a book in his left hand, and a faint shout could be heard coming from the title page.

“Sagres, it’s you again…” Snape spat out his name through gritted teeth, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Doing what I do every day,” Sagres replied expressionlessly. “Aren’t you the same? Still doing the same things as you did years ago.”

After saying that, he walked over to Filch and stuffed the book in his hand into Filch's arms.