From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 175 Attack
Harry stood in the corridor, covered in mud, feeling angry and annoyed.

The weather in October was far from ideal, with continuous heavy rain and low temperatures causing many people in the castle to catch colds.

In order to welcome the upcoming Quidditch season, Wood requires all Gryffindor players to drink a cup of stimulant from Madam Pomfrey before training on rainy days.

So facing the sudden rain and strong wind after lunch, Harry flew around the court for a long time with steam coming out of his ears (Wood's statement made sense, the proud and complacent Slytherin did not choose to train on a rainy day, or no one wanted to play on a broomstick in a rainstorm), but he didn't even see the shadow of the Golden Snitch.

Because the training equipment was dizzy due to raindrops and strong winds, it got stuck in a gap on the side of the stands.

Only after Wood used the Summoning Charm to bring the Snitch back did he finally announce that they could return to the castle for dinner.

Harry, dragging his muddy feet back to the castle, ran into Gryffindor's ghost, the nearly headless Nick. This ghost, whose head and body were only connected by a little skin, was upset because he was rejected by the Headless Hunters, so he grabbed Harry and complained for a long time.

Just during this delay, Potions Professor Snape appeared clearly in front of Harry.

"Look, the famous Potter who loves to send autographed photos can't even handle a little mud and water. I thought you were a wizard." Professor Snape's mouth turned down, showing his master's not very good mood.

"Sir..." Harry swallowed nervously, waiting to be sentenced for his crime.

"Five points from Gryffindor."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

But Professor Snape obviously didn't finish his words: "I have other things to do, so I don't have time to give you a detention. Go to the castle warden, and he will decide what you should do to atone for your sins."

Professor Snape left like a big bat with its wings spread, leaving Harry full of regret and resentment.

The Potions Master's footsteps soon disappeared down the corridor, and Harry was alone except for the ghost.

"Why don't I just leave? I've already been deducted points anyway."

Just as Harry decided to add a few more muddy footprints to the corridor, the castle caretaker Filch appeared, breathing heavily and wearing a red nose.

Judging from the frequent cold patients seen recently, it is not difficult to find that Filch is also sick. However, as the castle manager, it would be easy for Filch to get a dose of refreshing medicine from Madam Pomfrey. Why didn't he do that?
"You look like a dog that's rolled in the mud!" Filch pointed at Harry's muddy robes and Quidditch uniform. "I'm going to punish you!"

Is there anything more tragic than being caught before you can escape?

Harry thought that he was deducted two points for one "mistake".

"In fact, Professor Snape has already deducted points from me... He asked me to find you to decide on further punishment..." Harry said quickly.

"Okay, okay!" Filch smiled ugly, revealing a bunch of yellow and rotten teeth. "Follow me!"

So Harry had no choice but to follow Filch down the stairs, leaving another trail of muddy footprints on the floor.

Being able to decide Harry's punishment did not make him happier, because there were always students who left stains in the castle, and Filch was determined to teach Harry a lesson.

Filch's office was a dark, dirty, windowless room lit only by a single oil lamp.

The air smelled of fried fish, probably because he was cooking for his old, shedding cat.

The walls were lined with wooden filing cabinets, which contained detailed information on every student Filch had ever punished, as could be seen from the labels.

There was a single cabinet with words in big bold letters on it - CONFUSED ITEM, HIGHLY DANGEROUS.

Harry quietly moved a little further away. The box was probably filled with prank merchandise confiscated from students, and there might even be dung bombs that were about to expire.

Filch grabbed a quill from the tin on the desk and found a piece of parchment in the drawer, muttering in a nasal voice: "Slugs... frog brains... mouse intestines... and stinking mud! I've had enough!"

He spread the parchment out on the table and dipped his quill into the inkwell.

"Name - Harry Potter, Crime -"

"It's just a little mud!" Harry defended himself.

"That's true for you, but for me, it was a precious hour!" A drop of turbid snot came out of Filch's nose, shaking disgustingly with his angry voice, "Crime - defilement of the castle, punishment recommended -"

"How about I ask you to clean the chamber pot?" Filch turned to look at Harry. "The hospital wing is really overcrowded lately! Use your hands to clean it, and no spells are allowed—"

Harry could almost smell the urine in the chamber pot. Filch was undoubtedly very satisfied with the expression on Harry's face. He looked at him maliciously and wiped his disgusting nose with his sleeve.

However, just before Filch's quill fell, there was a loud noise from the ceiling of the office. "Bang!" The oil lamp swayed left and right, and the figure in the room swayed with it.

"Peeves!" Filch yelled, dropping his quill and rushing out. "I'm going to catch you!"

As the spirit of mischief in Hogwarts Castle, Peeves can be said to be a common nightmare for teachers and students. He will wake you up in the middle of the night, spit unchewed gum on you, lead teachers to catch you when you are wandering around at night, and even interfere with your way to the classroom.

But now Harry felt that Peeves had made trouble at the right time. Filch's attention had undoubtedly been temporarily diverted from him. Perhaps when he came back, Harry would get a lighter punishment.

So Harry found a chair and sat down next to the desk, looking at the items on the desk.

In addition to his unfinished "indictment", there was a purple envelope on the table with some words printed on it in silver ink: Correspondence Course on Introductory Fast-Casting Magic.

Harry had heard of correspondence courses in the Muggle world. Generally speaking, they provide you with teaching materials by mail, and you are asked to study on your own and then take the exam. After passing the exam, you will get a correspondence diploma. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia often say that those things are scams, and they don't care about anything after taking the money. Only people who can't learn real skills in school will go for a correspondence degree.

He didn't expect that there were similar things in the magical world.

Opening the purple envelope and pulling out a sheaf of parchment, Harry quickly glanced through it.

It's full of clichéd advertising slogans that aren't much different from Muggle ads.

Perhaps Filch's magic was as lame as the wizards in the advertisements... or perhaps even lameer, given that advertisements were usually embellished - which was why he needed the "Introduction to Magic" correspondence course.

Harry folded the letter and put it back into the envelope, then sat in the chair and sighed.

Even if Slytherin's Quidditch team was missing Ivy, it was still a super strong team with 7 Nimbus 2001s. Harry really didn't know how Gryffindor would deal with 7 Nimbus 2001s.

Something wet licked the back of his hand.

Harry turned his head and saw the big black dog he had seen outside Professor McGonagall's office before, the ominous one that George and Fred mentioned.

The big black dog seemed to have just entered the castle from a rainstorm, just like Harry. Its black hair was tangled together and wetly hung on its back. Harry then realized that it was much thinner than he had imagined.

Harry reached out and scratched the big black dog's ear. "How did you disappear last time? They all said you were my illusion, but I think maybe the dogs living in this castle all have some magic!"

The big, wet dog squatted down and wagged its tail at Harry in a friendly manner.

"Who do you call a dog?" There were footsteps outside the door. There was no doubt that Filch had misunderstood what Harry said.

If he saw the big wet black dog, Harry would be in even bigger trouble, so he stood up in one step and stood in front of the big black dog.

The door of the castle manager's office was pushed open, and Filch looked at Harry with a pair of angry eyes.

Next he moved on to the correspondence course envelope on the table.

"Have you - have you seen - how dare you..." Filch's face turned red in an instant and he asked incoherently.

Harry was about to explain, but Filch didn't give him the chance.

"You guessed it, didn't you?" Harry had never seen Filch so angry. Even when Fred and George threw dung bombs at him, his eyes didn't bulge like this.

"...guess what?" Harry repeated uneasily, taking a small step back and then stopping immediately because his leg had touched the nose of the big dog behind him.

"What can a second-year wizard do with that little stick?" Filch spit wildly, approaching Harry step by step. "Produce a little spark? Make a flash? Make a stink?"

"I know you all look down on me! Everyone in the castle - even Hagrid with a broken wand - is better than me!" Filch stretched out ten bony fingers, as if he was going to strangle Harry's neck at the next second.

"I don't look down on you!" Harry hurriedly defended himself, but he agreed with him a little in his heart.

"Even if...even if I'm a-a Squib!" Filch breathed heavily, as if he would be out of breath in the next second, "that's not a reason for you to insult me!"

Filch's outstretched hands did not end up strangling Harry's neck, but instead pushed him hard.

The mud and water under Harry's feet were slippery, and there was a big dog behind him that tripped him, so he fell straight to the ground.

"Ouch!"

The Quidditch uniform was padded at the chest, elbows, knees, and hips, and it was now soaked with water, so Harry's fall was not actually painful, just a shock.

"Woof!" But the big black dog behind him didn't think so. It barked and rushed towards Filch.

Not only is the big black dog's hair black, but even its tongue and eyes are black. Even if it stays there motionless, it is difficult to tell which is the head and which is the tail without a careful look.

But when it shows its sharp white teeth, anyone who sees it will immediately understand that this black ball is not to be trifled with.

Filch was startled and took half a step back when the big black dog bit him on the leg.

In the dim light, Filch waved his arms around, and people thought Harry had used some dark magic on him.

"I'm a member of the faculty! You're going to be expelled!" Filch shouted, reaching out to pull the growling creature off his lap.

The black dog let go of its thigh, which was already bleeding, and bit Filch's left hand again, tearing it back with force.

Filch, whose thigh was injured, could no longer maintain his balance and stumbled to the ground.

This time he ruined everything.

Doesn't this just put the fragile neck right into the black dog's mouth?

Then the beast with a ferocious look in its eyes loosened its skinny palm which had a row of bloody holes bitten on it, and started to bite Filch's neck.

"Don't!" Harry, who was sitting aside in shock, came to his senses at this moment. He didn't expect that the friendly black dog would suddenly start attacking Filch. He hurried forward to stop it and grabbed its thick black tail.

Harry's pull did save Filch's life. The sharp canine teeth scratched behind his ear, and a bleeding gap extended directly above his eyebrow.

The blood immediately blurred Filch's vision, and he couldn't even see what had bitten him. The severe pain made him use his hands and feet to retreat continuously.

Even though Harry was pulling its tail, the big black dog still barked wildly and pounced on Filch, carrying Harry forward a long distance.

The hot breath blowing on Filch's face deepened his fear.

"Have me spared!" Filch shouted, using his injured left hand to protect his head and crawling towards the office door.

Although Harry looked thin in the Quidditch team, he was actually not short. The boy's body had some weight. The big black dog that had its tail grabbed had no way to break free and could only drag Harry towards the door little by little.

Taking advantage of this slight delay, Filch raised his upper body, turned the doorknob and escaped.

Filch staggered a few steps on the way out with his injured leg, then fell to the ground again.

It turned out that the bite from the big black dog on his leg had directly pierced the artery on the inside of his thigh, not to mention that the dagger-like canine teeth had also cut the artery behind his ear.

Blood gushed out of both wounds, and Filch only managed to crawl forward a few steps before he completely fainted.

The big black dog, whose tail was grabbed, became even more anxious when he saw the prey disappear, and actually turned around and licked Harry's face.

The wet, hot and rough tongue licked Harry's face, giving him goose bumps, and he subconsciously reached out to wipe them.

The force holding the big black dog's tail weakened, and it pulled forward, broke free from its tail, and rushed out of the office following the blood trail left by Filch.

Harry thought to himself that something was wrong, so he quickly drew his wand and rushed to the corridor.

But there was no big black dog in the corridor, only poor old Filch lying in a pool of blood. Harry took a few steps forward to check his injuries.

He had just squatted down when Snape's angry voice came from the other end of the corridor: "What on earth did you do! Potter!"

"Oh - it's over." Harry sighed in his heart. If there was anyone he least wanted to meet at this moment, it would be Snape.

"I just played a game of ball in the rain and left some mud in the corridor. How come so many things happened all of a sudden?"

(End of this chapter)