Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle

"Finally, it's Gilderoy Lockhart. He used despicable and hypocritical means to steal the adventure memories of other wizards in order to gain fame, fortune and wealth. He bears the main responsibility for this incident."

"..."

Melvin said to the newspaper editor with a serious face: "This is not only my attitude, but also the attitude of Hogwarts School."

Chapter 153: Seal of Ouroboros

Melvin pushed open the tung-oiled oak door and left the tavern.

Barnabas Guffey is a senior editor-in-chief with a wealth of experience accumulated over a long career. He has a very clear understanding of reporting and public opinion, and in some aspects is even more perceptive than Melvin. He grasps the key points in a short time and promises to become an excellent voice for the school.

I feel that Mr. Guffey has some misunderstandings about Hogwarts and him. They are not an organization like the Ministry of Magic, so how could they manipulate public opinion?

Is Headmaster Dumbledore a conspirator who is hiding the truth?

It's all the prejudice of the world.

Melvin shook his head and sighed, exhaling a puff of white mist.

There are few pedestrians on the street. It's cold, so everyone huddles in the shops to keep warm. It seems like the indoors and outdoors are two different worlds.

Melvin didn't wear a scarf or gloves. The wind blew the chill of deep winter's ice and snow onto his body. Even after being filtered by the Bubble Head Curse, it was still a bit chilly and caused goose bumps around his wrists.

He was holding a cardboard box in his hand, which contained an apple pie given by Ms. Rosmerta. She said she made it herself and asked him to take it home to try.

The tavern owner was too enthusiastic, and Barnabas was there to persuade him, leaving him no chance to refuse. He took the cardboard box out, only to remember that he couldn't put it in his pocket, so he had to hold it like this.

What a hassle.

The young snake occupying the pocket had half of its body shrunk into the pocket and its head shrunk as much as possible, leaving only its two eyes exposed. It was unaware of this and only knew that it was cold outside, which made its body lazy and unwilling to move.

But it is a magical creature, and its magic can resist this instinct.

Not far from the pub, I could smell a faint sweet scent in the air. There were promotional advertisements on the window of Honeydukes Candy Store, and owls kept flying in and out of the skylight. The candy store's mail-order business was incredibly good around holidays.

Mrs. Frum was packing candy at the counter when she noticed someone passing by the store. She looked up and saw it was Melvin, and she couldn't help but smile.

Ever since the young professor came to the school to teach, he would come to Hogsmeade to purchase with the vice-principal every quarter. After two years, everyone became familiar with the young professor.

Because of Professor Lewynter, Hogwarts began giving candy to students on their birthdays, and the school became a big customer of Honeydukes, for which the candy store owner was very grateful.

Mrs. Froome nodded, then looked puzzled at the cardboard box in his hand.

"It's the apple pie that Ms. Rosmerta sent..." Melvin explained helplessly.

Mrs. Froome nodded thoughtfully. The two exchanged a few pleasantries, wishing each other Merry Christmas. One of them lowered her head to continue wrapping candy while the other continued walking towards the school.

Melvin hadn't walked far when he heard shouts and footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Mrs. Frum catching up with him. With a smile on her face, she handed him a box of freshly wrapped candy.

On the shop sign behind, bright red ribbons fluttered in the wind.

Melvin suddenly felt that the street looked much more beautiful.

In December, deep winter, the wind and snow stopped and the weather cleared up.

……

It was already two o'clock in the afternoon when Melvin entered the school gate. He walked along the path inside the field. The express train had already departed and the students had left school. The footprints and ruts left by the little wizards in the morning were hidden by the snow. It was a vast expanse of white and extremely quiet.

The Whomping Willow in front of the greenhouse twitched its branches every few hours, shaking off the snow and ice crystals. It looked cheerful. It had been hit by Harry and Ron when it became bald at the beginning of the school year, and it had been depressed and frustrated for several months. Finally, the other plants had become bare as well.

In another two or three months, new branches and leaves will sprout again.

Melvin walked along the edge of the Forbidden Forest and heard Fang barking and whining in the distance, probably playing with Hagrid.

He did not return to the office immediately, but followed the path to the Black Lake.

The blue sky was pure, with an occasional owl flying by, and the gleaming snow was dazzling. The vast lake was frozen solid, and the snow had been cleared, revealing a clearing with messy scratches left by the little wizards skating.

Standing in the winter sunshine, looking at the frozen lake, I couldn't help but think of the winter in Greylock.

He remembered those days in Ilvermorny when he was still a student. He was never accustomed to the wizards' entertainment methods and had no interest in Quidditch, Gobstones, and Wizarding Chess. Other students spent their spare time in the common room in winter, staying close to the fireplace, but he was the only one who sneaked out of the castle to look for horned water snakes in the mountain streams.

In late winter, the temperature on Mount Greylock drops even lower, streams freeze, and long-horned water snakes hide in tree holes and sleep most of the time.

Occasionally, when it wants to move around, it will use its sharp horns to drill through the ice. When the silly fish come over to get some oxygen, the water snake will dive into the water for a big meal.

Every time it heard his footsteps, the long-horned water snake would feel impatient, but would always come out to greet him and speak in a lazy tone. He clearly remembered the scene of the long-horned water snake emerging from the ice, its scales glistening with tiny ice crystals, like frost on a tree.

The Horned Water Snake is not a very good mentor. It cannot teach any of the conventional magic, black magic, stargazing and alchemy well. Its prediction and divination are innate talents that cannot be taught. When encountering the experience taught by the water snake, it is necessary to transform the snake's thinking into the understanding of a wizard. Therefore, Melvin always stumbles when studying extracurricular magic.

When he was about to graduate, he believed the words of the water snake and left school in a hurry, thinking that it was really fate's arrangement. Unexpectedly, it was fate that drove him away before death.

Summer returned to Mount Greylock during the summer break, eagerly anticipating a long-awaited reunion. Instead, he received news of the Horned Water Snake's death, a news that still feels unreal. That moonlit night, he had entrusted his eggs to the Snake Tree, and now that they had hatched, he'd realized the Horned Water Snake truly couldn't return.

He didn't know the name of the horned water snake, and he wasn't sure if it had a name. He felt regretful when he recalled it, so he named the little guy as soon as he was born.

I don't know when the baby snake crawled out of the pocket, stuck out half of its head, looked outside, and made a slight hissing sound.

Seeing that the sun was shining brightly, Melvin pulled it out of his pocket and placed it on the candy box, intending to let it bask in the sun.

However, the winter sun was not very warm. When the cold wind blew, the tender scales curled up and pressed against the body. It crawled pitifully towards his hand, with its tail wrapped around his wrist to absorb heat, and refused to let go no matter what.

It is clearly a horned water snake, but it hatched in the winter and has never actually been in the water or swam.

Melvin half-knelt down, put his hands close to the ice, and his magic power poured out, and a fierce fire fell on the ice.

The flame flickered slightly, emitting a heat high enough to melt steel. In the blink of an eye, the ice and snow melted and steam billowed. After the flame died, a shallow pit was carved into the frozen surface, and in the pit was the lake water that had just melted and was still warm.

The young snake stuck its head out and stared blankly at the scene, then turned back to look at Melvin, with human-like surprise appearing in its eyes.

The forked tongue moved, as if sensing the moisture in the air. The young snake on Melvin's wrist began to twist its body, gradually approaching the puddle. It first dipped its long horns in the water, its eyes lit up, and then it stretched its entire body over.

The young snake submerged itself in the lake without any discomfort. It stretched its body and swam freely in it.

Melvin couldn't help but smile. Looking at the baby snake swimming, he seemed to understand the mood of the horned water snake when it spoke to him. He waved his hand and summoned several blue flames suspended in the air to prevent the puddle from freezing again.

The baby snake swam and played carefree, and the young professor stood by the lake and looked into the distance.

The cold wind was howling, the sky was clear and blue, and the scenery of the forbidden forest and hills in the distance came into view.

After an unknown amount of time, perhaps due to the influence of the fierce fire, Melvin faintly heard the sound of ice breaking and looked down.

The young snake had fallen asleep without knowing when. Although its eyes were not closed, its body had stopped swimming lazily and gradually formed several circles. The tail at the end unconsciously wrapped around the horn on its forehead, making it look like an Ouroboros no matter how you looked at it.

The horned water snake used to do the same thing when it was sleeping.

Looking at the pattern, many thoughts flashed through Melvin's mind, and the problem that had troubled him for a long time suddenly became clear.

It used to be summer in the mountains, and now it is winter on the lake. It seems that everything has changed, and yet nothing has changed. There is still one man and one snake, who seem to be incompatible with this magical world, yet closely connected.

Melvin exhaled a breath, a cloud of white mist.

The wand points to the sky.

Silver light bloomed, sweeping across half of the Black Lake. Silver light continued to gather in the clear blue sky, like fireworks in the daytime. People at the edge of the Forbidden Forest and in the castle could see a slender water snake emerging in the sky, bending into a ring, with its tail wrapped around the sharp horn on its forehead.

In a very short time, it can almost dim the winter sun.

At the window of the headmaster's office, Dumbledore looked at the mark in the sky and whispered softly:

"Seal of the Ouroboros."

……

Muggle Studies Office.

"Click..."

Melvin closed the door, and with a thought, an orange flame immediately rose in the fireplace. The firelight reflected on the wall, and the room slowly became warmer.

Unlike silent spellcasting that requires chanting in the mind, this method of spellcasting is faster and shows a mastery of magic power. Melvin could do it before, but now it is easier and almost instinctive.

This was not a Christmas gift from some magical beast, but a change in his mentality caused by his own enlightenment. The wizard's thoughts affect the soul, and the soul is the source of magic.

Thinking about the Ouroboros Seal, Melvin's eyes fell on the upside-down glass bottle on the third shelf.

As soon as the door was opened, Rita hid in the sawdust, leaving only her head and antennae exposed to peek. She was surprised to find that the upside-down glass bottle was directly opened, fresh air rushed in, and sawdust and leaves flew to the side, revealing the figure of the beetle.

Rita was stunned for a moment.

Melvin smiled and said, "Ms. Skeeter, shall we talk?"

The beetle froze in place, its wings spread out and trembled slightly, then it transformed into a swift black shadow and flew towards the half-open window.

Melvin was very patient and tapped his fingers slowly, allowing magic and thoughts to spread.

The beetle flapped its wings frantically, but found that the distance to the window was not getting closer, but getting farther and farther away. A gentle but irresistible pulling force enveloped it, and all its struggles and flapping of wings became futile.

The beetle was dragged towards the desk and landed opposite the young professor.

Melvin picked up the teapot with one hand, poured out the steaming pumpkin juice, and handed it to the beetle: "Do you want to change back yourself, or do you want me to use magic to make you appear."

A white light flashed from the beetle's body, and then the light converged, and Rita Skeeter appeared in the seat opposite.

After several months of imprisonment, this gold medal reporter no longer had the elegance he once had. His previously carefully permed curls had become straight and hung in a mess. He had lost a lot of weight, his cheekbones were prominent, and his nails were three inches long, two inches of which were covered with dark red nail polish, and the inch near the finger was bare.

One of the temples of the jewel-encrusted glasses was crooked, and the gaze behind it was particularly complicated.

Fear, suspicion, and some hatred and anger that dare not be revealed.

What did he want to do? Why did he let himself out?

How did he know he was an Animagus?

Suppressing the doubts in her heart, Rita held on to some glimmer of hope and tried to appear calm. "Professor Lewynter, illegally imprisoning wizards and torturing and abusing them. I don't know how the Magical Congress of the United States will handle this, but in the UK, this is enough to keep you in Azkaban for several years."

Melvin pretended not to hear, with a smile on his face as if meeting a guest: "Would you like to try some pumpkin juice from the Hogwarts kitchen?"

The aroma of hot pumpkin juice lingered on Rita's nose, making her feel upset and her mouth secrete saliva continuously after she had been eating leaves and tender grass for several months.

After rolling her throat twice, Rita grabbed the teacup and gulped down the pumpkin juice, her words still firm: "Even if you compensate me and apologize, I will never forgive you!"

"I still have some Honeydukes candy here."

Of course, he would not use the gift he just received today to entertain guests. Melvin opened the drawer, took out some toffee and handed it over.

It's been in the drawer for a while, and I don't know when it will expire.

Rita swallowed a few more mouthfuls of saliva and looked at the candies with a greedy look, as if she was considering whether this action was unsuitable for a gold medal reporter. But after hesitating for a moment, she peeled off the candy wrapper and stuffed it into her mouth.

His teeth were glued together, so his speech became unclear and his posture was not as firm as before. "If you let me go now, I can consider not taking your behavior seriously and not suing the Ministry of Magic."

Melvin topped her off with more pumpkin juice and smiled, "What is Ms. Skeeter trying to sue me for? An unregistered, illegal Animagus, or for repeatedly disguising myself to eavesdrop on private information and then profiting from it by publishing it in the newspapers."

The fire in the fireplace in the room was burning brightly, replenishing energy to her tired and hungry body. Rita felt her physical condition improved, but a chill enveloped her heart, which came from the young professor's smile.