A Professor of Magic at Hogwarts-Chapter 459: Salmon Skewers and the Patron Saint

"Is Fudge doing okay?" Felix asked.

"The Minister is well," Deirdre replied stiffly, closing his empty suitcase, rising to leave without ever sitting down.

"Wait, Deirdre," Felix called after him, sending several parchment sheets flying his way, which Deirdre caught, looking puzzled.

"I've been busy too. Here are some things I've prepared that might be useful during the Halloween break. Please pass them on to Director Scrimgeour," Felix explained.

"These... ancient magical texts?"

"Exactly. You can purchase a batch of magical text cards from 'Future World' company for the training of Aurors and combatants. It'll save a lot of time during training."

"Understood. I'll pass these on to Director Scrimgeour," Deirdre promised.

The next day, it was the weekend.

Felix slept in late, having stayed up all night. But it was effective. In his office, he held a small, fiery red bird in his hand.

"Um, can't call you Warning Bird, how about Echo Bird?"

Due to time constraints, he'd only briefly scanned through the knowledge of Nicolas Flamel via magic and mental acceleration last night. However, armed with all of Flamel's knowledge, he quickly found a similar alchemical item from his memory and spent half the night successfully replicating it.

This alchemical item acted as an extra eye. Once a command was given to it, it would remain stable until the command was completed or it was destroyed, at which point it would fly back to its owner or self-destruct.

Felix looked down at the fiery red bird in his hand, bouncing around agilely.

"You watch over the room. Prevent unauthorized entry."

The fiery red bird chirped twice and hopped onto the magical lamp on the ceiling, nearly invisible unless one paid close attention.

Checking the time, Felix estimated that the dining time in the Great Hall had long passed. Familiar with the path, he took Valen towards the castle's underground structures, encountering a few students on their way to the kitchen.

Felix exchanged some tips with them, recommending lemon salmon slices. "Scale and bone the salmon, slice it, coat with black pepper, pan-fry, and finally drizzle with lemon juice... tastes quite good."

The two Ravenclaw students walking with him couldn't stop salivating.

"Professor Harp, did you invent the Fishbone-Removing Hex?" one of them asked.

"No," Felix immediately replied, "but I happen to know that spell."

The two students exchanged glances. "Really... We happen to have an issue. Whenever we use the spell, some fishbones always remain. What could be causing this?"

"Is there an issue with the spell's casting process?"

"It shouldn't be. Autumn does it perfectly... she's my roommate and she can grill fish herself!"

"I see," Felix pondered for a moment, "it might be related to magical control. I suggest stabilizing your magic within a range, somewhat like the process of casting Transfiguration. Of course, don't exert too much force, or you might pulverize the fish..."

As they discussed magic, they made their way into the basement. Felix thought he glimpsed a red-headed figure disappearing around the corner ahead. A Weasley? He shrugged it off.

Valen stood on Felix's shoulder, its small black eyes also fixed on the end of the corridor, detecting a familiar scent.

In the kitchen, the house-elf Yunber warmly welcomed them.

Felix handed over a box of sweets, and after several refusals, Yunber and the eager house-elves brought out a jar containing fresh salmon after a few rounds of insistence.

"This is specifically for Mr. Harp!" Yunber struggled to hold the jar.

"Thank you, but make some for them too," Felix gestured towards the two Ravenclaw students, who were looking amazed.

Ten minutes later, Felix and Valen walked out of the kitchen, each holding a skewer of salmon, strolling proudly in the deserted underground corridor, relishing the food. The aroma wafted around, catching the attention of the wizards in the frames on the walls.

"How about visiting the Uagadou camp? Their talismans and curses are quite intriguing..."

At that moment, they heard Snape's voice from around the corner.

"Thirty points from each, plus detention," Snape drawled lazily, "Potter, Weasley, can you manage to astonish me more? Regular rule-breaking seems insufficient; now you've disrupted Slytherin's common room... Potter, tell me, are you trying to showcase your exceptional bravery?"

"We didn't disrupt Slytherin's room!" Harry said in frustration.

"No backtalk, Potter. Ten more points from Gryffindor," Snape continued languidly, "exceeding thirty indicates the use of a Patronus—"

He suddenly stopped, sniffing the air lightly. In front of him stood Harry, Ron, and Draco, wide-eyed, staring at something behind him.

Snape turned abruptly, and there stood Felix and Valen a short distance away, holding salmon skewers, frozen in place.

"Um, Severus, and you three, what's going on?" Felix asked lightly, and the two skewers of salmon in his hand suddenly disappeared.

Valen's two tiny hands were full, but lacking Felix's ability, unable to stuff it in its pocket, it turned and hid behind Felix, stuffing the salmon into its mouth with visible oil stains on its pink beak...

Snape was momentarily speechless, eyeing the duo with a piercing gaze.

"Potter—" after a long pause, he drawled, "intruding into Slytherin's room using a Patronus, attempting to incite panic—"

"It's not panic!" Harry exclaimed, "We just wanted to inform Malfoy to come out! We couldn't barge in, and we didn't know the password—"

"It's true," Ron gulped down a mouthful of water, the aroma of the grilled salmon too tempting, "We wanted to discuss the parchment... I mean, discuss the Bright Magic and Flame Charm combination."

Felix understood what was going on.

"Hand them over to me, Severus," he said, "I happen to have something to discuss with them."

Snape glanced at him, "Detention remains." He turned and left.

"Let's go," Felix said to Harry, Ron, and Draco. The Uagadou camp visit was off the table.

As they ascended, the three followed behind him. Harry felt a faint aroma of fish behind Professor Harp and his stomach rumbled.

"Harry, did you use a Patronus?"

"Yes, Professor," Harry replied quietly.

"Just a Patronus?"

"Harry can use his Patronus to convey messages," Ron added.

Felix stopped and looked at Harry, somewhat surprised. Harry stammered, "You mentioned the principle of using a Patronus to deliver messages, and I tried it last night. It seemed quite simple..."

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