Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle

I want to join in, but I feel a little inferior.

Melvin looked at the troubled face of the old principal, who was in his sixties, and tried hard to suppress his laughter.

Principal Fontana came back to his senses and glanced at Melvin. "If Ilvermorny really participates in the competition, which school will you support? Ilvermorny, your former alma mater, or Hogwarts, where you currently work?"

"We'll talk about it when the time comes..." Melvin evaded the question.

An hour and a half passed quickly as they ate and talked. When the sun completely sank into the ground and night fell, Melvin casually asked:

"Principal, have you seen that horned water snake recently? Where is it hiding and sleeping?"

Fontana looked up at the young wizard sitting next to him, paused, and revealed a secret that the Horned Water Snake had instructed him to keep secret for at least ten years: "On the second Saturday after you dropped out of school and left Ilvermorny, the Horned Water Snake died. It used the magic in its horn to ignite its body and asked me to scatter its ashes under the snake tree."

"..."

Melvin was stunned for a moment, then silently put down his cutlery, stood up and left.

Principal Fontana didn't try to stop him. He simply said softly, "Melvin, the water snake told me to tell you that it lived for 717 years, which is long enough. It died without any regrets or resentment."

Melvin paused for a moment, then continued walking towards the back yard.

……

Behind the granite hut built by the founder himself, Melvin slowly walked to the towering snake tree, found a stone to sit on without any manners, and stared at the branches of the snake tree in a daze.

Melvin remembered what Professor Kettleburn had said about the habits of the lapdog in the carriage on the way to Budapest. Some creatures are smart and spiritual and can predict their own death. At this time, they will leave home alone, avoid acquaintances, find a hidden corner, and wait for death alone.

But some animals have strange personalities. When they sense their own death, they not only don't hide, but also try to get others away.

Thinking of the water snake, Melvin suddenly felt sad.

Close your eyes and breathe in the moist mist of the night.

The first 19 years of this young wizard's life were uneventful. He woke with a distant memory, having first found himself in an orphanage. At eleven, he received a letter of acceptance from Ilvermorny and was taken to a castle on the hill by his professors. Besides attending classes during the day, he would relax and practice magic after dinner. With luck, he would find a secluded stream, where he would practice magic over and over again, never tiring of it.

He became restless when he encountered difficulties and got stuck. He returned to the dormitory and was still thinking about exploring the principles of magic. One night, he couldn't sleep, so he sneaked out of the castle and went to the stream to practice magic in the moonlight. Then he encountered an immortal long-horned water snake.

At the end of the third-year dueling class, he suddenly defeated the fifth-year teaching assistant, causing an uproar in the whole school. Even Principal Fontana personally commented and praised him. No one expected that such a talented student would suddenly drop out of school when graduation was approaching, work as a stage special effects designer for half a year, and then go to teach at Hogwarts.

The fog on the mountain was so thick at night that it could not be dispersed and it almost blocked the view.

Melvin extended his hand and waved gently.

The mountain fog suddenly dissipated, leaving behind a clear open space.

It wasn't a whirlwind sweeping away the mist, nor was it some iron curtain of foam draining out of the clearing. There wasn't even any magical fluctuation. It was more like the wizard's will directly drove the mist to disperse on its own.

Melvin placed his hands on the snake tree, and felt a cool sensation in his palms, as if he were touching the scales again. The dispersed mist gathered again, and his vision became blurred again. His consciousness gradually drifted away, and he could vaguely hear the sound of a stream in the distance.

Mist rose from the ground and moistened the entire land.

The stream was clear and pure, and seemed to come from a distant valley. Melvin closed his eyes and thought about the snake tree and the elongated shadows on the ground under the moon. He thought about himself running in the mountains at night, the silver light of the water snake's horns illuminating the bushes, the snake's body hidden in the shadow of the stream, and the snake's eyes looking up at the full moon, which was also bright silver.

Melvin had witnessed those scenes firsthand.

He seemed to be back under the snake tree. The surrounding sounds were noisy and quiet, the stream was flowing, the evening breeze was blowing the branches, and the birds and animals were chirping.

He looked up and saw a full moon hanging on the branches of the snake tree. The moonlight poured down on the branches like light flowing mercury. The whole mountain was shrouded in the cold moonlight. The shadows of the treetops were cast on the rocks. A thick, long snake hung on the branches, looking up to face the moonlight.

Melvin remained silent. At this moment, everything around him seemed like a dream, and he was afraid that breaking the silence would wake him up.

The scales of the long-horned water snake appear grayish white, with a glow flowing on the smooth scales.

Melvin turned over and climbed onto the branch, sitting next to the water snake. The man and the snake just looked at the mountain moon silently, and time seemed to stand still at this moment.

"Melvyn, goodbye."

The water snake slowly turned its head, and its mercury-like pupils were filled with concentrated moonlight, like a clear lake.

Melvin's mind was immersed in the lake, when he suddenly heard the sound of splashing water. He immediately woke up, as if a stealthy person had surfaced and found himself sitting on the branch of the snake tree. The cool and smooth touch of his hands was still there.

It was a snake egg.

Chapter 114 Hatching Method

Mount Greylock, midsummer June, early 17th century.

The horned water snake was lurking in the stream. The wizard family that moved in half a year ago had built a small granite house. For the past two months, it had been watching from afar.

It has been hesitant in its heart about whether to contact human wizards.

It wasn't until this morning when I saw the future scene that I realized the crisis was about to come and I couldn't delay any longer, so I came here to wait.

When the witch came closer, she shook her snake tail and floated out of the stream:

"Aesop Searle...

"Fate has led you to Greylock. I know you have Slytherin's blood in you. You stole his wand, and his descendants are unwilling to let you go.

"Go back quickly and pay attention, the crisis is coming."

"..."

Two weeks later, the prophecy came true.

Gormlaith Gaunt followed her niece's trail and found this magic school. Slytherin's snakewood wand was useless against Parseltongue, and the curse caused Isolt and her husband to fall into a deep sleep.

Just as Gormlaith was about to kill them in their sleep, the horned water snake sent a warning to their adopted son through the magic wand. With the help of their animal friends and Pukki, the Aesops shot Gormlaith through the heart with a poisoned arrow.

From then on, Ilvermorny had four major houses: Pukki, Panther, Thunderbird and Horned Serpent.

The Slytherin wand was buried at the top of the mountain, where it soon sprouted branches and grew into a green snake tree.

The horned water snake hid in the stream, watching the magic school grow and develop. The original granite cottage was replaced by a magnificent castle. Its statue was set up at the gate of the castle, with beautiful gems inlaid in its eyes.

Decades later, an old witch came to the stream with a cane.

The long-horned water snake surfaced again, its silver pupils gleaming faintly, looking quite intelligent. "Are you going to die?"

The old witch's kind smile froze, but she nodded stiffly.

"Is there anything you can ask of me? Protect this school and the teachers and students in the castle?"

"..."

The old witch looked at the water snake in front of her, nodded, and then shook her head.

As more and more wizards come to the New World, Ilvermorny will become more and more powerful. It will stand for a thousand years like Hogwarts. If this school really perishes, it will only be due to internal reasons.

However, this water snake has been hiding alone in the stream all these years.

"I know you like to be alone and rarely show up in front of students, but I still want to say, if you meet a student you think is good again, make friends with him, just like when we first met."

"..."

The stream gurgled, and before we knew it, it was Christmas 1990.

Mount Greylock seemed to have not changed at all. The trees and clouds were still the same. Animals were constantly being born and dying, just as they had been three hundred years ago, and seven hundred years ago.

The long-horned water snake lurks in the stream and floats slowly.

The student who dropped out early had come to say his final goodbye, and asked it in a roundabout way if he had seen any prophecy, and where he should go and what he should do after dropping out?

But the water snake did not give a clear answer. It was no longer the water snake that could foresee the future three hundred years ago.

The body ages and the magic fades.

The stream washed over the snake's scales as it did in the past. Feeling the cold temperature, the snake's pupils couldn't help but feel dazed. It couldn't help but think of the student practicing magic in front of the stream. As it thought about it, it thought of the founding witch.

Back then, his celestial eye was still clear, and he could see the crisis a few weeks later and the witch's impending death. But even when his celestial eye was at its strongest, he could not foresee his own death. On the contrary, now that his celestial eye has weakened and he can't see clearly, he has a clear premonition that death is approaching.

When saying goodbye to the old witch three hundred years ago, the horned water snake never thought that it would also have to say goodbye to others before dying. Suddenly, it understood Aesop's feelings at that time. It was not panicked or uneasy, but rather felt a little strange.

"..."

But Melvin is still too young and probably cannot accept this kind of farewell that is based on life and death.

Then don't tell him for now.

Whether it's Slytherin's relics or the magic of magical beasts, let him explore them slowly on his own.

He still has a long life ahead of him anyway.

The long-horned water snake thought so and sank into the icy stream again, exhaling a string of fine bubbles from its mouth and nose. The temperature made its body feel more sleepy than ever before. It hoped to fall into a deep sleep and never wake up.

……

Late at night, Melvin suddenly opened his eyes.

"It turned out to be a dream..."

Melvin sat up and found that the magic power in his body had changed again. It felt different from the previous times. He subconsciously wanted to release a few spells, but he suppressed the impulse and reached out to hold the wand. The magic power flowed lightly.

"Om..."

The wand seemed to vibrate with joy.

A ray of bright silver light bloomed at the tip of the staff, silently, clear and ethereal, like frost mist and silk. It was obviously cold, but gave people a calm and gentle feeling, exactly the same as the moonlight outside.

Melvin lowered his head and stared at the silver light.

This isn't some kind of lighting spell; it's just the wand's core and material responding to the magic, naturally radiating light.

This wand was not the first one he used. Instead, he made it himself using the fallen horns of a horned water snake and a snake tree after he met one. He remembered that he had a sudden inspiration at that time and decided to make his own wand after just flipping through a few superficial books in the library.

The craftsmanship of wand makers has been passed down for thousands of years. If children could replicate it by reading a few books, Ollivander's and Gregorovitch's shops would have closed long ago.

The wand's core was the horn of a horned water snake, and the material was the same snakewood used by Slytherin. As a result, the wand always backfired, and its miserable appearance when practicing spells was almost as miserable as Seamus and Ron.

In the end, it was the water snake that helped to deal with it. After taking it back and adjusting and nurturing it for a few months, it was transformed into this wand that fits perfectly.

Melvin put away the silver light and looked at the wand.

When the magic wand obtained the magic power of unicorns and fire dragons in the past, it did not have this kind of natural response. This change occurred because this time the magic power was not a gift from other wizards or animals, but an awakening of magic that occurred to him himself.

The soul is the source of magic. Emotions and thoughts touch the soul and influence magic.

When a wizard experiences major changes in his life and experiences severe emotional fluctuations, his magic power will also change. This is what Principal Fontana said yesterday. It is more likely that top wizards will be born after experiencing turbulence. This process is called magic awakening.

"..."

Melvin was no longer sleepy, so he got up and sat down in front of the bedroom window.

The room is in an elegant European style, with solid wood window frames and patterned wallpaper covering the surrounding walls. The green branches and vines are spread out on the wallpaper, like the branches of a snake tree.

The students of the same grade have all graduated and left, and the original dormitory has been occupied by freshmen. Melvin was assigned to a room next to the founder's cabin, a guest room that Pukchi waiter had temporarily cleaned up, and a teacher's dormitory.