Chapter 477 Meeting with Slughorn

In the corner of the bathroom, the dirty clothes that Mike originally changed were gone, replaced by neatly folded clean clothes and a fluffy bath towel.

You don't need to think about Mike to know that this is definitely the work of the house elves. Ever since Mike solved the food crisis for them at noon yesterday, they have begun to provide for Mike like a father, giving them a change of clothes and so on. It's trivial.

Mike picked up the towel and began to wipe his body. At this time, he also noticed that there was an additional figure in the reef painting hanging on the wall.

Mike looked closely and realized it was a blond mermaid.

The mermaid looked like she had just emerged from the sea, with water drops still hanging on her body. Her wet blond hair stuck to her fair skin, and water was constantly dripping from it.

She just sat on the rock like this, with a meaningful smile on her lips, looking at Mike with piercing eyes, without any intention of looking away.

As if she noticed that Mike was looking at her, the mermaid's body slowly twisted, her hands kept moving around her body, and she even stuck out her tongue to lick the water droplets at the corner of her mouth.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Mike smacked his lips. Compared to Myrtle just now, this mermaid is much more powerful.

He had a hunch that this mermaid had a wonderful show for him.

But just when Mike was about to get closer and take a closer look, Myrtle screamed and jumped on the portrait, cursing the mermaid in her mouth while a pair of small hands kept scratching the portrait.

Unfortunately, the ghost cannot touch the real thing, and no matter how hard she tries, she cannot harm the portrait at all.

However, Myrtle's crazy behavior shocked the mermaid in the painting. She screamed and jumped into the sea and disappeared.

"You're such a bastard! You only seduce men! I curse you to be locked up here for another thousand years!"

Myrtle was still cursing at the portrait, while Mike got dressed and left. Since there was no more fun to watch, he had no interest in staying in the bathroom.

It was already noon after leaving the bathroom, and Mike went straight to the auditorium, where he planned to visit a key person after lunch.

Due to Dumbledore's post-autumn settlement, the place seemed sparse at this time, with only a few students who had made no mistakes gathered here to have lunch.

At the same time, Mike also noticed that the four gemstone hourglasses in the foyer of the auditorium, which represented the academic points of the four major colleges, had also changed.

Except for Ravenclaw's hourglass, the gems in the hourglasses of the other three colleges have completely disappeared, which means that their college points have been deducted by the professors.

Mike smiled and found a seat to sit down. Immediately, a large amount of food appeared on the empty plate in front of him, piling the entire plate high.

This scene made the two Gryffindor students next to them drop their jaws in shock. There were only a few green beans and a dry piece of steak on their plates.

Obviously, the house elves were openly retaliating. Gryffindor was the most energetic when they destroyed the Great Hall.

Mike shook his head and began to enjoy this overly sumptuous lunch.

But at this moment, a hand gently patted his shoulder.

"Hey! Mike! You're finally out of the hospital!"

Mike turned around and saw Ron looking at him with excitement.

His eyes fell on Mike's dinner plate again, and then his eyes became a little strange.

"Well, your lunch is a little different from ours. It seems... a little too sumptuous."

"No, this is your illusion."

"Is...is that so?" Ron scratched his head, turned and waved behind him, "Let's not talk about it for now. I brought Harry and the others with me. Harry, Hermione, don't be embarrassed. , come here quickly.”

Mike looked in the direction of Ron's wave and saw Harry and Hermione looking this way from a little further away.

When Mike discovered them, the two of them stopped hiding and slowly came to Mike's side.

However, Mike found that the expressions of the two of them were a little awkward, and their limbs were extremely stiff.

"Mike, I'm sorry that we weren't able to visit you when you were in the hospital, and we didn't come to pick you up when you were discharged."

Harry rubbed his hands and said nervously, while Hermione beside him nodded hurriedly.

"Actually, you can't blame us, Mike." Ron explained, "Madam Pomfrey doesn't allow us to visit you, and the time of your discharge from the hospital has not been announced, so...ah!"

Hermione stepped on Ron's foot hard when he was halfway through his words, and his words suddenly turned into screams before he could finish his words.

Mike smiled, shook his head, and said softly:

"Ron is actually right. This is not your fault, so don't take this matter to your heart anymore."

Hearing this, Ron immediately raised his head and glared at Hermione and Harry with his painfully twisted face, muttering words such as 'See if I'm right, Mike won't care'.

Harry and Hermione still lowered their heads. It was obvious that they had not let go yet.

Mike sighed and began to enjoy his lunch.

He really didn't take this matter to heart, but Hermione and Harry didn't think so. They felt that they were very sorry for Mike.

Ron, who was rubbing his feet at the side, saw that the scene suddenly became deserted and quickly asked:

"Mike, do you have any clues about the assassin?"

As soon as these words came out, the two Gryffindors around them immediately stopped what they were doing, raised their ears and listened carefully.

The riots in the past few days were caused by Mike wanting to catch the assassin. This is undoubtedly a big deal.

When Mike heard this, the corners of his mouth also rose. He cleared his throat, deliberately raised his voice and replied:

"Unfortunately, I haven't caught the assassin yet. But I already have a new idea. After lunch, I will visit Professor Slughorn. I believe he will definitely give me some important help." .”

Mike's voice echoed in the auditorium, and many students eating lunch raised their heads in confusion.

And when they saw that the person speaking was Mike, the expressions on their faces suddenly became wonderful.

Mike was also secretly observing their reactions. When he saw several Slytherin students sneaking out of the auditorium after hearing what he said, a subtle arc appeared on his face.

…

After lunch, Mike went to Professor Slughorn's office alone.

Just now, both Hermione and Harry expressed concern about Mike telling his next plan in public, but Mike was fearless because this was exactly the effect he wanted to achieve.

At the same time, he also rejected Harry and others' request to accompany him to visit Professor Slughorn on the grounds that the presence of too many people would be detrimental to his negotiations with Slughorn, which made Harry and others All very depressed.

Mike quickly arrived at the door of Professor Slughorn's office. Mike did not knock on the door. This was unnecessary. At this time, the door of the Potions Professor's office was wrapped with a large amount of magic, which was obviously a variety of magic. There are traces of restriction, so Slughorn in the office has a high probability of discovering him.

Sure enough, after Mike waited not long, the door to the office opened, and Professor Slughorn wearing a plaid suit appeared in front of Mike.

Slughorn's fat face was filled with a smile as bright as the sun. He opened his hands slightly and said with a smile:

"Merlin, look who this is, Mike, it's great that you can come see me! Come in!"

With that said, Slughorn moved away from the body that completely blocked the door.

Mike nodded and entered the office expressionlessly.

As soon as he came in, Mike smelled a fresh fragrance. It smelled like some kind of burning plant, but it was not offensive to the nose. Instead, it smelled refreshing.

Mike's eyes moved back and forth in the office, and he finally determined the source of the smell - a half-smoked cigar standing on Slughorn's desk.

This cigar is obviously not ordinary. Most of the snow-white ash on it that has been burned does not fall off like ordinary cigarettes, but is firmly attached to the cigarette butt that is still emitting light smoke.

"Aha! This is a Nepalese cigar. The tobacco leaves inside are grown by Nepalese goblins on the snowy mountains." Slughorn noticed Mike's gaze and explained with a smile, "These tobacco leaves have refreshing and stress-relieving properties. The effect, I have to say, although those little goblins are a bit ugly, the tobacco leaves they grow are really good. However, because the output is too small, the prices of cigars and cigarettes made from this kind of tobacco leaves are very high."

After saying that, Slughorn came to the desk with a big belly, picked up the cigar and took a big puff.

As the cigarette butt hidden in the thick ashes lit up, Slughorn's face showed an expression of enjoyment. He slowly closed his eyes, and after holding his breath for a while, he let out the almost faint breath in his mouth. Invisible smoke was spit out.

“What a treat!”

Mike did not look at Slughorn's intoxicated expression. He was observing the office at the moment.

Obviously, Slughorn is a real old aristocrat. In his office, there are a large number of artworks from various countries, such as ancient porcelain from China, fancy Inca headdresses and strange silver ornaments from ancient Persia. Mike even found a half-open coffin in the corner, which contained a mummy covered in yellow bandages.

But these are actually nothing. What really shocked Mike was the row of huge bookshelves behind Slughorn's desk. In Mike's magic perception field of view, the books on them were all emitting a rich white magic aura. Those are all magic books!

Knowledge is wealth, this sentence is completely true in the wizarding world, and this whole row of magic books also made Mike truly realize how rich the Slughorn in front of him is!

"Mike, you must try this cigar. This is a rare opportunity. I failed to get the Nepalese Leprechaun tobacco leaves this year. This is my last chance to survive."

When Mike heard the sound, Slughorn was taking out a cigar from a wooden box and handing it to him.

Slughorn obviously didn't speak, because his expression at this moment was extremely painful.

Mike naturally would not do anything to win over others' favor, so he shook his head slightly to reject the other person's kindness.

Seeing this, Slughorn seemed to be relieved, but he was mumbling pretentious words such as 'what a pity'.

After Slughorn carefully put away the cigar again, he looked at Mike again and said:

"So, Mike, why did you come to see me this time?"

"Yes, actually I need your help with something, Professor."

Mike walked around the office and said to Slughorn with a smile.

Mike was very polite, because in his opinion Slughorn was not as stupid as he appeared.

In fact, in Mike's eyes, Slughorn is simply a model of great wisdom and foolishness.

Although he looks obese, he is actually full of wisdom and worldliness.

During this turmoil, Slughorn immediately stopped the potions class and sealed himself in this office with many powerful restrictions, which made him basically useless compared to other professors. Not affected in any way.

Moreover, although he behaves as timid as a mouse, he is actually very bold!

You must know that now is when Voldemort is running rampant outside, but even so, he still accepted Dumbledore's invitation to teach at Hogwarts.

This is the most authentic act of surrendering to the enemy. If Voldemort gains power, his end will be very tragic!

If nothing happens to Mike, the old man Slughorn must have some trump card, enough to make him not afraid of Voldemort's trump card!

This trump card may be a powerful magic item, the knowledge in his brain, or his extraordinary network of connections.

But there is no doubt that Slughorn is definitely a capable person, and Mike will never despise such a person.

On the other side, looking at Mike's smiling face, Slughorn looked a little flattered. He trembled and said quickly without even noticing the ash from the cigar in his hand falling on the carpet:

"Oh! This is my duty as a professor! Tell me quickly. As long as it is something within my ability, I will definitely help you."

Slughorn said his words firmly, but his heart was beating a drum.

He was a little afraid that Mike would really make some unreasonable demands.

"Really?" The kindness on Mike's face became more intense. He slowly walked towards Slughorn, and finally whispered into his ear, "Don't be nervous, Professor. I just want to know, be honest." Is there really no way to get rid of the side effects of the drug that may turn people into idiots?”