"Oh, Miss Brown, why haven't you left yet? It will be lights-out time soon..."
In the warm little hall just now, Slughorn was about to pack his things and leave, but when he turned around, he found that there was still someone standing at the door. But probably because he had drunk some wine before, his eyes seemed a little wandering now.
Therefore, when he saw Lavender by the door, he squinted his eyes and looked carefully before asking a question slightly dully.
"Professor Slughorn, actually, I have something to ask you..." Lavender pretended to lower his head, deliberately showing an embarrassed look, "That's it... Actually, I want to ask you. Give me a bottle of anti-swelling agent.”
"Swelling agent? Are you injured?"
After all, Slughorn is an excellent Potions Master. Even in a drunken state, he can respond immediately when encountering problems related to his major.
"I think you should go to the school hospital. Pomfrey will cure you - she's always very capable!"
"Yes, you are right, but..." Lavender took two steps forward and said coquettishly, "Professor, I want to apply the medicine myself, but Madam Pomfrey will never allow me to do that. If you do it, you won’t even give me the potion.”
"Medicate yourself? Why?" Slughorn asked doubtfully, "Although there is nothing wrong with giving you a bottle of anti-swelling agent, after all, it is very cheap... But if you ask me, if you are injured, you still have to go to the campus hospital for a check-up. Good, because sometimes you may not be able to find the problem yourself. If it worsens because you delay treatment, that would be bad... Well, where are your injuries?"
When the old man asked this question, Lavender's eyes suddenly flashed with light.
"Oh... Professor Slughorn," she said shyly, "I'm hurt by... you... do you really want to know?"
As Lavender said this, she also "subconsciously" covered her collar, as if she felt some inappropriate gaze. At this moment, even if Slughorn didn't look at it at all, he couldn't help but have the illusion that "I seemed to have accidentally glanced at it just now."
"Uh... Ahem..." The old man cleared his throat awkwardly, and most of his initial drunkenness had dissipated, "Okay! If you just want a bottle of anti-swelling agent, of course it's no problem... You and I Let me do it! I left my medicine box in the office..."
"Thank you! Thank you very much..." Lavender quickly complimented, "I knew you would agree, because you are the kindest and most amiable professor I have ever seen!"
"Oh, it's really nothing-" Slughorn quickly walked to the door without looking back, "Of course, if something still doesn't feel right after taking the medicine, you have to go to the campus hospital, you know. Yet?"
"Okay, I understand." Lavender responded obediently in her sweet tone. For a moment, the old man's pace was obviously faster.
When the two of them arrived at Slughorn's office one after another, the old man just wanted Lavender to wait at the door, but the latter came forward first.
"I haven't been to your office yet! I heard that each professor's office has its own characteristics," Lavender said curiously, "Do you mind if I go in and take a look?"
While she was talking, she was staring at Slughorn with an expectant look, which made the old man feel overwhelmed.
"Of course I won't mind... I mean, if you're not worried about missing the lights-out time..."
As Slughorn stretched out his wand and tapped the doorknob, the door to the office immediately opened. And not long after he entered the office, Lavender followed closely.
But she looked around curiously, and the next moment, a box nearly half the height of a person came into her eyes. It actually looked a lot like a Muggle refrigerator, and it was an upright type.
"Is this your medicine box? It looks great!" Lavender said excitedly, "Professor, which floor is the anti-swelling agent?"
"Ah, it's the third floor from the top, on the left-" Seeing this, Slughorn had no choice but to raise his wand and point far away to open the potion box, "The light brown potion bottle , did you see it? I put a label on the bottle, it should be easy to find... "
"Light brown... um, is this it?" Lavender looked inside and around. The old man said the left side, but she kept looking around, as if she was looking for something.
Just when she heard Slughorn's footsteps getting closer and closer, she finally caught a glimpse of a familiar light in the corner of her eyes.
"Oh! I think I found it—"
Lavender picked up the light brown potion bottle with a white label from the third floor, then turned around, raised his right hand and shook it at the old man.
"Is this it? Professor?"
Unexpectedly, Slughorn had already walked up behind her, which startled her. Fortunately, she was already prepared, her face was tense and she didn't show anything strange.
"Yes, that's right..." The old man nodded and said, "You found the right one."
"This is so nice—"
Lavender was perfunctory in a serious manner, but the left hand hidden behind his back quietly explored the position he had just spotted. Because she had already placed her left hand there before, this grasp was quite accurate. The bottle of potion with a red label was directly held in her hand.
"Professor, um... Although this is what I asked you for, but..." After getting what she wanted, she started the pretentious mode again, "I can really take it away, can't I?"
"Of course, of course -" Slughorn waved his hand, "Don't worry too much, it's just a bottle of anti-swelling agent! Compared to this, I'm actually more worried about whether you will miss the lights-out time - look, I'm going to order it right away. Got it!"
As he spoke, he looked back at the clock on the wall. Lavender took the opportunity to put the potion bottle in his left hand into his pocket.
"Ah... this is really regrettable. I also want to take a good tour of your office!" She pretended to be disappointed and stamped her feet. "Professor, can I come over at another time in the future?"
"No problem, as long as I am here, you are welcome at any time." The old man smiled and said, "I can tell you about some students I have taught in the past. I believe you will be interested!"
"That sounds good," Lavender looked around in the office and walked towards the door, "Then... Professor, I will go back to the dormitory today... I wish you a good night!"
She walked out the door and was about to close the door to Slughorn's office, and then secretly breathed a sigh of relief when she suddenly heard another voice.
"Miss Brown...can you give me a reasonable explanation as to why you are here?"
This time she was completely unprepared, so she was finally frightened and trembled all over. Of course, the person who spoke was undoubtedly Snape, who was responsible for the inspection after lights out tonight. His cold tone left an impression on everyone.
"Of course, before you explain-" Snape said calmly, "Five points from Gryffindor."
…
While Lavender was secretly distressed by her misfortune, Harry and the others had already returned to the common room. Just because of a small thing, the three of them haven't gone to the dormitory to prepare for bed.
Right now, they were gathered around a round table, and then looked at a gift box placed on the table in the light coming from the window. This gadget was packaged beautifully, with ribbons and decorations. It was exactly the gift Slughorn had given to Hermione at the dessert tasting party.
It was said to be a gift, but in fact it was a prize that Hermione had won. According to Slughorn, he mixed Felixir into a box of chocolates to make it "more like a gift for a lady."
Unfortunately, whether it was still in a bottle or turned into chocolate like this, Hermione wasn't very interested. But because of the old man's face, she still accepted it.
"Harry, don't you think there may be no side effects? It's yours-" Hermione said, casually pushing the gift box containing chocolates in front of Harry.
"No, no, I just thought about it. Since it was Maka who said it, it shouldn't be wrong." Harry immediately pushed it back, "Besides, isn't this the prize the professor gave you? It's for you - "
"But I don't want it!" Hermione pushed it over again, "Don't push it over! No matter what, you can keep it or throw it away, but I don't want it anyway!"
After saying that, she turned around and left, heading straight for the stairs leading to the girls' dormitory. Harry picked up the gift box, looked around first, and then subconsciously looked at Ron beside him.
"Hey, don't look at me!" Ron quickly jumped to the side, "I get lucky first and then unlucky. I can't stand it - I'd rather nothing happen. My life is pretty good now!"
"Don't worry, I won't give it to you—" Harry immediately shook his head and said decisively, "I can't stand it if you just leave it around."
"Then don't go to my bedside table to take out the honey candies again!" Ron said angrily, "You are so rich, but you still come to steal candies from a poor man like me..."
"Isn't that because you always refuse when I invite you?" Harry rolled his eyes at him.
"Okay, don't talk about these useless things!" Ron suddenly snatched the gift box from Harry's hand and put it back on the table, "Leave it here! Whoever wants it can take it. It’ll be okay…”
"Then at least I have to leave you a reminder -" Harry took out the quill from his school bag and wrote on the gift box. Then he put away the pen and ink and clapped his hands, "Okay! We can go to bed!"
After saying that, the two of them walked back to the dormitory, arm in arm, and soon disappeared at the top of the stairs.