Pay attention to Quirrell.

Professor Snape's friendly hint ended up in just four words.

It sounded humiliating, especially given that Neil had been forced to keep a polite smile and listen to the taunts and invective for nearly two hours in order to get it.

However, there are some words that are worth pondering precisely because they are short.

After two hours of foul language, only the phrase was not preceded by any insulting modifiers, which in itself was anomalous. There may be suspicion of over-interpretation, but Neil, who grew up under the influence of the disease-free moaning art of communication such as "pat you on the shoulder three times, which means that you come to me at the third watch", is convinced that this is a very subtle reminder. Snape was giving hints in two very different ways of speaking, a phrase that had come from someone else's mouth, and that he was simply repeating it as it was.

As for who that person is, the conclusion is obvious. This at least shows a problem, no matter what secrets Quirrell hites, he is not his own person - this is what Neil was most worried about before, for fear that this is another bad attack of Headmaster Dumbledore, gathering all kinds of people with complex origins like Gu cultivators, and then hiding the news and watching them be wary of each other, suspicious of each other, until they kill each other.

Compared with the behavior of his three elders forcibly slandering his six-year-old apprentice as a pimp in order to exonerate himself, Dumbledore's approach is actually above the baseline of human annihilation, but as a foreigner who has already smeared Hogwarts, Neil sincerely hopes that his employer can use the human resources in his hands with a more cherished attitude, even if the resources are really cheap.

It is worth mentioning that there is almost no risk of eavesdropping on the conversation between the two, and the only reason Snape deliberately uses this obscure way to convey the message is to deliberately make things difficult for him - Neil's question about what is most important to him does touch the heart of Severus Snape as a person, but in terms of results, it only makes him more vicious by the frustration of his self-esteem.

……

"Well, at least now I know that staying away is the right thing to do...... Maybe I should be grateful to the headmaster that I didn't have to get involved in this, because I hadn't been told anything beforehand again? ”

Standing in the empty hallway, Neil, who was holding an oil-paper bag in his arms, couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

As part of his efforts to persuade Snape to give his information, he was forced to agree to terminate the weekly deal in dried fish, which Snape ordered him to take with him all the goods he had stockpiled, but did not ask for a refund, apparently only to take revenge for being caught and forced to sell the goods. But in the long run, losing a regular income of twenty-five Galleons is still a heart-wrenching loss for Neil.

As he had previously assumed, the high price for dried fish that could be used as potions was just an excuse for Snape to test him, and almost all of the deliveries so far had been left untouched in the corner of his office. Poor Filch probably hasn't figured out why his cat has been getting more and more like to walk around the basement floor lately.

Mention of cats...... Neil glanced at the gray mass he had swept away.

"I knew what I was hearing...... Hey ma'am, how about a little bit? ”

Lady Loris, who had hovered at the door of Snape's office as usual, stared at him suspiciously, hiding behind the decorative armor and not stepping forward.

The gray cat is no less cunning and vicious than his evil master, Filch makes it a sacred mission to catch students who break school rules, and Lady Loris regards it as her life's quest to help the enemy, and Neil slips under the noses of the pair as he sneaks through the night with the trick of stealth. Perhaps it was precisely because of this that seeing its salivating appearance made Neil feel a little compassion in his heart, and decided to treat the other party to a meal of three-Michelin-starred cat food.

Anyway, these are all things that Professor Snape has paid for, and the ill-gotten gains make it better to spend them quickly, which is also the teaching of the three elders over the years.

Seeing him crouch down in front of him, taking out a dried fish from a paper bag and slowly tearing it open, Mrs. Loris's throat shuddered, but she didn't let her guard down. As an accomplice of the janitor, it is wise enough to understand its place in the eyes of its students, and will never believe that anyone will be willing to feed it - either some kind of poison has been put in the dried fish, or the bastard is trying to trick it into coming close and torture it by more physical means.

But the smell of dried fish was tempting, which made Lady Loris, who had planned to turn around and leave, hesitate again. It wandered around every day, expecting someone who would never have the leisure to feed the cat to share it with him, and nothing more than that, could a freshman be more terrible than the Potions professor who looked at people like a great vulture?

Thinking of this, Mrs. Loris sniffled and leaned over cautiously with a hard-legged step, while not forgetting to make intermittent threatening sounds in her mouth, reminding the other party not to have any dishonest thoughts.

"Don't be so nervous, ma'am, I won't hurt you."

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly realized that this sentence sounded like a thief somewhere, Neil smiled self-deprecatingly, threw the lock of fish meat in his hand on the ground, and took two steps back in a crouching position to make room for the cat. This gesture earned some of Mrs. Loris's trust, and she walked up to the fish, sniffed it like all cats, and then ate it eagerly.

"Eat, ma'am, eat." Seeing that it gradually let down his guard, Neil suddenly remembered the musical he had peeked out of the window of the New London Theatre, and a smile could not help but appear on his face, "Why is summer late, when time flies, and Andrew Roy Webber will be immortalized, it is really good for the queen to make him a baron, and give him a castle - eat, I wish you a good appetite, ma'am." ”

……

There is no more unsympathetic animal in the world than a cat except for a man and a brown bear, and after a feast under Neil's generosity, Mrs. Loris regained her original appearance in the blink of an eye, and turned away without the slightest affection for the meal, and did not forget to bark her teeth at him viciously before leaving, so as not to think that the next time she caught the other person violating the school rules, she would be open to the net.

Watching its indescribable back fade away, Neil momentarily felt like he had returned to the summer when he lived under the same roof as Mao. He knew that he was not missing the poor pet that had literally become food for the development of the sect, but he just felt lonely for the first time in a situation where he couldn't sort out everything and no one could discuss.

"That's not a good tendency...... Maybe I should follow the example of others and raise something? ”

……

……

"You want to have a pet?"

Looking at Hagrid's excited expression, Neil immediately realized that he might have chosen the wrong person to consult.

"Yes, Professor—but let's be clear, I want the kind of creature that isn't explicitly forbidden by law, and doesn't burn, eat, or corrode anything, okay?"

"It's on me."

Hagrid patted his chest heroically.

"Don't worry, Neil, thanks to your help, the cultivation of the new breed of Fire Crab is going very well! No matter what kind of pet you like, I'm going to get you the best one - ah, look at me, that's stupid! Why don't you just take one from the newly hatched bunches? Look, how cute they are! ”

"Great, you didn't even hear what I was saying, did you?" Neil glanced down at the ash-filled box Hagrid had brought over, and there were several gray things that looked like they had been blown up by batter wrapped in rotting jellyfish, "You know what? Maybe I should honestly write to the Bella Owl store and ask them to airlift a white-faced horned owl or something......"

"Don't do that!" Seeing that he was about to retreat, Hagrid hurriedly raised his voice, took two steps forward and grabbed his arm, the movement was so loud that Neil's feet were almost in the air, "Oh, sorry...... But hey, listen to me, there's really no need to do that kind of thing, you can rest assured, soon! Soon I'll be able to get you one of the best pets ever! Trust me, okay? ”