Chapter 163 - 163 A Different Kind of Christmas
Chapter 163: Chapter 163 A Different Kind of Christmas
"..."
The innocent little Hufflepuff wizards didn't realize that they had become a shield for Rolf to hide their identities, all they knew was that they could get Rolf's funny trinkets with a clear conscience by doing something easy, and it was a no brainer!
Although they didn't know why this new student said that transfer students would be ostracized, they all agreed that it was their duty to help their fellow students from the same academy.
The little badger from Hufflepuff wasn't going to let one of his own be ostracized!
...
And so, the next day there was an unfamiliar face in the first-year classroom -
"If my memory is not faulty, then I don't seem to remember much about you, this student sitting in the last row ..."
A light, greasy voice squeezed word after word out of single thin lips.
In the Potions classroom, which was drenched in many taxidermy animals and had an overall grim look to it, Snape looked condescendingly at the young wizard in front of him, who he had never seen before, his face a little grim.
"Professor, I've actually been in class here all this time, it's just that I've been ignored by you all this time because I'm rather non-existent." Rolf opened his big, innocent eyes and blinked at the waxy-faced professor.
The righteous little Hufflepuff wizards beside him also expressed their approval.
"That's right, Professor, Rolf is the first year who came to Hogwarts on the boat with us!"
"Yes, Professor. You must have neglected him all this time!"
"Scamander has been laying too low, so it's only natural that he wasn't noticed by you."
"..."
The Hufflepuff's young wizards were talking at cross purposes, not seeing that the blue-collared Ravenclaw young wizards in the same classroom were looking at them with retarded eyes.
"Snort-"
A cold snort stuck out of Snape's throat.
He slanted his eyes across the entire classroom and swept around the room, which had been a very noisy Potions classroom immediately became quiet.
Under the intimidation of Snape's longstanding notoriety, the young wizards of Hufflepuff also shivered and subconsciously shut their mouths.
"Mr. Rolf Scamander, right?" Snape's deep black eyes looked to Rolf and said slowly.
"That's right, Professor." Rolf was feeling the pressure at this point.
He didn't expect to run into such a difficult professor in his first class, as if he had seen his flimsy behavior right away.
"Oh ... so it's a Scamander." Snape quirked up the corner of his mouth, an icy smirk on his face, "If your brains aren't already filled with the feces of those magical creatures, you and your troll-brained friends should take a look at how seating in the classroom is actually organized."
A troll's brain was said to be no bigger than a walnut, kind of a classic insulting analogy in the wizarding world.
After hearing Snape mocking them for having troll heads, the young wizards of Hufflepuff all glared at Snape in exasperation, and then withdrew their respective eyes abashedly under the Potions professor's return glare ...
Rolf subconsciously paid more attention to the layout within the Potions classroom, and his eyes suddenly widened as he looked at one of the crucibles placed between every two young wizards.
He fiercely slapped on his forehead, knowing that this time he was completely exposed.
Hogwarts magic potion class how is the two by two group class mode ah ... this way as long as there is just one more person, won't it be obvious to see the classroom number of people attending the classroom single and double number change?
No wonder he was instantly suspected ...
"It seems you're not quite as stupid as your friends ... though you're not at all bright either." Snape sneered, "Heh, please, Mr. Scamander, whose brain has not been cleaned of the Moonstruck Beast's feces, go back to where you belong."
"That ... Professor, I can actually explain." Rolf remained stiff-lipped, "I sat in the corner by myself in every Potions class because I didn't find a suitable tablemate, which is why you didn't notice."
Snape's face sank.
"You will pay for your foolishness, Mr. Scamander." He said coldly.
"Five points off Hufflepuff for deceiving the Professor!"
"No, Professor, you can't!" Hufflepuff's young wizards were shocked and retorted.
"Disturbing classroom discipline, Hufflepuff deducts another five points." Snape said lightly as he looked tantalizingly at the students.
The Hufflepuff wizards' outraged comments stuck in their throats.
Just when the atmosphere was completely awkward and the entire classroom was silent, a voice with a fluttering tone suddenly broke the silence.
"Can't find your tablemate? What a coincidence, I can't find one either, I can be your deskmate!"
Surprised, Rolf turned his eyes to where the voice came from and saw a little witch with messy, waist-length dirty blonde hair.
The little witch had gray eyes that appeared to appear dazed and bulging outward, her eyebrows were tantalizingly pale in color, and her whole person had an air of insanity about her that seemed to be completely oblivious to the Potions Professor's words.
"Miss Lovegood, it is not a question of being able to find a tablemate." Snape's face sank once more, "This Mr. Scamander doesn't belong here at all, in fact, I'd rather suggest that he return to his grandfather's box ..."
Somehow, the appalling Potions professor seemed to be completely aware of all of Rolf's details simply by locking eyes with him.
"But I just happen to be missing a fellow student, isn't it just right that he's here?" The little witch named Luna Lovegood said in a brisk tone, "Otherwise I'd have failed to finish the class assignment you assigned again Professor."
Luna had never been well liked in Ravenclaw because of her madness.
And with just an odd number of students previously in this classroom, the ostracized Luna had been occupying a table by herself for almost a semester in the Potions classroom.
Favoring Professor Snape's penchant for assigning the kind of collaborative tasks that took two people to barely complete, it had been a long time since Luna had completed a class assignment in Potions.
"Yes, Professor, I can take the class with this young lady." As if he had grabbed a lifesaver, Rolf hurriedly said to Snape.
With that, he also moved with a quick action, carrying the cooking pot he had indiscriminately used as a crucible and the textbook he had temporarily copied with a copying spell, and ran over to the Ravenclaw side of the seat, sitting right next to Luna.
Once seated, he immediately displayed a good-natured expression and eyed Snape.
"You should be thankful that someone is willing to help you, Mr. Scamander." Snape said, his voice cold, "Now, stay in your seat honestly and don't do anything to disrupt this class, do you understand?"
Rolf nodded his head in a hurry.
...
As soon as class was over, Snape strutted up to the Hogwarts Headmaster's office on the eighth floor with a six-packed stride and a long black cloak dragging behind him.
As soon as he saw the old man with the gray hair, he spoke coldly and in that drawn out tone:
"Headmaster, I think you need to give me an explanation."
"An explanation?" Dumbledore placed the glass of water in his hand on the table with a look of fake surprise, "I'm not quite sure what explanation you want, Severus."
"You can't be unclear!" Snape's gritted his teeth, "Or do you think that I'm going to believe that a student who wasn't supposed to be here suddenly appeared at Hogwarts without the Headmaster's knowledge?"
"Oh! So you were talking about Little Rolf." Dumbledore gave another fake look of dawning realization, "Alas, that was actually a gadget I made decades ago that allowed Newt to teleport Rolf into Hogwarts."
Dumbledore seemed to have known about Rolf's arrival for a long time, except that there seemed to be something strange about his attitude towards Rolf.
"If I may say so, Headmaster, this Mr. Rolf Scamander is not a Hogwarts student at all." Snape said coldly, "Personally, I think at this point you should send Mr. Scamander back to where he belongs."
"Oh Severus, no need to be so serious." Dumbledore said with a smirk, "I see that little Rolf is quite happy at Hogwarts and has absolutely no desire to go back, so we don't have to be so rigid about sending him back."
"Besides I heard that Rolf is filling a double in your Potions class, huh?"
Snape's mouth twitched.
He sort of realized that Dumbledore, the wily old man, had been paying attention to his old friend's grandson ever since he arrived at Hogwarts, and that attention was quite something, even sneaking in to listen to the last Potions class.
"Let's just hope you're not approached by the Headmaster of Yinfamoni for someone, Mr. Headmaster!"
Snape's expression didn't look too good as he left the Headmaster's office with a cold flick of his sleeve.
Dumbledore smiled as he picked up his teacup and took a gentle sip, revealing a satisfied expression.
After putting down the teacup again, he hesitated for a while, but still notified the Dean of Hufflepuff, Professor Sprout, and the Vice Chancellor, Professor McGonagall, preparing to secretly inform them, so that they could be prepared to teach Rolf.
Just as Dumbledore had informed the two professors, but before either of them had arrived at the Headmaster's office, a not-so-pleasant voice suddenly rang out.
"Are you just going to let that little wizard stay in Hufflepuff, Dumbledore?"
The sub-hat, which had been cleaned once but had become a little dirty again after a year's time, asked, "Don't you need me to sort him out?"
"No need to go to all that trouble, Rolf's grandfather was a Hufflepuff representative!" Dumbledore said with a smile, "If Rolf is sorted into a house other than Hufflepuff, Pomona will definitely be upset."
"But he doesn't act ... like a Hufflepuff at all!" The Branch Cap questioned, and in passing listed off the deeds Rolf had done in the one day he'd been here -
"You've shown me before what that Rolf Scamander has done ... Borrowing magical creatures to get over walls is something I won't go into, his grandfather did it all the time and it's kind of a variation on utilizing magic, there's nothing controversial about it."
"But after entering Hogwarts, this little wizard went around lying to people, telling lies without a trace ... In the end, he really let him trick a Hufflepuff student dormitory bed, it's really not simple ... "
"You say he cheated a classmate still forget it, the key he still wants to listen to the class in Hogwarts, actually want to fool the professor all over ... Dumbledore, you really think this is a Hufflepuff?"
Dumbledore looked at the House of Divisions hat sitting on top of the stool, a smirk on his face.
"What, your hands are itching to sort the young wizard after months of inactivity?" He asked teasingly.
"Of course I have itchy hands!" The dividing cap yelled out, exasperating a few portraits of the principals who were taking a break and cut it severely, "It's only that one time a year for the dividing ceremony, and I only had time to sing one song, so how can I possibly divide it up enough!"
"Sorting or forget it, always felt there was no need to be so rigid about Rolf, he hasn't even transferred to Hogwarts for school yet!" Dumbledore said smilingly, "And ah, I see Rolf's character, it's not really certain that you'll be assigned to Hufflepuff."
原来您老还知道这个事实啊,那你还放任他待在赫奇帕奇的公共休息室啊,不怕纯朴的小獾被带坏吗 ...
Branch cap heart has ten thousand grooves want to spit, but finally in the way of Dumbledore's face did not say anything.
"In fact, if you ask me, you don't need to care so much about the Branch Hat." Dumbledore waved his hand at the Split Hat, "After all these years, it's always seemed that the habit of splitting up has made the whole school a bit cutthroat."
"What's more, it's also perfectly obvious that Rolf's feelings for Hufflepuff are in no way shallower than anyone else's!"
"And isn't that ... enough?"
Dumbledore had a smile on his face, his bright blue eyes sparkling in the candlelight ...
...
From then on, Rolf was able to dabble in classes at Hogwarts with honor.
Thus, the young second year wizard of Yinfamoni was thoroughly integrated into Hufflepuff's first year team, attending a wide variety of classes that differed greatly from Yinfamoni's.
Rolf was thrilled with the teaching style at Hogwarts and praised the professors for their teaching.
Even the unreliable Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts, which others had been railing against, Rolf felt was unexpectedly good as well.
Assistant Professor Riddle's lecture was quite good, but unfortunately, as the only Black Magic Defense Arts professor Dracula who lasted until the second session without being replaced, Rolf didn't meet him and felt a bit sad.
Rolf had unknowingly fallen in love with the various classes at Hogwarts and felt that the methods of these classes were much better than those of Yinfamoni.
Of course, there were two classes that were exceptions in Rolf's mind--
One class was History of Magic, taught by Professor Binns.
Legend had it that Professor Cuthbert Binns had been a History of Magic professor for many years before he was born, until one day, in his old age, he had stood up to go to class, accidentally left his body in an armchair in front of the fire in the faculty lounge, and then turned into a ghost.
Poor Professor Binns devoted his life, both in life and in death, to the education of the history of magic.
However, as a ghost, Professor Binns was very stubborn and had a hard time connecting with his students. The format of his lectures was unchanging, and he always read from a book. He also huffed and puffed and dragged his words, making it difficult to concentrate and quickly lapsing into a drowsy sleep.
As a result, this class was recognized as one of the most boring classes at Hogwarts.
Rolf justifiably skipped all History of Magic classes.
His name was never in Professor Binns' roll call anyway, and it didn't matter if he took this class or not.
As for the other course, it was Professor Snape's Potions class.
Snape never seemed to be used to Rolf, a student who didn't belong to Hogwarts, always picking on him, and his verbal sarcasm wasn't lacking either.
If it had been the Rolf of old, he might have been exasperated by the nasty professor.
However, today's Rolf didn't even miss a single potions class, and even tended to arrive at the classroom a bit earlier than usual.
He did this for his new friend Luna, a crazy little witch who was unexpectedly very much in tune with his nature, and the two quickly became close friends.
Of course, it was never the variety of classes, the scrumptious food in the auditorium, the rustic castle or the spacious Quidditch pitch that interested Rolf the most ...
What really interested Rolf was never the forbidden forest with its many dangerous magical creatures that were forbidden to students, or the small islands in the center of the Black Lake that housed many magical creatures.
This was what Yin Fa-Moni really didn't have, and the biggest bargaining chip that most attracted future magical zoologists like Rolf!
Rolf spent almost every day dragging his Hufflepuff classmates, who were otherwise still very much in compliance with school rules and regulations, through the Forbidden Forest, around the Lake Island, and hanging out with magical creatures, and had a pretty comfortable time.
Because of this, he also wrote a letter to his grandmother and mother, which meant that he wanted to transfer from Yinfa Magicni to Hogwarts to attend school, and also therefore let Tina think that it was the idea of Newt, an honest man ...
And so, a month or so passed quickly, and Rolf was very happy here, to the point where he could hardly have been happier.
But his happiness until a few days before Christmas came to an abrupt end, and this incident also made Hogwarts experience a different kind of Christmas ...