Professor of Gemology at Hogwarts

Gray walked through the grass outside the castle, followed a long and narrow stone path down a gentle slope, and came to a small wooden cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It was the tool room of the hunting ground. Kettleburn loved to stay outside the cabin when he was free. Sitting on the log pier.

"Good afternoon, Professor Kettleburn!" Gray sat next to him.

"Oh! It's you! Good afternoon!" Kettleburn squinted and was writing something on a piece of parchment. "You're here just in time. Please help me give this to Hagrid in a moment. I'll need it right away. It’s done. And this fire ash snake egg, I can’t take away so many things, so I give them to you, Professor Morris!”

He carefully placed the frozen ash snake eggs in the wooden box on the ground, then turned around and resumed his previous hunched and stiff sitting posture, with his head lowered to the point of being buried in his chest, but even in such an oppressive and uncomfortable posture , he still stared at the parchment on his half leg, and continued to pick up the pen and write something.

A gust of wind blew the parchment up, but he had no free hands to hold down the blown corner, because he only had one arm and half a leg left.

"Really..." Kettleburn waited for the wind to calm down, then picked up his wand and cast a hardening spell on the parchment that had returned to flatness. The paper in front of him became as hard as a slate, and he no longer had to worry about being blown away by the wind. .

"What is this?" Gray saw a long list of names written on it, and there was a long text after each name, which seemed to be explaining something.

"I am writing a guide to raising these magical animals in the Forbidden Forest. Although they are animals and live in groups, each one has its own unique preferences. We cannot roughly divide their habits simply by species. , such as those group of Thestrals, some like to eat skin or internal organs with some meat, and some like to eat pure meat. They are different, so you need to prepare something when feeding. I hope that when I am not around, Hagrid He can take good care of them, of course, I can trust him, and we can chat very well, hehe... Wuwu likes Hagrid very much, and Hagrid also likes it very much."

Kettleburn chuckled, his quill clicking on the slate-hard paper.

"I'm leaving here, Professor Morris. The professors should all know this. I decided to retire after the end of this school year. Now that I think about it, I have caused a lot of trouble to the school over the past few decades."

"No, it's more about bringing you good memories. The students all like you as a professor, and so do Bill and I."

"Bill! Bill Weasley! Haha!" Kettleburn laughed a few times, "That's the kid who often breaks into the Forbidden Forest! You and him, you two troublemakers in the Forbidden Forest! Hagrid was there every day I'm staring here just to catch you! After you two graduated, Hagrid thought he could finally take a break. Who knew that this time a pair of Weasley twin brothers came, which really tormented him! And the little one, I don’t think, is very honest. He drove a speeding car and crashed the Whomping Willow, which was really the first time in school! But I’m quite optimistic about them, because they are the only passionate young people!”

Gray also laughed, thinking of the days when he and Bill had fought against each other in the sea.And Claire, she also sneaked into the Forbidden Forest from time to time, but was never discovered. She pretended to be the most disciplined and good student in front of the professors for seven years.It can be said that it is too difficult for Hagrid to prevent students from running into the Forbidden Forest. For them, Hagrid's guarding is equivalent to the door to the Forbidden Forest being always open.

"I also brought you a good thing -" Gray waved his wand, and a set of metal, shiny and reflective prosthetics moved steadily to the grass in front of Kettleburn.

"Oh! Prosthetic limb?" Kettleburn was very surprised. "Thank you for giving it to me. Thank you very much, Professor Morris. This helps me a lot!"

The set of metal prosthetic limbs shone in the sunset. Kettleburn looked left and right happily, unable to suppress a smile on his face. He must have hoped to keep his limbs intact, but this was exactly what he lacked when he retired. .

"It has been enchanted so that it will not conduct heat. The most important thing is that it is fireproof. I think you should need it." Gray explained on the side.

"That's right!" Kettleburn was very happy. "I won't have to worry about the wooden walking stick catching fire when I visit the Dragon Sanctuary again!"

"Woof woof!" Pudding suddenly appeared from behind him, making Gray tremble.

The swallow-tailed dog waggled its tail, turned in a circle, and finally lay down at Kettleburn's feet.

"Don't worry, Professor Morris, the pudding won't hurt." He installed the prosthetic legs and tried not to use the crutches to stand up from the log pier. The prosthetic legs seemed to understand what he meant and used them. Use a force to lift Kettleburn's body up.

"Gee, that feels really good - thank you so much, Professor Morris!" Kettleburn smiled and tried to walk.

Just when he was happy, Pudding started shouting loudly again.

"What's the matter? Pudding!" Kettleburn turned his head, "Oh, Merlin's socks! Fire! It's on fire!"

The small wooden box that had just been placed on the ground was already bursting into flames.

"Clear water like a spring!" Gray hurriedly extinguished the fire, and the originally exquisite wooden box had turned into a black wood block that was burnt and slag.

"Merlin - Oops! How terrible!" Kettleburn stumbled over and picked up the burnt black wooden box. The ash snake eggs inside turned into gray balls and were completely useless. Value, "How could this be! I cast a freezing spell! Did you just see that? I had cast a freezing spell before I put it in -"

"Yes, otherwise you can't put it in the box..." Gray remembered the incident in the previous greenhouse, "But have you ever thought that maybe because of age... the magic power has weakened? Just like the previous greenhouse The same thing, you did cast the freezing spell, but the magic power was insufficient and the spell did not last long enough. I think you need to pay attention to it in the future, this kind of thing is still quite dangerous..."

"Well..." Kettleburn lowered his head and looked at the fire-ash snake egg that had turned into a gray ball in his hand. After thinking for a moment, he pouted, obviously not convinced by Gray's statement, "It's impossible. How could my magic power fade? I am a professor here - after so many years, of course I know how to preserve fire ash snake eggs, unless the freezing spell fails - "

"Look, you said it yourself, unless the freezing spell fails..." Gray's voice suddenly trailed off. For some reason, another thought came to his mind. Could it be that the fire in the greenhouse that night was caused by Created by someone else by breaking the freezing spell that had been cast on him?

Kettleburn did not retort, but just stood there panting, the sunset shining through the sweat on his forehead. He was already sweating from exhaustion just by saying a few words loudly.

"Alas!" Kettleburn wiped his forehead and shouted, "I feel a little tired even if I speak loudly now! Huh... I barely think I'm really old... but I'm definitely not a useless old man."

As he spoke, he picked up the densely written parchment and said, "Give it to Hagrid for me, Professor Morris. I am still somewhat useful in some respects."

"No problem, leave it to me." Gray took the roll of parchment, which had the names, appearance characteristics, and living and dietary preferences of each animal written on it.

"Now that it's done, I'll leave first. I have to pack my luggage." Kettleburn picked up his crutches and almost fell over. "I still have to get used to this thing, but really Thank you...Gray."

"Goodbye, then, Professor."

"Have I really lost my magic power..." Kettleburn whispered to himself. He slumped his shoulders and walked past Gray wearing a prosthetic leg. "Let's go, Pudding."

"Woof!" Pudding's two tails swayed from side to side and followed Kettleburn briskly.

Gray followed Kettleburn with his eyes, but then his vision was filled by the brilliance of the setting sun. He could only see Kettleburn's back by squinting. The orange-red sunset, like the old man, walked very slowly, but still shone brightly on Huo. Various pointed domes on Gwartz Castle.

……

On the way back to the office, Gray was suddenly stopped.

"Professor Morris!" Harry called to him.

"Potter?" Gray stopped.

There were only two of them in the empty corridor, and the echo of Harry's shout could still be faintly heard.

"There's something I...I...feel strange..." Harry stammered, looking at Gray with his green eyes, "I heard strange sounds again just a few days ago."

"What did you hear?"

"It's the same as the last time I heard the basilisk sound. I can understand someone talking, it's saying 'let me out', but I don't know where it's coming from..." Harry was a little anxious, "Unless... …There’s also a basilisk in the school.”

Gray's scalp was numb. What did it mean that there was another basilisk?He looked at the end of the empty corridor, feeling that there were many secrets hidden in this huge castle that he didn't know about. Are there really other basilisks hidden there?

He calmed down. Logically speaking, this was impossible. The matter in the secret room had been solved. There was no mention of a basilisk in the school in the original plot. No, it wasn't necessarily a basilisk. It might just be an ordinary snake. I accidentally slipped into the school, and now I can only think like this.

"Don't worry too much, Potter." Gray said, "It's possible that an ordinary snake has slipped into the school. I will report it to Professor McGonagall and ask students and professors to pay more attention to the presence of snakes to prevent being bitten. hurt."

"Okay..." Harry nodded hesitantly, "Maybe I'm thinking too much... Your situation is also possible."

"Don't be too anxious," Gray patted him on the shoulder, "Dinner time is coming soon, go to the auditorium quickly."

With that said Gray turned around and prepared to leave.

"By the way, Professor." Harry once again stopped Gray who was about to leave. "Professor Lockhart seems to have resigned due to a report. Now there is no professor in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Do you know who will take over?"

"It's been the last few days, and there shouldn't be any new professors here," Gray said. "Professor Dumbledore hasn't decided who will take over the class yet. In my opinion, classes may be suspended."

"Oh, I thought it would be you..." He looked disappointed.

When he returned to the office, he found an owl landing on his window sill with a letter in its mouth and a flat package tied to its feet.

Gray took off the package and put it on the table. He opened the letter:

"Dear Gray:

When you read this letter, I have successfully left the UK, and a new life will greet me next. Thank you very much for not revealing my plan. I am so happy!I knew you were very trustworthy!I have to admit that my charisma probably contributed to our friendship, which made me a great friend!

If we are destined, maybe we can meet again. There are so many coincidences in this world. Who can say for sure that it will not happen to you?

May our friendship last forever!

your faithful

Guidro Lockhart

Included in the package: a complete set of photo postcards signed by the famous author Gilderoy Lockhart. "