Chapter 301 White Wine and Tea

Anthony returned to the office and put the lesson plan back on the table. He walked into the bedroom and found the Transfiguration information given to him by Professor McGonagall in the drawer of the bedside table. He also saw the ghost mouse sticking its head out from the swaying chandelier above his head.

"Good morning, mouse," Anthony said. He was already used to seeing his pets in various places.

The mouse squeaked and retracted its head. Anthony opened the closet and found the dozing ghost chicken in the shirt as expected. He closed the closet door, took the information back to the office, and buried his head in reading the things to pay attention to when turning an owl into a small telescope.

"Even if the transformation is successful, you need to be careful not to hold the telescope upside down when checking it..." There is an illustration demonstrating the correct posture here, "not only because the telescope should be used in this way, but also to avoid being pecked out by the owl when the transformation fails."

Anthony flipped back and saw Transfiguration exercises such as turning a rabbit into a pillow and a squirrel into a brush. He looked around the office and found neither an owl, nor a rabbit or a squirrel. There was only a ginger cat curled up to his left hand and sleeping. Anthony put down the documents and reached out to touch the cat. The sleeping cat quickly hugged his hand and opened its mouth to bite it.

"Hey!" Anthony protested.

The cat opened its yellow eyes and looked at him, then reluctantly let go. Anthony took out Roger the snake from the drawer and teased the cat who had just woken up. It seemed that it was still angry. It lay on the table and lazily poked Roger the snake with its claws for a few times. Then it stood up and stretched, jumped off the table without interest, and began to sharpen its claws with Anthony's chair legs.

When its front paws were about to hook the chair, Anthony suddenly remembered: "By the way, Professor Lockhart said he heard you lose your temper."

The cat scratched the chair intently, making a rattling sound.

Anthony looked down for a while, sighed, stood up, and walked to the cabinet. When he used the levitation spell to take down the bottles of white wine, the cat's movements suddenly slowed down.

Anthony turned his head and took a look. The cat immediately began to sharpen its claws viciously, making all kinds of unpleasant sounds.

He smiled, opened the bottle, squatted down and poured half a bowl of wine into the cat's food bowl: "Come on, cat."

The cat still put its two front paws on the chair and turned its head to look at him with scrutiny.

"Don't be angry, okay?" Anthony said, "Come here, cat, I apologize."

The ginger cat hesitated for a moment, let go of the weathered chair, trotted to Anthony's side, lowered its head to sniff the white wine in the bowl, and almost buried its nose in it. Anthony looked up to confirm that the door was locked, and turned it back to the appearance of a skeleton cat.

Although the cat still maintained a little reserved under the cover of fur, when it turned back into a skeleton, the two burning soul fires in its eye sockets had already betrayed how impatient it was. It almost immediately let the white wine in front of it burn, and at the same time enjoyed soaking its pale mandibles and sharp teeth in the wine.

When Anthony put his hand on its spine, the skeleton cat arched its back slightly, flicked its tail, and did not try to bite him again.

Anthony smiled: "Okay, we're done?"

The skeleton cat ignored him.

"We're done." Anthony said contentedly, sitting down next to the cat food bowl with flickering flames.

After a while, he said: "You know, cat, I don't think Ms. Umbridge looks like someone who likes undead pets."

The skeleton cat finally turned its head in his direction.

Anthony pinched its bones absentmindedly: "I heard that she's already threatening Professor Kettleburn with the Chimaira beast... Oh, Hagrid!" He suddenly remembered that Hagrid should still be preparing for the Chimaira beast breeding license assessment, and he began to suspect that Umbridge would make some comments on this.

"I plan to visit Hagrid in the afternoon. After lunch." Anthony said, he was not very interested in Hagrid's rock skin cake dipped in soup for the time being, "Do you want to join?"

The skeleton cat turned back without interest and buried more bones in the food bowl. Its soul fire burned steadily, enjoying the white wine.

Anthony admitted, "I think so. Fang is a good dog, cat, don't scare him."

...

In the afternoon, the weather was still terrible. Iron-gray clouds pressed down the sky, and the cold wind came out from every corner. It was gray everywhere, as if it was going to snow again. There were almost no people hanging around outside the castle, only groups of students returning from the greenhouse. Their steps were more urgent than usual, and the soft armchairs by the fireplace and the drowsy crackling of the wood fire were more tempting than ever.

Anthony walked along the path towards Hagrid's cabin. The snow that once covered the pumpkin field had melted away, leaving only the dark brown soil exposed in the dim sunlight. Between the dark Forbidden Forest and the pumpkin field stood Hagrid's cabin with warm firelight and smoke.

After getting closer, he could hear Hagrid's footsteps thumping around the room, and from time to time there was the sound of drawers opening and closing, as if he was looking for something. Fang cried out excitedly as Anthony approached, and Hagrid's movements in the room stopped.

Anthony knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Hagrid asked gruffly, "Harry? Henry?" He creaked the door open, revealing his bearded face.

Anthony smiled at him: "It's me." Fang squeezed his head out from beside Hagrid, panting and trying to pounce on him to lick him, but was stopped by Hagrid.

"Oh, Henry," Hagrid said, looking relieved, "Stay back, Fang, stay back!" He pulled the door open and made a gap.

Anthony squeezed in and asked curiously: "Are you waiting for someone?"

"No, no..." Hagrid said, "I just think... maybe..."

"Who are you waiting for?" Anthony asked, "Mr. Potter? - Fang!" The big black hound pounced on him and almost washed his face with saliva. Anthony supported Fang's weight, scratched its head, and tried to put its two front paws back on the ground.

Hagrid said: "Of course not, Harry and the others still have classes!" He grabbed Fang's collar with his hand and pulled it open.

"Then who are you waiting for?" Anthony was even more curious.

He walked to the table and cabinet, looking at the scattered parchment and several open books on them. Most of the parchments were blank, with a few saying "Hogwarts Zoo" or "Hogwarts Magical Zoo" on them, and most of the rest of the parchments had only a few large spots of ink on them.

"I'm waiting for Professor Kettleburn. I sent him an owl," Hagrid said, making tea for Anthony with a clatter. "Or Harry, Ron and Hermione, if they don't actually have classes. As you must have known, Professor McGonagall agreed to our proposal to build a zoo. However, she said we should write a plan - or a plan - or a report - or a proposal - or something like that." He scratched his head, "I have no idea what to write."

He turned his head and looked at Anthony again: "Henry, do you know how to write it?"

"I don't know." Anthony said quickly. He had never thought about how to open a zoo.

"Okay." Hagrid said disappointedly, putting the teacup in front of Anthony, "Then I'll think about it again..."

Anthony said: "What do you need to think about?"

"Name!" Hagrid said seriously, "Henry, which one is better? Magical Zoo, Hogwarts Magical Zoo, or Super Magical Magical Zoo?"