Chapter 52 Teacher and student

While Filch, as well as most of the students in the great hall, had their attention drawn to Justin, who suddenly said he was physically ill, Jon gently pushed the door open and left the room.

The long corridor was empty and spookily quiet like a narrow walkway in a haunted house.

The sound of Jon's shoes hitting the floor was clear, and he didn't deliberately try to hide the sound of his footsteps, as he walked quickly toward a door.

He pushed open the door of the room with the storage room door sign and entered the empty, cubicle that served as a divider between the other rooms.

It was also quiet here, and the swaying from the wagon's extreme speed made the light flicker and barely illuminate the space.

After arriving here, Jon's pace slowed down significantly, he drew his wand without saying a word, staring at the door of the room that had been opened by Ron during the first week of school and got punished for opening the door without any sign.

Taking a deep breath, Jon pushed the door open with little force.

A boy was standing in the nearly empty room.

The boy had the same dark hair as Jon, the same height, the same body build, and the same ... face!

In addition to the different clothes he was wearing, the boy, who looked exactly the same as Jon, also heard the movement at the door and turned to look at Jon.

On the floor nearby the other "Jon", there was a cellar-like entrance that was opened.

Jon looked at "Jon", who was frozen from surprise, and the room went quiet.

After a short while, Jon, who was standing in front of the door, clutching his wand in his hand, asked in a voice that couldn't help but tremble with sorrow.

"Why? Teacher."

The "Jon" standing opposite to him did not make a sound, just smiled at him.

A rustling sound was heard from the entrance of the cellar at his feet, and then Beech suddenly came out of it!

He jumped to "Jon's" shoulder with a bright red stone in his two little paws, and then asked for praise as he handed the stone to "Jon".

"I wanted to leave a good impression on you at the end, Jon."

The old, all-too-familiar voice spoke up to Jon.

"If you didn't call out my identity, I would have used your face to take this magic stone away, then Horace Slughorn would have died in the battle that is happening outside, and the infiltrator who concealed his identity would have disappeared from this wagon as well."

Jon's body and face were being reshaped like kneaded Play-Doh, he went from skinny to tall and fat, from young to old.

The gray robe that was worn on his body, as well as the worn leather boots under his feet, were obviously enchanted in advance and became loose and appropriate along with his changes.

The Slughorn, who had taken the initiative to undo the effects of the polyjuice potion, still had a smile on his face, holding that 'magic stone' in one hand and his wand in the other, as if he was pleased with the success of his ploy.

"This matter has nothing to do with you from the beginning to the end, Jon. Even if someone found out about me pretending to be you, no suspicion would fall on you, everyone knows it's just a mask used for disguise, even if you're talented, a first-year kid couldn't have done this."

Looking at the smiling face, Jon's hand that held the wand became vaguely white at the knuckles because of too much force.

Once again he asked the question, only this time the sad tone in his voice had become calmer.

"Can you tell me why? Why did you betray Hogwarts? Teacher."

Slughorn, as if he was not in a hurry to leave the wagon immediately after completing his task, looked at Jon and said with interest.

"How about we make an exchange, how about it? You tell me exactly how you found me, and I'll tell you what you want to know."

Jon knew exactly what he needed to do now.

There is absolutely no way he can be a match for Slughorn, and as long as the fat walrus wants to leave, no one existing on this wagon can stop him.

He needs to stall for time, the longer, the better, as long as he can stall until Dumbledore and the rest of them come back, then Slughorn can not leave!

As for his own safety ... Jon is very clear that Slughorn even if he is undercover, he most likely will not hurt him.

Otherwise, he simply would not have bothered to teach him so much about the ring casting at the beginning, and would not have waited until now without doing anything.

"I never even considered you in the first place, teacher."

Jon spoke slowly, his eyes locked with Slughorn's, and even now he actually couldn't believe that all his suspicions turned out to be true, that the person who brought forth three attacks and finally stole philosopher's stone would be the old man in front of him!

"On Christmas night, I saw you walking through the corridor, at that time I really thought that the intruder lurking in the wagon might be a goblin or house elf. It wasn't until the Christmas holiday passed that, by chance, I learned from Filch about the night of the first attack in the second week of school, he was locked in his office by who knows who and waited until late to be brought back to the great hall by you from inside."

"He suspected that the person who locked the door with magic was you, but he just assumed that you did that because of his squib identity and deliberately tried to embarrass him by scaring him. But I remember very clearly that you went out that night from the great hall for a long time, regardless of whether it was you who locked up Filch; where did you go and what did you do during the time that you left the great hall just lingered in my mind without going away."

The expression on Slughorn's face remained unchanged as he chuckled.

"And just because of that you suspect me?"

"I didn't suspect you because of this matter, teacher." Jon looked at him calmly, "You are my teacher and I have a lot of trust in you, even if you acted suspiciously that night, it still can't shake my trust in you. But when I went to your office to tell you that I had made significant progress on the levitation charm, I spotted what potion you have made."

"You put a dried shredded snake skin into it, and later told me that the ingredients used in the potion had Runespoor skin as an auxiliary, but I knew that snake skin, it was not Runespoor snake at all, but the skin of the Boomslang snake!"

When he said this, Jon could not help but raise his voice.

"I have read many books in the library, especially after Professor McGonagall gave me permission to borrow forbidden books, in a book called "Powerful Potions" in the restricted book section, I have seen the introduction of the use of Boomslang skin! It has only one discovered pharmaceutical use so far, and that is to make a polyjuice potion! A kind of potion used for human transfiguration!"

"I've caught you lying to me, teacher. If you had just told me you were making a polyjuice potion, I wouldn't have bothered to doubt your purpose for making such a potion, but you told me it was a cauldron of nourishing elixir for your body!"

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