HP Shavings Wizard

On a morning with decent weather.

The ceiling of the auditorium was blue, with a few faint clouds floating across it, just like the sky outside the tall windows with vertical frames.

Dumbledore announced the temporary replacement of the Potions Professor in public in the Great Hall.

"Professor Snape has informed me of his resignation due to personal reasons. He will leave Hogwarts and will no longer serve as the Potions professor."

There was thunderous applause.

Professor Snape had obviously not left yet and was still enjoying breakfast on his last day at Hogwarts in the faculty department, but there were already some little wizards in the audience who couldn't help cheering because of the good news.

Professor Snape glanced at it calmly.

The applause of the little wizards below paused slightly when they were swept by the cold gaze. Some stopped subconsciously because of the fear accumulated over the years, while others clapped loudly without fear of death.

"He's leaving anyway, why should we be afraid of him?!"

There were wild voices among the students, which were echoed and approved by everyone.

Then the happy applause became louder.

Professor Snape, who had not yet been officially announced to resign by Dumbledore and was still in charge of the professor's authority, curled up his upper lip viciously and smiled coldly: "Gryffindor, XXXX, XXX and XXXX are disrespecting the professor, deduct 50 points!"

“……!!!!!”

The lion suffered, and now it was Professor McGonagall's turn to gasp.

What did Gryffindor do wrong?!

Dumbledore's smiling expression froze for a moment. He raised his voice to drown out the animals' discussions and made a quick and decisive announcement - at the same time, he was also preventing Severus from seizing the last few seconds to continue deducting points crazily.

"We are delighted to have a new professor. Professor Slughorn!"

The stranger who had previously aroused the curiosity of the young wizards stood up.

The bald head, the huge silver beard, the gold buttons on the velvet waistcoat all gleamed in the candlelight, and the big belly cast a large shadow on the table.

When facing all the teachers and students, the old walrus slightly restrained his vanity and attitude of dividing people into different levels.

He looked at everything that was familiar yet unfamiliar with satisfaction, smiling and looking amiable - especially in contrast to the gloomy and cold face of his predecessor, Professor Snape, who was standing next to him.

Amid everyone's enthusiastic gazes and applause, Slughorn smiled even more happily.

Regardless of whether those were the mediocre people he disliked, or whether the applause was because Snape did a really bad job, at least this warm welcome was for him, the new professor.

It's hard to dislike.

Dumbledore was still introducing and glanced in the direction of the Slytherin table.

"He is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old duties and take over as Potions Professor and Head of Slytherin in the coming period."

The little snakes looked at each other in bewilderment.

Although Professor Snape usually has a gloomy face, he is completely partial to Slytherin and benefits them.

The new professor and dean...

We have to wait and see...

Some of the little snakes are well-informed because of their family connections, and have probably heard of this old wizard at home.

There are even some elders in the family who were very favored by Professor Slughorn when they were in school, joined the Slug Club, and still maintain this network of contacts.

Alison still arrogantly roamed around the staff seats as usual, making full use of the advantage of "My Father the Headmaster". She sat next to Snape and provoked him, while using her "Invisible Sword" to cut the grilled sausages.

——Of course, Snape's expression became more and more gloomy and subtle. He stared at Alison and used several of his own spells.

However, this is not the point.

Alison leisurely heard Professor Slughorn ask Dumbledore through the crowd, trying to be as quiet as possible: "I didn't see Harry, he doesn't seem to be here? Didn't he come for breakfast?"

Dumbledore shook his head gently at him. "Harry has some family matters, and his godfather has asked for a few days' leave for him."

Perhaps this was indeed the fulfillment of Professor Trelawney's ominous prophecy at the beginning of the term.

Harry's godfather Sirius' mother Walburga died.

Sirius wrote to Dumbledore to ask for leave - a few days of leave from Harry to deal with the funeral.

From the first grade to Christmas, Harry returned to the Black family home and had long regarded it as his own home. After several twists and turns, he and Walburga got along like grandparents and grandchildren, even closer than the relationship between Walburga and Sirius.

It's like grandma died.

Even in the wizarding world, the death of a loved one is still a grief-stricken thing. Fortunately, because of his poor health, Walburga had prepared his own portrait early on and stuck it on the door with a sticking spell. This could provide some comfort to the remaining children in the family and he could always keep an eye on the children who returned home.

Although Hogwarts is a closed school, generally speaking, no one is allowed to attend except during Hogsmeade Week and a few fixed holidays.

But this kind of leave for funerals must still be approved.

There is absolutely no reason to keep a young wizard in Hogwarts to study just because someone in the family has died.

However, this was ultimately a personal matter, so Dumbledore did not directly tell Slughorn Harry's specific reason for leaving, but just vaguely passed it over.

Of course, this incident also had an indirect impact, which was Professor Trelawney's bad predictions. In a small circle, it caused panic among the third-year wizards who had just chosen the Divination class. They even regretted choosing this class that sounded a bit cool and mysterious. If they hadn't heard the predictions of those bad predictors, maybe bad things wouldn't have happened.

Professor Slughorn, who was able to read the subtext between adults, did not ask any further questions. He nodded to show his understanding and continued chatting with Dumbledore about other things.

For example, which young wizards are more outstanding and can be favored by Dumbledore...

Professor Slughorn had asked Professor Snape before.

Unfortunately, the old student is still the same bad character: he doesn’t like socializing and making small talk, and he is always full of personal opinions.

He knew all the Slytherins by heart, but he barely mentioned the other houses, especially Gryffindor. If he mentioned them briefly, he would describe them as "trolls with heads full of sphinx grass."

Although Professor Slughorn was the previous Head of Slytherin and was proud of Slytherin, he placed greater emphasis on elitism, and on the little wizards in each house who might bring him some small reward, grow into a big man, and become one of his connections.

But I don't have any big ambitions. At most, I just have a collecting habit and hope to get small rewards like "VIP front row tickets" and "annual gift baskets".