days at Hogwarts

Chapter 786 Argus Filch
February 6th, evening.

The snow has melted and the spring is still chilly.

Loren dawdled over dinner.

Today is the first weekend after school starts. In the evening, we have to report to the administrator, Mr. Filch. Although it is called detention, it is actually voluntary work. The tasks are all odd jobs such as scrubbing the trophy display room, cleaning the bathroom, and sweeping the yard.

Mr. Filch no longer advocates corporal punishment and will work with the punished students.

It is said that the administrator used to leave students to work alone in the room while he went to do other things elsewhere and came back to check after the work was done. Until he met George and Fred, the two of them took advantage of the administrator's absence and deliberately stole the confiscated contraband. After that, Filch changed the rules.

The assignment of detention at Hogwarts was not fixed. If a professor needed free labor or wanted to recruit students from his own college, he would take over the relevant detention management and assign some subject-related tasks, such as handling potion materials, organizing greenhouse fertilizers, or even helping to organize test papers. Unfortunately, no one was willing to help Loren this time, and they all thought he deserved it.

Loren smacked his lips after swallowing the pumpkin pie, savoring the sweet taste. He said good night to Hermione in advance, walked out of the hall resolutely, came to the office at the end of the corridor on the first floor alone, and knocked on the door.

"Who?"

"Loren Morgan."

"Enter."

Pushing the door open, dim light came into view. There was only an oil lamp on the ceiling, and there were no windows on the walls. The room was filled with the aroma of fried fish.

The first impression of this room is that it is cramped and crowded. Upon closer inspection, one finds that it is actually not small, but there are many wooden filing cabinets lined up against the wall, taking up too much space. This is the administrator's office and also the Hogwarts problem student archive, which contains detailed information on all punished students.

Looking closely, one of the drawers on the right wall was labeled with the word Weasley.

The filing cabinet near the desk was marked "Confiscated Items, Highly Dangerous" and contained contraband items collected in previous years. It was in it that George and Fred found the Marauder's Map.

"Good evening, Mr. Filch."

"Loren Morgan..."

Argus Filch was old, and as a Squib, he had no magic to nourish his body, so he was skinny. Several professors in the school were even older, but none of them looked so old. He had a hunched back, messy thin hair, pale face, atrophy of cheek muscles, sagging skin, twisted veins, and a pair of bulging light-colored eyes.

Mrs. Norris curled up on a cotton pillow in the corner of the room. Next to her was a small porcelain bowl with a few fish bones in it and oil stains on the bowl wall.

That's where the smell of frying fish comes from.

The elderly administrator sat behind a dark square table, flipping through the documents handed out by the professor with his bony hands. He squinted his eyes and looked through them with great effort, his chin trembling slightly. "Those who place alchemical items in the school without permission will be detained."

"Yes, I will be there on time for the next two weekends. Just tell me if you have any questions." Loren nodded to Filch, the flickering oil lamp reflected in his eyes.

The notification document was distributed before the Christmas holiday. Filch was not very focused when he looked at the document, but just avoided making eye contact with Loren.

After the last night stroll incident, this action had a sense of deliberate alienation.

Was Filch worried that he would take the opportunity to close the distance and escape punishment?

"For the next two weeks?"

Filch muttered as he pretended to look through his schedule. "It's the beginning of the new term. The snow in the courtyard has thawed, so it's inconvenient to clean. The bathroom was cleaned before term started. There's nothing else to do. The only thing left to do is clean the prize room..."

"Come on, I'll go with you." Filch said as he stood up and walked out. Mrs. Norris stretched out her four paws and followed behind him with light steps.

Loren had no choice but to follow Mrs. Norris.

Filch walked with a slight limp, dragging his feet and moving slowly. Loren could hear his wheezing breath, and without the smell of frying fish to cover it, he could smell the strong scent of an old man on him.

In a sense, he always behaves tough and aggressive in front of students, perhaps to cover up his own weakness, especially in this magic school, where he is a Squib without magic.

Loren followed Mrs. Loris quietly, many thoughts flashing through his mind, and he no longer had the resistance he had at the beginning.

Go up the stairs to the fourth floor of the castle, pass through a corridor full of armor, and turn left to reach the trophy display room. This room is for display purposes, so it has never been locked.

The room is filled with crystal glass cabinets displaying various trophies, shields, medals and statues, as well as a list of all past student union presidents.

In fact, these things did not look dirty, and there were no obvious stains on them. There was just some dust on the glass display case, but the exhibits inside were still bright and clean, even cleaner than Filch's office.

Filch seemed to particularly hate students dirtying the castle. He would even scold the Quidditch team when they came back from training on a rainy day with the floor wet by the rain. But he himself did not have any mysophobia. He only kept his office clean in a perfunctory manner and always wore shabby robes.

This Hogwarts Castle is a holy place in his heart.

"let us start."

Filch took out cleaning supplies from the corner. There were a few clean towels in a metal basin. He took out a fake wand from his sleeve, pointed it into the basin and said in a serious manner: "Clear water like a spring."

Clear water gushed out of nowhere, fell into the basin and wet the towel.

"Start wiping from here and stop ten minutes before lights out. For the next two weekends, come on time by yourself. You don't need to come to my office to say hello." Filch wrung out two towels and handed him one.

"Ok sir."

Loren took the towel and glanced at the fake magic wand. The wooden stick of unknown material was shining with tung oil. It had been carefully maintained, but the magic power inside had weakened. After a few more uses, it would fail and turn into an ordinary wooden stick.

Loren didn't say much and just wiped the medal by himself.

The trophy display room suddenly became quiet, with only the sound of the glass doors of the crystal display cabinets opening and closing, the slight knocking of metal trophies and medals placed on the bases, and the sound of water splashing when towels were wet and wrung out.

"Mr. Filch."

"You said."

"How many years have you worked at Hogwarts?"

"About twenty years or so, I can't remember clearly."

"Twenty years is really a long time..."

Loren looked up at the old man not far away and paused for a moment. "After guarding this castle for so many years, seeing the magic so close every day, but never being able to get close, does Mr. Filch feel desperate?"

(End of this chapter)