Chapter 175: Life and Death (Edited)

However, the furious Filch restrained his temper when he saw Tom, he didn't shout the bad words in his throat, he bowed to Tom stiffly, "Professor Lockhart..."

"Don't be so angry." said Tom gently, but, of course, he was not the kind of man to stand around talking at other people's expense. He could understand Filch's situation: it was annoying to have an area he'd cleaned get dirty again, and the fact that Filch was a Squib meant he had to spend half a day cleaning up a problem that a wizard could solve with a wave of his wand. Put into perspective, some of Filch's behavior was understandable.

Tom pulled out his wand.

"Teeroo!"

This spell was a new and improved version of the Cleansing Spell, perfect for a situation like Harry's where he was covered in mud, and was one of the few useful little spells he had learned.

Harry's body seemed to have encountered a whirlwind, his entire suit bulged, and the whirlwind swept the mud off Harry's body. Filch, who stood on the sidelines, looked envious.

Tom was the first to dispose of Harry as a source of contamination, and then followed the path Harry had come, the two men and the ghost following in his footsteps, watching him cast a spell as he went.

"Tegeo!"

It took a dozen cleaning spells along the way before Tom cleaned up the mud and water stains Harry had left between the second floor corridor and the door to the Great Dining Hall. By the time he was done, Tom had some anger in his stomach. He turned to Harry and said, "Five points off for Gryffindor for not respecting other people's work, you should think about who usually cleans the castle, Hogwarts doesn't have a Muggle schoolboy, does it?"

Harry bowed his head silently in agreement, Filch to the side was red with excitement at seeing a student punished by a professor, and he could barely breathe.

Tom pulled a glass vial from his robes and handed it to Filch, "This is an energy potion, remember to dilute it before you take it, one drop at a time" Tom slipped the glass vial into his hand, "Get some rest if you have a cold, Madam Pomfrey also has special cold remedies, go to her soon, you can't put off a cold"

"Professor..." Filch's hand trembled slightly.

"Alright, it's getting late, go back and rest quickly."

Filch said nothing more, bowed to Tom and left, not mentioning the additional punishment for Harry.

As Filch left, Tom looked at Harry, who was obviously in a bad mood, and said, "I know you're in a bad mood right now, is it because of the Slytherin team?"

Harry looked up in surprise, "Professor, how do you know-?".

"Donating seven high-end brooms at once is a big deal, I've heard of it." Tom held out his hands to prove he wasn't deaf.

It had to be said that Lucius was coddling Draco. When the younger Malfoy wanted to join the quidditch team, Lucius supported his son in an outrageous way: he chose to give all the teammates a 2001 Nimbus and then send his son. It's almost as if his son wanted to make the House playing team, and his father gifted each team member a high-end computer, just to get a spot on the bench.

What was Lucius trying to do,?could the heir to the family increase his influence by joining the Slytherin team? The Malfoy family does not lack this honor, it is just to make their son happy.

Draco Malfoy was good enough to become a member of the main Slytherin team. Marcus probably just wanted to take him at first to sit on the bench as a water cooler watcher, but he didn't expect the newcomer to be any good. The fact that Malfoy was able to play with the senior team in his second year means he's a very good player. A 2001 Nimbus may buy you a spot on the bench, but it doesn't give you playing skills, and Marcus wouldn't dare do such a thing. If he took his team members out of the game for brooms, Marcus wouldn't have any free time for the rest of the term: he'd spend it in Professor Snape's dungeon.

Malfoy followed the standard Lord of Wealth script, only to run into Harry Potter, the son of luck.

And judging by Draco Malfoy's reactions, the boy really is a spoiled brat. The way he behaves is largely the result of parental influence. Lucius discriminated against Muggles and hated the Weasleys, and he followed suit, despising the Weasleys and saying nasty things to Hermione ...

But he has a good relationship with his father, and his first response to a problem is to make a "call to Dad," and he is happy to talk to his father.

"Seven Nimbus 2001, that's a tough opponent, isn't it?"

Tom's words expressed Harry's sincere thoughts: all members of the Slytherin team are equipped with the most advanced brooms of the generation, how could they win in this way?

Tom's words spoke to Harry's mind: how could the Slytherin team fight when they were all equipped with advanced brooms that were almost generational?

"Hey, Potter, I'll give you the figures for the two Muggle armies, so you can judge the winner," Tom said suddenly on an unrelated topic, "There are 4.3 million troops on side A, including 2 million ground forces, 360,000 special forces, 160,000 air forces, 30,000 naval forces, and a total of 1.01 million military authorities. There are also 740,000 irregulars and highly advanced weaponry. With only 610,000 field troops and 660,000 local troops on the second side, with average weaponry, how many years do you think the battle will last?"

Harry: "Er... About a year?"

"It was fought for three years."

"Was that a tactical error on A's part? I can't believe they let the other side last that long..."

"It took side B three years to finish off side A."

Harry: "!!!!"

"How can that be!" He exclaimed, It's too outrageous!

"It's a historical fact, So you still think Slytherin is invincible?"

Harry was silent: This way, Slytherin isn't so invincible.

"Think about it, what's your biggest advantage?" Tom patted Harry's shoulder, and Nick encouraged, "Gryffindor House will never give up on Slytherin!"

"So bad is the relationship between Gryffindor and Slytherin in the fifteenth century!" Tom almost burst out laughing.

"Of course! We've had a difficult relationship ever since Slytherin was defeated by Gryffindor." Nick wrapped his arms around him, looking very smug, "You guys are so chivalrous now, back in my day, there was a duel between Gryffindor and Slytherin students every few days, those were the days..."

Tom looked at Nick, a question churning in his mind. Nick read his expression, "Professor Lockhart, if you have any questions, just ask me, and I'll be sure to tell you everything."

Like the Hogwarts ghost, Nick was still very enthusiastic, and like the fat Hufflepuff friar, he was happy to answer questions from the young wizards, the young wizards ranged from Dumbledore to the first years, all of whom were young men full of vitality in his eyes.

"Well, here's the thing...," Tom stammered, as he found the subject more difficult than he thought it would be, but so tantalizing was the knowledge that it touched the realm of the gods.

"Well, anyway..."

"You want to ask me how I can be dead and still exist in the world of the living, don't you?" Nick asked that question for him, "I don't know how many wizards have asked me that question over the last five hundred years, many of them with exactly the same reaction as you."

The long years had brought Nick to a realization, and he sighed, looking out into the empty auditorium.

"I'm dead, but I can still walk, I'm not stuck at Hogwarts, I can also talk and think. Yes, I came back from 'over there', and left my mark on the world, so I can die and walk helplessly where I once lived and walked."

"Over there?" Tom caught a particular word, and Harry listened with interest to the conversation between the two, a subject that also interested him greatly.

"Not everyone can come back as a ghost, only wizards can." Nick added, "Neither can everyone, very few wizards choose this path, and they will all fall."

Harry was already a little confused, he couldn't understand what Nick meant by "Alli" and "go down". But Tom had gotten the general idea of what Nick meant.

Nick said quietly, "I'm afraid of death, that's why I've ended up like this, neither here nor there, and sometimes I think if I should do it, but I can't find the courage. Well, gentlemen, I don't know the secret of death, but I'm sure it's being studied by the scholars in the Department of Mysteries."

Tom thanked Nick.

"There's nothing to thank, you'll get through this too." Nick leaned slightly towards them, his expression suddenly wavered, he looked as if he was complicated as well.

"Are we playing a turn-based game, where you sing and I play? Say what you want, I think we can talk about anything right now." Tom couldn't help but groan.

"A turn-based game...?"

"That's not important."

"Well then, actually I'd like to ask you both, it's my 500th birthday tomorrow on Halloween, that might be too much to ask, maybe you don't want to..."

"To attend your anniversary party?"

"Ah, yes!" Nick nodded enthusiastically, then said with some anxiety, "I have chosen a large subway classroom and invited friends from all over the country, it would be a great honor for me if you could attend, and your friends would be the most honored guests at the party, but I have a feeling you would rather attend the school Halloween dinner, wouldn't you? After all, the world of the living and the world of the dead are far apart..."