69novels Chapter 87 Visits and Exchanges
Chapter 87 Visits and Exchanges
Chapter 87 Visits and Exchanges
The Potions classroom was filled with the rich aroma of herbs in the early morning. Karen tiptoed open the door and was immediately shivered by the blast of cold air. Professor Snape had obviously already arrived and was currently writing the recipe for today's class on the blackboard with his back to the door.
"Find a seat and don't make any noise," Snape hissed without turning his head, the chalk scraping against the blackboard with a harsh sound.
Karen and her roommates quickly slipped away to the pile of cauldrons in the back row. Wesley leaned over and whispered, "I heard Snape only got three presents for Christmas, one of which was shampoo." He pointed to the professor's greasy hair and made a face.
"Quiet!" Snape suddenly turned around, his hawk-like gaze sweeping across the classroom. "Looks like some people have forgotten to keep their tongues shut after the holidays. If they don't want to, they can taste the potions we make later!"
Wesley immediately lowered his head and shut his mouth, avoiding eye contact with Snape.
"What are you all waiting for? Let's get started!" Snape's lips curled up slightly.
The classroom was immediately filled with the sounds of cutting and boiling liquid. Karen processed the materials methodically, while out of the corner of her eye she saw Snape gliding silently down the aisle like a venomous snake waiting for its chance.
Snape suddenly stopped beside Alonso. "Tell me, what did you put in the cauldron?"
"Moonstone powder, Professor," Alonso replied somewhat nervously.
"Is that so?" Snape stirred Alonso's cauldron with a long spoon. "Then why do I see uncrushed fragments? Five points deducted from Hufflepuff for your blasphemy against the herbs."
Hearing Snape's words, Alonso's face turned bright red. Cullen quietly pushed the freshly ground moonstone powder onto the table between the two of them and gestured to Alonso with her eyes.
"Mr. Hawthorne," Snape's voice suddenly rang in her ears, sending a chill down Cullen's spine. "You seem quite interested in Mr. Alonso's defeat?"
Karen looked up to meet those dark eyes: "Just confirming if my grinding level is up to standard, Professor."
Snape's nostrils flared slightly. "Hmph, you think you're so clever!" He leaned closer, his voice lower, "But don't think I don't know what you're up to."
Just then, Alonso's cauldron suddenly emitted a piercing hiss, and the liquid turned an eerie orange-red. Snape whirled around, but it was too late; the cauldron exploded, splashing out the viscous potion, a significant portion of which landed on Snape's robes.
"Fool!" Snape roared, brandishing his wand to clean up the mess. "Alonso, locked up tonight. Deal with the pufferfish eyes!"
Karen noticed that Alonso's robe was stained with potion, so he took out his wand and cleaned Alonso's clothes.
"Thank you," Alonso mouthed, his eyes filled with gratitude.
When the bell rang, Snape stood at the podium and announced grimly, "Looks like your brains were eaten by trolls during the holidays. I hope next time it's not a bunch of trolls coming to class. get out of class dismissed!"
In the hallway, Wesley exaggeratedly wiped his forehead: "Merlin's stinky socks! Snape is more irritable than a troll today."
"I heard that bottle of shampoo was a gift from Fred and George," Fabian said, adjusting his glasses. "The label says it's for oily hair."
Ernesto scoffed. "At least we made it through the lesson safely, but why isn't Snape washing his hair?"
This topic immediately attracted everyone's attention and sparked a discussion.
The four of them walked toward the auditorium, discussing as they went. Karen touched the cookie box in the side pocket of his backpack. After lunch, he needed to hurry and deliver these prepared cookies to the professors and friends.
After lunch, Cullen spotted the Weasley brothers on the stone steps of the courtyard. They were squatting by the fountain, dripping some fluorescent green liquid into the water.
"I hope you didn't add anything poisonous, or I'm going to report you both," Karen said jokingly as she approached. "What did you add?"
"Karen!" George and Fred jumped up and put their arms around his shoulders. "It's a glowing potion that makes you glow in the dark."
"Let's not talk about that. Have you used the gadgets we gave you? How do you feel about them?" Fred asked Karen with a wink.
"I haven't tried it yet. I was at home before, so it wasn't convenient to study the things you gave me," Karen replied truthfully.
"Oh, that's a real shame, but it's alright, you can try it out when you have time. By the way, we also included an evaluation manual with the instruction manual. You can fill that out after you're done using it and give it to us later."
Karen took a red cookie box out of her bag: "Okay, I will. Now try this, it's my mom's special, these are Gryffindor colored."
The two opened the box and each took out a cookie: "Oh, these are very delicious cookies, and they look very pretty too!"
Karen smiled, recalling the successful watch modification: "Thank you for the compliment. My mother will be very happy to hear it. By the way, is that street magic book still useful?"
"Incredible!" Fred pulled a deck of cards from his pocket; the cards' designs changed with the angle of view. "It's incredible that Muggles can do this without magic."
Karen replied happily, "It seems you are very satisfied with this gift, that's good."
After saying goodbye to the Weasley brothers, Cullen went to find other people. From George and the others, Cullen learned Cedric's location: over at the Quidditch pitch.
Upon arriving at the stadium, Cedric was practicing his broom balancing skills on the sidelines. Seeing Karen approach, he lightly jumped down, his yellow and black scarf fluttering around his neck.
"Karen! I was just thinking of calling you later." Cedric's smile was as warm as sunshine. "That tactics manual is fantastic!"
I showed it to our captain, and he's ready to use Peru's formation change plan.
"It's okay to tell me? I'm a Ravenclaw!" Karen said, handing over a yellow cookie box. "My mom made this in Hufflepuff colors. Thanks for the tool set."
"It's alright. The outcome of a match isn't determined by knowing these things, and you don't know how we're going to use that formation anyway." Cedric smiled as he took the cookie box.
They leaned against the stands and discussed the latest Quidditch match for a while.
After saying goodbye to Cedric, Karen checked her schedule and decided to visit Professor McGonagall first, since she had no classes in the afternoon.
Upon arriving at Professor McGonagall's office, Karen saw a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, but could hear the clinking of teacups coming from inside. Just as Karen raised her hand to knock, the door opened automatically.
"Come in, Karen," Professor McGonagall's voice came from a pile of documents, indicating that the holiday had just ended and there was a lot to deal with.
Karen placed the cookie box in the corner of the desk, the only one not piled with documents. "These are cookies my mother asked me to bring, Professor. I hope you like the encyclopedia of felines."
Professor McGonagall's lips curled into a slight smile. With a flick of her wand, the cookie box opened automatically, and a lion-shaped cookie leaped out, twirling in her palm. "Very exquisite," she said, a rare smile on her face. "There are quite a few cats in that book that I've never heard of before. Thank you for the gift, Karen, I love it!"
"Actually, I also have something for you." Professor McGonagall took a brown paper package from the drawer. "This is my Animagus transformation notebook, which I kept when I was young. Although it doesn't contain specific transformation methods, it records some related research data. I hope you will find it interesting."
Then she gave Karen a meaningful look, "If you're going to try it, remember not to try it alone in private. It's dangerous."
"You can come to me. Although your confinement period is over, you can still come to me if you have any questions."
Karen took the package, appreciating Professor McGonagall's thoughtfulness: "Thank you so much, Professor. This will greatly help me understand the nature of Transfiguration."
“Remember,” Professor McGonagall said sternly, “any transformation must respect the nature of the object being transformed. Now, if nothing else, I have thirty papers to grade.”
The third greenhouse was filled with a humid tropical atmosphere. Professor Sprout was standing on a ladder, spraying water on a huge umbrella-shaped plant.
The plant immediately bloomed with rainbow-colored flowers.
"Oh! Karen, your gift is very interesting, those seeds from Asia. I've never tried seeds from such a faraway place before." She nimbly jumped down from the ladder, her thick-soled boots making a dull thud on the stone floor.
Karen handed over a box of cookies decorated with vine patterns: "Hopefully, those Asian seeds will adapt to the climate here."
"Some plants are indeed not very suitable for this greenhouse, such as the Himalayan snow lotus you gave me. It requires a rather demanding environment, not just cold conditions. However, these moon shadow orchids are relatively easy to grow, but you need to use 'morning dew' to water them."
"That's what the accompanying cultivation scroll says. I tried it, and it's growing well. Come and take a look!" With that, he pulled Karen toward a seedbed, where Karen looked in surprise at the plant seedlings with pale blue light spots floating on their tender buds.
"Oh, and this too." Professor Sprout picked up another small, luminous plant from the side. "You can take this back. I heard from Fabian that you have your own activity room. You can take this back and cultivate it too. It's a Whispering Fern; it can sense the emotions of its cultivator. It's very interesting!"
Having accepted Professor Sprout's gift in return, Karen left the greenhouse and prepared to visit Professor Flitwick.
Professor Flitwick's classroom door was ajar, and cheerful music drifted out. Karen pushed the door open and saw the professor sitting on a high cushion, directing a group of dancing teacups.
"Ah! Karen! Come in and sit down!" Flitwick called out in a shrill voice, waving his wand to send the teacups lining up and leaving the room.
Karen walked in, found a chair, and sat down. "Professor, is the adjustable seat cushion I gave you comfortable?"
"That's wonderful!" Flitwick jumped off the pile of books and pointed to the silver cushion beneath him. "Now I can adjust the cushion height to suit my needs, which is very convenient."
Karen handed over a blue-packaged box of cookies: "My mom said it has some mint in it, which helps with concentration."
"How thoughtful!" Professor Flitwick grabbed a piece and popped it into his mouth. "Hmm, it tastes a bit like Lemon Olaf?" He blinked. "Perfect, about that bottle of dueling memories."
Karen's heart raced: "I haven't seen it yet; it's not convenient at home."
"Oh, that's a bit of a shame. But it's alright, I can tell you about it now. In that duel in 1978, I used a spellcasting technique that I modified myself, and the magical feedback was quite strong." He jumped off the cushion, took a leather-bound notebook from the bookshelf, and handed it to Karen.
"The final duel in 1978," Flitwick's eyes gleamed, "my match against Edgar Silverhand. It would have been better in the Pensieve, but—" He tapped the crystal with his wand, and a golden light shot into the air, instantly revealing two blurry figures.
Young Flitwick moved with lightning speed, his wand leaving a trail of afterglow in the air. His opponent was a tall, imposing wizard.
Each incantation carried the force of thunder.
"Watch this!" Flitwick exclaimed excitedly, pointing to the image in the air. "It's a multi-spell casting technique I created myself."
Karen watched intently as the two masters made every gesture and moved. Suddenly, Flitwick in the image performed an extremely complex spellcasting motion, followed by four spells that struck his opponent almost simultaneously.
"This is—" Karen held her breath.
"Yes!" Flitwick said proudly, "I spent many years perfecting the technique of layering multiple spells. Now, pay attention to the angle of my wrist."
For the next half hour, Flitwick patiently broke down every key move in the duel, even allowing Cullen to try a few basic combinations with his wand. Only when the clock struck four did he reluctantly put away the crystal.
"You can go back and take another look at the memory I gave you, and the notebook I just gave you. It contains the process of modifying this multiple casting technique." Flitwick blinked.
As Karen left the classroom, the intricate combinations of spells were still replaying in her mind.