The Pacifist Necromancer of Hogwarts

Chapter 327 S.P.E.W.
"Tsk, tsk, what a pity I wasn't there. I know what Harry was thinking, of course. Yes, it's natural for a little boy of his age to want to show off that he has a house-elf, especially in front of so many classmates. But - and I know you will agree with me, Henry - external help is never as good as personal strength. I know a very useful little trick for resisting the magic of those house-elves, and if I had been there, I would have taught Harry..."

"Uh-huh," Anthony said.

He was walking down the corridor with Lockhart towards the Great Hall. He knew he should have gone to breakfast earlier.

"I met a few crazy house-elves in Somalia. They were suddenly interested in treasure. But then again, if a good house-elf is not crazy, he would not dare to attack wizards at all... Anyway, the wizards there are helpless against them, but I knew what to do as soon as I got there." Lockhart bent his fingers and tapped his temple lightly, "Adventurer's intuition. I was like this at that time," he smiled brightly at a few students passing by, nodded, then raised his wand in front of him, danced a dazzling wand flower, and then raised it high above his head, "Note, I raised my chin and looked directly at the house-elf..."

"No magic in the corridors, Professor Lockhart," Anthony reminded him.

Lockhart paused, then put down his wand as if nothing had happened. "That's right, Henry, that's right. But if you're curious, I think I mentioned a few things in "The Magical Me" -"

A voice came from behind them: "Did you just say house-elves, Professor Lockhart?"

Anthony and Lockhart turned around and saw Hermione. She was holding a tin box in her hand and was slightly out of breath because she was running fast. Harry and Ron stood a few steps behind her, looking a little embarrassed.

"Are you talking about house-elves, Professor?" Hermione asked in a slightly tense but unflinching voice. "By the way, you never use house-elves in your adventure series!"

Lockhart smiled and slowed down his pace. "Yes, Miss Granger, and I did it on purpose. The fun of adventure is to experience those thrilling moments in person..."

Hermione looked at Lockhart with red cheeks and bright eyes, and said eagerly: "I know that you have always been committed to fighting against the dark forces and hope to eliminate evil in the world."

Lockhart's smile widened. He said slyly, "Don't forget to promote my line of hair toner."

Hermione smiled sweetly, and then raised the box in her hand that jingled with her footsteps: "So you must be willing to support house-elves to get their due rights, right? For centuries, they have been subjected to inhumane slavery - we can't let this go on! Those arrogant wizards are pampered and enjoy the service of the elves, but deliberately refuse to give anything, and even beat and scold them. When I think of this, I - I - I feel sick!"

She snapped the box open, revealing a bunch of badges with "SPEW" written on them, which looked pretty crude.

"Vomiting?" Lockhart looked at the badge in the box in confusion, and his pace became even slower. Anthony also looked over. Perhaps this was some kind of pun on "feeling nauseous".

"Not 'vomit', SPEW, the Society for the Advancement of House-Elves." Hermione explained patiently and skillfully, "This is an association to ensure that house-elves are paid fairly and treated correctly. We believe that no life - no intelligent, sentient creature - is born only to serve another creature! Just spend two Sickles and buy a badge to show your support for this concept!"

She looked at Lockhart expectantly. Lockhart seemed a little surprised, but he showed his signature charming smile the next second.

"Oh, dear boy, that's a very interesting idea," he said kindly. "But you see, I haven't got a penny--"

Hermione interrupted him immediately: "It's okay, Professor Lockhart, you can give it later." She raised the box higher, "Wearing a badge is also a way of showing support, and I believe that the sooner you express your advocacy, the better! You can take one first!"

They reached the hall. Anthony glanced back and saw Harry and Ron still not far behind them, chuckling and talking. Lockhart was walking ahead of everyone else, and suddenly his face changed dramatically, and he stopped and turned around.

"No, Miss Granger, I can't do that." Lockhart's serious expression stunned the excited Hermione. "I'm not the kind of person who would use my reputation to enjoy privileges. If I got the badge without paying, it would be too unfair to others, wouldn't it? How could I do that?" He smiled again and winked at Hermione mischievously. "Of course not. Now, enjoy your breakfast first, Miss Granger."

After saying that, he walked quickly towards the staff seats, his light blue wizard robe swaying gracefully behind him.

Hermione watched him walk away, then suddenly turned to Anthony and raised the box unwillingly: "Professor Anthony——"

"I'll think about it," Anthony promised.

Hermione looked disappointed, but she hadn't lost her spirit. "Once you've thought it over, you can always come to me, Harry, or Ron to buy a badge. There are only twenty badges at the moment, but they're definitely not enough, so I'm working on making more. Besides, once I master more magic, I plan to update all our badges." She was slightly embarrassed. "I know they don't look worth two Sickles, but it won't always be like this."

Anthony wasn't sure whether people would be more willing to wear the current plain and simple badge or a more beautiful and eye-catching "vomit". However, he only said: "When people buy your badge, I am sure they will not think that appearance is the deciding factor, Miss Granger."

"Yes, the most important thing is the concept." Hermione said firmly, "Please think about it carefully." She turned her head and called to Harry and Ron with a little impatience, "Okay, don't make that expression. Let's go."

"Great, I'm starving." Ron breathed a sigh of relief, "What's available this morning?"

Over the next few days, Anthony noticed that he saw Hermione wandering the library more often than usual, reading from large open books, scribbling furiously on long scrolls of parchment, no doubt doing more research on elf rights, and on several occasions he overheard Hermione trying to persuade Harry to persuade Sirius to set Kreacher free.

As far as he knew, Lockhart still hadn't bought the badge. This made Hermione slightly critical of Lockhart, but she would still defend him when Ron mentioned it sarcastically, believing that he just didn't express his true support for a variety of reasons - because he felt that this was a major matter that must be carefully considered, because he didn't hear clearly, because he didn't bring money again, because he was busy looking for his quill pen, because the design of the badge didn't match his exquisite clothes... "You don't think we think it looks good, Hermione?" Ron asked incredulously, pointing to the SPEW badge on his chest.

Hermione blushed slightly. "But... um... it won't be as discordant as it was at Professor Lockhart's."

Ron was so angry with her.

"Besides," Hermione added briskly, "it's the idea behind it that counts. If Professor Lockhart is holding back on buying it simply because of its appearance, I'd be damned if he doesn't."

Anthony left quietly, secretly wondering if Hermione knew that there were a large group of elves living in Hogwarts and listening to their conversation. In any case, except for the day when Hermione sold him the badge, she never urged Anthony to join her association again, let alone expect Anthony's two Sickles as much as she expected Lockhart.

However, although SPEW was not "eagerly awaiting his appearance" as stated on those charity or fundraising flyers, when he returned to the office, he found that something was indeed waiting for his appearance.

A horned owl was standing outside his window, dozing with its eyes half closed and its neck hunched in. On the other side of the window, cats, chickens, and mice were huddled next to a potted dill plant, staring at the owl.

The moment Anthony closed the door behind him, the three pets and the owl all looked at him. The horned owl fluttered its wings and began to tap his window rhythmically with its beak.

"Go, go." Anthony pushed the pets away and opened the window. "Give it to me, thank you - what is it? Do you want something to eat?"

The owl stretched out one leg with a small bundle tied to it. As soon as Anthony untied it, the owl flew away.

"Oh, all right," Anthony said, closing the window and sitting down at his desk. The cat jumped onto the armrest, then slipped under his arm and laid down on his lap. The ghost chickens and ghost mice also gathered around and stared at the small package.

Anthony unwrapped the outermost wrapping paper and found that it was wrapped in several layers of newspapers. In addition to the newspapers, two notes fell out of the package. He picked up the one next to him and saw the familiar handwriting.

"Haha, we're back! Or rather, I'm back. Mr. and Mrs. Flamel said they were going back to their secluded place. But before they left, they said they wanted to send you a souvenir, so I asked them to take this note. I hope the owl is really reliable. A lot of things have happened, but I'm so tired, so I'll talk to you slowly some other time. I really need a good bath.

"You're tired, Lind"

Anthony laughed and picked up another note.

"Dear Henry:

"Enclosed is a small souvenir. It's not a good thing, but it's not bad either. We wanted to give it to Albus, but Perenelle and I talked it over and decided that it might be better for you. You can show it to Albus, of course.

"Whatever you do, don't tell anyone else we found this thing. Not even a broken one. Tell Albus you found it on the street, or that it suddenly appeared next to your pillow - well, you can tell Albus, but no more. The Philosopher's Stone was enough for us. Good Lord, dear Perenelle, we are such geniuses at playing with stones and getting into trouble with ourselves.

“Adventure really isn’t for us. We’d either get bored or get into trouble.

"Correction, enclosed is a small nuisance.

"NF"

Anthony put down the letter in confusion and unfolded the crumpled newspaper. There were news from Devonshire, dense rental notices, and an advertisement for a beef price reduction on Wednesday... Finally, a small thing rolled out with a clang.

The cat poked its head out with interest, ears erected, and placed its paws on the table, stretching its front paws to grab it. Anthony held the cat down.

It was a ring. It was actually quite large for a ring, and the ring was heavy, with a broken black stone inlaid on it. The magic power that had not yet dissipated was entangled with it, making Anthony feel his hair stand on end and his heart fascinated just by holding it.

He had a bad feeling: Nicolas Flamel had sent him an item of Dark Magic - an almost useless item of Dark Magic.

"How likely do you think Minerva will like this news?" Anthony asked the Wrath Chicken. "Well, at least the Senior Inquisitor will like it."

He wrapped the ring back in the newspaper and decided to report it to Dumbledore as Nico had suggested.

(End of this chapter)