A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

Chapter 235 The Changes Are More Than Just a Little

Lupin ultimately did not agree, and Felix, as an observer, could clearly see the professor's reluctance.

He had some guesses. The form of the guardian deity was closely related to the wizard's state. Lupin was a werewolf—although he tried his best to avoid mentioning the word, this identity had long since affected him to the bone. His guardian deity was very likely a wolf or a related subspecies.

Felix didn't know what to say. 'Severus is really...'

……

One night, Ron climbed in alone from outside the common room.

"Snape's a freak! He...!" Ron swore, prompting Hermione to yell, "Ron, stop swearing!"

He plopped down on the soft chair next to Harry, reeking of cleaning agents.

Harry looked at Ron with sympathy. This wasn't the first time he had lost his temper because of Snape. When Professor Lupin was sick and Snape was filling in for him, Ron was punished for talking back to Snape in public and was forced to clean the chamber pots in the school hospital—and he couldn't use magic.

Snape seemed to deliberately prolong this painful process, dividing the punishment into three parts, each of which left Ron furious like a raging lion.

"I'm serious, Snape is a really twisted guy. If he hadn't only taught one class..." Ron said angrily, "I didn't write a single word of the paper he assigned, ha! Sure enough, Professor Lupin canceled it!"

Hermione's expression wasn't good. Most of the class was watching and observing, but she had finished her paper on werewolves early on.

Ron said sarcastically, "Maybe someone shoved his head down the toilet when he was in school. Look at his hair, Harry—" He looked at Harry, "Weren't you staying tonight to ask Professor Lupin if he'd revealed anything about it?"

Harry said somberly, "No, I asked him about Dementors, and about my mother."

Ron's expression softened. He exchanged a glance with Hermione and asked in a low voice, "Did you hear that again on the day of the Quidditch match...?"

“Yes,” Harry said. “This is the second time. I’m particularly vulnerable to Dementors. Professor Lupin said it’s because I’ve experienced more pain.” He whispered, “He’s right. I heard my mother’s dying voice over and over again.”

"But—" Harry perked up, "Professor Lupin told me a lot about my mother. You know, I've only seen her in the photos Professor Hagrid gave me and in the Mirror of Erised. Nobody else has mentioned her much..."

"Harry..." Hermione looked at him with concern.

Harry continued, "I thought my mother was very gentle, that's how I imagined her, but she wasn't. Professor Lupin said she was very opinionated, even a bit fierce. In those days, she maintained her friendship with her neighbor from the rival house—Snape—for five years. Professor Lupin said he admired her."

"Of course! Mum and Snape eventually parted ways because of Voldemort!" Harry exclaimed excitedly. "Mum had to grow up eventually. When she first enrolled, she didn't understand the war Voldemort had started, but how can one person defy reality? Every few days, classmates' family members and relatives would die, and every month several classmates would drop out. That's war, isn't it?"

"She must have struggled with this decision for a long time, but ultimately she ended the friendship. Professor Lupin said she was depressed for a long time, and my father comforted her, telling her many stories about the Order of the Phoenix, and they naturally ended up together..."

"Marriage, fighting Death Eaters, escaping Voldemort's pursuit, and me," Harry's expression darkened, "until they trusted Sirius Black."

Ron asked anxiously, "Harry, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Harry said. "Professor Lupin promised to teach me the Patronus Charm after Christmas. But he refused my request for special training. Professor Hyp is too busy, and I didn't dare to bring it up."

"When I was writing my paper on dueling systems, I always used Black as my hypothetical enemy, but actually I can't do much, just a few spells. And I'm not proficient at them yet..."

Ron said, "Harry, we can train on our own."

Harry stopped his rambling, looked up at Ron, and slowly said, "Train yourself?" This made Ron a little uneasy. He said, "I know I'm weaker and no match for you, but I can be your assistant if you need me."

He then came up with another terrible idea: "If all else fails, we can practice on the Slytherin students. The Malfoys would be good, and Crabbe and Goyle look like they could withstand a few more spells."

Harry couldn't help but grin as he thought of Crabbe, the burly man, and Goyle, who looked like a gorilla. He composed himself and said seriously, "Thank you, Ron."

Ron blushed. "N-nothing."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Hermione seemed relieved. She pulled out a piece of parchment and quickly scribbled on it.

"If we're going to train ourselves, we need to be fully prepared. We need to choose the right time and place, select the appropriate spells, and prevent accidents... There's a lot to do!" Hermione said decisively.

"Hermione?" Ron stared at her, somewhat dumbfounded.

But Hermione was already in work mode. "My schedule is a little different from yours, but... I should be able to find the time..."

How did you find the time?

"Don't interrupt me, Ron," Hermione said impatiently. "You'd better refer to the dueling lessons for your spell selection, Harry. I need your paper."

Harry blankly handed her the completed paper.

"I'll give it to Professor Hyp for you, but I need to take a look first and summarize your dueling strategy. Also, Ron, you can't let your guard down either; you can't fall too far behind."

Ron made a face. "You don't want me to write a paper too, do you? Professor Binns just assigned a two-foot-long assignment, you know."

"Well, if you're not planning on—I mean, I can lend you my homework for reference." Hermione tried her best to avoid using the word "copy."

Ron whispered to Harry, "She really surprised me."

Harry shrugged and said casually, "That's Hermione, isn't she? She's surprised us countless times."

Hermione was still racking her brains, "Maybe we can recruit a few more people. Of course, the three of us would definitely spend the most time together, but others might also be interested, and they are generally quite skilled. The Duel Class really helped a lot!"

Dean's Stunning Curse is quite skilled, and Seamus's Explosion Curse is also exaggerated; he must have a real talent for it… and Neville, Ginny's little evil curses are pretty good too; I didn't expect her to learn them that quickly when I taught her. We could even ask Percy for help; he owes the twins a favor, and the twins—" she laughed, "they owe me a lot of favors."

"Wait a minute," Ron exclaimed, "What's going on with Percy, Fred, and George?"

"Remember the couple's mirror? They gave Penelope a 50% discount; she was going to give it to Percy as a Christmas present, but Percy secretly found a twin..."

"Then how did you get involved with Fred and George?" Ron still couldn't understand; his two older brothers were not easy to talk to.

"Oh," Hermione said with a bright smile, "I'm the assistant for the Ancient Runes class. They often ask me for reference books, down to the page numbers. They say it's to save time, because they don't think theoretical Ancient Runes are worth their time."

(End of this chapter)