Chapter 170: Dracula thinks Harry and Ron can be taken as dogs
"The Forbidden Forest may indeed have some secrets, but they have nothing to do with me."
Riddle's expression soon returned to normal, and he said calmly, "After I obtained this body, I have only stayed here for less than half a year, and I know nothing about this vast forest. ”
"Really?" Dracula said noncommittally, "Then tell me, why do you make so many stupid mistakes that you shouldn't make when capturing magical animals? I don't think you are collecting teaching materials at all. On the contrary, it looks like he is going to kill animals.”
Dracula and Riddle looked at each other, staring at him with scrutinizing eyes, and the heavy pressure slowly passed.
"Okay, I admit that I didn't go to the Forbidden Forest just to capture magical animals as teaching materials..." After a moment, Riddle finally couldn't withstand the pressure from Dracula and changed his words, "I actually wanted to Exercise improves my spellcasting abilities.”
"Exercise your spellcasting ability?" Dracula frowned.
"Yes, there are many very complex spell-casting techniques in my memory, and there are also many powerful magics, but this body is still too new after all, and it is difficult to integrate the spell-casting techniques in my memory." Riddle said,
"So I need to find some hostile creatures to help me practice casting spells. Only in this way can I gradually improve my strength."
Dracula glanced at him blankly, took out a blood-flavored lollipop from the desk drawer, and peeled off the outer packaging of the candy.
"In order to improve your spellcasting ability, you went to the Forbidden Forest to kill magical animals?" He stuffed the lollipop into his mouth and said casually, "Why don't you find a wizard at Hogwarts to be your sparring partner?"
"There are so many professors here, there will always be someone willing to help you. Even if no professor is willing to help you at all, you can always go to Slytherin and scold Professor Snape. I think he will definitely I’ll be willing to go through a few tricks with you.”
Dracula had a lollipop in his mouth with a playful expression.
"Well... I didn't expect this," Riddle smiled implicitly, "As a newcomer who has just arrived at Hogwarts, I always feel that it is not appropriate to trouble other professors for this kind of thing. .”
"What's inappropriate about this? We're all colleagues, and you don't look much older than the students. They are as patient with you as they are with little wizards." Dracula chuckled, "I see It’s not that you think it’s inappropriate, but you clearly have other intentions!”
The reason Riddle made up on the spur of the moment was so false that there was no need to doubt the authenticity of the matter, and it could not withstand scrutiny.
I don’t know why this assistant coach who should be very smart in theory would make up such an unrealistic excuse.
Is it because he never thought that his behavior in the Forbidden Forest would be discovered? Or does he think this matter is frank enough to be left undisguised?
"Riddle, don't hide anything, otherwise you should know the consequences." Dracula put on a cold expression.
But paired with the lollipop in his mouth, his cold expression seemed a bit nondescript...
"Professor Dracula, I really can't tell you this secret." Riddle shook his head helplessly, "If I tell it like this, I might make you unhappy."
"But you hiding it like this just makes me even more unhappy." Dracula said coldly.
Suddenly there was light flowing in Dracula's eyes, staring directly into Riddle's eyes.
Some vague images of the lake appeared in Riddle's eyes, but these unclear images quickly disappeared.
"Compared to your spell-casting skills, your Occlumency practice is quite good." Dracula sneered.
"After all, in order to guard against Dumbledore's prying eyes, this was what my main soul paid most attention to during school." Riddle smiled, "Even his Legilimency gradually became proficient."
Dracula glanced at Riddle again, waved his hand, and kicked him out of the office.
He stood up from his seat, tasting the blood-flavored lollipop in his mouth, feeling the salty taste on his tongue, and thinking about the secrets in the Forbidden Forest.
Even though Riddle's Occlumency is considered to be among the best in the magical world, no wizard can make his mental protection perfect in the face of Dracula's mental prying eyes.
From the pictures of the lake, Dracula saw an ancient building filled with endless snakes.
Dracula was once very familiar with this place, but he never had the time to recall it.
If Riddle's abnormal behavior in the Forbidden Forest was to find this location, then Dracula would indeed be unhappy about it, and he would indeed be too lazy to talk to him about it.
That was something he didn't want to mention for a long time.
…
The dawn of Christmas has arrived.
It was cold and white everywhere.
Looking out of the window of Gryffindor Tower, one could barely see the spire of the tower opposite, the Quidditch pitch or the frozen black lake.
The wind and snow roared around Hogwarts Castle, raising a cloud of snow dust in the air. The snow was like a white tapestry, spinning and falling from the sky one after another, making the little wizards who stayed in school feel cold from the bottom of their hearts.
Harry and Ron were the only two people left in the usually bustling Gryffindor second-year dormitory.
It wasn't until almost noon that Ron sat up from the bed with his pet rat Scabbers in his arms and stretched lazily.
"Harry, how are you preparing for this year's Christmas gifts?" He saw Harry sitting by the window opening gifts and asked vaguely while yawning.
"Everyone else's Christmas gifts are almost ready, but there's still one person left who doesn't know what to prepare." Harry responded.
Harry opened a small package, his owl Hedwig standing on the table nearby, looking at him curiously.
The small package was sent by the Dursleys - they gave Harry a toothpick as a Christmas present, and also included a text message asking him to find out if he could stay at Hogwart during the summer vacation. spent in tz.
In fact, Harry also wanted to stay at Hogwarts during the summer vacation, but unfortunately Hogwarts never agreed to the young wizard's request.
"Is there another gift you haven't prepared yet?" Ron glanced at the bad weather outside the window, "Then you may have to hurry up, otherwise the owl will definitely not be able to deliver the gift on the same day in such a snowy day."
"I know." Harry said, "All the gifts that need to be sent to places a little further away were sent last night. The remaining gifts are at Hogwarts and can definitely be delivered on the same day."
"A gift from within Hogwarts?" Ron asked in surprise, "What's there to hesitate about? The classmates are all close to each other anyway, so can't we just pick a few and give them away?"
He came close to Harry and looked at the signature on the envelope, "Hey, haven't you prepared Professor Dracula's gift yet?"
"Yeah, I don't know what to give Professor Dracula." Harry said.
"Isn't this simple?" Ron slapped his thigh and said decisively, "Didn't we analyze it last Christmas? Professor Dracula's favorite things are wine and lollipops, and I chose vodka and sunshine orange. Flavored lollipops are absolutely fine!”
As he said that, he also took out a bottle of vodka from his gift pile and placed it in front of Harry, "I bought an extra bottle of vodka and can lend it to you!"
"Um...Ron, I was actually wondering if Professor Dracula wouldn't like vodka?" Harry glanced at the bottle of legendary water of life and fell into hesitation.
"I remember that after last Christmas, both of our Defense Against the Dark Arts assignments were sent back and rewritten... Do you think it's because Professor Dracula was dissatisfied with our gifts?"
"No way?" Ron was stunned for a moment, "My analysis should be fine, and is Professor Dracula so cautious?"
‘Professor Dracula is so narrow-minded! ’
Harry complained secretly, but did not dare to say it out loud, for fear that the walls had ears and the cautious Professor Dracula would hear him.
"Ron, the general direction of your analysis should be fine..." Harry said rationally, "But when Professor Dracula usually drinks, he drinks red wine from a goblet very elegantly, like vodka. The temperament of 'ton ton ton' seems to be different."
"It seems to make sense." Ron fell into deep thought.
"So I think we should buy some high-quality red wine!" Harry raised his head confidently.
"But where can we buy high-end red wine in this weather?" Ron muttered in a low voice, "And Professor Dracula will definitely not like ordinary red wine, and we don't have that much money to buy that kind of luxury product."
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After hearing what Ron said, Harry's head drooped.
"Then what should we do?" Harry said dejectedly, "I don't want to be punished to rewrite my homework again because of the gift."
Ron held his chin, thinking, with a wise expression on his face.
"I know!" He clapped his hands fiercely, "Although we don't have money to buy the most expensive red wine, we can make the most unique red wine!"
"What do you say?" Harry asked.
"Look, Harry, the main difference between vodka and red wine is actually the color. Drinking vodka from a goblet will look weird." Ron said confidently, "But if we put the transparent What about vodka dyed red?”
"Huh?" Harry opened his mouth wide.
He always felt that there was something wrong with Ron's idea, and he couldn't say what was wrong. In short, he just felt that it was a bit unreliable.
"Don't worry, Professor Dracula definitely wants to taste a high-altitude wine like vodka, but he feels that it is not elegant enough and damages his image. That's why he feels that our gift is not good enough." Ron said,
"But what if the vodka turns red? As long as it is disguised as red wine and put in a high-end red wine bottle, Professor Dracula can openly serve the vodka in a goblet and drink it elegantly."
Ron's eyes became brighter and brighter, and his expression became more and more confident.
"Let's go, Harry, let's go to Greenhouse No. 1 to pick some cockscombs." He put on his thick coat, pulled Harry and rushed out of the dormitory, "It's Christmas now, there must be nothing over there in the greenhouse. Man, my plan is totally feasible!”
Harry was dragged by Ron and stumbled all the way to the greenhouse in the northeast corner of the castle.
He was a little worried about Ron's whimsical ideas, but he couldn't bear his best friend's overconfidence and didn't hear any questioning words from Harry...
…
At night, the wind and snow outside had not stopped, and the strong wind was blowing. People outside wrapped their robes tightly.
But on the contrary, the Great Hall of Hogwarts was warm under the influence of magic.
At the Christmas dinner, everyone ate with gusto.
The auditorium looked majestic, and thousands of candles in the sky gave off a bright and gentle light.
There are more than a dozen Christmas trees covered with silver frost scattered throughout the auditorium, and there are many beautiful criss-crossing ribbons of mistletoe and holly on the ceiling.
There was enchanted snow falling gently from the ceiling, warm and dry, not as cold as the snowflakes in the cold wind outside.
Dumbledore led the little wizards in singing some of his favorite Christmas carols.
Although these carols are sung by the little wizards, they are out of tune, outrageously outrageous, and have broken notes... But compared to the Hogwarts school anthem, at least they have a standard tune, which does not make the singing completely out of tune. Without music, all that's left is singing nonsense.
During the singing, Hagrid drank glass after glass of eggnog, and his voice became louder and louder. In the end, the only thing that could be heard in the auditorium was his howling like a ghost...
Percy Wesley also did not go with the Wesleys to visit their eldest son, Bill. But his explanation to the other little wizards was that he stayed for Christmas only because, as a straight-A student, he had the responsibility to support the professors during the holidays when staff were scarce.
So Fred, who couldn't stand it anymore, secretly cast a spell on his brother, adding a few small letters to the "p" that represented prefect on his prefect badge, turning it into "pinhead". )".
Percy didn't notice at all and stupidly kept asking what everyone was laughing at.
During this lively Christmas dinner, Dracula sat bored on his professor's seat, watching the little wizards laughing and playing, and even some professors joined in.
He casually took out a bottle of red wine he got from somewhere and poured it into the goblet in front of him.
The red wine in the goblet was crystal clear and had a slightly purple color, making it look particularly attractive.
Dracula nodded with satisfaction, elegantly raised the wine glass to his mouth, and took a sip...
"puff--"
The "red wine" in Dracula's mouth instantly sprayed Snape, who was sitting opposite, in the face.
"Dracula!" Snape suddenly stood up, gritted his teeth and pulled out the wand, while the drink on his face was still dripping on the table. "If you are trying to provoke me, then I admit that you did it. !”
"I'm sorry, Professor Snape." Dracula knew that he was wrong, so he cast a cleaning spell on Snape's hooked nose and also cleaned up his greasy hair. This glass of wine is a bit unexpected..."
"Vodka?" He looked at the high-end red wine bottle in front of him, and the corners of his mouth twitched.
Dracula instantly thought of the bottle of red wine he had picked out from a pile of Christmas gifts, and also thought that the gift-givers, Potter and Weiss, had finally learned to be smart and knew his preferences...
Now all the old and new grudges are being reckoned with, plus the bottle of vodka and sunshine orange lollipop from last Christmas, these two can basically be declared as dogs!
"How about this, Professor Snape..." Dracula looked at Snape, who inexplicably looked a little dapper after his hair was no longer greasy, "As compensation, I will send back the homework from Potter and Weiss. Rewrite it once, no, three times!”
After hearing Dracula's compensation, Snape thought for a moment, and his angry face gradually calmed down.
"make a deal!"
He nodded heavily and sat back in his seat.
Under the stage, Harry and Ron, who were arguing with Draco Malfoy, suddenly felt a chill on their spines...
…
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