Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 31 Conversation in the Principal's Office
at dusk.

School auditorium.

The professors sat at the guest of honor table for dinner. The crisp sounds of knives and forks colliding and the clinking of wine glasses were all sounds of friendly communication.

Especially Professor Snape of the Potions class and Professor Quirrell of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, who whispered to each other and exchanged glances from time to time, creating an enviable atmosphere of friendly colleagues.

Owls fluttered their wings and flew through the skylight, landing on the long desk in the academy.

Harry received a mysterious package. It was long and narrow, with a slender, straight body and a bulging tail. It was tightly wrapped in brown paper and had a note on the outside saying:

"Don't open it, there's a Nimbus 2000 inside, and I don't want anyone to know you have a new broom." - Professor M. McGonagall

Harry couldn't contain his joy and handed the note to Ron.

"Nimbus! 2000..." Ron shouted excitedly, then suddenly realized they were still in the auditorium. He quickly lowered his voice and grinned from ear to ear. "This is Nimbus 2000, I've never touched it before. Put the letter away quickly, before anyone else finds it!"

"hey-hey……"

"Let's go quickly."

"Not having dinner?"

"Dinner? What dinner?"

Ron jumped off the bench with the package in his arms. Harry followed him, but after thinking it over, he stepped back and pocketed a few beef pies.

The two hurriedly left the hall, hoping to find a deserted spot on the Quidditch pitch to unpack before it got completely dark. It would be even better if they could fly around twice.

"New broom, new broom..."

"Nimbus! Nimbus 2000!"

"..."

Watching the two of them leave with a silly grin, Seamus and Dean, who were sitting next to them, remained silent, looked at each other with complicated expressions.

It was a dormitory for five people, but they were excluded.

The two turned to look at Neville who was eating normally.

"..."

Neville had a piece of bread in his mouth, looking a little confused, and subconsciously looked at Hermione.

Hermione pursed her lips, said nothing, silently lowered her head to cut the steak, and concentrated on eating, without any fluctuation in her heart.

Boys are like this, most of the time their minds are full of decorations.

Yesterday, Malfoy provoked them a little and tricked them into making an appointment for a duel at midnight. These guys actually believed it and refused to listen to any persuasion. They kept clamoring to participate in the duel. In the end, the person who showed up for the appointment was not Malfoy from Slytherin, but the administrator Mr. Filch.

If they hadn't been lucky enough to shake off the administrator and the cat, they would have been expelled from school and would now be on the express train returning home.

"..."

Recalling last night's experience, Hermione chewed the steak slowly, the image of the ferocious three-headed dog and the trapdoor under its belly reappearing in her mind.

Why is there a three-headed dog in school?
What's under that trapdoor that needs to be guarded by a three-headed dog?

"No, no, this is against school rules..."

Hermione quickly shook her head, shaking off the messy thoughts, but the curiosity in her heart kept popping up again and again, like the doll in a whack-a-mole toy.

Disgusting, yet irresistibly attractive.

"What's in there?"

...Night fell.

Melvin came home late with two boxes of ice cream in his hands, one chocolate flavor and one lemon flavor, produced by Florin's Cold Drink Shop in Diagon Alley. The professor can get a discount by paying with facial recognition.

After exiting the stairs, he turned right and walked straight along the corridor, stopping in front of a giant stone sculpture of a monster. Melvin looked at the sculpture's hideous appearance and pondered for a moment, "Cheese Olaf."

The squatting stone sculpture jumped to the side with an unnaturally deft posture, and the wall behind it suddenly opened, revealing a movable spiral staircase. The staircase operated automatically, a bit like the escalators in Muggle shopping malls, but in a spiral shape.

Melvin walked up the stairs to the principal's office on the eighth floor and came to an oak door with a brass knocker.

……

The night is getting darker.

In the reception room of the principal's office, steam was rising from the tea on the table, and the surface of the silver ornaments was covered with a hazy white mist.

A figure sat behind the desk, his brows slightly furrowed, a thoughtful look on his face.

There were two translucent figures sitting in front of him, appearing to be a hazy silver-white with a bluish color. The one on the left wearing a simple gray robe was the ghost Lady Grey, and the one next to him with bloody chains wrapped around his body was the Bloody Baron, the murderer of Lady Grey.

Fawkes curled up in the Sorting Hat, his head resting on the brim, staring at them with his round eyes. The Sorting Hat cracked open and shook gently twice, but he still didn't dare to speak.

During dinner this evening, Peeves was making trouble in the auditorium, shouting and saying disgusting words like feces and urine. The students were disgusted, but they couldn't do anything about Peeves. Fortunately, Dumbledore quickly stepped in to stop Peeves, but did not punish him. Instead, he asked Peeves to send a message to invite the two ghosts to visit the principal's office.

Ms. Grey was extremely reluctant to stay with the Bloody Baron, but out of respect for Dumbledore, she was willing to accept the invitation.

The Bloody Baron had been repenting for what happened back then and wished he could follow Helena all the time. When he heard that the principal invited them at the same time, he was actually a little happy.

At this moment, Ms. Grey was answering the headmaster's question about ghosts: "After death, wizards may still cling to the world, or harbor strong emotions that are difficult to let go. It may be regret, or it may be unwillingness to accept the reality of death... The wizard's emotions and soul are magic. This magic between life and death is even more wonderful. It can transform the soul into a translucent entity, wandering the places it visited in life."

Dumbledore frowned. "I have witnessed more than once that many wizards died with strong reluctance, yet their souls did not linger."

"I'm not sure about that either." Ms. Grey spoke in a very soft voice, her words tinged with melancholy. "Maybe it has something to do with the time of death. Some people's souls are compatible with the magic of the full moon, some with the magic of the waning moon, and some with the magic of the sun. They need to die at the right time to transform into ghosts.
"It may also be related to the location. Some places themselves have magic, such as Myrtle, who died in the school bathroom. The magic of Hogwarts may have inadvertently helped her.

"These are just speculations, my mother's speculations."

The Bloody Barrow remained silent.

"Did Ms. Ravenclaw really conduct research on the soul?"

“There are no clear results.”

"Is it possible for a soul that has been dead for many years to be transformed into a ghost?"

"I don't know either. There is no such precedent in history." Ms. Grey paused for a moment, looking at the old principal with a clear gaze. She wanted to give some advice, but she couldn't say it, and only sighed.

Dumbledore picked up the cooled tea, took a sip, and said to them, "The above questions are only my personal questions. I called you here mainly for Ms. Ravenclaw's diadem."

Ms. Grey and the Bloody Baron looked up at the old headmaster. "Did you find the diadem?"

Dumbledore nodded. "I found it with the help of Professor Lewynter. In fact, the diadem has been hidden in the castle. Forgive me for not being able to return the diadem or show it to you for the time being. It has been transformed by dark magic into some kind of evil vessel, and I have not yet found a way to cleanse the filth."

The two ghosts wanted to say something else when they heard clear footsteps outside the office door.

"That's all for today. I'll let you know if there's any progress."

"Please, Dumbledore." Ms. Grey's voice trembled slightly.

"Principal Dumbledore..." The Bloody Baron finally spoke, but he didn't finish the sentence.

Before floating out of the office, Ms. Grey suddenly turned back, with sadness and regret in her eyes: "Ghosts are not a continuation of life, but a form of torture, Dumbledore. Don't make a choice that you will regret."

"I see……"

(End of this chapter)