Hogwarts Advanced Guide

Chapter 430 The Forgotten Tom
Early the next morning, Hera took Penello back to the castle. There were already a lot of owls squatting on their window sills. Because the windows were locked well, they couldn't get into the office at all.When Penello opened the window, several owls fell to the floor, frozen.Hera had to find a bottle of whiskey, and each owl fed them some.

"I think they'll have to rest here for a while. I'd better leave this to Hagrid. He's always been good at it." Hera said with a headache looking at the messy floor. The snow on the owl's body was mixed with whiskey and flowed along the floor to the door, looking extremely sloppy.

Penello shrugged indifferently, "Anyway, a spell can solve the problem, and I'm more curious about what gifts I can receive."

"Ha, I thought everyone was not in the mood for Christmas! I didn't expect that there were quite a few people who gave us presents." Hera took off the packages tied to the owl's feet, which were covered in snow and wind, and Hera had to say 'clean up' several times to them.

Penello picked up the package enthusiastically, sat on the bed and unpacked it, "I am looking forward to receiving gifts from Madame Maxime, she can always pick out great things."

"Then did you give her anything this year?" Hera held an owl in one hand and threw them all into the office. There was a big stove there, and they could keep warm and relieve their frozen body.

"Of course," Penello had already opened a package, which was a large box of products from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, "I think this is a gift from the twin brothers."

"Well, I think they know exactly what I'm interested in." Hera smiled and picked up a 'false wand', which almost immediately turned into a soft rubber slug, hanging limply. "Oh, that looks kind of gross."

"Haha, is this what you're interested in?" Penello smiled while covering her mouth, and she continued to look down, "Let me see, what else is there - automatic inkjet quill, quick answer quill - we are professors, what do you want this for - Pygmy Puff! I like this!"

Penello held a creamy yellow ball and buried it in his neck excitedly, "It's so cute!"

"It's really hard to find a cuter pet than this one. If there is one, it's probably another Pygmy Puff." Hera nodded and said. He suddenly remembered that he also had a pet——Tom!
Hera seemed to have completely forgotten about the black mamba he had 'picked up' at Gaunt's old house, and he hadn't seen it for a while.Hera hadn't remembered Tom at all since she took over as headmaster.

"What's wrong?" Penello asked with concern, noticing that Hera's face was a bit abnormal.

"It's nothing." Hera waved her hand. "I just remembered that there might be a highly poisonous creature wandering around in the castle—don't worry, it's very obedient and safe—it should be very safe."

"You!" Penello pursed her mouth, just about to get angry, but Pygmy Puffy just stuck out her pink tongue and licked her cheek, making her itchy.

"I'll find out where it is as soon as possible, but I don't think it will be found for a short time—I mean, it should be hibernating at this time." Hera hesitated for a while, and then said, "I think maybe Filch knows where he is, and I'll ask him in a while!"

"Better so."

Penelope held the Pygmy Puff with one hand, and continued to unpack the package with the other hand. During this period, there was a gift from Hagrid—a piccolo made of unicorn horns, a gift from Hermione—a book on the history of magic, and a gift from Madame Maxime—

"Look, this is a bracelet!" Penello said happily, with a diamond bracelet on her hand, which looked dazzling through the sunlight coming in from the window.

Hera covered her eyes and yelled strangely: "You have to put it down, it's too shiny, I can't even open my eyes." This was of course a joke.

"Where is it!" Penello said coquettishly, and handed the bracelet to Hera, "Look, is it possible that Mrs. Maxim is sending you some message?"

"Hmm." Hera took the bracelet, looked it over carefully, and put it back on Penello's wrist, "I think it's just a beautiful decoration, and it has a magic pattern to detect malice, similar to a small looking glass, but the range is not large. I think when someone around expresses malice towards you, the diamond on it will emit red light to remind you."

"Oh~" Penello looked at the bracelet, unable to hide the joy in his eyes.

Unwrapping the presents took a considerable amount of time, and Hera and Penelope had to carefully examine each gift to ensure that no one had adulterated dark magic products, such as the cursed opal necklace.

However, this year's gifts seem to be fairly safe, at least Hera didn't find anything unusual, and everyone gave them quite normal gifts.

Except, a bottle of mead.

This is mainly due to the fact that there is no sender's name on the package, and Hera is not sure who will send it, but there is no doubt that throwing it into the trash can is the best way to deal with it.

"Is it really okay? Wouldn't it be sent by some friend of yours?" Penello asked as Hera threw the mead directly into the fireplace.

Hera shook her head, "No friend would send a gift anonymously under the current situation. Maybe someone forgot to sign it, but to be on the safe side, we'd better throw it away."

When they finally sorted everything out and came to the auditorium, it was already noon, and most of the professors had already arrived in the auditorium.

"Merry Christmas." Hera greeted several professors beside her, and they also responded with smiles.This is probably the happiest moment of the year, because of Voldemort, everyone hasn't been so relaxed for a long time.

The auditorium was also filled with Christmas decorations, with holly and mistletoe festoons hanging on the walls, and a dozen towering Christmas trees in each room, some with tiny icicles and others with hundreds of candles.

Although there were very few students who chose to stay in school this year, the castle was still decorated with its usual magnificence.

The hallway is filled with a strong and alluring cooking aroma.

"I think maybe we can remove some tables. We don't have many people, so it would be too silly to use those tables from our respective colleges." Hera said with a frown as she looked at the scattered people on the four long tables of the colleges.Because there was only one student at Hufflepuff's long table, which looked lonely.

"Of course, I've wanted to do this for a long time. It can make us look more lively, but after all, you weren't in the castle last night." Professor Flitwick clapped his hands and said, "But I think it's best to wait until dinner, after all, the kitchen wasn't prepared in advance."

"That's right, I think maybe we can have a drink together in the evening, after all, it's the New Year!" Hera said enthusiastically, "But students who are underage are not allowed to drink, they can only watch."

There were only about a dozen students who chose to stay in the castle, but Slytherin House chose to stay the most, standing for a little half.

"How about we drink some mead together? I happen to have a few barrels of good mead at my place." Professor Slughorn said with a smile and squinted his eyes. "I have long wanted to build some relationships with everyone, but I was too busy before."

"That would be great." Trelawney hiccupped, she still looked so frustrated, after all, she was just a 'stayer' in the castle now, and didn't even have a job. In the past few months, she could only drink two glasses of sherry at Slughorn's banquet.

Lunch was eaten very quickly, perhaps because there were so few people, and everyone had no desire to talk—in fact, the students couldn't find a few people to chat with, and most of their classmates chose to go home for the holidays.

When Hera was about to leave after lunch, Professor McGonagall called him, "Hera, can I talk to you? About Skeeter's newly released book?"

"Of course." Hera nodded, and followed Professor McGonagall to her small office by the corridor on the second floor.

"That's it." As soon as the door was closed, Professor McGonagall threw a thick book on the table, "I can't believe it, how dare she - how dare she insult Dumbledore like this!"

A new copy of The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore.

"Has it been released yet?" Hera looked at the cover in surprise, frowning slightly, "I thought it would be until next year."

"So you already knew?" Professor McGonagall said seriously, "How did you allow her—"

Hera tapped the cover with her fingers and interrupted Professor McGonagall, "Minerva, I think you should know that although it is full of malicious speculation, most of it is true."

"Really—I won't believe it!"

"Yes, I think a large part of it is true." Hera paused and put the book back on the table. "For this reason, I made a special trip to Nurmengard Castle."

"Grindelwald admitted?" Professor McGonagall seemed to have lost his strength and asked in disbelief.

Hera nodded, "Unfortunately, we have to admit that Dumbledore is not such a perfect person. These insignificant things do not affect our respect for him. It was just his young impulse."

Professor McGonagall's upper and lower lips were trembling, and she seemed unable to accept the fact that the headmaster Dumbledore, whom she had always admired and respected, had the same terrible idea as Grindelwald in his youth - for the greater good - to try to rule Muggles - although he chose the right path in the end.

"I think none of us should doubt his character." Hera said seriously.

Professor McGonagall argued, "I know, but after all he had—"

"But the path he finally chose was correct. He has been fighting for justice all his life." Hera interrupted Professor McGonagall. "I don't think we need to argue too much on this matter, these will not affect my respect for Dumbledore."

"Well, maybe you're right," said Professor McGonagall dryly.

"If you still feel awkward because of this matter, you are welcome to talk to me again." Hera stood up and pushed the book towards Professor McGonagall. "I don't want Dean Gryffindor's belief to be shaken. Dumbledore is undoubtedly on our side. In any case, he made the right choice."

"My belief has not been shaken, and I am still firmly on this side." Professor McGonagall said excitedly.

Hera pressed her hand down, "I know this." Hera said this, and pushed open the door. "By the way, if a student asks about this, I don't think we need to hide anything. This is part of Dumbledore."

"I will." Professor McGonagall nodded with tight lips.

The Christmas holiday is over soon, and the students are preparing to return to school. In order to allow the students to return to Hogwarts safely, the Ministry of Magic specially arranged a one-time Floo network connection. The main reason is that the Ministry of Magic really does not have any extra manpower to be responsible for the safety of the train.

In contrast, Floo Network is a time-saving and labor-saving option.

The landing place of the students is the dean's office of their college, which is more convenient for the dean to count the number of people returning to school.But this also caused a lot of trouble, because they didn't agree on the time of their arrival at Hogwarts, and the professors had to endure that someone stumbled out of the fireplace every once in a while.

As for the banquet on Christmas night, basically everyone didn't drink very much. The students who couldn't drink always stared at the teachers, which made them quite uncomfortable, and it ended in such an anticlimactic manner.

And the beginning of the new semester means that Hera has to get busy again, and the Christmas holiday is always short.He and Filch had put up notices in the foyer and in the college common room—about Apparition, an optional subject for 17-year-olds.

Hera also asked Filch about Tom, and Filch looked surprised that Hera mentioned it.

"You mean a black mamba?" Filch had a strange expression on his face. "Ms. Norris has made a snake friend. I just thought it was a pet that some student didn't want, or it sneaked in from the forbidden forest. It is very obedient, very obedient, and sometimes I even suspect that it is a human being."

"Oh, it is a very intelligent snake, completely different from its kind." Hera sighed, "Where is it now? With Mrs. Norris?"

"I think it's probably in the kitchen," Filch said with a grin. "Since I met it, Mrs. Norris is not so close to me. They always sneak into the kitchen together. Mr. Headmaster, I have no doubt that the snake has a special fondness for house-elves. I have seen it secretly open its mouth at the elves."

"I hope I won't wake up one morning and hear someone tell me that a house elf is missing in the kitchen." Hera scowled, "Keep an eye on it, okay?"

"No problem, Mr. Headmaster!" Filch stood up straight.

(End of this chapter)