Chapter 216

A little later, Dobby returned to report the results to Felix –

“Mr. Hap, the woman whose last name is Skeeter has agreed, and, in the process, the little silvery-white bird … above my head.”

“I see, Dobby, that’s the test I mentioned to you, and it worked better than I thought it would.”

…

In the evening, Felix walked into the great hall in a happy mood.

‘Hmm, which house table should I pick today?’ He thought to himself idly, it’s one of his joys, always hearing lots of new things during the meal, ‘Ravenclaw then, the eagles have been keeping a low profile lately.’

His eyes caught a glimpse of the Slytherin players walking into the great hall with brooms and laughing, and it dawned on him that Quidditch tournament season is about to begin.

Felix targeted a small group of Ravenclaw students and prepared to sit next to them, when a somewhat obese boy with freckles on his face discussed loudly with gusto.

“– recently been studying kappa all over again, and yes, that webbed aquatic creature — like a monkey with scales — Professor Lupin kinda good –”

Felix subconsciously glanced at the teacher’s table and, unsurprisingly, saw a slightly weary figure.

“Professor Lupin?” Felix changed his direction and sat down next to the professor of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class and greeted him in a friendly manner.

“Professor Hap,” Lupin responded just as gently, “Please excuse me, I’m still recovering from my cold.” He fiddled with the scarf around his neck.

“October is indeed a peak flu season, as I recall from last year.” Felix smiled as he added some pastrami and potatoes to his plate, “Madam Pomfrey must be busy these days.”

Lupin gave a reminiscent look, ” Well, she certainly is a school nurse who is responsible enough that she helped me a lot when I was in school.”

Felix obviously thought wrong, he thought Lupin is referring to the fight with Slytherin House students during school, which inevitably involved Snape, so he shut up and talked about other topics instead.

“You should have received the dueling class schedule, right, Professor Lupin?”

“Miss Granger gave it to me last week.” Lupin said thoughtfully, “I saw the content of the Revulsion Jinx, which can be used to deal with Grindylow precisely …”

Felix asked, “Those green water spirits? I remember there were a bunch of them in the Black Lake, but they ought to be tamed by Merpeople.”

“Indeed,” said Lupin, reaching for a distant plate of sauce, “which makes it easier for me to teach, oh, thanks–” he said.

“You’re welcome,” Felix pushed the sauce to him, and their hands touched.

He lowered his gaze, and that sense of alienation resurfaced. From the first time they had met and shook hands, he had felt that the hair on Lupin’s hands is very thick and far firmer than normal.

Lupin didn’t notice it as he continued, “Grindylow’s fingers are very strong, yet flimsy, and the trick to getting rid of them is to make them unable to grab hold of you.”

“Their strength is also their weakness?” Felix said with interest, “Somewhat similar to Professor Flitwick’s point of view, he also believes that a wizard is strongest when he attacks, at the same time he reveals his weaknesses. So when casting a spell, it should be as quick and concise as possible, yet leave room for …”

Lupin smiled and said, “Professor Flitwick is indeed experienced, and his title of dueling champion retains a lot of weight.”

“Speaking of which …” Felix said slowly, “Professor Flitwick wanted to enter the Ministry of Magic when he was young, but was rejected because of his lineage.”

Lupin paused and listened quietly.

“… Of course, the reason can not be that straightforward, but we all know the virtues of the Ministry of Magic. Professor Lupin, what do you think about the discrimination in the Ministry of Magic?”

Lupin smiled and said, “This kind of argument is not new, as early as I was in school, there have been people criticizing the Ministry of Magic for its rigid thinking and inaction, but after more than ten years, it has not changed much.”

“Maybe it’s time for the Ministry of Magic to change?”

“It’s hard,” Lupin mused, “unless there’s a new minister with guts, and as for Fudge, he’s a politician, a cowardly wimp,” he said nonchalantly, “who lives by the rules every day. He has exhausted all his courage.”

Felix is surprised by his attitude toward Fudge and wondered where this ill-feeling came from, knowing that there is still a market for Fudge’s moderate views.

The wizarding populace, for one, were less likely to want a minister who interfered too much in their lives-except during the war.

The two then brought the conversation to Sirius Black.

“Miss Granger asked me a question once, but I couldn’t answer it.” Felix said, “She asked why Black had chosen to suddenly break out of prison after staying peacefully in Azkaban for over a decade. You know, once caught, a dementor’s kiss is likely what awaits him.”

“Professor Lupin, you should know him well, I wonder if there are any guesses?”

Lupin frowned, Felix’s words poked at his long-standing hidden confusion, and some kind of unrealistic fantasy in his mind stirred again, a thought that made him chew on the happy times of the past over and over again in the late night, but also left his tired heartbroken and bruised.

‘Lupin, Lupin, what the hell are you expecting! Have the years of wandering life completely muddled your brain?’

But outwardly, he merely said indifferently, “I can no longer understand Black’s thoughts since his betrayal.”

“It’s a shame,” Felix said softly, “Harry and the rest asked me about Black’s hidden talents, and they’re worried they’ll run into him one day.”

Lupin couldn’t refrain from repeating himself, “Hogwarts is safe.”

…

Back in his office, Felix thought over his conversation with Lupin, and on a piece of parchment, he wrote down ‘Remus Lupin’ and then ‘Sirius Black’, put a line between the two names, then put a question mark, and fell into his thoughts.

He knew very little information about Black, except for the huge contrast between his teenage years and his adult life, there is nothing else he could find.

And Lupin … Felix always felt uneasy.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Dumbledore trusted him, and he had seen him in Frank and Alice’s memory fragments himself, which meant that Lupin being a member of the Order of the Phoenix is pretty much the nail in the coffin.

But Snape did not hide his malice against him, in Felix’s opinion, the reason why Snape held back from striking him is because of the presence of Dumbledore.

Felix checked the records of those years, Snape and James Potter’s conflict occurred the most, followed by a side dish of Black, but Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were involved less often in these disputes, which can be counted with your fingers.

Is it hatred of the house?

But Snape’s impression of Peter Pettigrew is good, at least he is addressed as ‘Peter’, rather than ‘Pettigrew’ the last name. With Felix’s knowledge of his own head, this is rare enough.

If Lupin died, Snape certainly will not change his way of calling him from ‘Remus’.

Felix began to write down what he had suspected about Lupin –

‘Mild-mannered, yet Snape hates him extremely;’

‘ he has extraordinary skills, loved by the young wizard, but poor and destitute for a long time; ‘

‘Weak body, easily struck by flu, is Madam Pomfrey’s potion has no effect?’

”The hair on his arms is different from a normal person;”

‘Unusual malice towards Fudge, the Minister of Magic;’

Felix marked heavily on the name ‘Fudge’, the minister took office not many years ago, in addition to hiding the lid, he presided over only a handful of policies, which will not take much time to count one by one with his fingers.

It didn’t take long for him to think of Belby’s complaints about the Ministry of Magic last year –

“Look at the newspapers in recent times! Another argument about ‘the werewolf welfare’ and ‘werewolf registration amendment bill’, only registered and regulated werewolves have the right to buy wolfsbane potion, the Ministry of Magic is using my potion to gather the scattered werewolves… …”