The Teacher Who Wouldn't Go Away

Sunlight spilled down, warming his face.

A gentle breeze stirred the gauze curtains, lifting them before letting them fall again.

It was a beautiful morning.

Since coming to this world, Anton had never slept so comfortably.

Back when he had been a Dark Wizard's Apprentice, that old man never needed much sleep. Sometimes, at the first hint of dawn, he would storm into the room and shove open the door.

Then he would roar, "What are you sleeping for? You'll have plenty of time to sleep after you're dead!"

If Anton still dared to lie in bed then, he would get hit with a nasty curse. It was nowhere near as outrageous as the Cruciatus Curse, but it guaranteed pain that ordinary people could scarcely endure.

But now...

Anton rolled over, letting the sun shine on his butt as he comfortably prepared to go back to sleep.

Wonderful.

"What are you sleeping for? You'll have plenty of time to sleep after you're dead!"

A furious roar exploded beside his ear!

Anton sprang from the bed in a scrambling panic. "Teacher, I was wrong, I'll never—"

Suddenly, his expression froze as he stared blankly at the Old Wizard.

Pale as if faded, with a translucent body, he floated right before him.

"Fuck your great-aunt..." Anton was utterly stunned.

The Old Wizard seemed unable to believe what he had heard. "You dare curse at me!"

He lunged forward, teeth bared and claws out, passing straight through Anton's body.

A wave of icy cold swept over him. Anton shuddered as though he had eaten an entire refrigerator's worth of ice cream.

The Old Wizard continued cursing furiously. "You stupid idiot!..."

Anton swallowed. He dearly wished the Old Wizard had not died, so he could go to the kitchen, grab a cleaver, and kill the bastard all over again.

At last, he had gained an entirely new understanding of ghosts.

They could not be harmed or touched, could ignore walls, and could not be attacked. This thing was basically using an invincibility cheat!

Fuck!

The wooden door creaked softly. Old Tom had come to deliver breakfast.

This kindly old man was always afraid of waking Anton. He would carefully lift the wooden door as he opened it so it would not squeak. Then he would place steaming milk and bread on the little round table. He could always calculate when Anton would wake up, and by then, the milk would be at just the right temperature to drink.

Then Old Tom saw the Old Wizard and stared in surprise.

"First a Werewolf, now a ghost!" Old Tom's jaw dropped, exposing his toothless gums. "No wonder you aren't afraid to go out at night. You've got them all around you."

"..."

What could Anton say? He could only offer a smile that was not too awkward.

Old Tom left, but the Old Wizard did not.

He chattered curses beside Anton while he brushed his teeth, glared at him while he used the toilet, and still stood nearby while he drank milk and ate bread.

Anton felt that he was definitely going to go mad.

He sighed and silently looked at the Old Wizard. "Maybe you could start a new life of your own."

The Old Wizard stared. "A new life?"

There was a chance!

This guy could communicate!

"Yes!" Anton instantly perked up. "Think about it. You used to hide like a sewer rat, always walking through shadowy corners. You didn't dare talk to people because you were afraid they would harm you."

He gestured wildly as he spoke. "You built a high wall inside your heart, cutting yourself off from the world. When you were alive, no one remembered you, no one knew you. You barely even counted as living."

"People feared you, and you feared them."

"But now..." Anton's tone became impassioned, and his whole body seemed to blaze with fervor. "Though you're dead, you've instead gained the right to truly live!"

"You can walk down the streets as you please." Anton pointed at the bustling traffic outside the window.

"Walk right down the middle, through the crowds, with your head held high, your chest out, utterly fearless as you move forward."

"There is nothing left in this world for you to fear. You can visit any sights that you could never reach before."

Anton's eyes grew dreamy, his arms spreading wide as if he were embracing the entire world.

"You can greet the rising sun atop towering mountains. You can stand beside clear rivers and watch sunlight shimmer across the rippling water. You can sit freely in the best viewing spot at a noisy Quidditch match."

"You..."

"I..." The Old Wizard seemed to be moved by such beauty as well, a longing smile appearing on his face.

He floated straight outside, passing through the wall of the inn and vanishing from sight.

"Hehe, done." Anton happily continued gnawing on his bread. "Let someone else see ghosts."

After breakfast, Anton curled back up in bed and pulled out the three books he had bought.

The first was Standard Spells, Beginner, which gave detailed introductions to all sorts of basic spells.

Softening Charm, Cutting Charm, Unlocking Charm, Levitation Charm, Locking Charm, Repair Charm, Repelling Charm, Wand-Lighting Charm, Fire-Starting Charm...

Every one of them was incredibly useful. Take the Unlocking Charm, for instance. As long as a lock was not protected by advanced magic, one spell could open it with ease.

Once he learned it, Anton could even swagger into a Muggle bank, rob it clean, and happily live at the peak of his life.

Of course, that was if the Aurors did not catch him.

Then there was the Levitation Charm. Its effect was practically unbeatable. With a wave of the wand, even the heaviest object could float lightly in midair.

And this

was merely first-year Young Wizard material!

The only problem was that the textbook had incantations and explanations, but no instructions on the wand movements for casting spells, no introduction to the tone needed for incantations, and no explanation of what emotions were required to cast a spell.

The three essential elements of spellcasting the Old Wizard had mentioned were almost entirely absent!

After spending the whole morning reading the entire book, Anton felt lost. It was as if he had understood a great deal, yet also learned nothing at all.

What a waste of time.

This thing was like an article in a scientific journal explaining a problem while leaving out all the crucial data.

Other than giving him a slight understanding, it was completely useless!

Anton's anticipation for studying at Hogwarts grew even stronger.

The other two books he had bought, Magical Theory, truly contained nothing but theory—page after page of grand principles, without a single sentence about spells.

Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection was even more ridiculous. Anton felt that if he wrote down his experiences from the past two months, they would be more useful than what was in that book.

Fuck!

Four Galleons wasted.

He angrily wanted to throw all three books into the trash, but after hesitating, he could only put them back in his bag. After all, he had paid for them, and if he could attend Hogwarts in the future, they were mandatory textbooks.

In the end, he could only take out The Apprenticeship Journey of the Great Alex Fiennes from his shoulder bag.

Though it was full of dangerous Dark Magic, at least the Old Wizard had conscientiously written down every key detail.

He opened to the first page and began reading with great interest.

Besides records of various spells, the book also included the Old Wizard's life experiences.

That was also extremely valuable knowledge.

"Haha." Anton could not help laughing when he saw the Old Wizard secretly cursing his own Teacher between the lines. "So you went through this kind of shitty experience too."

The Old Wizard's Teacher had been a Dark Wizard just as vile as he was.

Anton really knew how to empathize.

"You idiot, you're actually reading my diary!" Just as Anton was absorbed in the book, a furious roar suddenly sounded beside his ear.

He turned around in astonishment and saw the Old Wizard's twisted, rage-filled face right in front of him.

"How dare you!" The Old Wizard roared as he lunged at him.

Another bone-chilling wave of cold.

Anton shuddered, staring blankly at the Old Wizard as he muttered, "Didn't you leave? Oh, God!"