Harry Potter and the Burnt Badger

As he spoke, he gently raised his right hand and lit a candle on the desk out of thin air.

"Look, we are like candles. The body is important, but what is more important is what is inside, which is our flame - our soul."

"Naftali is a very special case. Yes, I know him. Many years ago, we even briefly fought against each other. Ah... He was a very good wizard at that time, a dark wizard. But he has an amazing talent that makes countless geniuses dim.”

"It is a pity that after joining the Basilisk Society, he lost his life in a very dangerous magic experiment, at least that was the news that came out at that time. However, this time, he proved that he was still alive, but Life is worse than death. Living in some object can only survive a long period of time in an empty and difficult manner until the soul completely loses its vitality."

Hearing this, Moon's eyelids twitched. Somehow, Professor Dumbledore's description reminded him of Voldemort and Horcruxes.

"We are lucky. Although Naftali escaped successfully and did not fall into our hands, he relies on an item to live and can only take away Professor Compo's body in a few moments. Therefore, even if he is proficient in memory magic, , he couldn't take advantage of Professor Compo's memory when he took over Professor Compo's body, which lets us know some things about him. Next, Naftali may be destined to live in trembling for the rest of his life. "

Well, it doesn't seem to be a Horcrux. These descriptions sound at least somewhat different from a Horcrux.

Moon breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's probably it, Moon. You said you had a question to ask me earlier?" Professor Dumbledore waved his hand to extinguish the candle and looked at Moon with interest. "Let me guess, maybe you are Do you want to ask me if I know what happened last night?"

Moon knew very well that Professor Dumbledore was not using Legilimency on him, so this could only be a guess on his part.

Sometimes it is comfortable to talk to smart people because they can figure out your questions and answers; sometimes it is very painful to talk to smart people because they can figure out your questions and answers.

Moon nodded sheepishly.

Professor Dumbledore laughed. "I can only say, Mr. Fox, you were really brave last night."

"Sometimes I have the same question as Professor McGonagall. In some things, you are as brave as any Gryffindor, or even better, and you have your own ideas, plans and restraint."

"But think about it, Hufflepuff, isn't this a personal choice?"

The old man looked at Moon through his half-moon lenses, his eyes full of relief. "What's more, who can say that only Gryffindor is brave?"

Chapter 90 Ben Camp and Naftali

Ben Camp, like many British wizards, studied at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and embarked on a long journey alone after graduation.

Three years ago, he ended his adventurous career and decided to return to the UK to find a job and take a good rest.

At first, his chosen target was the Ministry of Magic, but he soon discovered that life at the Ministry was not for him—or at least that's what it sounded like.He visited several former classmates. Everyone who worked in the Ministry of Magic complained to him about how unsatisfactory their lives were: conflicts between departments, conflicts between superiors and subordinates, busy work, Overview of the power struggles that can be seen throughout the Ministry of Magic, etc...

Ben Camp, who had not been good at dealing with others since he was a student at Hogwarts, was daunted by all this. He could fully imagine his ending after entering the Ministry of Magic. I am afraid that in less than two months, he would be... Being unsociable and sitting on the bench, you start killing time day after day and year after year, being driven by others, and become a joke.

This is not what he wants.

So, he first worked as a "pesticide consultant" for a period of time. In short, he helped some wizard families expel ghouls and other malicious magical creatures, and lifted the evil spells attached to some items.I don’t make much money, but I have free time and free work.Later, he went to several small magazines to work as a "security officer". To put it bluntly, he was a bodyguard. He was originally supposed to protect the safety of reporters when they went to dangerous areas for interviews, but after working for a while, he found that he Most of the work tasks are to chase away readers who come to make trouble.

Just like that, after another two years, he returned to Hogwarts.Only this time he was no longer a student, but a professor, the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

This job is really great. Although there are a lot of course tasks and he is very busy, he does still have a lot of personal time to spend freely.What's more, Hogwarts is a place where he has lived for seven years and is very familiar with every plant and tree here. It is really a good thing for him to return here.

The relaxed life prevented him from discovering anything unusual about himself. Of course, in fact, there weren't many abnormalities. He was just a little sleepier than before, and occasionally took a nap or something.

What he didn't know was that those gaps in his memory were not a nap at all, but Naftali's "reviving the dead."

Naftali always chose his time very cleverly. Although he was trapped in the pocket watch and could not perceive the things around him too clearly, Ben Camp always picked up the piece he found from the second-hand store. Having the pocket watch with him gave Naftali a rough idea of ​​Ben Camp's surroundings.

Poor Ben Camp, he didn’t know until the end that the pocket watch was not something he got from a second-hand store at all, but was thrust into his hand by a customer in the bar.

Yes, that customer was also Naftali. He used a confusion spell to successfully mislead Ben Camp into remembering the origin of the pocket watch, and then gave the pocket watch to Ben Camp.

Because Naftali heard that Ben Camp was about to join Hogwarts, and he happened to want to enter Hogwarts to complete something that would help his resurrection.

In this way, one after another, Ben Camp got a pocket watch, and Naftali got the opportunity to enter Hogwarts, and successfully carried out his plan.

He first helped Ben Camp collect information and guided Ben Camp to identify the source of the materials needed for his research as the Forbidden Forest, so that Ben Camp would enter the Forbidden Forest for the purpose of research.However, the time that Naftali could use Ben Camp's body to move was limited, which made him unable to find what he needed several times. In desperation, Naftali had to contact his colleagues in the Snake King Society. , found a helper for himself.Regrettably, the living space of the Snake King Society has been continuously compressed in recent years, and most of the active forces are active in various places. As an old man who was half-dead decades ago, his strength and power are no longer what they used to be. He has lost a lot of power. Jin also only found a new person to help, that is, the black-robed wizard who was good at transformation.

Under Naftali's plan, they first used the Imperius Curse to control Ian Madden.The reason why Victor, who was more convenient, was not chosen was mainly because, firstly, Victor was stronger, and secondly, if Victor was chosen, Ben Camp would probably be exposed too quickly if something went wrong.

After taking control of Ian Madden, Naftali's helpers began to work outside the school and brewed a lot of love potion, which was the jar covered with cloth that Ian Madden was holding earlier.Of course, those love potions were not used to taste by the teachers and students of the whole school as Moon thought, but were used to control a witch living alone in Hogsmeade - Naftali's helper needed someone close to him. Hogwarts' temporary base.

On January 1th, because it was the right day for action, Naftali's helpers withdrew from the witch's home, and when they entered Hogwarts, they also used up the unused love potion. They were brought over together and handed over to Ian Madden to find a hidden place in the castle to hide.

The smell Violet smelled came from the smell of the love potion contaminated by Ian Madden and Naftali's assistants.

On the afternoon of the 25th, Naftali seized the body of Ben Camp and used his identity as a school professor to deceive Filch into briefly opening the door on the pretext of being out on business, allowing his helpers to sneak into Hogwarts smoothly. and processing of the memories of the Helper and Ian Madden.

With helpers and himself, plus Ian Madden as support, human shield, and hostage, Naftali originally thought that everything should be foolproof - even though Ian Madden's previous solo operation was disrupted. , but he thought it was just bad luck.

As a result, just in the evening, Professor Flitwick suddenly came to the door, leaving him completely unable to seize Ben Camp's body again to join the operation.So much so that his assistants and Ian Madden had to start acting alone, which led to the chain of all subsequent failures.

The only lucky thing is that he didn't forget to put a spell on the memories of the helpers and Ian Madden, so that key parts of their memories will be destroyed into a mess once probed.

When sending Moon to the school doctor's office that night, Naftali several times wanted to rebel, take away Ben Camp's body, kill Moon and Hagrid, and sneak into the Forbidden Forest to take what he wanted. .However, when he thought about Hagrid's identity as a hybrid giant, he could only strangle his thoughts in the cradle.

Until the 26th, he thought about it, and finally couldn't resist the temptation of resurrection. He wanted to take advantage of Ben Camp's encounter with the two twins of the Weasley family - the ones who had sent hostages. This is an opportunity to use the hostage to take away things and escape. Even if it is broken through, it can still use the hostage to survive.

But temptation is temptation after all. It seems to be within easy reach, but in fact it is out of reach, and if you are not careful, you will be doomed.

Just like Naftali is now.

Chapter 91 Soul Prison

"Um, Professor, I have a few questions." Moon rubbed his hair and looked at Professor Dumbledore with some confusion. "According to what you said, the dark wizard named Naftali is hiding in Kangxi." It’s on Professor Pu’s pocket watch, so how did he… um, escape?”

"About this issue, Moon, I think I have to explain to you the magic that Naftali used." Dumbledore smoothed the wrinkles on his robe. "I'm not entirely sure, but from various sources On the surface, Naftali should have used a very ancient, powerful, but imperfect magic. This magic is powerful enough to transfer a person's soul from one body to another. However, the problem is that this magic is incomplete, and its creator does not have enough ability to solve a crucial problem, that is, how to integrate a strange soul with a strange body."

"Human beings always hope for immortality, even if it is a false hope, they can't help but try hard. Just like this magic, the original intention of the creator is to use the power of the spell to allow people who unfortunately died of physical accidents to He came back to life in a new body, but since this problem could not be solved, he had to find another way. The strange soul and body could not be completely integrated. This was because they did not belong to the same owner and had different... A mark, a logo, or any similar concept. In this case, the creator thought of a dead thing without an owner or a logo."

"This spell took shape. It allows people to peel off their souls from their bodies when they are on the verge of death, and then place them on a dead object that exists nearby. This soul can also reveal itself through some special means. , even like Naftali did, relying on his powerful soul to temporarily occupy the body of others. However, the soul of the caster will never be able to leave that dead object, and its soul is completely connected with that dead object. Together, even behaviors such as revealing oneself or occupying another person's body can only last for a short period of time."

"This is exactly how Naftali was able to escape. He gave away his pocket watch with an owl. There is no doubt that he decided to make one last time-limited attempt tonight. Once he failed, he He will completely escape Hogwarts. In other words, this is why he is so angry with you. His time is limited, but you have been delaying his time."

After saying that, Dumbledore smiled and spread his hands. "My evaluation of this is very good, Moon. Although it was a bit risky, you did your best under the emergency situation at that time."

"Thank you for the compliment, but I'm even more confused." Moon habitually tapped the armrest of the chair with his fingers. This action is a bit funny for an 11-year-old wizard no matter how you look at it. "Since Naftali His soul is destined to be unable to escape from that dead object, that is, the pocket watch, so why would he do these risky and troublesome things for the sake of 'resurrection'?"

"Ah! This." Dumbledore raised his eyebrows and became more interested. "This, I think, Moon, has involved a more complex concept. I'm not sure whether it is correct to tell you this, after all, you I'm just 11 years old. Even in the new year, I'm still only 12 years old. But since you asked, I thought I'd better tell you that I happen to have this interest."

"You must know, Moon, that the human soul and body are a pair of contradictory yet harmonious things. They are interdependent and mutually exclusive. They are neither too close nor too alienated. This is what makes us who we are. And one of their major contradictions The difference is that the human body is in a constant process of growth and decay. It does not appear and disappear suddenly, but grows from nothing to tiny, larger and larger, and then gradually ages, decays, and shrinks until there is nothing left."

"But our soul, our soul is not like this. It appears suddenly and leaves suddenly. From the moment you are born, your soul takes shape at that moment. After you die, it often disappears quietly, leaving only Some scattered signals and shadows are in this world. Your soul will not grow. Maybe the soul of a young person looks like a young person, and the soul of an old person looks like an old person, but they are always there. It’s just that the soul has only changed in appearance. Therefore, for the soul, there is no aging in this world, and this-"

"—that is precisely what we owe to our bodies."

Dumbledore picked up the teacup and took a sip. It seemed a little bitter. He frowned, showing a clear expression of displeasure. He poured some milk into it and stirred it.

"The soul will not age, but the soul will dissipate. Without the protection of the body, it will dissipate in a 'poof'. At first glance, this seems to be a good thing for Naftali, because his habitat Since it is a pocket watch and has no concept of life and death, Naftali's 'body' will almost never disappear unless it is blown to pieces by a powerful blasting spell."

"However, there is a huge difference between a pocket watch and the body. The protection that the body can provide cannot be provided by a pocket watch."

Having said this, Dumbledore took another sip of tea, then nodded with satisfaction and put down the cup.But he did not continue speaking. Instead, he looked at Munn, as if he was waiting for Munn to answer his question.

Moon understood what he meant and said with some uncertainty: "Could it be that Naftali's soul has been slowly dissipating over the years?"

"That's right, Moon, that's right." Dumbledore snapped his fingers lightly. "That's why he is so obsessed with resurrection. What's more, who would want to stay in a pocket watch for the rest of his life? It's like a prison. , you can't touch, feel, or understand, your world is forever isolated in that small world, and you can only wait for the arrival of death in vain."

He seemed to be touched by his own words, so even his tone became emotional, "Believe me, Moon, geniuses may come in all kinds. There are geniuses like you, and there are geniuses like Naftali, but no matter what What kind of genius, their drive for pursuit and exploration is endless. In the past few decades, Naftali probably tried every means to think of ways and methods to resurrect himself. And, at least he I firmly believe that he will be able to find it, or even has already found it."

"To be honest, if Naftali himself stood in front of me one day, I would not be surprised at all."

Dumbledore ended the Q&A with this sentence. After saying this, he looked out the window, as if he wanted to see something in the empty sky.

Moon quietly left the office, not only because Professor Dumbledore had already written the epilogue, but also because he could see that Professor Dumbledore might be talking about Naftali, but it was also possible that he was also talking about Someone else.

Therefore, let this warm and clean bright afternoon be left to this old man alone.

Chapter 92 New Ideas

Everything finally came to an end, and Moon's campus life once again returned to a dull, boring and happy daily life.

The operation strategy of the school newspaper has been a great success. The interview with Professor Dumbledore allowed them to quickly gain a huge increase in the number of readers, which even made them a little scared - with so many readers, it is inevitable that these children will be disappointed. , especially the first-year students doubt whether they can really afford their expectations.

Fortunately, pressure is often motivation. Coupled with Munn's explanation and the big news of the dark wizard's successful arrest after the invasion, all of this allowed the school newspaper to smoothly pass through the initial development stage.

The day before the fourth issue of the newspaper was released, they even received their first letter from readers outside the school.

"Oh, look, look, here it says, 'I really like your interview article with Professor Dumbledore. It gave me a new understanding of Professor Dumbledore. Looking back, I seem to think of that person again. A strict yet kind and wise Professor of Transfiguration.'" Garr read the contents of the reader's letter aloud to everyone, "Professor of Transfiguration? Did Professor Dumbledore teach Transfiguration before?"

"Yes, that's right, Gal, Professor Dumbledore taught transfiguration before taking up the post of principal." Moon responded in time.

Gal ruffled his hair, "I thought he would be a professor of Charms or Defense Against the Dark Arts. After all, you all know that he is so powerful."

"Oh, are you looking down on Transfiguration? Mr. Fuller." Professor McGonagall's voice suddenly came from behind Garr, startling Garr so much that he almost fell off the bench next to the dining table.

"No, no, of course not, Professor McGonagall." Garr put away the reader's letter in a panic, and said with a panicked expression, "I just, uh, just..."

Seeing his panicked look, Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, then suddenly turned into a smile, and patted Gal on the shoulder with the parchment roll in his hand, "I think you should listen to Transfiguration more carefully in the future. Magic class, Gal, if you can learn the Transfiguration skill well, it will be of great help to your life and duels. If you don’t believe it, then I suggest you ask Munn next to you, he is just It didn’t take long for us to fight against a wizard who is proficient in transfiguration.”

Apparently, Professor McGonagall was in a good mood today.

But soon, Moon cursed his crow mouth in his heart.

"Speaking of this... Munn, I also have a few readers' suggestions." Professor McGonagall looked at Munn with some dissatisfaction. "In the article about the invasion of dark wizards in the third issue of the newspaper, you are too It's too much to take credit for yourself. I hope you won't deliberately avoid relevant content in the future just because you are the biggest contributor. You know, such modesty will make you miss a chance to reveal yourself, Hufflepuff House, and even Hogg. This is a great opportunity for Watts students. If this happens again, I will definitely return your article on the grounds of 'untrue remarks'."

After saying that, Professor McGonagall stared at Moon for another second, and then walked straight to the teacher's desk.

"Oh my God, this is the first time I found Professor McGonagall so cool." Yaerlin leaned back and said in disbelief: "I mean, what she said is so cool. Really, Moon, I think you should be more Tell me about your own contribution, everyone will know it anyway."

Moon rubbed his eyebrows, lowered his head guiltily in front of everyone's eyes, forked a piece of bacon and stuffed it into his mouth.

After they successfully obtained the right to report on the invasion of dark wizards, they were told that they only needed to conceal some important details and content with negative implications (such as what Ian Madden did after being possessed by the Imperius spell). After the incident, many things that Moon had done were spread, even faster than the school newspaper.

But for Moon, it is absolutely no problem for him to show his excellence and receive praise for it. He is not afraid to stand out in this way.But if he were to write on his own and show off what great things he had done in the school newspaper that he was the leader of, it would cost him his life.

In the past two days, he had been talked about by others a lot because of this matter. Unexpectedly, even Professor McGonagall was here today.

Fortunately, there were not many people in the restaurant during breakfast time on weekends, otherwise Moon would have been so embarrassed by everyone's gaze that he would not be able to eat.

But... speaking of Professor McGonagall.

Moon suddenly remembered another plan he had just completed two days ago, quickly stuffed two more bites of bread into his mouth, and then hurried to the teacher's desk despite everyone's preaching.

"Professor McGonagall, I suddenly remembered something important——"

Professor McGonagall, who was wearing dark green robes, raised his head and looked at Moon, obviously wanting to wait for him to finish speaking.

Moon also knew that Professor McGonagall was accustomed to being resolute and capable, so he did not hesitate to talk nonsense. Instead, he quickly took out his plan from his cloak and handed it to Professor McGonagall. "——This is it, Professor. , a new plan, I think you might be interested in taking a look."

"Okay, I'll take a look at it." Professor McGonagall took the plan and nodded, indicating that Moon could go back to eat. Then he unfolded the long piece of parchment and browsed the contents while eating.

Moon was about to turn around and leave, but found that Professor McGonagall had just glanced at him and then turned his attention to himself.

"Um, Moon, do you know the school club rules?"

"Uh... I'm not sure, Professor, I just remember that there seems to be a... Gobstone Club [Note 1] in the school?" Moon said with some uncertainty.

"Yes, Moon, we do have a Gobstone club and a Gobstone competition team. Well, since you are not very clear about the school's club rules, I hope you will come to my office at ten o'clock. We'll talk about this in detail then, if you have time." Professor McGonagall thought for a moment and then said directly. She didn't really like talking about this at the dinner table before she finished her meal.

"Okay, Professor, no problem." Moon agreed quickly. He bowed to Professor McGonagall, and then returned to his dining table to continue enjoying his bread, bacon and fried eggs.

Of course, there is also a new round of "preaching" from roommates and classmates.

-

[Note 1] The Gobstone Club is indeed a club mentioned in the original book. Severus Snape’s mother, Eileen Prince, is a member of the Gobstone Club at Hogwarts. And he is also the captain of the Hogwarts Gobstone Team. "Gobstone" is a kind of wizard game. The main audience is children of wizard families. Some young wizards also play it. It is similar to a marble game, but the Gobstone used as a "marble" will be played after winning. Spray a very smelly juice into the face of the loser.

Chapter 93 The Rejected Duel Club

The howling wind was blowing wantonly outside the window, and scattered snowflakes hit the glass, making a small crackling sound.

The weather in early February was still not good, with even sporadic sleet falling.

Fortunately, it was warm enough in Professor McGonagall's office.

Moon sat opposite Professor McGonagall and had already listened to Professor McGonagall's general introduction to the various clubs in Hogwarts - in fact, the club thing in Hogwarts was far richer than he imagined. much higher.

In addition to the Gobstone Club in his memory, Hogwarts even has a Wizarding Chess Club, a Charms Club, a Divination Club, a Goblin Club, a Magical Creatures Research Club, a Sculpting Club, a Candy Club... all in total, there are dozens of them. club.Of course, most of these clubs are unofficial and purely organized by students, such as the outrageous Goblin Club.

The Goblin Club is chaired by a fifth-year Gryffindor boy. There are more than a dozen club members. The purpose of organizing this club is not to study goblins, but to play together when going to Hogsmeade.

The reason why we named it Goblin Club was just because it was fun.

"As I told you at the beginning, the clubs in Hogwarts can be roughly divided into two types. One is official, such as the Wizarding Chess Club, the Gobstone Club, and the Magic Club organized by Professor Flitwick. The other kind is purely student clubs, such as the Sculpture Club and the Candy Club." Professor McGonagall continued to explain: "Generally speaking, there are no hard requirements for establishing a club, but this There are exceptions.”

While talking, Professor McGonagall took out an old and yellowed piece of paper from her drawer and placed it in front of Moon.

"Explicit requests for the establishment of clubs within Hogwarts," read the first line of the paper.

"You can ignore most of the regulations above. Even those with red lines, they have been repealed one by one over the years. Except for this one -" Professor McGonagall pointed her finger at it. According to a regulation: "Any club related to the explicit act of casting spells, or based on the premise of group spellcasting, must be classified as an official club of Hogwarts, and at least one professor is willing to serve as such. The club’s faculty advisor.”

"And this one." Professor McGonagall moved her finger and clicked on another regulation.Moon looked down and read the regulations.