A Professor of Magic at Hogwarts

Chapter 239: Dorothia Bopham

Chapter 239: Dorothia Bopham

The first gathering of the Magical Text Society concluded in this manner. Young wizards and witches streamed out, their faces adorned with excited silence. Once they had walked a distance away, discussions erupted like a surging tide.

"Absolutely splendid!"

"Did you see the flames? In Professor Harp's hands, they were like toys!"

"It's all about instinctual spellcasting…"

"I wonder what the next meeting will entail?"

Harry and Ron stood in the corridor, Hermione stayed back to ask a few questions. After five minutes, she finally appeared.

"I inquired about a minor matter concerning Professor Lupin," Hermione looked visibly relieved, as if she had resolved a long-standing question buried within her heart. "And Professor Harp knew the answer, just as I suspected."

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, puzzled.

"Oh, I promised not to divulge it," Hermione hesitated for a moment, "to avoid unnecessary controversy."

Harry and Ron seemed even more curious, but Hermione quickly shifted the topic, "Professor Harp recommended a series of books to me, quite useful for our dueling study group."

"A series?" Ron raised an eyebrow.

"'Charms by Chawick' - a set of instructional books written by Chawick Boot, one of the founders of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in America. We can pair it with the textbook for Defense Against the Dark Arts, 'Forces of Darkness: A Self-Defense Guide.' Additionally, 'Practical Defensive Magic and Its Counteraction Against the Dark Arts' is quite good, and there's 'Curses and Countercurses' by Wendick Winriddian…"

Hermione said with a hint of regret, "I shouldn't have wasted time on some of those random books before."

Harry recollected, "You mean that one, the one about degradation and immorality…"

"It's 'The Degradation of Law: Why Werewolves Don't Deserve to Live,'" Hermione rattled off the lengthy title. "The book claims that all werewolves are morally corrupt, lawless individuals who ought to be eradicated."

"That sounds quite biased. Maybe there are some decent werewolves too," Ron shrugged, "But Hermione, Professor Lupin already canceled the werewolf-related essay assignment."

"I know, I just—"

A cold breeze swept down the corridor, causing them all to shiver. "Let's hurry back to the common room; I'm about to freeze," Ron suggested, and they continued their discussion as they left.

Inside a classroom, the firewood in the fireplace burned out and struggled for a moment before finally extinguishing.

Felix Harp extended his right hand, and a small snake hanging in mid-air dropped suddenly, continuously shrinking until it coalesced into a serpent-shaped ring with its tail in its mouth on his right pinky. He calmly inspected it, then wiggled his finger, and the snake began to slither, coiling together until it transformed back into a coin.

"So, this was your intention, Severus," Felix Harp murmured softly. Snape had substituted a few lessons for Professor Lupin during his "illness" and taught the werewolf chapter ahead of schedule, ignoring the students' learning pace. Felix had initially thought Snape did it to taunt Lupin.

But now it seemed Snape might have been anticipating that some young wizards would discover Lupin's werewolf identity, providing a logical reason to expel him from the school.

"Such a pity, Professor. Only Miss Grantham completed the assignment seriously."

...

Back in his office, Felix Harp perused today's issue of the "Prophet." On a secondary page, he came across an article by a self-proclaimed retired St. Mungo's Healer, discussing his previous thesis on fishing.

"In pure theoretical terms, I find little to contest. Mr. Felix Harp's understanding of Memory Charms is awe-inspiring. I look forward to more theoretical research and experimental data. In my opinion, the true challenges are more than just two. Here is my perspective—"

...

At the end of his writing, I hope to meet with Mr. Harp. If his theories become reality, it would benefit countless wizards afflicted by memory injuries. However, I must also point out that the process will be extremely challenging. I hope to live long enough to witness the day this comes to fruition..."

"Finally, a substantial healer has arrived," Felix Harp said with delight. Many of the viewpoints in the article coincided with his own, but he hadn't revealed these thoughts.

As early as half a month ago, there had been occasional critical voices attempting to point out errors in Felix's theory. However, they probably hadn't even stepped through the threshold of Memory Charms, and their perspectives were quite naive, each one refuted by Felix.

But this time was different. With Rita Skeeter's early warning, he quickly identified the identity of the elderly healer – Dorothia Bopham.

She was the former Head of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, accomplished in various fields of healing. Furthermore, her surname was "Bopham," the same as the founder of St. Mungo's, Mungo Bopham.

She had been nominated for the position of Head Healer twice. However, when she was first nominated, she had adamantly refused to give up her hands-on healing work, rejecting the role of Head Healer.

After twenty years passed, her prestige was incredibly high. Over half of the healers had been trained under her guidance. She reluctantly took on the title of Head Healer at St. Mungo's, but she never completely abandoned her work with patients until her retirement.

"This is a highly respected healer; my response in the letter must be cautious."

Felix reread her article, smiled slightly, and picked up a quill.

Over the next week, Felix and the self-proclaimed "retired healer" engaged in correspondence. He gradually revealed more details, and soon their discussion attracted the attention of numerous top-level healing experts.

The name Felix Harp also gained considerable attention within the healing community.

On the weekend, St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

Felix encountered Dorothia Bopham, surrounded by a group of healers. The woman was quite old, her face lined with wrinkles, but her eyes remained bright.

Returning to the hospital, she changed into her Healer robes.

"Mr. Harp, it's not easy to meet you," Dorothia said with a smile, her teeth nearly all gone.

"Mrs. Bopham, exchanging letters has its merits, doesn't it?"

Dorothia said kindly, "I know that you are a professor at Hogwarts and are usually very busy. Using letters is indeed a good way... Come, tell me how you solved those problems. Lately, I've been quite perplexed."

Understanding her, Felix knew that the news about him secretly treating the Longbottoms had spread. He had foreseen it, even orchestrating the progress of events.

Looking at the expressions of the surrounding healers, there was no intention to confront him.

Even if there was, they could only suppress it. During the past few months, he had added the title of "Memory Magic Expert" to himself. If the Longbottoms fully recovered, he would be the undisputed "Master of Memory Magic," the most outstanding memory injury healer of his time, without peer.

With a smile, Felix said, "Mrs. Bopham, this might take a while. Let's first check on the condition of the Longbottoms."

"All right, let's do that." Dorothia nodded.

"They're both in much better shape now!"

On the fifth floor, the Janus Thickey Ward remained locked. The patients within suffered from persistent curses. Merlin Gemming chanted "Alohomora," and the door opened to reveal shelves filled with books, resembling a library in ruins.

On the ground, rows of bookshelves stood, with scattered books placed upon them, some even damaged.

"Another day of hard work." Felix thought to himself. While piecing together memories might sound easy, the process was rather tedious.

The healers outside stared at him blankly. Felix snapped his fingers, causing the Longbottoms to go into a trance. A moment later, they and Felix remained motionless.

"Mr. Harp?" a young healer attempted to pat Felix's shoulder. August Thistle, Augusta Longbottom's scolding voice intervened, "Don't touch him!" But the next moment, a burst of light flung the healer away, sending him flying several meters and crashing into a wall.

"August! Oh my, are you all right?" Meleri hurried over, patting the rash healer's head. She turned to address the others, "He just fainted."

"Meleri, please take him away."

Augusta Longbottom said sternly, "This is why I didn't want to inform you all in advance!" After a careful look at Felix and her son and daughter-in-law, she felt a bit relieved to find no signs of abnormality.

Dorothia Bopham apologetically said, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Longbottom." She turned to the current Head Healer of St. Mungo's, "I can't believe current healers can make such amateur mistakes."

The current Head Healer awkwardly responded, "This was an accident. August... he's lively, always full of novel ideas. However, he did act recklessly this time. I will certainly reprimand him."

Dorothia Bopham nodded authoritatively. As the teacher of the current Head Healer, they had been taught by her hands forty years ago. She surveyed the surroundings, "Do not disturb Mr. Harp in any way. Understand?"

The St. Mungo's healers nodded obediently.

In the subsequent treatments, no more accidents occurred.

In fact, Felix was fully aware of what had transpired outside. He could have ignored it, but he felt compelled to do something. There had already been several subtle magical probes on him. Could these be easily probed?

Hence, he deliberately activated a protective magical item...

After this interlude, Felix refocused his attention on the Memory Room. Today's treatment went exceptionally smoothly. Even as he pieced together the memories and condensed them into books, flickers of light were spontaneously drawn to them, blending into the shelves.

"Perhaps after one or two more treatments, their self-repairing abilities will be triggered." Felix thought to himself.

At noon, when he opened his eyes, he was met with gazes of awe.

Three thousand words... well, it looks like it won't reach four thousand words. Merging them together, two updates for today.

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