A Shocked Slughorn

As for Horace Slughorn, the fat old man Anne mentioned, she wouldn't exactly hate him, but she certainly couldn't bring herself to like him.

When he first came, as a matter of courtesy, Anne refrained from going on adventures with Luna and Ginny, and patiently spent the afternoon chatting with the old professor.

Once or twice is fine, but if they come to chat every day, who can resist that?

When the brother and Hermione saw him coming, they immediately Apparition and disappeared, leaving her to take the blame.

Anne was thoroughly annoyed!

If Huosila were as interesting as Dumbledore, Anne would be happy to chat with him. The headmaster often used the Two-Way Mirror to talk to her for an entire afternoon.

Even though he was in Venice, he seemed very busy.

But this fat old man, who had been retired for many years, was quite boring. He liked to ramble on and on, and he always asked about his brother and Hermione.

First, inquire about the relationship between the two.

What's their relationship...? Do I even need to ask? They're inseparable every day, she can't even get a word in edgewise.

Even a fool could see that!

Anne was kind-hearted and didn't tell Uncle Iris, otherwise her brother's legs would have been broken into several pieces long ago.

Of course, Uncle Iris probably knew, but he was powerless to stop his daughter from marrying someone else. He could only pretend not to know and barely manage to make ends meet.

After asking about their relationship, Horace began to probe into their secrets.

Seeing that Anne claimed to know nothing, he then brought up the celebrities he had known over the years.

Anne yawned, but had to listen patiently. Occasionally, she would give a perfunctory reply, and Horace would invite her to a party.

Anne didn't want to participate; she wanted to use Polyjuice Potion to transform into someone else and then secretly follow Hermione to gamble on the game.

So exciting!

She also met Professor McGonagall and Professor Trelawney. The three of them could even exchange some betting tips on football.

Although Trelawney mostly talks nonsense.

The fat old man came again today, and even threatened that if he didn't see William and Hermione, he would smash his head against the tent door and die.

Oh ho, trying to scam me? Do you think I, Anne, am afraid of your threats?!

Hehe~

She immediately told Luna and Ginny to keep a close eye on the fat old man, and then went to find her brother.

Sure enough, it's not that old people have become bad, but that bad people have grown old.

"Okay, don't be angry. You can get your money's worth tonight. The professor has lots of good food."

You can take any leftovers home.

As they walked, William patted the little girl's head.

"Next time! Don't use me as a shield again!" Anne shook her head fiercely.

"Okay," William said casually with a smile. "I'll definitely do it next time."

Seeing her brother's incredibly perfunctory attitude, Anne glanced at Hermione, then suddenly tugged at William's sleeve and said softly:

"Brother, did Phoebe say when they're coming? I miss her so much."

Do you want to?

William was about to answer when he felt a dark force approaching, like Sadako gently caressing his chest, chilling him to the bone.

Clearly, Anne was deliberately setting a trap for him!

William reacted so quickly, his brain's CPU processor was overloaded, he swallowed his original words in an instant, and hurriedly shook his head and said:

"I don't know when she's coming."

As for the question of whether I want to or not, I won't answer it at all. Because no matter what I say, it will be wrong.

"You don't know?" He squinted and glanced at him sideways.

"Yeah, how could you not know?" Anne clung to Hermione's arm, echoing her sentiment.

"Aren't you and Phoebe best friends? You often write letters and even have Sound Transmission Conch. Didn't you give her one for Christmas before?"

I also heard from Gabrielle that you even sent her to Hogwarts, saying you'd waive her tuition, and cover her room and board...

Anne fanned the flames, looking like she was enjoying the drama.

That brat!

William looked at the girl with her head tilted to the side, both amused and exasperated, and gently tapped her forehead with his finger.

Anne quickly hid behind Hermione, peeked out, and made a face at him.

I'll make sure next time!

Hermione's eyes narrowed mischievously, she pursed her lips, and gave a soft snort. She was giving William face now; she'd teach him a lesson when they got home tonight.

William rubbed his temples, feeling a bit of a headache.

The two of them definitely won't be coming for the time being, because Beauxbatons school is organizing a group to watch the game.

However, Maxime is still in Venice and will have to wait a while.

Why did Phoebe have to come with her of all people?

Anyway, William didn't see Madame Maxime during the last trip to Venice; he deliberately avoided her.

There was no way around it; her punch came crashing down with tremendous force... William's small frame couldn't withstand Maxime.

It's estimated that only Hagrid could withstand it.

But Hagrid was stubborn; William had introduced him to Madame Maxime last semester.

He looked disdainful, indicating that he wasn't interested in the woman.

He preferred to breed animals, such as the Manticore and the Fire Crab.

I wonder how the breeding is going now.

What a terrible thing! Two perfectly good species, and he just had to do all sorts of hybridization.

Unexpectedly, Hagrid is the Montesquieu of the Wizarding World, tinkering with hybridization issues.

Professor Slughorn's tent had a strange shape; it looked like a giant slug.

William had seen it many times, because his tent was not far from Crouch's.

After the group entered the tent, the interior became even more luxurious.

The ceiling and curtains were draped with emerald green, deep red, and gold draperies. The room was crowded and stuffy, with a golden lamp hanging in the center casting a reddish glow.

House-elf House-elf inside the lamp, each one a bright point of light.

From a distant corner came a loud song that sounded like it was accompanied by a mandolin; several old male wizards, engrossed in conversation, had the smoke from their pipes swirling around their heads.

Some House-elf squeaked and crawled through the jungle at their calves, carrying heavy silver platters.

"William, Hermione... oh, and of course, lovely Anne, my dear children!"

As soon as they squeezed through the door, Slughorn shouted in a booming voice:

"Come here quickly, so many people want to meet you! You're the stars of the night."

Slughorn approached with a group of people, wearing a velvet hat with tassels and a white smoking shirt.

"Now," Slughorn said, launching the conversation like a presenter introducing a major star.

"William Stark, Hermione Granger... the finest wizards we've had in years."

Slughorn, his face flushed with excitement, exclaimed:

"Oh, you two should have brought medals with you, your clothes should be covered with medals from various countries."

We haven't even seen the France Medal of Valor or the Italy Order of Magic yet...

The crowd whispered among themselves.

"William, I'd like you to meet Damocles, my former student who invented the Wolfsbane Potion."

I've heard you're very good at Potions; you'll probably like him.

Slughorn began helping William expand his network, which was also a way of demonstrating his own power.

"A very good wizard, truly excellent," Slughorn exclaimed. "His Order of Merlin is absolutely well-deserved."

A strange-smelling, unkempt wizard walked over. For a moment, William thought he saw Professor Snape.

As expected, Potions Master are like this... carefree and unconventional?

"Mr. Stark, it's been a long time," said Damocles.

"Hello, Mr. Marcus." William smiled.

Damocles was the uncle of William's roommate Marcus, but he had a strained relationship with Marcus's father, and the two families rarely interacted.

"Oh, you know each other? Of course, you received the Order of Merlin in the same year, of course you know each other." Slughorn was somewhat disappointed.

"Yes, I even wrote to Mr. Stark."

His paper published in the Potions Weekly, specifically the part about processing the silk of the Acromantula spider, was brilliant and very inspiring to me.

By the way, do you have Acromantula venom in your shop? I heard you have a lot, and I urgently need it...

"Of course!" William tilted his head and gestured to Cho and Cedric.

Cedric waved his wand, and a quill immediately floated out of his pocket and landed on the sketch paper.

Qiu asked, "How much do you need? Our store's courier can deliver it to your door within half an hour."

"Oh, that's wonderful, so fast!" Damocles exclaimed in surprise.

The group walked towards a corner and began discussing the ordering of Potions ingredients.

Slughorn stared in disbelief; he opened his mouth, but couldn't get a word in edgewise.

"Professor?" William reminded him.

"Oh, and this one..." Slughorn continued, "William, this is my dear Gwenog..."

"Gwenog Jones, captain of the Holyhead Harpies, quite famous, isn't he?" William extended his hand.

"Hey William, long time no see. Really not considering joining our club after graduation?"

Jones patted him on the shoulder, his tone familiar.

"We'll see, it's still early." William shook his head.

"Okay, but that move you made last time, our team's Chaser tried for a long time but failed. You'll have to come and give him some pointers yourself."

"That's easy." William blinked.

"You know each other too?" Slughorn asked in surprise.

"Yes, Professor, didn't you know? William is also a genius in Quidditch."

"He led Ravenclaw to Quidditch Cup victories multiple times," Jones said.

Soon, the twins and Gwenog Jones found a secluded corner and began discussing Beater techniques.

Surrounded by admirers, William introduced some wizards to his friends and chatted amiably with many Ministry of Magic officials.

Slughorn's smile seemed somewhat forced.

This was his most prized network of connections, which he was ready to showcase to keep William and Hermione, those two hawks, hooked.

But I didn't expect that their network of connections was so extensive.

What's most infuriating is that he's still expanding his business; in just a short time, he's already secured several big deals.

Slughorn's vision went black; he felt his blood pressure rising.

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