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He was incredibly lucky today, as he encountered Zicomo cooking for him again.

In fact, Zicomo's desire to cook today was not a whim, but rather to celebrate Ifrit's birth.

Although Ifrit is his pet and summoned creature, Zicomo does not treat her simply as a pet.

Ifrit displayed exceptional intelligence from birth, and she was well-behaved and sensible, just like a lovely little child.

In Zicomo's heart, he had already placed Ifrit on the same level as Laya; they were both family.

To celebrate the birth of a family member, a grand feast is naturally held.

While preparing for the dinner, Zicomo was incredibly grateful that he was a wizard with powerful mental abilities.

This allowed him to multitask, using magic to control multiple stoves to burn simultaneously.

There was no way around it; judging from Ifrit's appetite, this little guy was quite the glutton, so the dishes he prepared for dinner had to be at least twice as many as usual, and they had to all be meat dishes. After all, dragons are purely carnivorous.

While cooking, Zicomo thought that this couldn't go on, as there seemed to be more and more big eaters in their family.

It seems it's time to put the plan to abduct house-elves into action.

With so many house-elves at Hogwarts, losing a couple isn't a big deal.

Moreover, since he has signed the Hogwarts land deeds, it's perfectly reasonable for him to use a few of these house-elves, right?

During the dinner party, Ifrit became the new darling of the table, with everyone serving her food.

Ifrit, on the other hand, skillfully used a pair of chopsticks to quickly devour the meat on her plate.

Incidentally, Draco's Hydra did not eat at the table.

It wasn't because people disliked her, but because she herself was afraid to sit at the same table as Ifrit.

Draco had no choice but to prepare a separate meal for her.

The Snape family arrived shortly after Draco notified them.

Snape had heard about Ifrit from Draco, but he still couldn't help but observe her.

As a potion master, he also knew about dragons, because some potions used materials from dragons.

But he had never heard of Zicomo's dragon before.

Draco said this is a higher-ranking dragon; I wonder how effective its materials would be for making potions.

Perhaps she sensed Snape's ill intentions, or perhaps she noticed that Snape had been staring at her for too long.

Ifrit raised her dragon eyes and glared at Snape, releasing her dragon's might as well.

Snape's fork trembled, as if he were being watched by some ferocious beast. This gave him a firsthand experience of what it felt like to be a Hydra.

He quickly looked away, cursing Draco inwardly. Why didn't he tell him that the dragon's pressure could affect even people?

Zicomo naturally noticed Snape's little trick.

He said directly, "Just ask if you want to know something, don't disturb the children while they are eating."

Snape's lips twitched. You call a dragon that can exert its pressure on an elite wizard like me, even right after birth, a "child"?

Your child is quite unique, could you get one for me too?

“When Draco introduced her to me, he used the word ‘rank.’ Could you explain it to me?” Snape asked.

“The so-called rank is…” Zicomo repeated the explanation he had given Hermione during the day.

After hearing this, Snape looked enlightened; he hadn't expected dragons to be classified in this way.

"Then why are there only two ranks left in the wizarding world: earth dragons and flying dragons?" Snape continued.

“How would I know? Maybe they’re extinct.” Zicomo rolled his eyes.

"That Ifrit?"

“Ifrit’s case is rather special; you could say that I helped her purify her bloodline.”

"I see. Could you get me one too?"

Snape had a little idea; after all, Ifrit was just too beautiful, and he wanted to have one too.

If Headmaster Dumbledore can keep a beautiful phoenix, then it shouldn't be a big problem for the incoming acting headmaster to keep a beautiful dragon, right?

Chapter 127 School Starts! Dementors Attack

Yes, ever since Snape wrote to Dumbledore informing him that Voldemort was in the Albanian forest, Dumbledore had made the matter completely settled.

Snape will officially take over as acting headmaster after the start of the next semester.

“If you really want to get one, it’s not impossible. Just prepare a certain amount of dragon blood, and I’ll refine it for you and then use it to strengthen the dragon egg’s bloodline,” Zicomo replied.

"How much dragon blood do you want?" Snape asked.

"To advance to the level of a sub-dragon, the blood of one hundred wyverns will suffice; for a giant dragon, at least one thousand is required. Of course, if you have complete dragon corpses, this number can be halved."

Snape almost choked on the food in his mouth.

He probably couldn't gather a hundred dragons even if he searched all the dragon farms in the British wizarding world.

"Ahem, that's all, let's eat." Snape didn't mention the dragon again.

After the dinner, everyone sat in the living room chatting.

"By the way, what's going on with Lockhart?" Snape suddenly asked.

"What is it?" Zicomo didn't immediately realize what Snape was asking.

"Is it about why Lockhart replaced Lucius as the Hogwarts Board of Trustees?"

“Oh, you mean that? I made him do it. It was a deal between me and Lucius. He resigned from the board of trustees, and I sent someone to take his place.”

"Lucius agreed so easily?"

"Of course, last semester he wanted to take advantage of the Basilisk attack to remove Dumbledore from his post, and he coerced and bribed some of the school board members to sign the consent form. Rather than stay in that position and be disliked, he might as well give up the position."

Snape didn't look too good, but he didn't say anything more.

Zicomo knew why he had that expression; ever since Snape and Lockhart had a falling out in Duel Class last semester, the two hadn't gotten along.

It's like Snape meeting James during his school days.

But Snape and Lockhart's relationship wasn't that bad; they just disliked each other but had to smile and not show it.

The two were colleagues before, but now that Snape has become the acting headmaster, Lockhart has suddenly joined the board of trustees, giving the impression that they are destined to be enemies.

Zicomo didn't bother with the matter. At most, the two of them would just have a fight when they met. Anyway, no one would die, so he just let them fight it out.

…………

Before he knew it, it was time for school to start, and Zikomo stopped running around during that time.

During the day, stay at home and play with Ifrit, or go fishing with Mr. Granger in the "Zen Garden" and watch the little animals play in the garden.

At night, he and Lani explored the secrets hidden in the royal city in the border area.

After saying goodbye to the Grangers, Zicomo boarded the Hogwarts Express with Lani and Hermione.

Not long after they sat in the carriage, Luna and Penelope arrived together, and the carriage once again resembled the scene before the holiday.

Zicomo is flanked by Lani and Luna, with Penelope and Hermione sitting opposite him.

The carriage door opened, and a middle-aged man with a receding hairline and a tired expression stood at the door carrying a suitcase. He was stunned when he saw the scene in front of him.

Zicomo glanced at the name on his suitcase: Remus?

"Professor Lupin, is there anything I can help you with?" Zicomo asked.

Lupin snapped out of his reverie and said, "Sorry, I was just looking for an empty carriage to rest for a bit. By the way, how did you know my name and profession?"

"Your name is written on your suitcase, and the train attendants are usually women. Judging from your suit and tie, and the fact that you're a complete stranger, it's not hard to deduce that you're the new professor for the Defense Against the Dark Arts course this year."

In fact, Zicomo's reasoning was all made up on the spot; he recognized Lupin the moment he saw the name on the suitcase.

As James Partridge, he was a key player in the team.

To Zicomo's surprise, Dumbledore still managed to recall Lupin.

It's unclear whether Voldemort's curse on this course has been lifted. Lockhart did hold the position for a full semester last year, but he eventually resigned at Zicomo's request.

So Zicomo didn't know whether this counted as lifting the curse or not.

Lupin, on the other hand, was shocked by Zicomo's reasoning.

"Very keen insight. You must be a Ravenclaw student? It's a pity that classes haven't officially started yet, otherwise I would definitely give you ten points," Lupin exclaimed.

“Excuse me, Professor Lupin, I am a Gryffindor,” Zicomo replied. “If you would like to rest, I recommend you go to the next carriage; it’s empty there right now.”

Lupin gave a stiff "thank you" and turned to leave.

He was puzzled. Looking at the carriage, which was predominantly female and predominantly male, a typical Ravenclaw setup, how come Zicomo was a Gryffindor?

Are Gryffindor students really that smart?

Or is the Sorting Hat so outdated that it's starting to put young wizards into the wrong houses?

Lupin couldn't understand it, and his current mental state wasn't sufficient to support his thinking.

Before Dumbledore invited him back to teach at Hogwarts, he had been living a secluded life in a remote place.