Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 72 Harmony between Teachers and Students
nine in the morning.

Melvin finished his meal happily and went to the restricted area on the fourth floor to clean up the secret room he had set up.

At the entrance of the fourth floor stairs, a dozen students were wandering stealthily nearby, their eyes rolling around, excited expressions on their faces, their desire to go on an adventure practically written on their faces. Standing in their way were the school rules, the statue of the one-eyed hunchbacked witch, as well as the administrators Filch and Mrs. Norris.

The twin brothers and Lee from Gryffindor, Cassius from Slytherin, Roger from Ravenclaw...

Melvin looked around and saw many familiar faces. Lately, all the students in the school have been curious about the restricted area on the fourth floor. Only the twins dared to gather there during breaks.

He looked at the Hufflepuff student closest to him and teased in feigned surprise, "Cedric, why are you joining them?"

Cedric Diggory, in his third year, was already recognized by both faculty and students as the Hufflepuff's pre-eminent leader. With his academic excellence, powerful magical abilities, and exceptional Quidditch skills, he was a rare all-around talent, a rare find at Hogwarts in a decade and a rare find at Hufflepuff in a century. Everyone in the school was certain he would take over the team, become prefect, and eventually become president, with a bright future ahead of him.

Cedric can get along happily with everyone. This friendly relationship between friends is different from the elitist approach of pure-blood families. It does not make people feel uncomfortable or distant.

He is gifted but not arrogant, and has a gentle and tough character.

"Professor Lewynter, good morning," Cedric greeted, not responding to the professor's teasing. Having spent half a year together in Muggle Studies, they both knew the professor's character well. He spoke frankly, "We're all curious about the underground passages, but Headmaster Dumbledore hasn't lifted the ban, and Mr. Filch won't let us go, so we had to come over during the break to join in the fun."

"Is that so..." Melvin came up with a plan.

"Professor, are you going in?" George and Fred squeezed over from the side, staring at him with shining eyes.

"Yes, the things in the last room are more troublesome. The house-elves can't clean them up, so I have to go down and clean them up myself. It's a tedious job..." Melvin sighed slightly, looking very distressed.

The red-haired twins' eyes sparkled:

"Professor, we can help!"

"Yes, we are not afraid of trouble."

"Asking students to help is not a good idea..." Melvin seemed to be somewhat tempted, but also a little worried, thinking about the feasibility of this suggestion with a conflicted expression.

"What does this have to do with you!?" Seeing that it was really possible, Li immediately pushed the two people away and shouted confidently, "Lewynte is our professor of elective courses. Neither of you chose Muggle Studies, so why are you joining in the fun?"

George and Fred were very dissatisfied and tried to push Lee away. Roger and Cassius, who were watching, looked at each other and joined the dispute. Cedric calmly took two steps forward and helped push him away.

The scene turned into the students in the Muggle Studies class ostracizing outsiders.

"Hey, we're all classmates, don't cause trouble..."

Melvin gave a few words of advice with a righteous attitude, firmly resisting the bad habit of destroying the relationship between classmates. In order to maintain the friendship between students, after careful consideration, he added several students who were watching the fun.

Mr. Filch frowned in confusion.

"If Headmaster Dumbledore asks, just say that I insisted on bringing the students in." Melvin said solemnly, with the responsibility of a professor.

"No, we took the initiative to go in!"

"We asked for it!"

"If you want to punish us, punish us!"

"..."

It was touching to see the students rushing to express their opinions.

It is a beautiful scene of harmony between teachers and students and friendship among classmates.

……

Perhaps moved by the teacher-student friendship they showed, Mr. Filch finally backed down and allowed Melvin to lead the students into the room.

The room was empty except for a dark wooden trapdoor. The ferocious three-headed dog was nowhere to be seen. The students could only look at the tooth marks on the trapdoor and the claw marks on the floor, imagining how majestic the three-headed dog was and how Harry and his friends used the flute to hypnotize the vicious dog.

"Professor, is it true that a three-headed dog falls asleep when it hears music?"

In fact, they all have it in the magical beasts textbooks, but they have not seen it with their own eyes. They ask the professor because they want to hear a positive answer and then scream a few times to get a strange sense of satisfaction.

Melvin then replied, "Fluffy has been taken to the Forbidden Forest by Hagrid and will be raised there. He won't be leaving anytime soon. You can ask Professor Kettleburn for help. You might have a chance to see him up close."

The students showed expectant expressions.

"Okay, let's get down to business." Melvin opened the trapdoor and called out to the students. "The Devil's Snare down there probably hasn't been removed yet. Who's going down first?"

"I!"

George quickly raised his hand and jumped down, screaming the whole time he fell. The others responded quickly and jumped into the trapdoor like dumplings.

"Lee, get your ass out of the way!"

"Whose stinky feet are these!?"

"Are you ready? I'm going to cast a spell to loosen the Devil's Snare."

"Cedric, wait a moment, let him get his ass out of the way before you do anything!"

"I'm tied up and can't move!"

"Hurry up, the Devil's Snare is strangling me to death!"

"Ah..."

The cave suddenly became lively.

Melvin waited for a moment until everything below quieted down. Just as he was about to jump in, the door suddenly opened and the little witch looked at him breathlessly:
"Professor, I have some questions for you."

……

In the basement corridor, a group of students walked down the hallway, discussing the room layout and how they should get through.

"Harry's awake..."

Melvin was walking behind, and although he was asking a question, his tone did not sound surprised. Harry only had minor scratches on his body, which were mainly caused by the soul tremors caused by contact with Voldemort's ghost. Three days of sleep was enough for the soul to calm down.

Hermione brought the news she heard in the ward: "Headmaster Dumbledore told Harry that Professor Snape's actions were all to protect him because his father had once saved Professor Snape's life; Quirrell couldn't stand Harry's touch because his mother had left a powerful ancient magic in him... Nicolas Flamel also learned what happened at the school and would meet with the headmaster in two days to discuss how to destroy the Philosopher's Stone."

Melvin already knew about the previous news items, but the handling of the Philosopher's Stone was surprising. In his memory, Dumbledore had destroyed it before Harry regained consciousness. However, it was also possible that the headmaster was just casually fooling children.

"Professor, I have a few questions for you." Hermione looked up at Melvin, who looked thoughtful, and mustered her courage. "Did Dumbledore intend for us to do this regarding the Philosopher's Stone and Voldemort?"

"Why do you say that?"

"The day Hagrid took Harry to Diagon Alley, he happened to be going to Gringotts to pick up a package, and Quirrell attacked Gringotts that afternoon. It was he who revealed Nicolas Flamel's name to us...

Dumbledore gave Harry the Invisibility Cloak to guide him in discovering the purpose of the Mirror of Erised...

"When our investigation was at a standstill, you were the one who sent us the Chocolate Frog. When Quirrell was about to take action, you were the one who warned us..." The little witch frowned, her expression serious. "Too many coincidences are no longer coincidences."

Melvin wanted to defend Hagrid, saying that he was not a spy arranged by the principal, and the leak was just a simple leak.

"You're very clever, Hermione..."

Melvin ruffled her hair, not treating her like a child. He carefully considered revealing some details within the appropriate range. "Harry's mother sacrificed her own life to destroy Voldemort's body. This was extremely special. I hate to say this, but it was indeed fate's decision. When Voldemort returns, he will definitely fight Harry to the death."

Hermione pondered the professor's words, which seemed to be in the very distant future.

"The feud between Harry and Voldemort is deeper than you might imagine. Their fates are intertwined, like Kronos and Zeus in the Olympian mythology."

Melvin paused, feeling somewhat mixed emotions. He had unknowingly taken on the headmaster's Riddler attributes. "In short, Dumbledore hopes that Harry can spend as much time as possible with this nemesis, honing his skills so that he can defeat him once and for all."

Hermione felt that the professor's expression was somewhat meaningful, and that this sentence seemed to be hiding something else. When she was about to ask in detail, she suddenly heard Cedric's shout from the front:
"Professor, is this the last room?"

George and Fred followed suit.

"Is it dangerous?"

"Can we just go in?"

The broken giant chess pieces in front of them and the dark red bloodstains left by the giant monster made these students excited. However, the magic of that game had been lifted and the giant monster's body had been moved away. They could not touch the original level and always felt itchy in their hearts.

Hearing that the last room had not been processed yet, everyone was eager to try.

"There's no danger to life." Melvin shouted with a smile.

The students cheered and rushed forward.

"..."

Hermione recalled the layout of the room. It seemed that only the puppet statue and the hanging corpse were damaged. The night moths and bats were all fine, as was the strange rope.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, loud screams were heard in the room, and several boys gathered together to sing high notes that broke through the sky.

Melvin waited for their howling to subside a little before he walked slowly into the room. The little witch grasped the corner of his clothes.

The room was pitch dark.

Night moths and bats rustled and flapped their wings, and the students huddled together and shivered. Lee Jordan's robe was already wet. After they entered the room, they found that there was no light, and subconsciously lit their wands, but were pounced on by these phototactic creatures. They almost thought they were going to be eaten.

Fortunately, Cedric remained calm and instructed everyone to extinguish their wands and slowly gather together.

However, they were too panicked when struggling just now and could not tell the direction of front and back, so they could only stay where they were and wait for the professor to rescue them.

Melvin didn't use the Hand of Glory this time, but directly cast the Illumination Charm. Facing the students' terrified eyes, he shook his wand lightly, and the ball of light at the tip of the wand floated lightly into the air, attracting all the moths in the room to fly over, and a breeze blew the robes of several people.

Several balls of light floated in the air, attracting all phototactic creatures while illuminating the entire room.

Thousands of night moths and bats fly through the ball of light. They are all weak and ordinary creatures, but when they gather together, flying and swaying in the same behavioral patterns, the huge number accumulates to create a shocking visual spectacle.

The young wizards looked up at the scene, their eyes sparkling with surprise and admiration.

"Gringotts recruits curse breakers from all over the world every year. Do you know why?" Melvin asked from the side.

"Because they want to dig for gold in the ruins." Li spoke faster than his brain.

"Because every year, curse breakers die in the tombs of ancient wizards." Melvin's tone was eerie, and the scene of moths and bats flying around made several students feel a chill in their hearts. "The goblins will train new curse breakers, and one of the rules is not to enter enclosed spaces without first conducting a thorough investigation."

Thinking back on their actions just now, the little wizards could only remain silent.

After all, they were only third-year students, and inside the school, so it was normal for them to let their guard down. Melvin didn't hold them back. Instead, he watched them reflect on themselves and coughed twice. "It's right to explore an unfamiliar environment, but you must not expose your position, and you must not panic if you're attacked. Aren't you going to help me? Your mission today is to take advantage of these moths' attraction to light and capture them in the box."

Only then did Cedric and his companions notice a few crudely made wooden boxes in the corner.

The third-year students were busy and soon found the fun in it. Hermione followed Melvin to collect some dark magic items, and sometimes other people would come to join in the fun.

When asked about the functions of these black magic items, Melvin did not hide anything and explained them one by one:

"It's a suffocating puppet that can attack when someone's off guard. The maker used poplar wood, and it was almost falling apart when I bought it. I used copper bars to reinforce it, but Quirrell still broke it. I'll go back to the vendor and ask if it can be repaired.

"The opal necklace has a curse too strong, and ordinary detection magic can detect it. Don't wear unfamiliar magical items when you come across them in the future. Develop good habits from a young age. Some wizards are over a hundred years old and still don't understand this. Sigh...

"The hanging noose originated from the black magic of 'Quick Imprisonment', which Quirrell knows. If you encounter a rope attack, don't use fire. If you can't burn it to ashes immediately, you will suffer..."

Hermione came to this room again and found many details that she had not noticed last time. There were residual spider silk in the corners of the wall. It was difficult to clean if it stuck to the face. It was not dangerous but it would wear out the patience. There were similar strange symbols everywhere, which could easily make people irritated if they saw too much.

It took nearly an hour to pack up and clean up. The curiosity of several students was satisfied, and Melvin also saved some time. Both the teacher and the students were very satisfied.

After sending them out of the corridor on the fourth floor, Melvin returned to the underground passage to pack up the wooden boxes, planning to resell a few boxes of moths and bats to Professor Kettleburn. As soon as he entered, he saw the old wizard with a white beard leaning against the wall.

"..."

Dumbledore smiled gently. "That was a wonderful lecture, very detailed and interesting. Melvin, are you interested in taking over as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?"

"Absolutely not."

"It's a pity..." Dumbledore's tone and expression did not show much regret, as if he just mentioned it casually, and let it go even if it didn't succeed.

"The principal is not looking for me just to substitute for the teacher, right?"

"Nicolas Flamel is coming to Hogsmeade this weekend. He wants to talk to you about the Shadow Mirror."

(End of this chapter)