Chapter 20 Ron: Quirrell is innocent!
Professor Cat is beautiful; one should be curious about her past.
But the moment the food appeared, Basil forgot all of that.
Basil, who had only eaten eggs, mushrooms, and biscuits for a month, was green with envy.
The corned beef sandwiches Mrs. Weasley made on the train were still a delicacy Basil savored.
Not to mention the roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, sausages, steaks, gravy, and other meaty foods before him.
He instantly forgot his restraint, devouring the food like Harry across from him, eating with both hands like Ron, and with his mouth dripping with oil like Goyle at the Slytherin table.
Hermione, like a loving mother, picked out some vegetables: pea shoots, carrots, and placed them on Basil's plate,
gently urging him to eat.
However, the other new students were actually quite similar to Basil.
They were at the age where they were growing rapidly, and the long hours from 11 a.m. to evening didn't even include afternoon tea.
Then they had to ride a boat in the cold wind, climb tunnels and stone steps, and stand waiting for the Sorting Ceremony.
They were all starving, enough to eat a whole cow.
The ghost suddenly realized that no one wanted to listen to his stories about Professor McGonagall's secret past.
What saddened him even more was that, as a ghost, he couldn't eat anything.
Having not eaten for 400 years, he floated beside Basil, whose eating manners were the ugliest but also the most appetizing,
swallowing non-existent saliva.
"Looks really good! This lamb chop is so tender! This pork chop..."
Basil ignored him; he didn't even have the energy to refuse Hermione's food.
He simply swallowed the vegetables that filled his plate, along with the meat and juices.
Only Harry, who had developed a small appetite at the Dursleys' house and wasn't used to eating so much, paid attention to the ghost.
The ghost also started talking to Harry.
He introduced himself as Sir Nicholas of Minsey-Poppington, a resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower.
During Ron's conversation, he revealed his nickname: Almost Headless Nick.
Encouraged by Seamus, he displayed the severed neck, held together by a sliver of skin, to the surrounding new students.
Now, aside from Ron, almost no one wanted to eat meat.
No, not even Basil, who was so engrossed in his meal that he ignored everything around him.
Just like the Hufflepuff badger cubs at the next table, they didn't notice either.
Once Basil let out a satisfied burp, creating a chorus with the cubs' burps, the remaining food vanished from the plates. Plates and forks were spotless.
Dessert time arrived: pudding, various flavors of ice cream, apple pie, syrup pie, chocolate muffins, jam donuts, liqueur-soaked jam pudding, strawberries, jelly—
all reappeared on the plates.
The other new students, Neville and Seamus, began to eat dessert while recounting their families.
Neville took center stage, vividly recounting how he escaped his uncle's repeated persecution and awakened his magic.
Basil listened with rapt attention.
Suddenly, he noticed Ron across from him giving him an admiring look: "You eat more than me! Your family has been Hufflepuff for generations, you didn't choose that name wrong!"
Basil hadn't even mentioned the pain of not eating meat for a month.
Eggs didn't count as meat.
Then he saw three red-haired boys walk over, two of them twins.
The twins introduced themselves first.
"Hello, my name is Fred."
"My name is George."
Basil's eyes lit up, twins [echo]!
But then dimmed a little.
Merlin's beard! Why aren't they sisters?
And why are they both so short and stocky? They
don't match Ron and Percy's bean sprout figures at all.
"You're Ron's brothers, right? I'm his friend."
"Rounding it up, I'm your friend too."
"Don't be so polite."
The twins nodded (Basil: New friends acquired!), and put their arms around Ron on either side.
"Well, our little brother!"
"How dare you introduce us to Percy, you little brat?"
The other tall, red-haired guy, Percy, shrugged. "You two, how dare you give people nicknames without permission?"
He ignored the struggling Ron and looked at Basil. "Keep your distance from them. Students like us—"
He adjusted the gleaming silver "P" badge pinned to his chest. "I should set a good example for the other students!"
"Hey!" the twins chimed in unison.
"Basil isn't the good kid you think he is!"
"He's the one who killed the werewolf Fenrir!"
"Yeah, George, he's also good at making money!"
"Even Percy—"
"Percy obediently handed over his money!
" Percy trembled with anger. "Shut up! All you see is money!"
"Basil is like me, he's after something greater than money."
He lowered his voice, "Power!"
"I'm being so blunt with you because we're brothers."
The twins made a face and released Ron, who was nearly out of breath.
Percy smiled at Basil and followed the twins back to their seats.
Ron ate his ice cream, looking dejected. "Am I some kind of non-existent thing? I'm their little brother!"
Harry, feeling sleepy after eating, comforted Ron by holding his right hand.
Then, "Ouch!" Ron
covered his forehead with one hand.
Ron was a little annoyed. "Am I a hedgehog? You touched me and—"
The next second, his attitude changed to concern. "Harry, are you alright?"
Hermione noticed the location of Harry's pain. "Is it that scar? Could it be a side effect of that magic? I remember there's a school doctor."
Fueled by his worry for Harry, and remembering Basil's earlier words on the train, Ron brought up the name again.
"Voldemort?"
Quirrell, sitting in the main seat, wearing a ridiculous scarf and constantly trying to harass Snape, adjusted his scarf and glanced in their direction.
"Ouch!"
That one glance brought back a second of Harry's pain, which had just subsided.
"What's wrong?" Basil was unusually concerned; he didn't remember Harry having been in pain twice.
"It's Quirrell!" Harry was certain. "I thought it was Snape just now because he looked at me with hatred and resentment."
"But I didn't notice that the pain started after Quirrell's scarf blocked Snape's view."
"When I felt the pain a second time, Snape didn't look at me. Only Quirrell glanced at me."
"The plot has changed!" Basil pondered.
He checked the gem: 13552.571 (+0.001/s).
"A gem that increases with time. Malfoy falling into the water is about 1400, talking to the cat professor is about 2000."
"Remove them—"
"No increase! This doesn't count as mine?"
"Is there no law?! Is there no justice?!"
Harry couldn't hear Basil's inner thoughts.
He mistook Basil's sudden sour expression for concern.
"This shouldn't be a big problem. Perhaps it's a resonance between dark magic classes?" "
Hagrid said that Quirrell used to be very good at studying, intelligent, and quite daring. He went out to travel for firsthand practical experience."
"The reason he's like this a year later seems to be because of the vampire attack in the Black Forest, or some kind of curse from an old witch." "
And then he became timid and hesitant, afraid of his students, even afraid of the subjects he teaches."
Basil, having composed himself, prompted, "You've seen Quirrell before? Your scar didn't hurt then, did it?"
"Didn't it hurt?" Harry frowned. "Am I wrong?" "
Hmph!" Ron took a bite of pie. "You're right!"
(Basil's face darkened: Right my foot!)
"It's said that Voldemort's curse was placed on the Defense Against the Dark Arts class! That's why the professor in that position changes every year."
"Harry, you met Quirrell before school started, right?"
Harry nodded.
Ron: "Isn't the answer obvious? There was no reaction before because he wasn't the professor for this course."
"Now there's a reaction because your scar, and the curse of this course, were left by Voldemort!"
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(End of Chapter)