Chapter 17 and Professor Cat
The enormous tentacles returned to the water.
Now, all the small boats were in the pitch-black tunnel.
However, Hagrid's lantern illuminated everything on his boat.
Drowned in a mole-skin coat, shivering with cold and fear, constantly falling overboard, Malfoy became the only light in the darkness.
All eyes were on him.
Harry and Ron did too.
A cacophony of whispers filled the air.
"Don't talk to me," Ron's voice trembled.
Only Harry responded
. "Why?" he asked curiously .
Hermione glanced at him, then focused her attention on Basil's profile.
Basil hummed Hedwig's Theme, his eyes closed leisurely.
Ron, oblivious, kept his eyes closed, a look of pure joy on his face. "Because I want to etch this memory forever in my mind, baby Malfoy in Hagrid's arms."
Harry chuckled in perfect agreement.
"I remember him saying bad things about Hagrid to me: 'I've heard of him. He's a servant, isn't he? A boorish fellow, living in a little cabin on campus, getting drunk all the time, playing around with magic, and then burning his own bed down.'"
"And now? In the arms of someone you look down on."
Ron's smile faded. "Wasn't I the first wizard your age you met?"
Harry asked, puzzled. "It was you? I only chatted with him briefly at Madam Malkin's robes shop. We didn't even exchange names."
Basil opened his eyes and turned his head.
Ron seemed dissatisfied with Harry's answer.
Harry also found Ron a bit odd.
The atmosphere between them suddenly changed; sitting back-to-back on opposite sides of the boat, they fell silent.
"Huh, they're like a couple arguing."
Basil unconsciously moved closer to Hermione.
Hermione smiled with delight.
Of the four, only Hermione had emerged victorious!
Even after disembarking from the small boat and reaching a surface of gravel and pebbles,
Harry and Ron remained silent.
Even Malfoy, still nestled in Hagrid's arms, and Neville, having found the toad and calling Leif "Frei," went unnoticed.
Basil, too, looked dejected.
Before him lay a bumpy tunnel carved into the rocky mountainside.
Even more disheartening, considering his memory of Hogwarts, climbing up, crossing a flat, damp meadow, led to another long flight of stone steps.
And then to the castle gates.
If only no one knew him!
He could sneak up and teleport there when the rest of the group reached the steps.
He glanced heavily at Hermione, who seemed unusually enthusiastic.
Clearly, that was impossible.
He should have gotten himself into the water.
That way, he could have slept like a baby in Hagrid's arms and wouldn't have to walk.
Before he knew it, he had completed the entire journey and arrived at the castle gates, but Basil hadn't changed his mind.
Watching Hagrid clench his fist and pound on the door,
his left arm around Malfoy, the envy in Basil's eyes hadn't completely faded.
Until the gates swung open.
A tall, dark-haired witch in a jade-green robe appeared before him.
"Hiss!" Basil nudged Ron, the wizarding encyclopedia, with his elbow. "Who is she? I need all her information in a second!"
"Her?" Ron looked bewildered. "Who else could it be? Minerva McGonagall, Vice-Headmistress of Hogwarts, Head of Gryffindor House, and Head of the Transfiguration Department."
"How could that be?" Basil murmured almost in a daze. "How old is she?"
The cat professor in front of him had black hair and square-rimmed glasses.
Her skin was smooth, fair, and almost wrinkle-free.
She had a beautiful face, a tight-fitting emerald green robe, and a shapely figure.
There was also a hint of gentleness in her voice when she cast spells to warm and ward off water on Malfoy.
This could be that kind old lady, the cat professor!!!
Ron actually answered correctly, "Hmm, let me think, my mother is 41 years old, and she said Professor McGonagall is almost 30 years older than her."
"So she's almost 70?" Basil was a little doubtful.
The last time he felt this way was when he learned that his grandmother was eighty years old when she gave birth to his father.
Meanwhile, Ron continued his rambling, whispering Professor McGonagall's personal information.
At that moment, he realized that besides chess, he had other talents!
Ron Rita Skeeter II Weasley was born!
"My mother said Professor McGonagall was a remarkable legend."
"As a baby, she had the ability to control the family cat, summon toys to her crib, and even make her father's bagpipes play by themselves."
"She achieved top marks in both the OWL and NEWT exams, was elected prefect and head of the girls' council, and won the 'Transfiguration Today's Most Promising Newcomer Award."
(Hermione whispered in Basil's ear, "I know that too, in 'Modern Masters of Magic.')"
"Upon graduation, she went to work in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
"In just two years, she was offered a promotion." "
But she refused, choosing Hogwarts instead. She obtained a position in the Transfiguration Department, and the head of the department at the time was Albus Dumbledore."
Hearing this, Basil thought: Ron, what other surprises do you have that I don't know about!
However, Ron stopped there.
They had already followed Professor McGonagall into the foyer, past the closed doors of the Great Hall, and into a small, empty room at the other end of the hall.
Professor McGonagall was speaking to them, a group of first-year students, about things they already knew.
First, they had to be categorized: which houses there were, the Sorting Ceremony was important, the house was their home, house points represented honor, house point addition and subtraction rules…
"The house is our home? Not the school?" Basil, accustomed to 21st-century education in China, immediately spotted the blind spot.
The rest of the lecture focused on introducing and emphasizing the houses.
Basil, who considered Hogwarts his own, immediately abandoned his curiosity about Professor McGonagall.
Instead, he frowned, listening to these words that were divisive to his Hogwarts. "
The house belongs to the school, you must love the house."
Wasn't this just another form of "My vassal's vassal is not my vassal, my lord's lord is not my lord"?
He asked Ron seriously, "Who is this department head you're talking about?"
Ron: "You don't think that each of the seven years of students has only one teacher for each course, do you? In fact, our major subjects, except for Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts, each have their own faculty." "
However, they mainly take care of the seventh-year students and do back-end work like grading assignments. They're usually in the faculty lounge and don't attend banquets."
"So, we almost never see them. Some people jokingly call them house-elf professors."
"Outrageous." Basil's brow furrowed even more.
The house divisions, and each subject even has teaching assistants who are like laborers.
Muggle wizards come to Hogwarts just to learn magic.
But Hogwarts has this whole faction division thing.
Before transmigrating: Sorting is so interesting.
After transmigrating and having Hogwarts: "You've ruined my school like this?"
Thinking this, Basil suddenly raised his right hand.
"Professor, I don't think you're right!"
Read 50+ advanced chapters ahead on Patreon!
patreon.com/Horizons685
(End of this chapter)