Hogwarts: Don't call me the Staff Maker

Chapter 32 The Timid Quirrell

Perhaps because of their shared experience of having points deducted, Harry, Hermione, and Ron started spending more and more time together after Halloween.

Although Ron and Hermione occasionally have minor disagreements, making their relationship not exactly inseparable, it's close enough.

At least after Halloween, the three of them sat together in class.

The trio is beginning to show signs of their true colors.

Siron also found it quite amazing... He didn't know if it could be considered a sign of fate, but despite some deviations in the process, Harry eventually found his external brain.

And what happened in the room on the fourth floor that day... Xilun thought that the school would at least do a token investigation, but they didn't.

As if they had agreed beforehand, the professors all kept quiet about Cerberus or the trolls, and all they got in return was the answer that Peeves was playing a prank.

The whole thing was as if it had never happened.

Oh, except for Quirrell, who's been absent for several days and Snape has been covering for him. According to Quirrell:

"Your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was frightened by a prank; he needs a rest." The tone was full of disdain and contempt for Quirrell.

He seemed to be in a good mood, and occasionally he would make a little joke about Quirrell during class.

But correspondingly, Harry wasn't very happy.

Snape's dislike for Harry didn't seem to change because of the different courses; in fact, it seemed to intensify. If the Defense Against the Dark Arts course needed an experimental teaching assistant, that person would undoubtedly be Harry.

If the textbook content was truly unnecessary, Snape would create the conditions himself.

The first thing Harry does every morning when he opens his eyes is check his schedule. If he sees Defense Against the Dark Arts or Potions, he curses Snape for five minutes and then feels listless all day.

In a sense, Harry was probably the only one in the entire school who wanted Quirrell to get better soon.

After all, although Snape was targeting Harry, his classes were indeed much more interesting than Quirrell's, and most people quite liked them.

Harry's prayers seemed to have worked.

The following week, Quirrell reappeared at Hogwarts Castle.

However, he looked even stranger than before, most notably with a strange smell emanating from him.

It used to smell like garlic, but now it also has a rotten onion smell.

"This is knowledge I learned from a wizarding tribe," he explained in a Defense Against the Dark Arts class. "This scent can repel multi-headed magical creatures."

Celen has reason to suspect that the "multi-headed magical creature" he was referring to was Lou Williams, the three-headed dog.

Harry had told him about that day, but he didn't know the specifics, though he knew everything about Quirrell.

Simply put, he was so scared that he vomited, all the way from the fourth floor to the school clinic.

In a sense, being able to vomit for so long is quite a gift.

Quirrell simply wouldn't admit it, giving vague and evasive answers to get by. When Ron impatiently asked him what exactly happened that day, Quirrell blushed, mumbled incoherently, and then uttered things that no one could understand, such as "the care and protection of magical creatures" and "protecting even colleagues."

He also talked about the weather and the onions in the school kitchen, which made everyone laugh and filled the classroom with a joyful atmosphere.

Unfortunately, this doesn't change the fact that Defense Against the Dark Arts has become boring again.

In this atmosphere, Hogwarts also entered November.

The weather is getting colder and colder, and most people have put on thicker robes and cloaks.

Harry has been particularly busy these past few days because the Quidditch season has started, and the team members have to do special training three times a week, each time for more than two hours.

As a complete novice who knew nothing, Harry's training workload only increased, leaving early and returning late every day.

Fortunately, there were few classes in the first year, and Harry was able to finish his homework in between preparing for the competition, provided that Hermione was willing to help him.

Harry is now incredibly grateful to have Hermione as a friend. Tempted by homework, he didn't hesitate to abandon Ron and choose to stand with Hermione.

This frustrated Ron for a long time, until one day, Harry secretly put the homework that Hermione had helped correct in front of Ron.

After that, Ron gave up struggling and raised his hands decisively.

Hermione's personality is quite annoying, but if she's willing to help with these annoying assignments, she's the most popular witch in all of Hogwarts, bar none.

Instead of joining the already formed trio, Xiren spent the last few days purchasing a batch of wand materials through his own channels, using the owls at school.

He originally wanted his grandfather Ollivander to help him, which would not only be convenient but also save him a lot of money, but the owl couldn't find him.

He hired an owl with three nuts, which flew around and returned the letter intact; it hadn't found Ollivander.

Xiren was not too surprised by the result.

In fact, ever since Siron sent the Red Hat Nerve Wand away overnight, his grandfather seemed to have become a little abnormal, for example, sending back blank parchment three times in a row.

From Wednesday to Friday, I received a reply every morning, but it was completely blank.

It wasn't a letter written with special ink; it was just blank parchment.

Later, it simply disappeared, going off to some unknown place to live in seclusion; even the owl couldn't find it.

With no other option, Xilun had to reluctantly spend his own money to buy the items.

Fortunately, the item he wanted wasn't expensive, and Malfoy's deposit came in very handy.

Incidentally, Malfoy still hasn't come looking for him, as if he's completely forgotten about it.

Then came the long wait.

Several days later, around noon, Xilun finally received the package he had been longing for.

At that moment, he was chatting with Hagrid at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Hagrid has collected quite a few good things these past few days: five unicorn tail hairs, a handful of centaur tail hairs, a small bundle of harpy feathers, and three two-foot-long spider legs...

Looking at all these good things, Xiren suddenly felt a little guilty and couldn't help but reflect on whether he had gone a bit too far by blowing Luwei's mouth with his wand that day.

Then a package hit him.

A drab gray owl dropped a brown paper package and flew away without looking back, displaying extremely poor service.

However, Xilun simply rubbed his shoulder where he had been hit, not caring at all.

It's already a big favor that the people in Fandao Lane delivered the goods after receiving the money, so why would they care about the service attitude?

"What did you buy in such a big package?" Hagrid asked casually.

"Shut up, dog..." Xilun blurted out.

"What?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Xilun quickly waved his hand. "I have to go back now. I'll come see you again this weekend."