Following Dumbledore's hints, Anthony found quite a few Dark Magic spells for shaping bodies in the library. They were far more evil than he'd imagined... Originally he thought he'd just need to extract essence from a few dead chickens like repairing the Skeleton Cat's frame, piece things together, and get a magically glued chicken. But Dumbledore was right. Bodies were quite complex.
While researching flesh magic, Anthony received dozens of practical activity consent letters from parents. Mr. Weasley even volunteered to ask if he still needed someone to drive and said he had a few days of annual leave left.
Considering that innocently dismantled engine, Anthony tactfully declined his kindness.
However, a few students' parents refused the activity invitation due to safety, cost and other considerations. Anthony had to console disappointed students that next year there'd be activities, and this year when others went out practicing, they could at least have a holiday.
The letter that pleased him most came from a third-year Gryffindor's parent.
Her daughter visited a Muggle-born roommate over Christmas and came back excitedly telling her mum that Muggles were just as the professor said—humans using another kind of magic. This mother didn't quite understand what "electricity" was, but still wrote her daughter's words verbatim in the letter and thanked Anthony for letting the child enjoy herself at her roommate's home.
Anthony carefully tucked this letter into his lesson plans.
His lesson plans had become quite thick now. Inside weren't just lessons prepared for four classes and Muggle Studies perspectives he found interesting, but also test results, practical activity schedules, contact communication progress, and his own schedule.
Now besides Tracey's detention, his schedule was entirely classes and research.
Tracey's detention was originally scheduled for Tuesday evening, right together with Pansy Parkinson's last detention day. After Pansy cleaned the classroom with Harry and Ron, Anthony felt he could organize her and Tracey to do some light work requiring cooperation.
But Tracey immediately wrote a note after receiving his notice and regretfully told him Tuesday evening happened to be Astronomy class. Anthony agreed to reschedule.
He chatted with Pansy for a long time during Monday's detention. A week of detention was enough for him to understand this child better, skillfully avoid topics she didn't want to touch, and also made Pansy more willing to chat with him.
She truly needed someone to talk to, and Anthony was a good choice. Whatever she said, Anthony would respond. Unless she said very insulting words, he almost never scolded her. And he was an adult, even a professor—this point was very important for an eleven-year-old child.
When she mentioned family honor and Slytherin glory, the strange light flashing in her eyes made Anthony somewhat worried. On the other hand, as a vested interest holder, to maintain this system of rules applying to both house and society, she also bore pressure not belonging to this age.
Pansy said somewhat disappointedly when seeing Anthony's cat, "You know what? I originally had a pet. Not Matilda—oh, Matilda's my mum's owl, she just lent her to me for letters—I once had a dog."
This greatly surprised Anthony. With his shallow understanding of Slytherin, their possible pet choices should be cats or owls, of course; snakes, relatively rare but imaginable; toads or lizards, at least stylistically consistent... But in no way should it be a panting dog. Like mixing a hot sausage into salad.
"I had a poodle," poodle-faced Pansy gestured. "This big. Yellow fur. I called him Charles. Then my dad discovered him."
Even though he already knew the story's direction, Anthony still asked, "Then what?"
"Charles died," Pansy said. "I had the house-elf feed him twice a day. Then that lowly thing told my dad. Charles died—I guess they directly killed him by dropping, or some similar death." She swung her legs in the chair, tone quite calm.
"I'm very sorry. I hope your dad explained why."
Pansy shook her head. She still looked somewhat wronged... like a wronged poodle.
Anthony said, "Then I hope you at least got compensation."
"Oh, I cut off that master-betraying thing's head," Pansy said. "I can't remember what that elf was called anymore. He can never hang on my family's wall."
Tracey's detention was rescheduled to this Friday, because before then Anthony had to help Professor Sprout in the greenhouse. She needed an assistant to quickly open this batch of late-ripening Snargaluff pods and store the beans properly. She offered the high price of two boxes of cookies for this.
"You're really too kind, Henry," Professor Sprout said cheerfully, wiping sweat from her forehead.
When Anthony arrived, she was moving a large bag of dragon dung aside to make space for storing Snargaluff beans. He quickly went to help—perhaps because they came from dragons, this quality fertilizer didn't like Levitation Charms. Even the gentlest wand movement could send them flying to the ceiling, and if trying to seal them in barrels, they'd lose fertility.
Anthony shook his head. "You're welcome. I really like coming to the greenhouse."
He wasn't lying. Even in the gloomy rainy season between winter and spring, the greenhouse remained a warm, bright scene.
Magically created sunlight sparkled on the greenhouse glass. Climbing plants had already triumphantly touched that magical sun. In the area perpetually in spring, students' assignments swayed emerald leaves. Behind him were magical roses Professor Sprout prepared for several students in love or preparing to confess—Valentine's Day was coming soon.
Sprout chatted with him while rhythmically tossing pods gently onto the wooden plate beside Anthony.
"We haven't seen you in the staff room for a while. Filius says you're almost as busy as Minerva," she said. "Oh, careful with that one! It was already cracked!"
Anthony carefully opened the pod along the crack and put the gleaming beans in the bucket. "You know, detentions... I really wonder how they manage to give so many people detention at once. Just Potter, Weasley and Parkinson together took considerable energy."
Professor Sprout asked, "You really gave the three detention together?" She sounded somewhat admiring.
"You didn't know?" Anthony asked surprised. If Dumbledore knew everything happening in school, Professor Sprout knew even more. She even knew things that never happened.
"I thought it was fake," she said. "Because many said you made them hold hands and dance in circles. Wait, did you really make them dance?"
Anthony shook his head. "No, but sounds like a very interesting idea. Thank your students for me, Pomona."
"I will," she said lightly. "Here, this one's smaller. If you can't open it, forget it. So you've finished Parkinson's detention... Completely free now?"
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
Read up to (50+ ) advanced chapters on Patre\on
Visit us here: patreon.com/GoldenLong
Happy reading, everyone!