Professors from a Century Ago

"Sigh, you two."

As Hermione passed by them, she patted them on the shoulder with her book in hand. "Keep a distance from people, thank you. There are first-year students here too, don't lead them astray."

When they separated, you could clearly hear the "pop" sound of the plunger being pulled out.

"Ugh." Ron shook his head politely, "You two are really too—"

He searched for a long time but couldn't find a suitable adjective.

It's really disgusting.

These two seemed completely unaware of the inappropriateness of their behavior. It should be said that when a man and woman fall in love and become inseparable, their IQ drops sharply.

Clearly, neither of them had particularly high IQs to begin with, and after subtracting that from each other, there's not much left of their IQs.

As February turned into March, the weather remained largely unchanged, except for increased humidity and wind. A notice was posted on all the Common Room bulletin boards announcing the cancellation of the trip to Hogsmeade, much to everyone's displeasure, with Ron particularly resentful.

"It's my birthday! I've been looking forward to it!"

"Since I can't go, I'll just stay in the dorm and play on my phone," Neville said nonchalantly. "Look, I recently downloaded a game called 'Fruit Ninja ' from the App Store, it's really fun!"

"Fortunately, besides the boring Apparition Class, there's still my phone to play with." Ron immediately beamed.

Not going to Hogsmeade isn't a big deal; you can still play games on your phone, right?

After three lessons, the Apparition was still difficult, although a few people managed to split themselves into multiple clones.

Draco finally succeeded in Apparition, and Hermione, Neville, and Seamus followed suit.

They were all members of the Dueling Club. Every weekend, after class, Harry would explain the key points to them—he would break them down and knead them into pieces, almost feeding them the knowledge.

Lavender is also making good progress; after all, she's Seamus's girlfriend, and thanks to that, she can also attend Harry's classes with the tutoring program.

However, among most students, frustration was increasing, and there was considerable resentment towards Wicky Twycross and his three Ds, leading to a number of nicknames given to him, the most polite being "Dog Fart" and "Dung Head."

On the night of February 28th, instead of sleeping, they played an online game called "Contra" together until midnight on March 1st.

"Happy birthday, Ron!" Everyone cheered at midnight.

Ron was a little touched. He rubbed his nose and said, "Thank you everyone, thank you."

Fortunately, March 1st was a Saturday, so they didn't need to worry about classes, and Apparition classes were in the afternoon.

However, since Apparition requires concentration, they cannot stay up all night playing the game.

So, after wishing Ron a happy birthday, they all went straight to sleep.

When Harry woke up the next morning, he placed a bag next to Ron's head.

"Have a good life, Ron." He nudged Ron.

"Congratulations to you too," Ron mumbled, still half asleep.

"Great, Harry!" Ron exclaimed excitedly, waving the Quidditch goalkeeper gloves Harry had given him.

"I mean," Harry said somewhat absentmindedly.

Today is the release day of Philosopher's Stone 1, and many people managed to snag a new device. His old classmate Imelda even created a group chat on a messaging app and added them all to it.

Harry is currently checking to see who his old classmates are.

While watching, he was still muttering to himself, "Gareth is such a useless thing, he can't even live to be a hundred."

Ron didn't reply; he was busy unwrapping gifts, occasionally letting out a happy shout.

"This year has been a bumper year!" he announced, holding up a heavy gold watch with peculiar symbols around its edge and hands made of moving little stars. "Look what Mom and Dad gave me! Hey, I'm planning to become an adult again next year—"

"Cool."

Harry glanced at Ron's watch and muttered something dry. He saw many familiar figures in the group, such as Natcha Erne, who was now the Headmaster of Wagadu School of Magic; and Lucan Brightby, who was also alive.

Yes, Astoria Krichte of the Dueling Club and Stan Dagworth of the Dueling Club are also here.

Harry thought for a moment, then typed in the message.

"@All members, welcome to this -- well, group chat, long time no see."

However, there was no reply after the message was sent.

He thought everyone was probably busy, when suddenly he heard Ron ask him in his ear, "Do you want some?"

He looked up and saw the other person holding a box of Chocolate Cauldron, asking vaguely.

"Give me two." Harry held out one.

Ron tossed two large boxes into his arms. "They're pretty good. Chocolate-loving people like me love this stuff. My mom sent them to me."

Harry tore open the packaging, took out a Chocolate Cauldron, and popped it into his mouth.

Mmm--it smells delicious.

"What are your plans for your birthday?" Harry asked while eating, having already closed the group chat.

"I haven't decided yet," Ron said, munching on chocolate. "I was originally planning to go to Hogsmeade with Hermione, but you know— Hogsmeade won't let us go now. We'll just have to take that boring Apparition Class in the Great Hall, and we'll have to worry about Splinching— "

"You won't have any problems with Splinching," Harry said with a smile and a shake of his head. "So, what are you planning to do now?"

"I haven't decided yet," Ron said honestly. "Hermione definitely won't play games with me. You know what kind of person she is; if she could, she'd rather spend her whole life studying."

"That's right." Harry thought for a moment and realized that Ron was right; Hermione really was that kind of person.

He suddenly remembered Hagrid and suggested, "Why don't we go see Hagrid together? It's been a long time since we've seen him. What do you think?"

"Good idea," Ron nodded eagerly.

When they left the dormitory, they found Hermione talking very seriously with a girl in the Common Room.

As they passed by, the girl took advantage of Hermione's distraction, made a face, and ran away.

Hey! Stop right there!

Hermione was furious and demanded that the girl stop, but she had already vanished.

"You two." She turned around with a hostile expression, but softened her tone when she saw Ron: "Ron, happy birthday."

"Same to you, same to you." Ron chuckled. "We're planning to go to Hagrid's for my birthday. What do you think? Are you planning to come?"

"Of course I'll go," Hermione said with a smile, "but—" she hesitated, "Won't it be awkward to see Hagrid now?"

"What's so embarrassing about it?" Harry asked, somewhat puzzled.

"You see," Hermione said, "none of the three of us chose Care of Magical Creatures, and Hagrid is a teaching assistant for that Care of Magical Creatures— "

"Oh, that's fine." Harry shrugged. "Don't worry, we'll go together."

They then called Seamus and Neville, and the five of them walked together toward Hagrid's Hut.

However, when they knocked on the door, they found that Hagrid was not inside.

Left with no other choice, Harry ran to Newt's tent and interrupted Newt, who was nursing a small animal, to ask, "Newt, have you seen Hagrid?"

"He's in the woods," Newt said without looking up, his eyes fixed on the little beast in his arms. "It seems something's happened in Aragog. I was planning to go too, but Hagrid said those Acromantula don't seem to welcome strangers, so I didn't go with them."

"Why don't you give him a call?" Tina said. "It probably isn't anything serious anyway."

"Okay." Harry nodded and dialed Hagrid's number.

When the call connected, Hagrid's irritable voice rang out.

"Hello? Oh, it's Harry. What's up?"

"It's Ron's birthday today," Harry said. "I was planning to celebrate at your cottage—but since you're busy, I guess I'll pass."

"It's nothing too urgent," Hagrid said quickly. "Wait for me at the door, I'll be right back, don't worry!"

Harry hung up the phone, said goodbye to Newt and his wife, and went back to the front of the cottage.

"How is it?" Ron asked eagerly, "Is Hagrid doing well with Professor Scamander?"

"He's in the woods, he'll be back soon," Harry said, patting Ron on the shoulder. "Let's just wait by the door for a bit."

She waited for more than ten minutes, until Hermione felt her feet getting a little cold, before Hagrid finally arrived.

He was wearing a bearskin coat today, and since he was already tall and strong, he looked even more like a brown bear standing upright.

"I went to the woods as soon as I got up!" he said, panting. "Aragog is getting sicker, and I've been reading to him, but it's not a big deal, he can hold on for a while longer—how about it, Ron, happy birthday."

As he spoke, he pulled a strange object from his pocket and handed it to Ron.

"Take it," he said. "This is—I found it in the Forbidden Forest. I don't know what it's for, but consider it your second birthday present."

"Thank you, Hagrid," Ron said sincerely—not just for the second gift, but also because Hagrid had given him a handkerchief made of Unicorn Hair.

This thing is incredibly rare!

"We're planning to have a party here," Ron suggested, then asked, "But how's Arak?"

"It's just natural aging, don't worry, Ron," Hagrid said with a cheerful laugh. "It's lived for decades; aging is a slow process."

With that, Hagrid stepped forward and opened the door to the cabin.

They went into the cabin and sat on the sofa.

Hagrid enthusiastically offered the Rock Cakes, but everyone unanimously asked Hagrid to boil a kettle of water before eating Rock Cakes.

This stuff tastes good, but it's just too hard.

This was certainly a perfect fit for Hagrid's teeth, Half-giant, but it was still a bit too much for these minors.

Even adults might not be able to bite into Rock Cakes.

Think about it, why is it called "rock" crust pancake?

After the water boiled, everyone took out their small bowls and used Charms to cut the Rock Cakes. You could even see sparks flying from the Rock Cakes under Harry's Charms.

"How did you do that?" Ron asked in astonishment.

"Oh, I added some special effects," Harry said with a smile. "You can try it too."

They soaked the cut Rock Cakes in a bowl for a while until they softened before enjoying them.

It tastes really good after being soaked until soft, with a milky aroma and a texture somewhat like a soufflé.

It must be said that Hagrid's craftsmanship is actually quite good.

"Has Madame Maxime contacted you recently?" Harry asked Hagrid curiously.

"Oh, yes." Hagrid's face suddenly turned red. "Olympe asked me the other day if I had any plans to get married, and I think—I really should get married."

"It's time to get married," Harry said. "Look, Sirius is married—"

"Yes, he married that girl who's more than ten years younger than him." At this point, Hagrid sneered, "Damn, that's shameless!"

Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing Hagrid's words.

An old cow grazing on young grass -

That's not unreasonable. After all, he's the Minister for Magic; what's wrong with him dating a younger woman?

She was still the youngest member of the Slytherin Class of '87.

"Oh, right." Hagrid pulled out the Philosopher's Stone 1 tablet, which was about the same size as Harry's cell phone. "Let's exchange contact information—that latest chat app, something like Wizzchat- twister."

"But it's really convenient," Ron said with a smile. "Much more convenient than before. Now we can contact each other anytime, and even send all sorts of pictures and emojis—"

That's true. There are all sorts of news and mini-games inside. Steve is a genius; he crammed everything he could into it, and surprisingly, it's not bulky at all.

Just then, Harry's phone finally rang.

It was Imelda. She said in the group chat, "Sorry, Harry, I just learned how to use this thing—I had to ask a staff member to help me create the group chat before—"

"I'm too old, I can't keep up with the times," she added.

Harry understood. It seemed that the other classmates in the group were probably in the same boat. It wasn't that they didn't want to reply, but that they hadn't seen the message, or that, like Imelda, they weren't yet familiar with using such a trendy gadget as a mobile phone.

Even young wizards need time to learn new things, let alone older wizards.

To Harry's surprise, someone he didn't expect suddenly joined the group chat.

[The eternally young Garrick has joined the group chat]