Chapter 464 Serious people don't pick up swords!
·
Yun Yin Shen
Chapter 464 Serious people don't pick up swords!
Snape stared at Dumbledore, waiting for his answer.
In the silence, he suddenly remembered something, and he swept up his sleeves, revealing a mark,
It's a skull, and a long snake emerges from the skull's mouth like a tongue:
—is the Dark Mark.
"What's going on? If it's really what you said, this thing should change color, and even burn!"
He flicked his fingers lightly, expressing doubts.
"It seems that your plan has succeeded, MacGuffin!" Dumbledore turned his head and smiled at McGuffin.
"What do you mean? Don't keep it from me... If there's anything else you want from me, Albus..." Snape said roughly.
"Voldemort has not fully recovered his mana, so he dared not summon the Death Eaters...his servants again!"
"why!"
"Because the materials for his resurrection ceremony are not enough... Of course, correspondingly, the [Blood Curse] on McGuffin's body cannot be completely lifted..."
Dumbledore pointed to the bottles of potion ingredients on the desk behind him.
Snape remembered... The little wizard did mention just now that Voldemort hadn't fully obtained the materials to complete the deal.
"It seems that we have to step up the collection and destruction of [Horcruxes]...Snape, how is your investigation of Voldemort's life going? Judging from McGuffin's incredible performance just now...Perhaps, I think he should be involved to speed up the efficiency and progress of our investigation."
Dumbledore's tone was relaxed and casual, as if deciding what to eat this afternoon.
Snape hadn't reacted to that yet.
An owl flew in like a whirlwind through the window where McGuffin had just come in, threw a letter at Dumbledore's feet, and flew away quickly.
Dumbledore picked it up, looked at it, and handed it to McGuffin.
"Looks like you're in trouble, MacGuffin!"
MacGuffin took the letter, tore it open and examined it,
— a letter from the Ministry of Magic:
Mr Albert,
We have received reports that you cast a [Apparition] spell at your residence at 23:[-] tonight.
You know, underage wizards are not allowed to use magic outside of school unless there are special requirements.
This is already the second time you have received such a letter, and we must give you a solemn warning.
We hereby inform you that before the start of Hogwarts, you must come to the Ministry of Magic [Department for the Prohibition of Misuse of Magic] to report, and attach a written inspection.
If you do not file, we will regretfully inform you that you will be expelled from Hogwarts in accordance with the Act on Reasonable Restraint for Underage Wizards [[-], Section [-]].
Please also remember that this is already the second time, if you use magic again outside of school without obtaining the [Ordinary Wizard Level Certificate], we will not give you a warning next time, and you will be expelled directly, and even this illegal behavior will be traced back.
In addition, please purchase the book [International Confederation of Wizards Secrecy Law] in the next semester, it is very likely that we will conduct an investigation on you to prove that you have fully understood and understood the laws of the wizarding world.
Mafalda Hopkirk
Ministry of Magic
No Misuse of Magic Division
Snape glanced at the contents of the letter, gloating, "Indeed, someone should treat you well, Albert... Dumbledore gave you too many privileges."
Then he realized another thing, "How is it possible, you learned [Apparition]? Who taught you."
McGuffin looked at the letter and replied angrily, "I learned it myself!"
In fact, after that trip to Gringotts, with Dumbledore destroying the [(Hufflepuff Gold Cup) Horcrux], another task in the McGuffin scroll system related to the [Death Enemy Series] was settled.
Some of Voldemort's spellcasting experience had been instilled into McGuffin's mind, plus he had accumulated a lot of talent points last term.
In the situation last night, McGuffin could only try [Apparition] a few times based on his memory experience. After the skill appeared on the panel, he directly used his talent points to increase his level.
After spending a lot of talent points to get the very difficult magic [Apparition] to the [Normal] level, after it can be cast normally and safely, McGuffin directly transferred to Hogwarts.
However, Snape's surprise... and the contents of this letter are not what McGuffin is most concerned about at the moment.
He raised his head, looked at Dumbledore, and asked directly: "Professor Dumbledore, when will I be able to lift the [Blood Curse]!"
"Now the three materials... [Unicorn Horn and Blood] [Phoenix Tears and Shell] [Original Blood and Snake Poison] are all available! I have already given you the spell to break the curse... You promised me to help me break the [Blood Curse]..."
MD! There are more than 100 million words, and it's time to end this unfortunate curse!
McGuffin grumbled.
"It should be fine, it's just..."
"Just what?"
"Professor Snape needs a lot of time and energy to combine these three materials together to make the potion mixture... and the magic rituals required to cast spells and undo the spells also require a very special place and time. There can be no mistakes in these."
"Especially... it's the first time for all of us to cast this kind of magic, and we must practice it repeatedly before we can try to break the [Blood Curse] for you! After all, there are not many materials..." Dumbledore comforted McGuffin.
Egg!
In fact, McGuffin also understood these conditions, but he was too anxious.
For three years, this thing is like a time bomb, ringing in McGuffin's heart all the time.
But that's not the worst part. What the old bee talked about next almost choked McGuffin to death.
"And...McGuffin, you should be most aware that your body is being corroded by the [Blood Curse], which is completely different from the original one. For you now, you first need to purify your body, minimize the erosion of [Blood Curse] on your body and soul, and suppress it to a level where you can break the curse...By the way, you still have the spell from the East that I gave you last time, right?"
"Oh." McGuffin was stunned, and was folded into a triangular talisman from the neck down a little 'stupidly'. (Although he had doubts in his heart, in order to save some talent points, McGuffin folded this thing into a safety talisman, put it on a red string, and stayed around his neck)
Dumbledore opened the talisman and tapped it with his wand.
The writing on the talisman intertwined like the threads of a sweater, emitting a golden light... and then burst into flames,
— bang,
It was reduced to ashes at the hands of Dumbledore.
Alarm bells rang in McGuffin's mind.
Something is wrong!
Under the vigilant gaze of McGuffin, Dumbledore turned the ball of ashes into a small cake -- dusty, small and exquisite.
Sure enough, very suspicious!
Afterwards, Dumbledore handed it to McGuffin involuntarily, and said, "Eat this, it will be good for you!"
Shir!
I just knew it!
Is this guy... No, this guy Dumbledore is definitely trying to get back at himself for calling him an old bee.
And Snape was also watching the show with bright eyes, as if McGuffin didn't take the initiative, so he rolled up the other sleeve... and went straight to help.
Forced into desperation, McGuffin could only bite the bullet, pinch his nose and gnaw it down.
"How about it? Would you like some water? Or... It's safer to have another one!" Dumbledore came over enthusiastically to inspect the degree of erosion of the current [Blood Curse] of McGuffin, and said... This guy took out another talisman that was twice as large.
No, no no!
One is enough, McGuffin lowered his head in fright, madly in his mind, and added talent points to [Blood Curse] to eliminate erosion.
belch!
After choking desperately,
McGuffin hiccupped without tears.
Maybe it's because the talisman turning into ashes is really useful, maybe it's because the talent points were added in time... In short, circles of gray-black smoke in the shape of snakes emerged from his throat.
The [Blood Curse] erosion rate displayed by the system in his mind quickly dropped to about 10%, and the original magical deformation and alienation state caused by the half-snake transformation quickly disappeared.
Even the abilities related to [Parseltongue]... McGuffin can feel that some of them are becoming obscure and blurred.
It feels like forgetting this prophecy.
And Dumbledore held the wand, and the detection on McGuffin's wrist undoubtedly proved this point.
(The tattoo of the little bloody snake, stimulated by the magic power, did not stand out any more. It was not like before—like a live snake swimming under the skin, lifelike.)
"Should-should be ok-okay!"
McGuffin was a little afraid of this narrow-minded old banker.
"Well, today's treatment is almost over." Dumbledore withdrew his wand.
"Treatment?" screamed the McGuffin.
"Of course! This is just an introduction to medicine..." Dumbledore stared at him strangely, "From today onwards, three pictures a day, each time after eating, take a dose of each!"
As he said that, he took out the super-large talisman that he had just taken back, and it was still a stack of...five or six pieces, and stuffed them into McGuffin's hands at once.
"It will take a week to end! This will ensure that there will be no rebound!"
rebound? !This is not weight loss!
The MacGuffin petrified on the spot... cracked open.
"By the way, there is another matter..." Dumbledore took the warning letter from the Department of Prohibition of Misuse of Magic from the sluggish McGuffin's hand, frowning, "This letter...you don't have to worry, I'll just say that I borrowed your wand to cast the spell. Anyway, only that old idiot Hopkirk thinks that a little wizard who hasn't reached the fourth grade can use the magic of [Apparition]..."
"Another point……"
He looked up and looked around his office, waved his wand and pointed, and a small piece of cuttlefish bone from Phoenix Fox's mouth flew into his hand.
(Phoenix Fawkes flew over dissatisfied, holding the golden beak and pecking at Dumbledore's silver beard)
"Mentus!" said Dumbledore.
Counting to the number of silver threads appearing from the tip of his wand, twisting and pulling to suspend the cuttlefish bones...
After a period of time, the cuttlefish bones stopped glowing, and after returning to their original state, Dumbledore pointed to this thing and explained:
"Here's the Portkey!"
"—Directly to me! I will lower the temporary defense measures in my office and open up a magical passage for you with a portkey... You know how to use this thing? Just hold on to this bone tightly and proceed."
"Although you know [Apparition] MacGuffin, it is clear that you cannot use this spell for the time being, and before the professors review it in detail, I also hope that you will not use [Apparition] lightly, so as not to make any mistakes... Let us search for your body from various places, and then hand it over to St. Mungo's Hospital, so that the therapists there can piece you together!"
"Oh, I forgot just in case... in case you accidentally drop it in your life, or mess with it... suddenly disappear in front of Muggles and be transferred to me..."
Dumbledore took down a small crystal bottle from the bookshelf beside him, and dripped a little orange-yellow solution on the cuttlefish bone,
- Gudong!
After a dull sound, a layer of translucent material like amber wrapped the cuttlefish bone.
"Soaking it in boiling water at 90°C will remove this layer of packaging! Under normal circumstances, if you expose it to the sun, it will be re-wrapped."
Dumbledore transformed it into a strange looking necklace, picked it up and put it in McGuffin's hand.
McGuffin fiddled with the portkey in his hand, and looked at the old bee with some doubts, "Professor, what do you mean?"
"Well, you can come to my office or Hogwarts anytime and anywhere during the summer vacation...After this incident, I found that your ability in this area is very powerful, just like I said before...We need your help!"
"After all, although Voldemort is not completely resurrected, he is still resurrected!"
"We must race against time to find and destroy the rest of the [Horcruxes] one by one before he discovers that his [Horcrux] has been destroyed..." Dumbledore said.
"Albus, have you figured out how many there are?" After saying this, Snape's face became serious, and he stopped staring at the two of them so angrily and hatefully.
"About five?"
"I got some interesting information about Voldemort from Borgin-Bock. The owner of that store once hired Tom Riddle when he was young... According to his memory, since then, Voldemort has been very interested in the secrets left by the Big Four at Hogwarts. He was very persistent in finding the extremely famous symbolic items left by the Big Four..."
"Hufflepuff's Cup!" Snape said lowly.
"Hmm!" Dumbledore shook the Fox on his shoulder, then touched his head twice to comfort him, then pointed his slender fingers at the bookshelf, the phoenix flew up in a circle, turned into a stream of golden flames, and instantly threw the dirty Sorting Hat over there.
"Now... the only treasure I know of the whereabouts of the Big Four... is the sword of Gryffindor."
"The real Gryffindor sword!"
He weighed the sorting hat in his hand, and then pulled out a gleaming silver sword inlaid with a ruby the size of a goose egg.
Rubies are exceptionally bright in the morning sun.
"McGuffin, remember that to destroy such an extremely evil thing as [Horcrux], you must only have the same or more evil magic... such as [Fiendfyre] or [Basilisk's poisonous poison]... and other than these, you can only use courage and will beyond the limits of ordinary people... the condensed magic power can cut off [Horcrux], and the very famous sword of Gryffindor has such magic power."
"I hope to pay more attention to this field of magic, instead of being obsessed with the powerful and seemingly inscrutable black magic like Voldemort."
Then Dumbledore threw the sword to McGuffin.
"Take the sword, MacGuffin!"
With a flash of instinct, McGuffin slipped away.
--Snapped!
The famous and extremely precious Gryffindor sword just fell to the ground!
This is a bit embarrassing.
But to be honest, this is also normal. When a serious person sees someone throwing a sword, who will take it!
If it is stuck in the body, don't you still need to use the sword?
In the awkward silence, McGonagall picked it up cheekily as if nothing had happened, and after appreciating it carefully, handed it back to Dumbledore.
(End of this chapter)
Snape stared at Dumbledore, waiting for his answer.
In the silence, he suddenly remembered something, and he swept up his sleeves, revealing a mark,
It's a skull, and a long snake emerges from the skull's mouth like a tongue:
—is the Dark Mark.
"What's going on? If it's really what you said, this thing should change color, and even burn!"
He flicked his fingers lightly, expressing doubts.
"It seems that your plan has succeeded, MacGuffin!" Dumbledore turned his head and smiled at McGuffin.
"What do you mean? Don't keep it from me... If there's anything else you want from me, Albus..." Snape said roughly.
"Voldemort has not fully recovered his mana, so he dared not summon the Death Eaters...his servants again!"
"why!"
"Because the materials for his resurrection ceremony are not enough... Of course, correspondingly, the [Blood Curse] on McGuffin's body cannot be completely lifted..."
Dumbledore pointed to the bottles of potion ingredients on the desk behind him.
Snape remembered... The little wizard did mention just now that Voldemort hadn't fully obtained the materials to complete the deal.
"It seems that we have to step up the collection and destruction of [Horcruxes]...Snape, how is your investigation of Voldemort's life going? Judging from McGuffin's incredible performance just now...Perhaps, I think he should be involved to speed up the efficiency and progress of our investigation."
Dumbledore's tone was relaxed and casual, as if deciding what to eat this afternoon.
Snape hadn't reacted to that yet.
An owl flew in like a whirlwind through the window where McGuffin had just come in, threw a letter at Dumbledore's feet, and flew away quickly.
Dumbledore picked it up, looked at it, and handed it to McGuffin.
"Looks like you're in trouble, MacGuffin!"
MacGuffin took the letter, tore it open and examined it,
— a letter from the Ministry of Magic:
Mr Albert,
We have received reports that you cast a [Apparition] spell at your residence at 23:[-] tonight.
You know, underage wizards are not allowed to use magic outside of school unless there are special requirements.
This is already the second time you have received such a letter, and we must give you a solemn warning.
We hereby inform you that before the start of Hogwarts, you must come to the Ministry of Magic [Department for the Prohibition of Misuse of Magic] to report, and attach a written inspection.
If you do not file, we will regretfully inform you that you will be expelled from Hogwarts in accordance with the Act on Reasonable Restraint for Underage Wizards [[-], Section [-]].
Please also remember that this is already the second time, if you use magic again outside of school without obtaining the [Ordinary Wizard Level Certificate], we will not give you a warning next time, and you will be expelled directly, and even this illegal behavior will be traced back.
In addition, please purchase the book [International Confederation of Wizards Secrecy Law] in the next semester, it is very likely that we will conduct an investigation on you to prove that you have fully understood and understood the laws of the wizarding world.
Mafalda Hopkirk
Ministry of Magic
No Misuse of Magic Division
Snape glanced at the contents of the letter, gloating, "Indeed, someone should treat you well, Albert... Dumbledore gave you too many privileges."
Then he realized another thing, "How is it possible, you learned [Apparition]? Who taught you."
McGuffin looked at the letter and replied angrily, "I learned it myself!"
In fact, after that trip to Gringotts, with Dumbledore destroying the [(Hufflepuff Gold Cup) Horcrux], another task in the McGuffin scroll system related to the [Death Enemy Series] was settled.
Some of Voldemort's spellcasting experience had been instilled into McGuffin's mind, plus he had accumulated a lot of talent points last term.
In the situation last night, McGuffin could only try [Apparition] a few times based on his memory experience. After the skill appeared on the panel, he directly used his talent points to increase his level.
After spending a lot of talent points to get the very difficult magic [Apparition] to the [Normal] level, after it can be cast normally and safely, McGuffin directly transferred to Hogwarts.
However, Snape's surprise... and the contents of this letter are not what McGuffin is most concerned about at the moment.
He raised his head, looked at Dumbledore, and asked directly: "Professor Dumbledore, when will I be able to lift the [Blood Curse]!"
"Now the three materials... [Unicorn Horn and Blood] [Phoenix Tears and Shell] [Original Blood and Snake Poison] are all available! I have already given you the spell to break the curse... You promised me to help me break the [Blood Curse]..."
MD! There are more than 100 million words, and it's time to end this unfortunate curse!
McGuffin grumbled.
"It should be fine, it's just..."
"Just what?"
"Professor Snape needs a lot of time and energy to combine these three materials together to make the potion mixture... and the magic rituals required to cast spells and undo the spells also require a very special place and time. There can be no mistakes in these."
"Especially... it's the first time for all of us to cast this kind of magic, and we must practice it repeatedly before we can try to break the [Blood Curse] for you! After all, there are not many materials..." Dumbledore comforted McGuffin.
Egg!
In fact, McGuffin also understood these conditions, but he was too anxious.
For three years, this thing is like a time bomb, ringing in McGuffin's heart all the time.
But that's not the worst part. What the old bee talked about next almost choked McGuffin to death.
"And...McGuffin, you should be most aware that your body is being corroded by the [Blood Curse], which is completely different from the original one. For you now, you first need to purify your body, minimize the erosion of [Blood Curse] on your body and soul, and suppress it to a level where you can break the curse...By the way, you still have the spell from the East that I gave you last time, right?"
"Oh." McGuffin was stunned, and was folded into a triangular talisman from the neck down a little 'stupidly'. (Although he had doubts in his heart, in order to save some talent points, McGuffin folded this thing into a safety talisman, put it on a red string, and stayed around his neck)
Dumbledore opened the talisman and tapped it with his wand.
The writing on the talisman intertwined like the threads of a sweater, emitting a golden light... and then burst into flames,
— bang,
It was reduced to ashes at the hands of Dumbledore.
Alarm bells rang in McGuffin's mind.
Something is wrong!
Under the vigilant gaze of McGuffin, Dumbledore turned the ball of ashes into a small cake -- dusty, small and exquisite.
Sure enough, very suspicious!
Afterwards, Dumbledore handed it to McGuffin involuntarily, and said, "Eat this, it will be good for you!"
Shir!
I just knew it!
Is this guy... No, this guy Dumbledore is definitely trying to get back at himself for calling him an old bee.
And Snape was also watching the show with bright eyes, as if McGuffin didn't take the initiative, so he rolled up the other sleeve... and went straight to help.
Forced into desperation, McGuffin could only bite the bullet, pinch his nose and gnaw it down.
"How about it? Would you like some water? Or... It's safer to have another one!" Dumbledore came over enthusiastically to inspect the degree of erosion of the current [Blood Curse] of McGuffin, and said... This guy took out another talisman that was twice as large.
No, no no!
One is enough, McGuffin lowered his head in fright, madly in his mind, and added talent points to [Blood Curse] to eliminate erosion.
belch!
After choking desperately,
McGuffin hiccupped without tears.
Maybe it's because the talisman turning into ashes is really useful, maybe it's because the talent points were added in time... In short, circles of gray-black smoke in the shape of snakes emerged from his throat.
The [Blood Curse] erosion rate displayed by the system in his mind quickly dropped to about 10%, and the original magical deformation and alienation state caused by the half-snake transformation quickly disappeared.
Even the abilities related to [Parseltongue]... McGuffin can feel that some of them are becoming obscure and blurred.
It feels like forgetting this prophecy.
And Dumbledore held the wand, and the detection on McGuffin's wrist undoubtedly proved this point.
(The tattoo of the little bloody snake, stimulated by the magic power, did not stand out any more. It was not like before—like a live snake swimming under the skin, lifelike.)
"Should-should be ok-okay!"
McGuffin was a little afraid of this narrow-minded old banker.
"Well, today's treatment is almost over." Dumbledore withdrew his wand.
"Treatment?" screamed the McGuffin.
"Of course! This is just an introduction to medicine..." Dumbledore stared at him strangely, "From today onwards, three pictures a day, each time after eating, take a dose of each!"
As he said that, he took out the super-large talisman that he had just taken back, and it was still a stack of...five or six pieces, and stuffed them into McGuffin's hands at once.
"It will take a week to end! This will ensure that there will be no rebound!"
rebound? !This is not weight loss!
The MacGuffin petrified on the spot... cracked open.
"By the way, there is another matter..." Dumbledore took the warning letter from the Department of Prohibition of Misuse of Magic from the sluggish McGuffin's hand, frowning, "This letter...you don't have to worry, I'll just say that I borrowed your wand to cast the spell. Anyway, only that old idiot Hopkirk thinks that a little wizard who hasn't reached the fourth grade can use the magic of [Apparition]..."
"Another point……"
He looked up and looked around his office, waved his wand and pointed, and a small piece of cuttlefish bone from Phoenix Fox's mouth flew into his hand.
(Phoenix Fawkes flew over dissatisfied, holding the golden beak and pecking at Dumbledore's silver beard)
"Mentus!" said Dumbledore.
Counting to the number of silver threads appearing from the tip of his wand, twisting and pulling to suspend the cuttlefish bones...
After a period of time, the cuttlefish bones stopped glowing, and after returning to their original state, Dumbledore pointed to this thing and explained:
"Here's the Portkey!"
"—Directly to me! I will lower the temporary defense measures in my office and open up a magical passage for you with a portkey... You know how to use this thing? Just hold on to this bone tightly and proceed."
"Although you know [Apparition] MacGuffin, it is clear that you cannot use this spell for the time being, and before the professors review it in detail, I also hope that you will not use [Apparition] lightly, so as not to make any mistakes... Let us search for your body from various places, and then hand it over to St. Mungo's Hospital, so that the therapists there can piece you together!"
"Oh, I forgot just in case... in case you accidentally drop it in your life, or mess with it... suddenly disappear in front of Muggles and be transferred to me..."
Dumbledore took down a small crystal bottle from the bookshelf beside him, and dripped a little orange-yellow solution on the cuttlefish bone,
- Gudong!
After a dull sound, a layer of translucent material like amber wrapped the cuttlefish bone.
"Soaking it in boiling water at 90°C will remove this layer of packaging! Under normal circumstances, if you expose it to the sun, it will be re-wrapped."
Dumbledore transformed it into a strange looking necklace, picked it up and put it in McGuffin's hand.
McGuffin fiddled with the portkey in his hand, and looked at the old bee with some doubts, "Professor, what do you mean?"
"Well, you can come to my office or Hogwarts anytime and anywhere during the summer vacation...After this incident, I found that your ability in this area is very powerful, just like I said before...We need your help!"
"After all, although Voldemort is not completely resurrected, he is still resurrected!"
"We must race against time to find and destroy the rest of the [Horcruxes] one by one before he discovers that his [Horcrux] has been destroyed..." Dumbledore said.
"Albus, have you figured out how many there are?" After saying this, Snape's face became serious, and he stopped staring at the two of them so angrily and hatefully.
"About five?"
"I got some interesting information about Voldemort from Borgin-Bock. The owner of that store once hired Tom Riddle when he was young... According to his memory, since then, Voldemort has been very interested in the secrets left by the Big Four at Hogwarts. He was very persistent in finding the extremely famous symbolic items left by the Big Four..."
"Hufflepuff's Cup!" Snape said lowly.
"Hmm!" Dumbledore shook the Fox on his shoulder, then touched his head twice to comfort him, then pointed his slender fingers at the bookshelf, the phoenix flew up in a circle, turned into a stream of golden flames, and instantly threw the dirty Sorting Hat over there.
"Now... the only treasure I know of the whereabouts of the Big Four... is the sword of Gryffindor."
"The real Gryffindor sword!"
He weighed the sorting hat in his hand, and then pulled out a gleaming silver sword inlaid with a ruby the size of a goose egg.
Rubies are exceptionally bright in the morning sun.
"McGuffin, remember that to destroy such an extremely evil thing as [Horcrux], you must only have the same or more evil magic... such as [Fiendfyre] or [Basilisk's poisonous poison]... and other than these, you can only use courage and will beyond the limits of ordinary people... the condensed magic power can cut off [Horcrux], and the very famous sword of Gryffindor has such magic power."
"I hope to pay more attention to this field of magic, instead of being obsessed with the powerful and seemingly inscrutable black magic like Voldemort."
Then Dumbledore threw the sword to McGuffin.
"Take the sword, MacGuffin!"
With a flash of instinct, McGuffin slipped away.
--Snapped!
The famous and extremely precious Gryffindor sword just fell to the ground!
This is a bit embarrassing.
But to be honest, this is also normal. When a serious person sees someone throwing a sword, who will take it!
If it is stuck in the body, don't you still need to use the sword?
In the awkward silence, McGonagall picked it up cheekily as if nothing had happened, and after appreciating it carefully, handed it back to Dumbledore.
(End of this chapter)
