Professor Quirrell

When Anthony woke up on August 1st, he habitually glanced at the study plan on the wall, and suddenly realized that July had passed. Hogwarts starts in one month.

And he will move to Hogwarts in half a month.

"What are you going to do?" He poked the cat's skull, "If I had money, I would buy a suitcase to hide you."

His cat got up, stretched, and unceremoniously jumped on top of him.

Anthony patted it: "Don't worry, I will find a way. If it doesn't work, I will put fur all over your body."

…

"Good morning, Anthony!" When he went downstairs for breakfast with scratches, Tom was wiping the glass with a dirty rag, "How is your study plan?"

"Not really good. Transfiguration is much harder than I thought, or I'm much dumber than I thought. Choose one of the two."

Compared with the smooth sailing of magic spells, Anthony had some difficulties with the transfiguration. It took him three days of practice just to turn a match into a needle, and this was just the first exercise in the first-grade textbook.

He complained while eating: "Three days, it only takes three days for me to finish learning the elementary magic spells!"

"That's because your talent for magic is too high." Tom chuckled, "Ha, it's a good thing you didn't study at Hogwarts, otherwise He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would definitely notice you."

At Dumbledore's suggestion, Anthony declared that he was born as a Muggle (which was true), and did not enter Hogwarts to study because he was trying to avoid the chaos caused by the mysterious man (irrelevant), and has been living in the Muggle world. . The Ministry of Magic turned a blind eye to this statement, and there was no further movement except for an owl to deliver the teaching license this morning.

"You missed a lot yesterday." Tom lowered his voice and showed off to him, "Guess who is here?"

Antony spread butter on his bread absentmindedly, going over the key points of Transfiguration in his mind: "Who? Lockhart?"

His books are always prominently displayed at Flourish and Blotts. It is said that "Gilderoy Lockhart teaches you how to rid your home of pests" has never fallen out of the top three monthly bestsellers since its publication.

"Harry Potter! I even shook his hand!" Tom whispered, his voice trembling with excitement. "It's so good that he's back... Henry, you didn't see him. Mr. Potter is so humble and so calm too. Everyone wanted to shake his hand, and he agreed to them all. But he wasn't proud at all - not even a bit, I tell you - he just didn't know how to say no, and if it wasn't Hagrid... oh, you didn't meet Hagrid again! Henry, you really missed too much."

Anthony knew who Harry Potter was. The legendary baby who prevented the magic world from overthrowing. His name was solemnly written into all modern and contemporary magic history materials and was inscribed on the headlines.

He was a little surprised: "What is he doing in a bar at this age?"

Tom was very dissatisfied: "What are you thinking? Mr. Harry Potter is going to Hogwarts, and Hagrid took him to Diagon Alley to buy necessary items."

Hagrid was also a regular at the Leaky Cauldron, and Tom and Anthony talked about it several times. It is said that he is tall, always uses the biggest cup he can drink, and never knows how much he drinks.

"There's no barkeeper who doesn't like Hagrid," Tom said at that time. "He always asks for the biggest drink and will refill it. Good guy Hagrid, he is very talkative and good-tempered. He loses money playing cards." Never angry."

Anthony also wanted to meet this big man who Tom said was good-tempered, but he had been busy catching up on his Hogwarts classes and would only go downstairs to the bar at mealtimes to have something to eat - pancakes from the Leaky Cauldron. It's a unique sight - and Hagrid has never been here during this time. Even on the nights when Anthony decided to relax, ask Tom for a few more drinks, and spend his time listening to the guests chatting, boasting, and joking with each other, he never encountered Hagrid.

It doesn't matter, you can always see him at school.

After finishing the bread in a few mouthfuls, he went back to his room and planned to continue practicing. He's going to turn that damn toothbrush into a chair today!

When Anthony went to the bathroom to get a toothbrush, the mirror on the wall said sadly: "What a surprise, honey, you look worse than you did just now."

"You may not believe it." He shook his toothbrush and ignored the mirror's criticism of his rude remarks. "I'm going to practice, and no one can interrupt me today."

…

His unchangeable study plan was disrupted by his cat.

The Skeleton Cat can no longer be called a skeleton, it is now a ginger-fluffy kitten.

This matter starts from last week.

That day, a guy who had made a fortune claimed that he would be paying for all the drinks at the bar tonight, so Anthony drank a few more glasses - or a few barrels, it didn't matter - and while he was half drunk, he felt that the man beside him The wizard, who was tightly covered by the hood, was particularly approachable and bought the "elixir of life" provided by the other party.

"Twenty Galleons, my friend, you won't find a better deal." The other party said sweetly, "Genuine elixir of life, made through 'that' magic stone, you know what I mean. … This is what Nicolas Flame drinks, and my cousin has something to do with his wife's apprentice…"

The next day Anthony sobered up and showed Tom the large glass bottle.

"Hair growth potion." Tom smelled it. "It smells like black magic. It must be a bad product from Knockturn Alley. I don't know what was added to it."

Anthony was a little surprised. He thought that he bought tap water.

His cat liked the glass bottle very much and would pick at the bottle when he wasn't paying attention. Just now, Anthony heard a crisp sound in the bathroom, and when he came out, he saw shiny broken glass shards on the floor and a wet ginger cat rolling in the potion.

"Meow," said the cat. It turned over and sat up obediently, looking at him pitifully with its yellow eyes. Three minutes ago, there were still two balls of beating soul fire in those eyes.

Anthony looked at it for a while and sighed.

"Forget it, it's not a bad thing." He said, picking up the cat and smelling it. "You need a bath, kitty."

I don't know what was added to the bottle of hair growth potion. After bathing the cat, Anthony's hands became extremely large, and his nails and hand hair were also extremely long. He tried cutting his own nails with a cutting charm, but gave up because his left hand was too clumsy.

"Is this the latest fashion?" the mirror commented, "I like the hair on your hands, they are thick and long."

"Thank you, you made me feel better," Anthony said, deciding to go downstairs and let Tom take a look. The owner of the Leaky Cauldron always knows a lot of quirky tricks.

He held his hands and sat at the bar. Tom didn't even raise his head: "What do you want?"

"Let me show you something," Anthony said.

"Huh?" Tom finally looked away from the account book and looked at him.

"A pair of big hands."

…

There were no customers in the Leaky Cauldron at noon. There were only Tom and a few regulars he knew. Anthony didn't tell them exactly what went wrong, only that something went wrong during his practice session. They laughed at him for a long time, then gathered around to study his funny hands.

"The size is as big as Hagrid's," one person said. "If it doesn't hurt, there's nothing wrong with keeping it."

"Go to St. Mungo's,.For a dozen galleons, they can cure it in no time."

Anthony said slowly: "If you still remember that I bought a bottle of twenty galleons of elixir..."

Everyone burst into laughter again. "He has no money!" Tom shouted, slamming the table. "Poor Anthony, he has no money and no health insurance, but he has a bottle of elixir!"

"And big hairy hands!"

"And sharp nails!"

They made such a fuss ("Bring Hagrid's cup, Henry, I'll buy you a drink!"). A guest who had just pushed open the pub door trembled, seeming hesitant to approach the bar counter.

Tom greeted: "Professor Quirrell, would you like something to drink? Oh, your new turban and robe are the perfect color."

"What are you doing?" The person came to the bar and asked stammeringly.

His head was wrapped in a large purple scarf, sweat seeping from the scarf. Even though the weather was getting cooler, Anthony still felt like he was overdressed. But wizards probably don't mind this.

Tom pointed at Anthony's hand: "Come and take a look at this, Professor. If you solve it, I'll give you a drink today."

Quirrell looked pale and slowly approached Anthony's hand. His body shook violently and he held on to his scarf as if he was experiencing great pain.

"Hair growth potion, yes, yes." His voice was so low that he seemed to be talking to himself, "Added troll blood and ginger root to replace the rat tail."

Tom stared closely at Anthony's hand with him: "Do you have a solution? Speaking of which, Anthony will be your colleague soon."

"Are you also a professor at Hogwarts?" Quirrell raised his head, "Which subject do you teach?"

Anthony felt a little uncomfortable looking at him. Compared to Professor Quirrell, who could see at a glance what was wrong with the potion he touched, his own knowledge was really not good enough. If all the professors at Hogwarts were of this caliber, his title of professor would be too undeserved.

Thinking of his future colleagues being so talented, Anthony silently revised his study plan in his mind, trying to make up for everything he could before the start of school.

"Muggle Studies for third and fourth years," he said. "Anthony, nice to meet you, Professor Quirrell. What subject do you teach?"

Quirrell moved uncomfortably and said vaguely: "Dark-Dark Magic Defense, I have also taught M-Muggle Studies before. M-Muggles are very interesting, right?" He stirred Pointing his fingers, he smiled nervously at Anthony's hand, "Soak it in the secretions of the wildflowers and the juice of the locust for half an hour."

"Thank you very much, Professor Quirrell. There seems to be a pharmacy in Diagon Alley. I'll go there right away." Anthony said, "Tom, I'll buy Professor Quirrell two more drinks."

"You don't have to go, they are very common, I have them here." Tom said, "Twenty-seven Nats, you can just take them upstairs and soak them."

As Anthony was leaving, he heard Quirrell say weakly to Tom: "White—brandy."

…

For the next half hour, Anthony's bathroom was filled with a strange smell.

He frowned and soaked his hands in the sink, with a "Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration" held by a skeleton in front of him. Two spare chicken leg bones diligently turned the page for him. At this time, hands-free undead magic is particularly useful.

"You look in pain, dear," the mirror said caringly. "Why don't you sit down?"

"I'm learning how to conjure a chair," Anthony replied.