A Professor of Magic at Hogwarts

Chapter 140: The Wind

Chapter 140: The Wind

Felix Harp returned to his office. The night had grown deep, and the windows rattled with the sound of the wind.

Sitting in his chair, Felix's gaze slid across a corner of the desk, where a stack of photographs rested.

Felix casually picked up a photograph, leaning back in his chair as he gazed quietly. Among the seven images, most were solo shots of Helena. She always smiled quietly, though from different angles.

Only in the photo of them together did she show a humorous expression in response to something he had said. She covered her mouth with her hand in the picture.

Felix's fingers brushed over the photo, causing her hair to turn a deep wine-red. He then slipped the photo into a ring.

"May your journey be smooth, Helena."

...

The next morning, a strong wind swept through Hogwarts. Felix was awoken early, dressed in his pajamas as he stepped out of his bedroom. The office was dimly lit, and outside was pitch black.

The windows groaned under the assault of the fierce wind.

Felix snapped his fingers, and the windows seemed to transform into a solid structure, reducing the noise considerably. However, he couldn't do much about the sound of the raging wind hitting the castle walls.

Through the window, he could vaguely see the branches of distant trees swaying ceaselessly.

"I have no desire to think in weather like this," he muttered, slumping lazily on the couch.

Felix beckoned with a finger, causing the suitcase in the corner to pop open. Boxes of film negatives floated through the air before him. "Tsk! Seems like I've seen them all."

"I remember there's a very famous film series. I wonder if it's released yet. What's it called?"

"The Legend of Nagini?"

Felix shook his head and conjured forth from a cabinet beside the wall a children's fairy tale book titled "Kampa's Adventure"—one of the gifts he had received at Christmas.

The protagonist of the story was named Roning Kampa, a ten-year-old aspiring young wizard.

His parents were both Ministry of Magic employees, often too busy to look after him, leaving him in the care of neighbors. But he didn't like the cats owned by his neighbors, so he secretly sneaked out.

Kampa had intended to visit Diagon Alley, but instead stumbled into Knockturn Alley, where he was abducted by a dark witch using an illusion.

However, clever Kampa employed a cunning plan to deceive the witch, successfully escaping. From there, the story continued with his evasion of the witch's pursuit and his befriending of various companions as he made his way back home.

Felix realized that if one didn't think too deeply about the logic—such as why the witch's minions were three cats named 'Night', 'Marsh', and 'Morey', and why they always found Kampa before the witch, only to be driven away by Kampa's newly-acquired magical animal friends—it was actually quite entertaining.

He read with relish, finishing the book in less than an hour.

"I wonder if books like these are popular among young wizards. I should investigate. If the response is positive, I could use it as inspiration for my new book."

"As for the plot..." He glanced at the nearby "Kampa's Adventure". "A ten-year-old aspiring wizard, sent by his busy wizard parents to a Muggle school, and the story of his life, studies, and friendships in an unfamiliar environment."

"Yeah, this young wizard grew up in a magical household, unfamiliar with the world outside. Through his eyes, readers could discover many fascinating things."

"It might be even better with some animated photos."

Felix absentmindedly wove the plot together as the dawn finally broke.

Harry awoke to the sound of wind whistling and howling. He fumbled for his glasses and looked carefully out of the window.

"It's windy. Well, it is March after all," he murmured softly.

Ron was still asleep. Today was Sunday, and Harry didn't wake him. He got dressed, picked up his bag, and headed to the common room.

There was a pile of Quidditch training to do in the afternoon, so he had to make good progress on his homework.

When he arrived at the common room, it was empty, with only a few people around. But he wasn't surprised to see Hermione there.

She was holding a carving knife, etching magical runes. From Harry's angle, it looked quite impressive. The tip of the light brown carving knife exuded a fiery magic, leaving burning symbols on the chestnut wood.

"How's it coming along?" Harry asked when she paused.

Hermione gave him a somewhat ambiguous answer. "Not too bad, though I haven't succeeded yet."

"Really?" Harry didn't quite grasp her words. "Looks quite intimidating, actually. Has that mysterious wizard vibe from fairy tales."

"Harry, you are a wizard, you know."

"I meant wizards from the Muggle world," Harry clarified. As for Hogwarts, he thought of himself working feverishly on assignments and found it hard to muster interest in the matter of whether things were mysterious or not.

While working on his Herbology essay, the howling outside the tower hadn't ceased, disrupting his thoughts several times. This left him rather irritated. He suddenly looked up with anticipation. "Hermione, do you think if the weather's like this on Monday, our Herbology class might get canceled?"

Hermione responded, "I think you might be better off hoping for today's training to be canceled. And I'm curious how the Mandrakes ended up in someone else's flowerpot. Professor Sprout said it would be around these days. I wouldn't want to miss it."

During the final Herbology class of the previous week, a few Mandrakes had thrown a lively and noisy party in the Third Greenhouse. Professor Sprout had been quite pleased about it.

"When they want to move into someone else's flowerpot, we'll know they're fully mature," Professor Sprout had said emotionally. "Then we can bring back that poor young wizard in the hospital wing and bring Filch's cat back to life."

Harry grumbled, "Wood won't cancel training for sure. I'm confident about that."

When Ron woke up, the three of them packed up and went to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Ron pointed to the Ravenclaw table and said, "They don't seem too thrilled."

Harry said uncertainly, "Maybe their house ghost disappeared?" He thought for a moment. Despite not having enjoyed himself at Nick's 500th Deathday Party, he would be sad if Nearly Headless Nick suddenly vanished.

Just then, a silver figure dashed into the Great Hall, holding a stack of chalk and throwing them at Slytherin students.

He laughed heartily and disappeared suddenly before anyone could react.

The three of them stared, dumbfounded. After a long while, Ron said, "Merlin, Peeves has no one to control him now?"

Everyone knew that only Bloody Baron and Dumbledore could control Peeves. Even when faced with professors, he only maintained a limited level of respect.

"But, I actually think it's not too bad," Ron said, looking at the disheveled Slytherin students, especially when there was Malfoy among them. He happily picked up a piece of bacon.

Hermione said worriedly, "But now Peeves is targeting Slytherin. Who knows who'll be next?"

"That's just Slytherin's bad luck," Ron optimistically remarked.

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