The Pacifist Necromancer of Hogwarts

Chapter 316 Easter Owl

As he laughed, Harry's slightly annoyed and serious expression faded and he grinned.

Ron laughed, too. He nudged Harry's shoulder, side-glanced at the stern-faced Hermione, and made a face with a smile. Harry quickly stopped smiling.

Hermione gave them a cold look, raised her head, picked up the magazine and put it on top of the pile of books.

"Have a nice afternoon," she said politely to Hagrid and Anthony, glanced at Harry and Ron, and strode away with her book.

"Oh, dear. Here we go again," Ron complained. "Do you think Lockhart is cursing people secretly?"

A smile crossed Harry's face again, but he just shrugged, said goodbye to Anthony and Hagrid, and chased in the direction Hermione left with Ron, who was still mumbling.

"What's wrong?" Hagrid watched in confusion as they half-ran, half-walked across the lawn and caught up with the figure with dishevelled brown hair. "Is Hermione mad?"

Anthony said, "Maybe a little."

They saw Hermione turn around and seemed to say something. Harry and Ron slowed down a little, but soon caught up again. After a while, Hermione also slowed down, and the three of them walked slowly towards the castle.

"They're fine," Anthony explained, looking away.

Hagrid looked towards the castle worriedly: "Why is Hermione suddenly angry?"

"Well..." said Anthony, "at least they've made up now. And you, Hagrid, how have you been? I haven't visited you in a while."

"Oh, great!" Hagrid turned his head back immediately and smiled down at Anthony, "Busy, but great... I've been spending most of my time lately--" He looked around, leaned his head closer, and lowered his voice, "You know, building a zoo."

Anthony also lowered his voice: "How is it going?"

"I can't tell you. It's still a secret. But," Hagrid puffed out his chest, "I'm telling you, Henry, you're going to be surprised."

Anthony suddenly became worried: "You didn't put a fire dragon in there, right?"

"Hmm..." Hagrid stammered hesitantly, his eyes somewhat evasive.

Anthony was shocked. “Right?”

Hagrid lowered his head and said in a muffled voice, "Not yet." He looked a little unwilling.

Anthony warned, "Pay attention to Ms. Umbridge, okay?"

Hagrid perked up a little at the mention of Umbridge.

"She can't get in." He waved his big hand. "Professor Flitwick has put some defensive spells on the fence... Besides, there's Fluffy guarding the door..."

"Lu Wei?"

"Fluvia," said Hagrid. "That three-headed dog - the one that was in the third floor corridor - that's mine. I got it from a fellow from Greece... a fellow who breeds these magical creatures. I suspect he deals in Chimaera eggs sometimes, but I've never come across one on the black market. Tricky fellow."

Anthony sighed. "Don't buy anything from the black market anymore...at least not for a while, okay? Minerva has enough to worry about already."

"But I need to buy some medicine to repel the flesh-eating slugs..."

"Umbridge has just deducted 40 points from Gryffindor and sent the Weasley twins to Mr. Filch for detention until a week after Easter," said Anthony. "Minerva is very unhappy because Wood rushed to her office to protest, and both of Gryffindor's beaters cannot participate in training. In addition, she has to reply to letters from the Ministry of Magic. Professor Dumbledore seems to be busy visiting Ilvermorny and has handed over some of the school affairs to Minerva..."

Hagrid was furious. "But the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match is in May! That vicious hag!" He slammed the brush back into the tar bucket, nearly knocking it over. "Well, I won't let her cause us any more trouble - those slugs can wait."

Anthony paused, nodded and said, "Excellent."

……

Leaving Hagrid to the boats still bobbing in the water, Anthony turned back along the shore of Black Lake and decided to try his luck in the greenhouse again.

This time he found Professor Sprout in the greenhouse on the west side of the Forbidden Forest.

Around her, reddish-brown soil was scattered, and a bunch of glass jars of various sizes floated on the ceiling, each with a flame dancing inside, which made most of the greenhouse hot. However, in the shadows away from the glass jars, cool air magically seeped out from the moist black-brown soil.

A beam of light came from what looked like a skylight, shining on several small baobab-like plants, which twisted their bodies in pleasure to ensure that the sunlight fell evenly on each branch.

Professor Sprout was tending to a dead plant. She heard the door open, adjusted her hat, and looked up.

"Henry!" she called with a smile, "Why are you here? Come and see this - oh, be careful over there!" Anthony stepped over some wrinkled purple things, "Shriveled figs, sent by Vagado, probably samples from Albania - don't worry about that pile, it's Sphinx dung, they seem to be using it instead of dragon dung -"

Walking around some thorny plants with blood-red flowers and passing several golden cacti, Anthony squatted next to Professor Sprout, listening to her happily introducing the precautions for handling this herb with a long and confusing name, and handed over a shovel or scissors at her signal.

Only after he had planted the "Name is Long Grass" in the flowerpot and buried the flowerpot in the soil did Professor Sprout stand up and pat the dust off his body. "Thank you so much, Henry. Did Minerva ask you to come here?"

"Um, no. It's Gillyweed."

"what?"

"Am I mistaken in the name?" asked Anthony, pulling out of his pocket the herbs which Mr. Lynde had sent him.

"No, you didn't." Professor Sprout laughed. "Give it to me - I just didn't expect to hear that word from you."

Anthony asked, "This is definitely gillyweed, isn't it?"

Professor Sprout wiped his hands on his clothes, took the rat-tail-like thing, put it under his nose and sniffed it, then looked at it carefully for a while and rubbed the slippery mucus on it.

"Yes, and very fresh," she said with certainty. "See those gray-green stems here? Mediterranean gillyweed - it's the most potent gillyweed known. Just one ounce of it can keep a person underwater for more than an hour - oh!"

"What's wrong?" Anthony asked.

"Look at this, Henry!" Professor Sprout whispered in surprise, "It's a bunch of Pixie Gillyweed! Very rare, very valuable..."

"Pixie Gillyweed?" Anthony moved closer and observed the place pointed by Professor Sprout for a while. He found nothing and confessed, "I don't see the connection between this and the elves."

There were no translucent wings or glittering gold dust. In fact, it still looked like some kind of worm or rat tail, with just the slippery slime reflecting the glittering greenhouse light.

"It's called Pixie's Gills because it's so rare and has only been found in Cornwall, so some people joke that the Cornish pixies planted it," Professor Sprout said. "They say the pixies brought it from the shore to the lake, or to the water in the caves - but of course, that's more of an indication of how rare it is."

She gently parted the tangled gray-green plants and picked out a slightly reddish gillyweed. "Look, typical elfin gillyweed. Do you know why it has this unusual color?"

Anthony stared at the light red rat tail for a while, and said without much hope: "Because it was planted by the elves?"

"Okay, Henry," Professor Sprout encouraged in a guiding tone, "Gillweed is a Mediterranean aquatic plant, which means it usually lives in..."

"In the sea," Anthony said, and laughed. "Okay, I see. Is there any difference between the gillyweed that grows in fresh water and the one that grows in salt water?"

"They're a nice light red," said Professor Sprout.

"I mean, does it - I don't know - turn people into mermen or something?"

"Of course not!" Professor Sprout warned him, "Don't ever say that in front of mermen - they are quite proud of their identity, just like the centaurs, and would rather join the 'beasts' than be magically divided into human beings like vampires."

"I can understand that. I'm not too happy about being classified as a human with vampires either."

"Hmm... makes sense," said Professor Sprout. "Anyway, no, there's no difference in the effects of Pixie Gillyweed and regular Gillyweed."

Anthony asked, "So what makes them so valuable?"

Professor Sprout said, slightly reproachfully, "Because they are a nice light red, Henry."

……

After Anthony responded to Mr. Lind (“It’s a nice specimen of light red gillywort”), the Easter holidays arrived.

The library was full of students sighing and groaning, writing piles of homework and looking longingly at the sunshine outside the window. Most professors assigned more homework than usual, just to prevent students from having too much energy to deal with Umbridge - she was still sending out reports with "A" or "E" marks, but the news that England had entered the European Quidditch Championship occupied most of the pages of the Daily Prophet, and Anthony hadn't seen more inflammatory reports for a while.

It was in this fragile calm that a bulging, round package arrived at Hogwarts.

The owl holding it was a skinny little owl. As Anthony, Professor McGonagall, Umbridge and Filch watched, it flapped its wings vigorously, up and down, and staggered towards the Gryffindor table, then threw the package next to Harry's plate, almost hitting the plate of bacon. Harry quickly caught the package, while Hermione and Ron also looked on curiously. The little owl circled proudly above their heads, hooting happily.

Anthony glanced at Umbridge. Her hands were raised in the air, and her bulging eyes were focused intently, like a toad that had found its prey.

"Oh, dungbombs..." Filch whispered gleefully.

Professor McGonagall had no doubt noticed it, too. A hint of impatience flashed across her face, and she winked at Anthony, then turned and began to talk to Umbridge about a new rule about Animagus ("I heard that Mr. Hill was very supportive..."). Umbridge had to look away and discuss it with her ("Yes, Minerva, Mr. Hill believes that this will help people realize the need for registration..."). Anthony quickly put down his knife and fork and walked towards Harry and the others.

Harry turned the package over and looked at it, but there seemed to be no signature identifying the sender.

"Take it apart and have a look!" Ron urged. Hermione said suspiciously, "Wait, what if there's something dangerous inside..."

But Harry had already torn the wrapping paper off. A huge, colorful egg rolled out, and on the green lawn with red and yellow flowers, a large black dog was crookedly drawn.

Anthony paused. It seemed that there was nothing to hide. No one would say that a godfather shouldn't send gifts to his godson. He smiled at the students who looked up at him, leaned over to take a fruit pie from their table, and walked calmly back to the staff. The students looked at him in confusion.

"Good Lord, Henry!" Professor McGonagall whispered as he sat back down in his seat. Her face was still straight, but Anthony could tell she was amused.

Anthony said to Umbridge and Filch who were staring at him, "That fruit pie looks delicious. If you want, you can go to the long student table and get one."

……

"Sirius!" Harry said happily. A warm feeling rose from his chest. Even though he had seen Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon put a basket of Easter eggs into Dudley's hands every year, he had never thought that he would receive Easter eggs. Along with the eggs, there was a gift that made him even happier.

"Why would Sirius think of giving you an Easter egg?" Hermione asked with interest. "Oh, and here's a letter!"

"Sirius always wants to give Harry presents," said Ron, moving closer to Harry to read the letter with him.

//Dear Harry,
//Hope you're doing well. I heard that Muggles think Easter has something to do with the guy who turns water into wine, and bunnies and bunny-hidden eggs and stuff like that - maybe the guy's animagus is a bunny, I don't know - either way, I guess it wouldn't go wrong to send you an Easter egg.

Ron looked up. "What are Easter eggs, Hermione?"

Hermione sighed and was about to explain when Dean said from the other side of the table, "It's the eggs at Easter—"

"Egg-shaped things," Hermione added.

"Uh... yeah, sometimes it's eggs, sometimes it's chocolate. You paint on it, and then it's an Easter egg."

"Some people think it's because eggs symbolize birth, and therefore are associated with spring, which is about new life," said Hermione.

"Wow, didn't Sirius send you a Chimera egg?"

Harry held up the egg and shook it. "I think it's a gift box. Listen, there's something in it."

// I know Hogwarts doesn't usually allow students to leave at Easter, so I decided to send you something fun to make this holiday more like a holiday...

"But how do you open it?" asked Seamus.

"Maybe there's a trap -" said Hermione.

//…just need to smash it open. I used a little magic so only a Potter can open it - regards to you, Madam Umbridge and Mr Snape, if you're watching.

"Sirius said I should break it open," Harry read.

Ron stuffed the Easter egg into his arms: "What are you waiting for? Smash it open and see."

"No, Harry!" said Hermione.

//Apart from that, Harry, feel free to contact me with anything you come across. You know, this house is boring as hell, and I've got plenty of time - and most importantly, I'm always here for you.

Harry put the letter aside, looked at the painting on the eggshell, and tentatively knocked the egg against the corner of the table. Nothing happened. Under the gaze of the people around him, he knocked it hard -

boom!
Everyone in the hall stopped talking and looked in their direction. A full, golden-red firework leaped into the air and bloomed above the dining table.

Then, countless white, brown, fluffy and light rabbits appeared from Mars and slowly floated down. As soon as they landed on the ground, they began to jump around, jumping up and down from the benches amid the students' exclamations, picking up food that fell under the table, gnawing on the tassels hanging from the college flag, and eating the broccoli and spinach that the students fed them.

Owls dodged rabbits in the air, flapping their wings in dissatisfaction. Neville picked a feather from his oatmeal in the chaos, looking at the bowl with a gloomy face, unsure whether to continue eating. Before he made a decision, a rabbit fell into the mashed potatoes in front of him, and then rushed over and overturned his bowl. The little owl that caused this chaos was chirping excitedly, flying above the broken eggshells, narrowly avoiding one rabbit after another. Ron reached out and caught it to his side.

The Weasley twins took off their hats during the farce and dumped the hopping rabbits from their huge bread trays into them. As Professor McGonagall walked past them with a stern face, they bowed to her in a pretentious manner and reached into their hats to pull handfuls of rabbits out.

Professor McGonagall ignored them: "Mr. Potter, I hope you can give me a reasonable explanation." She shook her wand, and the rabbits in the hall disappeared. Several students who were holding the rabbits in their arms sighed in disappointment.

"I - I'm sorry," said Harry. "I didn't expect it to be like this. I had no idea -"

"Lies!" spat Filch. "Born liars! I know you're the kind of students who mess up everything and then pretend not to know!"

Hermione's face flushed with shame. The little owl was still making noise.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Ron whispered to it. "Ouch!" The little owl pecked Ron happily, as if it thought he was teasing it.

Umbridge said in a high, thin voice, "The lying child should be taught a lesson, right? Let me see, ten points from Gryffindor, how about that?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione said in unison, "But—"

"Not very good." Professor McGonagall said coldly, turning back to Umbridge. Umbridge was startled and stared at Professor McGonagall with her mouth slightly open, as if Professor McGonagall had punched her in the face instead of rejecting her.

"Minerva—"

"If you notice that I'm dealing with this, I'd rather you didn't give out punishment before I made a decision, Dolores," said Professor McGonagall, looking like she was taking out all her recent anger on Umbridge. "After all, I think I'm Potter's head of house. I don't think he's lying."

Umbridge's chest heaved violently. Professor McGonagall stared down at her, not flinching.

The hall fell silent. The students beside them quietly moved away, looking at Professor McGonagall and Umbridge in awe and expectation. Neville was shaking with fear. Anthony put his hand on his shoulder and smiled at him.

"Thank you for your understanding," said Professor McGonagall, nodding coolly towards Umbridge, whose eyes were burning with cold anger.

"Oh, you're welcome," Umbridge said in a pretentiously soft voice, without a trace of smile on her face. "Excellent, Minerva, I look forward to your decision."

Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow and turned to Harry: "You said you don't know what this is?"

"Yeah - I mean, I knew it was an Easter egg, but I didn't know it was like this."

"Didn't you order it, Mr. Potter?"

"No. It was...it was given to me by Sirius." Harry glanced at the letter beside him.

Professor McGonagall's eyes fell on the big black dog on the eggshell. She sighed slightly and softened her tone: "I hope you will be more cautious next time you receive a package of unknown content, Mr. Potter."

"But Sirius is my godfather," Harry said defensively, "he would never hurt me—"

"You'd be surprised how easy it is to forge a letter," said Professor McGonagall sternly. "Well, continue with your breakfast." She glanced at the little owl in Ron's hand with dissatisfaction, then turned and left.

Anthony whispered, "I thought you were going to lose points, Minerva."

"I do think they should lose some marks for the mess they caused," Professor McGonagall replied calmly, using her sharp gaze to make two students who wanted to exchange assignments lower their heads and pretend to eat carrots with pale faces. "But Dolores seemed to be enthusiastic enough to do it instead."

“For the wrong reasons.”

Professor McGonagall thought for a moment, then continued walking forward. "That's all right. Miss Granger will explain it to them."

……

"Sirius almost got you into trouble!" Hermione whispered with a hint of dissatisfaction, "Professor McGonagall almost deducted points from us, if it wasn't for that Umbridge..."

"Maybe he warned me," said Harry quickly. "I haven't finished reading the letter yet... Oh, Ron, he also said - he said -"

Hermione also came over to read the letter: "What? 'If your friend Ron is willing to adopt it, this little owl will belong to him' - Great, Ron - 'To express my apology for not killing Wormtail earlier and preventing him from escaping to the Weasleys' - Oh."

Ron looked at the little owl suspiciously. It was still chirping excitedly, turning its head in his hand to look around. Neville turned sideways and moved his milk further away. The owl pecked Ron's hand affectionately again, causing him to grimace in pain, gasp, and let go. The little owl stumbled around them a few times and landed on Ron's slightly red hand again.

The Weasley twins, several seats away, turned to Harry and said approvingly, "Those are really nice fireworks. Do you know the address of the shop, Harry?"

Percy said, "Behave yourself, Fred, George!"

His brother didn't seem to have heard. "And could you please turn off that alarm clock, Ron?"

"Alarm clock?" said Ron.

"That furry alarm clock," said the other twin. "Our silly little brother."

Percy agreed, in a rare move: "It's too loud."

Ron looked down at the little owl that was calling joyfully at him.

"Okay, you're mine." He said decisively, holding the owl. "Remember to help me deafen these guys."

(End of this chapter)