Days wandering around Hogwarts

Chapter 365 How to Invite a Girl Home

"Good evening, Professor McGonagall."

"The time is right, let's go."

Charles was so focused on transforming into an owl and practicing flying that he almost forgot there were other things to do tonight.

Professor McGonagall took Charles into the library. There were only Madam Pince and Filch who brought her hot tea with milk.

Filch blushed when he saw Professor McGonagall come in, said hello and left in a hurry.

"He's quite nice," Professor McGonagall teased Madam Pince. "No one has ever brought me tea with milk in the evening."

Mrs. Pince turned the tables and said to Charles, "Mr. Smith, why don't you write home quickly?"

Professor McGonagall didn't respond, showed her the headmaster's note, and then took Charles to the restricted area.

On the way, the professor said to Charles, "I didn't expect you didn't secretly learn Animagus."

Charles replied: "I'm afraid I'll eat the mandrake leaves while I'm eating."

Professor McGonagall said, "Someone in Ravenclaw has been keeping his mouth shut for half a month. I only discovered this when I asked him to answer a question yesterday."

Charles just smiled and said nothing to her about Catherine Clayt.

The two walked to the end of the restricted area. Professor McGonagall tapped on different bricks with her wand. The order and number of times were different each time, and Charles couldn't figure out the trick.

A bronze door soon appeared on the wall with the Hogwarts emblem on it. Professor McGonagall tapped the Gryffindor symbol with her wand and the door slowly opened by itself.

Behind the door was a spiral staircase. As candles on both sides lit up by themselves, the two went down to the bottom floor, and the real restricted books area appeared in front of Charles.

Walking out of the stairs, the first thing you see is various empty boxes piled on both sides. These were found by Dumbledore from many places in the castle and the restricted book area when he organized a general cleanup when he first became the headmaster. They should have been filled with things before, but when they were discovered, there was only dust.

Now these empty boxes here look like a pile of old things. Charles thought, he didn't know what they would look like if someone broke in.

This place is divided into several floors and should have been renovated. It is not quite the same as the "memory" of the old man that Charles saw.

There were several ghosts floating under the ceiling. They had never appeared anywhere else in the castle. When they saw Professor McGonagall and Charles, they immediately surrounded them silently.

The ghosts left only after Professor McGonagall showed them the headmaster's note.

Charles sat down at his desk and Professor McGonagall went to get him the books the headmaster had allowed him to borrow.

Professor Delacour was sitting at another table nearby, with a few books he had brought back from Merlin's grave on the table, reading very seriously.

Percy, Joyce, and Cedric were here too, preparing for the Potions Tournament which was to begin shortly.

Professor Flitwick and Lupin sat side by side, with a tall pile of books in front of them.

Professor McGonagall soon brought a book that Charles needed. It was about how to crack protective spells. If it were to be circulated, it could easily be used by thieves to steal.

The books in the restricted section are not necessarily dangerous or powerful to wizards, some of them can cause harm to society.

Charles opened the book, found what he needed in the table of contents, and began to read carefully and take notes in his notebook.

He could understand some of the content, but couldn't understand some of it, so he wrote it down and would look for the prerequisite knowledge to fill in the gaps when he had time.

Everyone was concentrating on their own work. No one spoke, and the only sound was the sound of turning pages and quills scraping against parchment.

Time flies when you concentrate on doing something, and before you know it, it's already half past ten in the evening.

The candle on the candlestick dimmed three times, reminding everyone to leave as soon as possible as the place needed to be "disinfected".

Charles had finished reading what he needed to read half an hour ago and was organizing his notes at this time. He handed the book to Professor McGonagall, put away his notebook and hurried away.

In the Gryffindor common room, Ruby made Ralph and Ron's new owls, Piglet, climb onto Crookshanks, and let Crookshanks carry them around.

Tomorrow is the weekend, and many students are still awake. They are eating snacks and talking about how quickly the appendages on the Firebolt can catch the Golden Snitch in tomorrow's game.

Charles took out a pot of beef stewed with onions, potatoes, beer, bay leaves, pepper, etc. and fed it to Ruby, Harry, Hermione and others. Ruby invited Crookshanks and Piglet to come and eat together, while Ralph could only watch. At this time, a seventh-grade girl pulled Percy over, pointed at Charles and said to him: "You should ask Charles, he must know."

Charles was confused and looked at Percy in confusion. What did he know?
Percy's face turned red and he stammered, unable to speak. He was completely different from the serious and wise look he had just had in the restricted section of the library.

The girl continued, "Charles received two gifts on Valentine's Day last year. I don't know how many he will receive this year."

Now Charles was even more confused. Didn't Percy already have a girlfriend? Why did he still ask for his advice?
The air of gossip spread, attracting Fred and George, and Ron and Ginny's spoons slowed down.

But Percy still blushed and stammered, unable to speak, scratching his head. Charles wondered if he had something to hide?

Finally, the girl said, "Percy wants to invite Penelope home during the summer vacation, but I don't know what excuse he will come up with."

"Oh!" Anyway, the oldest ones are Fred and George.

"That's great!" said Fred. "It's going to be a great summer at home."

"That's right." Charles interrupted George, "Bill will bring his girlfriend home this summer."

George asked him in surprise, "How did you know?"

Charles smiled and said, "Bill kidnapped the daughter of a classmate of a neighbor of Professor Delacour's mother-in-law's third sister. People wrote to ask me about Bill's character."

The people around were confused by this huge circle of relationships. After all, Hermione, who had the best brain, didn't realize the other person's identity.

Fred added: "And Charlie."

Ron said in surprise, "Charlie's not going to bring a dragon home, is he?"

Fred said seriously, "It's possible."

Charles rubbed his chin in thought and asked Percy, "Are you planning on just taking her home, or proposing?"

Before Percy could answer, the girl who pulled him over asked, "What would I say if I proposed?"

Harry learned to answer quickly: "Charles once taught a neighbor how to propose marriage. He asked his girlfriend to ask if she was willing to be buried in his family cemetery after her death."

The people around were stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter after they realized what was happening.

Charles said to Harry unhappily, "You couldn't remember to wash your hands before eating the cake, but you remember these very well."

Percy quickly shook his head and waved his hands, saying, "It's... not that stage yet."

Charles thought for a moment and said seriously, "You can find an excuse that will make her curious and irreplaceable, for example... you can tell her that your brother can do somersaults and ask if she wants to go to your house to see him."

Fred and George looked at each other, then immediately looked at Ron. Fred asked him, "Ron, I didn't expect you to be able to do somersaults?"

George also said, "I've never seen you turn it over for us to see."

Ron was dumbfounded. How could he be shot while lying down?

"Ah!" Hermione looked as if she suddenly remembered something. She looked at Charles, then at Harry, and asked Charles seriously, "You told me before that your neighbor can do somersaults and asked me if I wanted to go and see. Are you talking about Harry?"

Charles nodded silently. He had originally planned to let the two of them get to know each other earlier.

Harry gritted his teeth and asked Charles: "Is this why you made me practice somersaults all the time that summer vacation?"

Charles nodded silently again.

Seamus was just looking for trouble and asked Harry curiously, "How many somersaults can you do at a time? Twenty?"

On the other side, Ron didn't care how many somersaults Harry could do. When he saw Percy looking at him thoughtfully, he asked nervously, "You don't really want me to do somersaults, do you?"

Fred and George muttered to each other for a long time, and finally said with certainty: "It seems that there is a spell that can make people do somersaults."

(End of this chapter)