Chapter 720 Anecdotes about Newt and Snake Girl

"Professor Snape what's going on?"

Kyle, who was almost knocked over, looked at Snape who was leaving in a hurry and asked doubtfully: "Professor, you didn't deduct his salary, did you?"

"of course not."

Dumbledore adjusted his mood and said with a smile: "Actually, the salary of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is ten galleons more than that of other courses... There is no way, if this were not the case, we would not be able to recruit suitable professors at all."

Kyle believed that it was certainly true that the salaries were high, but he did not express any opinion on whether those professors were suitable. Dumbledore should have known better.

"Boy, I feel that you are thinking of something very rude." Phineas Bright in the portrait suddenly said: "Believe me, my intuition is always very accurate."

"Good afternoon, sir." Kyle looked up at the portrait, "I admit, I was wondering just now whether to remind Sirius to do a proper house cleaning and clear out some useless things.

"...For example, the portrait next to the stairs in the living room."

"My guess is right, you are indeed an impolite little devil." Phineas screamed like a cat whose tail was stepped on: "I warned you not to do this, and Sirius doesn't do it either. Will throw away his grandfather’s portrait.”

"Really?" Kyle said lightly: "That's not necessarily true..."

Next to the stairs of No. 12 Grimmauld Place, there is a portrait of Phineas. He can use this advantage to move between the principal's office and there at will to convey some of Dumbledore's requests or plans.

But usually, Dumbledore would choose to say it himself instead of letting Phineas convey it on his behalf, so the portrait was basically useless.

Sirius had thought about throwing that thing away more than once.

"I'm warning you..." Phineas said sternly, "That's my house, you can't kick me out."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm just making a suggestion." Kyle shrugged. "It's up to Sirius how to do it exactly, but I think he won't mind getting a new painting."

"You!" Phineas was so angry that his beard stood up, and he ran out of the frame with a whoosh. He probably went to No. 12 Grimmauld Place to find Sirius.

"Hahaha, well done!" said a bearded wizard next to him: "This is really interesting. You are the first student to make him feel so defeated."

"Thank you for the compliment, Principal Dippet." Kyle said with a smile.

Because he had been here many times, he was already familiar with these portraits. The one in front of him was Armando Dippet, who was also Dumbledore's former principal.

He and Phineas Black had never dealt with each other. Nine times out of ten times the opponent was hit, he kicked him first, and the only remaining time was because he ran too slowly and failed to catch up.

"Kyle." Dumbledore said softly, "leaving Phineas in Grimmauld Place is still very useful."

"I know, I'm just scaring him." Kyle said, "After all, his portrait has a permanent sticking spell on it, so he can't throw it away even if he wants to."

The corner of Dumbledore's mouth twitched. If he hadn't moved his hands, how would he know that there was a permanent sticking spell on the portrait.

"Don't get me wrong, it was Sirius who discovered it and it has nothing to do with me." Kyle explained, then changed the subject: "Professor, what do you want to see me for?"

"It's a little thing."

"What?" Kyle asked.

"It's about Horcruxes," Dumbledore said.

He took out an ancient stone basin from the cabinet, "But before that, let's take a look at a memory. It took me a long time to find it, and it is also the most important memory I found."

Dumbledore said so, so Kyle would naturally not object.

Dumbledore took out a small crystal bottle from the inner pocket of his clothes. The memory inside seemed to have become a bit condensed due to too long time, and was not so silky. It took Dumbledore some effort to pour it into the pensieve. .

The pensieve began to emit a dense light.

Kyle walked over, and he felt that his consciousness was falling continuously, falling into the silver substances. When he opened his eyes again, there was already another person in front of him.

It was a much younger Slughorn, who still had thick golden hair at this time.

I don't know if he was used to Slughorn's bald image, but Kyle always felt awkward, as if he had a straw on his head.

"Professor Slughorn lost his hair very early." Kyle turned around and said after hearing the footsteps behind him.

"What?" Dumbledore was stunned for a moment, not understanding what Kyle meant.

"Look here." Kyle pointed to the top of Slughorn's head. There was already a small bald spot there, about the size of a galleon.

Dumbledore said nothing, and Kyle's focus was a bit unexpected.

Could it be that the memory he had worked so hard to obtain was to determine when Slughorn became bald?

Fortunately, Kyle did not dwell too much on this issue, but instead looked at the other people talking around him.

It looked like this should be Slughorn's office, with six or seven boys surrounding him.

The one sitting closest to Slughorn was the young Lord Voldemort, who should still be called Tom Riddle at this time.

He gave Slughorn a bag of pineapple preserves. Then they started talking about the retirement of a professor.

Kyle had no impression of the name they mentioned, so he probably wasn't an important person.

"Oh, it's Galadia, Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, my old colleague." Dumbledore said next to him: "He is about to retire, and Riddle probably wants to take over his position at this time. .”

"But you turned him down," Kyle said.

"Yes." Dumbledore said, "I persuaded Armando to reject his application to stay in school, even though many professors at the time, including Galadia, also believed that Riddle was capable enough to take over the position of Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. .”

Dumbledore's expression was very calm.

He was very sure that Riddle's purpose was not to be a professor in the school, but to have other plans, so he rejected the other party's application to stay in the school twice.

"So is he now asking Professor Slughorn to confirm the authenticity of the news?" Kyle asked.

"No." Dumbledore shook his head and said, "He is showing his ability to Professor Slughorn. Sometimes pleading for information is also a kind of ability."

It was exactly as Dumbledore said.

Slughorn looked a little surprised, "Where do you get your information from? Boy, you know more than most professors."

Riddle smiled and said nothing.

"You are such a ghost, you always know things you shouldn't know, and you are careful to please important people..." Slughorn seemed to want to blame Riddle, but his tone was more like ridicule, "Thank you by the way. Your pineapple, you guessed it, is my favorite..."

There was a burst of laughter all around.

But at this moment, the surroundings were suddenly shrouded in thick white fog, blocking Kyle's sight.

"This memory has been tampered with!" Kyle blurted out.

This fog of memory is like a mosaic, added later, obviously because someone didn't want them to hear or see something.

The white mist covered everything, and Kyle only heard an unnaturally high-pitched voice saying: "...You will make mistakes, kid, remember my words."

The corners of his mouth twitched and he asked, "Whose memory is this?"

"Professor Slughorn's," said Dumbledore.

new

"So..." Kyle turned to look at Dumbledore, "Professor Slughorn is not very good at things other than potions. The fake voice is too rough."

That high-pitched voice was completely different from the natural speaking voice before. It was too deliberate and was obviously trying to cover up.

It felt like someone's broomstick suddenly turned into a fire dragon during a Quidditch match. It was hard not to notice.

"Well, he was really not very good at memory spells at this time." Dumbledore said, "But later he made up for this shortcoming.

"As for the reason, you will know as you continue reading. It should be here soon."

After Dumbledore finished speaking, the white fog in Kyle's eyes dissipated.

At this time, Slughorn had finished eating the pineapple preserves, and the golden clock on his table had jumped from nine-thirty to eleven.

It was already curfew time, and everyone else had left the office, except Riddle, who lingered at the back.

After everyone left, he said, "Sir, I want to ask you something..."

"Then ask, kid," urged Slughorn.

"Sir, I would like to ask you if you know...horcruxes."

Thick fog appeared in the office again, followed by a voice that was too fake.

"I know nothing about Horcruxes. Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you. Get out immediately and don't let me hear you mention this again!"

But by now, Kyle had already guessed Dumbledore's purpose in letting him see this memory.

The next second, the two left the memory.

"Professor." Kyle looked at the pensieve in front of him, "Do you think Riddle knew the secret of the Horcrux at that time?"

"It is undeniable that Professor Slughorn must have told him some secrets, otherwise he would not be so ashamed as to tamper with his memory."

Dumbledore said softly: "This is also his weakness. It is always difficult for him to reject those children who are valued by him, and Tom was once his most promising student. For a long time afterwards, he always believed that Tom Achievements can be achieved.”

"He guessed right, didn't he," Kyle said. "In a way, Riddle did achieve something."

"But this is obviously not what Professor Slughorn wants to see, so he wants to hide the mistakes he has made." Dumbledore took out the memory from the pensieve and put it back in the bottle inside.

"His methods were clumsy, but that's also good news." Dumbledore continued: "It shows that he did not have the heart to completely forget these memories, but chose to cover them up."

"I was hoping you could help find it."

"Ah? Let me go?" Kyle blinked, not wanting to agree.

"As I said just now." Dumbledore glanced at him, "It's hard for Professor Slughorn to refuse children who he values.

"And the reason why he came to Hogwarts again is because of you and Harry, so it's perfect for you to do this."

"Harry?" Kyle looked around.

"He's not here. I haven't figured out how to tell him about this yet. After all, he is different from you. I need to explain a lot of things in advance."

Dumbledore looked at Kyle, as if waiting for him to say something.

"Oh." Kyle nodded as if he didn't see it and said, "Professor, think about it slowly. Don't worry, Harry is easy to deceive...well, easy to talk to."

Dumbledore's expression remained unchanged and he just glanced in the direction of the door.

"Didn't you ask Professor Snape before why he was angry?" He continued: "This is the reason. He believes that the Horcrux is Tom's deepest secret. Everyone who knows about it will be in danger. He doesn't want to let anyone know about it." You take risks.”

"Who wouldn't want me to take risks? Professor Snape?"

Kyle's expression changed and he said seriously: "Professor, I think you need to conduct a large-scale investigation in the school. I suspect that some professors are Death Eaters using polyjuice potion to disguise themselves. We have to guard against this kind of thing, or It’s better to resolve it as soon as possible.”

"Don't say that."

Dumbledore laughed, "Actually, Professor Snape is not as strict as you think, and..."

He looked at Kyle and said in a teasing tone: "Sooner or later you will become a family, and it is reasonable for him to care about you."

"That will happen in the future." Kyle rubbed his forehead. He also had a headache about this.

"So what's your decision?"

Dumbledore said, "Would you like to do me this favor? I must say that it is important for us to get the real memories, but if you have concerns... I can understand it."

"Professor, do you think I can stay out of the Horcrux thing?" Kyle couldn't help but say.

He had already destroyed so many Horcruxes from Voldemort, why did he still care about getting one more piece of news?

And the same goes for Harry...

Snape's worries were completely unnecessary. Regardless of whether they knew Slughorn's memory or not, Voldemort would never let them go.

At this moment, an owl suddenly flew in from the window and handed a letter in its talon to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore glanced at the letter and his expression became more and more serious.

"Sorry Kyle, I might have to do something else." He stood up and then apparated out of the room.

Fox chirped softly and disappeared into the flames.

Almost in the blink of an eye, Kyle was the only one left in the office. He looked at the empty office around him and at the portraits who were pretending to sleep again with their eyes closed, and then he was ready to leave.

After leaving the principal's office, Kyle was still thinking about what Dumbledore said just now, but he suddenly realized that Slughorn's memory didn't seem to be of much use.

That was just a memory related to Horcruxes, but if you think about it carefully, how many more Horcruxes did Voldemort have?

The diary and the Resurrection Stone ring have been destroyed, as well as the crown, gold cup, and locket he found, which are all in Nicoléme's place. Counting the time, they should have almost been solved by now.

These are the five Horcruxes.

Oh, and there’s that big snake called Nagini.

During the Triwizard Tournament, Kyle was transported by a portkey disguised as a trophy to the top of the mountain where Voldemort held his resurrection ceremony, and while Voldemort and Dumbledore were fighting, he kidnapped the snake.

But what was a bit beyond Kyle's expectation was that the snake was not a Horcrux...but it was not an ordinary animal either, but a blood-cursed orc.

Simply put, it is a wizard turned into a snake.

This situation is a bit like Animagus, but the difference is that the blood-cursed orc is permanent and cannot switch freely between animals and wizards like Animagus, and can only maintain the form of an animal forever.

Moreover, their own consciousness will be slowly erased until they become a real animal.

That's what Newt told him over the holidays.

In addition, Newt also knows the snake and must let Kyle leave Nagini at his place no matter what.

Kyle naturally had no reason to disagree. He was not Voldemort and had no habit of carrying a snake with him. Even if he did, he would have a more suitable basilisk, so he happily gave Nagini to Newt.

This is also the reason why Newt has never asked Leopard back. It can be said that both parties have a tacit understanding.

But there is one thing that Kyle is quite confused about. Nagini is a female snake, which means that she was a witch before she became a blood-cursed orc.

Newt always had a 'snake' with him... He never thought about whether to tell Tina about it.