Chapter 422 See You at the Front Door and at the Back Door

( ) I just talked about Christmas with Harry and Ron last night, and early this morning, there were snowflakes fluttering outside.

This year's first snowfall seems to be a bit late, but perhaps because of the long-standing momentum, this snow looks amazing.

It's only been one morning, and the little wizards barely got up, and snow thick with the soles of their shoes had already accumulated on the lawn outside. And it seems that it won't be able to stop in a while.

Standing by the window and looking out, it's all white and hazy, and it's really hard to see how far away.

The spider corpses that almost covered the school grounds yesterday have been cleaned up now.

Believe me, Professor McGonagall will not delay the cleaning work for too long, because those valuable materials will be stored as extra funds for Hogwarts activities.

Maca thinks this is also good, he only hopes that Professor McGonagall can remember that only the venom needs to be collected immediately. Because if left alone after death, they will soon dry up on their own.

Just when Maca stretched himself, planning to check the class schedule and perform his duties as a professor, he found someone coming towards him in the corridor outside the door.

There must be a lot of people coming to the floor where his office is located, because the library is just around the corner from here. However, there will never be many people passing by his office door.

"...It seems that I am destined not to be a good teacher." At the same time as the knock on the door sounded, Maca couldn't help but shrugged and whispered to himself.

"Come in!"

After he responded, the door of the office quietly opened with a wave of his hand, and then Professor McGonagall walked in from the corridor outside.

"McLean, I think you should tidy up your office." She glanced left and right, and found that she couldn't even find Maca's location, so she couldn't help but reminded.

"Oh—of course, I will." Maca walked around the pile of materials from behind the desk and came to Professor McGonagall, "Sorry, I'm going to teach them today! Well, yes, it is so."

"No, there's no need—"

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and put on a look of "I don't expect you".

"I need your help with something else today..." The acting principal, who has always been serious, hasn't changed much today.

"Although it may be a little early, but since the Ministry of Magic's documents have come down, we should also prepare early..."

"... Dolores Umbridge's appointment as professor is coming to the end of this academic year, and we have to prepare for the next semester, I believe you understand."

Umbridge was taken back, Maca naturally had expected it. Rather, he who controlled Umbridge with the Imperius Curse was the only cause of this incident.

"You want to invite a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?" Maka was slightly surprised, "It's too early, isn't it really too early?"

"No, it's time to get ready," Professor McGonagall sighed slightly, "It's not easy to find a wizard who is both capable and willing to take up this position! Albus used to... oh , Albus has a wide network of contacts, and he can always find suitable candidates quickly, but I don't know so many powerful people."

"Really?" Maca asked suspiciously, "Is it okay to let Professor Snape take up this position soon? I remember that he has always been obsessed with this subject!"

"Severus is best at Potions," Professor McGonagall shook his head, "To find a Potions master to be our Potions professor these days is more important than finding a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." It's going to be difficult."

"Hmm... I remember, isn't that Professor Slughorn who used to work at Hogwarts also a very good potions scholar?" Maca thought for a while.

"Oh—don't mention him!" Professor McGonagall resolutely rejected this bad idea, "Since the moment Voldemort gained power, he immediately found an excuse to resign, and Albus himself went to persuade him at that time, but that didn't Useless!"

"...Is that so?" Maca nodded thoughtfully.

Dumbledore's early death made "Horace Slughorn", who was originally quite important, also unable to appear on the stage?

No, maybe getting Slughorn back to Hogwarts is not that difficult!

"Professor," Maca thought for a while, "do you know where he lives? Maybe I can visit him... In fact, if you come to me this time, it's to ask if I have any good As for the candidate... all I can say is, it's a pity."

"Hmm..." Professor McGonagall pondered for a moment, and then let go, "Okay! If you want to talk about the knowledge of Potions, Slughorn is indeed a candidate no less than Severus - he is now Should still be living in Devonshire, at the village of Budley Barberton..."

After she told Maca the exact location with some reluctance, she shook her head again, as if she didn't like Maca's trip this time.

As a former colleague, she knew very well what kind of...well, what kind of "glib" and vain old man Slughorn was.

Of course, leaving aside his slightly frivolous behavior when he was young, as he got older, his attention basically shifted to creating an excellent social circle.

Although the behavior of "talking about the achievements of one's own students and showing off to others" is also a teacher's self-confidence, but if the show is too much, the nature will change a bit.

"...In short, come back as soon as you have no hope!" Professor McGonagall finally urged, "You still have classes scheduled in the afternoon! Don't forget your duty as a teacher!"

After Maca nodded again and again, she turned around and left in a hurry.

"As I remember, that old professor seems to be quite an interesting guy," Maca thought as he packed up his things, ready to set off to visit him immediately, "with him, Hogwarts should be able to It's more lively."

...

It was actually quite early, and the heavy snow had never stopped, and a thick layer of snow had already accumulated on the road.

Maca was walking on a straight and narrow street, the houses on both sides were neatly arranged, and he couldn't see clearly through the snow curtain.

In the distance, the silhouette of a tall building can be vaguely seen, which seems to be a church with a bell tower. It's just that the vision is really blurry, making it difficult for people to tell whether their guess is right or not.

Maca passed by a closed tavern, and there were still a few shallow footprints in front of the tavern that were not covered by snow and stretched forward, as if someone had come out here just now.

After looking around for a while, Maca turned the corner ahead, passed a telephone booth and a bus stop, and found himself in yet another residential area.

When he continued on for a while, he stopped in front of a snow-covered garden iron gate not long after. In this garden, a neat and bright house stands in the center.

Maca glanced at the iron gate, and found that Slughorn didn't seem to be in the habit of locking the courtyard gate, so he simply pushed open the iron gate with a "squeak" and walked in.

The lawn in the front garden was covered with snow, which made it a bit confusing where the road was and where the grass was. He is here to invite people today, so he can't step on their lawn recklessly, can he?

After looking around, Maca waved his hand, and a whirlwind swept up immediately, piling up the snow in the front garden to the side of the road outside the garden.

After the front yard was cleaned, he walked straight to the gate along the path in the garden.

"Tuk tuk... tuk tuk..."

Maca stood in front of the door, but when he knocked on the door for the first time, no one answered, but when he knocked on the door for the second time, there was a slightly funny expression on his face.

He did feel that there was someone in the room, but the other party didn't seem to want to open the door to welcome his temporary visit. And not only that, the funniest thing is...

Maca moved her feet, and ran across the garden very quickly, around the side of the house, and came to the back door of the house. And the moment he barely stopped in front of the back door, the door was hastily opened from the inside.

"If the anti-apparition spell is not permanent, it is basically meaningless; but if it is permanent, sometimes it is actually not so convenient!" He looked at the bald and fat old man who appeared at the door, and smiled said, "... am I right, Mr. Slughorn?"

"...That's right!" the fat old man muttered.

"Good morning, Professor Slughorn," Maca bowed formally and said politely, "I am currently a professor of ancient runes at Hogwarts—"

"—Maca McLean." Slughorn took his words, "Yes, I know you! Or, who in the British magic circle does potions, who doesn't know you? The youngest genius pharmacist in history?"

"Oh -- it's overrated," Maca said humbly. "In front of a potion master like you, my achievements are not worth mentioning -- you are an elite talent who has taught many excellent wizards!"

"Hmm haha... You know this too? It seems that although I have lived in seclusion for a long time, my reputation is still widely circulated in the British magic circle!"

Are you still "reclusive"?

After Voldemort failed, the fat old man immediately wandered around the wizarding world again. Aside from always refusing to return to serve at Hogwarts, what else is there to do?

Not to mention participating in various political and economic activities, even the private banquets held by various celebrities have never been less, and he has been making unremitting efforts to expand his "excellent" social circle.

"Of course, of course!" Maca said with a smile, "It is precisely because your reputation is 'widely spread' in the world that I took the initiative to invite you to visit you! You have long admired—"

"...I don't know if I'm lucky enough to come to your house for a talk?" He reached out his hand towards the back door and smiled calmly.