Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle

Chapter 19 Born at the end of July

"Dragon scum, good fortune shines brightly, the stars shine..."

Neville's eyes were a little dull. He held the list of passwords. The parchment felt rough and inexplicably unreal. "Is this... a spell I cast?"

Melvin didn't answer. He patted his shoulder again and asked casually, "Now that I have the password, can I go back by myself?"

"Should...can, right?"

Neville's voice was still a little trembling.

Melvin shook his head and searched the portrait frames on both sides of the wall. "Is Sir Cadogan here? Sir Cadogan?"

"A noble mind and a strong body, summon Sir Cadogan when needed!"

With an impassioned shout, a short and fat knight in armor ran out from a path deep inside the portrait. No one knew who had passed the message to him. Behind him followed a pony that was equally short and fat, with clattering hooves.

"Sir Cadogan."

Melvin pounded his chest with his fist and gave a knight's salute. "This little fellow is lost. Could you please escort him back to Gryffindor Tower?"

"The escort mission! Leave it to me!"

The short and fat knight's eyes lit up, and he turned over to mount his pony, but the horse shook and threw him off.

Cadogan climbed up and stood firm, without any embarrassment. He raised his sword, put on his mask and looked at Neville: "Follow me, soldier!"

Then he dove into the frame of the nun next door and was chased all the way to another portrait. The next portrait was a woman in a hoop skirt, and there was another chase and a lot of noise.

Neville glanced at the knight running away, then at the professor beside him, and hurriedly chased after him, waving goodbye: "Goodbye, Professor Lewinter!"

"Ha ha……"

Melvin thought the portraits at school were quite interesting.

"The summoning spell I remember didn't have this kind of momentum, and Longbottom's changes..."

Dumbledore walked out onto the landing, a cup of hot cocoa in his hand, his brow furrowed in thought as he asked curiously, "Melvin, how did you do that?"

"A trifling teaching trick."

Melvin was not surprised. Not long after he found Neville, the headmaster was hiding there. Who knew if he had installed surveillance cameras in the corridor.

"That child's spellcasting movements were very standard. The wand's mismatch caused some hindrances, but it wasn't enough to cause a complete failure. From what I've observed, his biggest problem is self-doubt..."

Melvin changed the subject, "In the Muggle world, there's a short-distance transportation method called a bicycle. It relies on the gyroscopic effect created by the rotation of two wheels, as well as the driver's control to maintain balance. It's very difficult for beginners. The difficulty in controlling a bicycle is one aspect, and the other is overcoming psychological barriers. Muggle parents have developed a set of teaching methods based on this.

When teaching children to ride, pretend to stand behind them to support them and help them find their balance. As the wheels spin rapidly, the gyroscopic effect quickly helps the child find their balance. The child, thinking they have a parent to support them, begins to ride freely and confidently.

"They only discovered after riding a long distance that their parents had stopped helping them a long time ago. By the time they realized the truth, they had already overcome their psychological barriers and quickly learned to ride."

"what do you mean?"

"As long as you have firm faith and give him some support, even if it's false support, you can help him find his balance and let him ride forward on his own."

"..."

Dumbledore's blue eyes widened, gleaming with a glimmer of light. "A Summoning Charm doesn't cause strong winds, but a Cleansing Charm can. You cast the Cleansing Charm to summon the wind, and Longbottom believed it was the effect of his Summoning Charm. This belief, combined with the correct casting motion, actually unleashed the Summoning Charm..."

"First-year students don't have very strong magical powers. Fortunately, the list is nearby."

"It's... an amazing miracle."

“Magic always brings us surprises.”

"I mean your philosophy," Dumbledore said softly. "I'm glad, Melvin, that I invited you that night."

"It's an honor for me too."

"Melvin, are you free tomorrow weekend? I have something I want to ask you for help with."

"I'm going to Hogsmeade in the morning, how about the afternoon?"

"I'll wait for you in the office."

"See you tomorrow then."

"See you tomorrow, Melvin."

……

"Fairy Light."

The Fat Lady prefers to use Latin or astrological terms as passwords, which makes her look elegant and classical.

As the command was given, the stone cave behind the portrait rumbled open, revealing the passage leading to the Gryffindor common room.

After saying goodbye to Sir Cadogan and good night to the Fat Lady, Neville walked into the common room, his expression still a little dazed.

Did he really cast such a powerful summoning spell himself?

It had been nearly half an hour since the lights were turned off. The lounge was completely dark. With a little starlight filtering through the window, Neville looked down at his hands.

In one hand is a wand, in the other is a list.

A solid wooden staircase connected the common room and the dormitories, with left and right branches separating the male and female dormitories. Walking down the hallway, the freshman dormitories were located further inward, perhaps to protect the students' privacy. There were no portraits in this corridor, and ghosts were rarely seen. Due to this lack of supervision, graffiti dotted the walls on both sides. Some were well-made, with images visible, while others were just meaningless blobs of ink. The house-elves' regular cleaning was not always smooth, and in the more hidden crevices, one could see words left by students from centuries past.

Neville gently pushed open the door and walked into the dormitory. Several roommates had already changed into pajamas and gone to bed. Seamus and Dean were sleeping soundly. Harry and Ron huddled together and talked in a low voice. They were going to visit Hagrid, the big gamekeeper, tomorrow.

"You're back, Neville!"

"I thought you were staying in the school infirmary tonight."

Ron and Harry lowered their voices.

"Shh, we'll talk tomorrow."

Neville put a finger to his lips.

"oh oh……"

"Ok."

These roommates were very friendly and treated him well. They didn't care about his poor performance in class. Although they didn't tutor him like Hermione did, they always went back to the dormitory with him after dinner because they were worried that he would forget the password and lose the password list. However, an accident happened in the Potions class today.

The night is deep, and bright silver light shines into the dormitory through the glass windows. Moist mist seeps in through the window cracks, with a faint moist water vapor.

I went into the bathroom to wash up, changed into pajamas, and came out half an hour later. I lay on the bed in a daze.

His parents' enemies, his grandmother's expectations, his uncle's hopes, the scenery outside the second-floor window of his home, the smell of potions in the closed ward of St. Mungo's, and the candy wrappers his mother handed him.

Those things that I thought I could not remember now appear clearly in my mind.

These were Neville Longbottom's first eleven years.

The help of roommates, the explanations of classmates, the care of professors, the delicious food on the long table in the auditorium, the plants in the greenhouse of the herb class, and the evening breeze whistling in the corridor late at night.

This was his first week at Hogwarts.

Neville, who was born in late July, had no desire to sleep. He turned his head and looked at the drawer of the bedside table, where there was an unsent letter from home.

He extended his wand and pointed at the drawer.

His lips opened and closed slightly, and his voice was kept very low.

The drawer opened and closed smoothly, and the parchment envelope flew out quietly.

Neville held the envelope, his fingers turning white, and he murmured, "Grandma, I've learned the summoning spell."

Chapter 20: First Experience with the Three Broomsticks

The sealing wax is stamped with a coiled serpent emblem.

"Malfoy Manor - Wiltshire, Lucius Malfoy personally received"

He opened the envelope, unfolded the parchment with silver-green patterns, and the contents of the letter came into view.

"Dear Father and (Mother's name is crossed out):

I hope you are all well when this letter reaches you. I am writing this letter with a peacock feather pen I brought from home; it does make writing much more respectable than the low-quality feathers provided by Hogwarts, which are stained by troll saliva.

The Sorting ceremony went perfectly as expected. The tattered Sorting Hat barely touched the tips of my hair, and I screamed "Slytherin!" as if it had been burned. Prefect Flint clapped his hands so hard he nearly overturned the table. The pure-blood etiquette you taught me was a natural fit...

Regarding the Potter issue, I must elaborate. This boy, who was touted as a savior, had no basic manners and rejected my friendship on the train. He would rather choose to be with the Weasley family's red weasel than accept Malfoy's kindness...

Crabbe and Goyle performed okay, although their brains seemed to be completely occupied by treacle tarts. However, they were competent as henchmen, at least they could block those prying eyes cast at me in time. Besides, there were those pure-blood traitors like Longbottom who stuffed toads in their trouser pockets...”

The first half of the letter was written neatly, the narrative flowing smoothly. It was clear that Draco had put a lot of thought into writing the letter in advance; the Malfoy family was well-educated in this area. However, the second half of the parchment became sloppily written, the peacock feathers leaving a chaotic mess of notes, as if the writer had written in a hurry and panic, and the grammar was also erratic.

"I have an urgent matter to report: Hogwarts' newly appointed Muggle Studies professor, Melvin Levent, has observed Professor Snape's words and actions and, using a method known as Muggle psychology, has deduced that Professor Snape once had a crush on my mother. This can be deduced from the ingredients of the Living Hell Potion and my mother's name. The process is detailed and convincing..."

Behind it was a blur of ink, with a few drops of violet ink remaining on the edge of the parchment.

The signature is very neat, and it seems to have been written in advance:

May Merlin bless the Malfoy family to enjoy eternal glory.

Your loyal son

Draco Malfoy

Snape stared at the letter intently, his fingers straining so hard that veins bulged, and his stiff expression concealed anger.

What does it mean to have a detailed and convincing process?

It was obviously just Lewinter's unfounded speculation. He was just testing Potter's basics of Potions. The so-called bullshit Muggle psychology was just a ridiculous Muggle knowledge!

When had he ever admired Narcissa?

Narcissa Black and Lucius Malfoy were six years older than him. When he entered the school, the two were about to graduate. They only had contact with each other because of the Death Eaters.

"..."

Fortunately, he arrived at the Slytherin common room in time and intercepted the letter. Otherwise, the reputation of Severus Snape, the former core Death Eater and current Potions Master, would have suffered irreparable damage.

He casually released a fierce fire and burned the letter.

The orange-red firelight reflected on the expressionless face, making it look a little cold.

Snape planned to find an opportunity to have a good talk with Professor Levent.

……

Late at night.