"The Forbidden Forest may indeed have some secrets, but they have nothing to do with me."
Riddle's face quickly returned to normal, and he said calmly, "I have only been here for less than half a year since I acquired this body. I know nothing about this vast forest."
"Really?" Dracula said noncommittally. "Then tell me, why did you make so many stupid mistakes when capturing magical animals? It doesn't look like you were collecting teaching materials. Instead, you seemed to be harming animals."
Dracula and Riddle stared at each other, staring at him with scrutiny, and a heavy pressure slowly weighed down on him.
"Okay, I admit that I went to the Forbidden Forest not just to capture magical animals as teaching materials..." After a moment, Riddle finally couldn't stand the pressure from Dracula and changed his words, "I actually wanted to practice and improve my spellcasting ability."
"Practice spellcasting ability?" Dracula frowned.
"Yes, I have a lot of complicated spellcasting techniques in my memory, as well as a lot of powerful magic, but this body is still too new after all, and it's difficult to integrate the spellcasting techniques in my memory." Riddle said.
"So I need to find some hostile creatures to help me practice casting spells. Only in this way can I gradually improve my strength."
Dracula glanced at him indifferently, took out a blood-flavored lollipop from the drawer of his desk, and peeled off the outer packaging of the candy.
"In order to improve your spellcasting ability, you went to the Forbidden Forest to kill magical animals?" He put the lollipop into his mouth and said casually, "Why don't you find a wizard in Hogwarts to be your sparring partner?"
"There are so many professors here, there will always be someone willing to help you. Even if there is absolutely no professor willing to help you, you can just run to Slytherin and scold Professor Snape. I think he will definitely be willing to fight with you for a few moves."
Dracula had a lollipop in his mouth with a playful expression.
"Hmm... I didn't think of that," Riddle smiled implicitly, "For a newcomer like me who has just arrived at Hogwarts, I always feel that it is not appropriate to trouble other professors because of this kind of thing."
"What's inappropriate about this? We're all colleagues, and you don't look much older than the students. They treat you with the same patience as they treat the little wizards." Dracula chuckled, "I don't think you feel it's inappropriate, but you clearly have other intentions!"
The reason Riddle made up on the spur of the moment was so fake that there was no need to doubt its authenticity. It simply could not stand up to scrutiny.
I don’t know why this teaching assistant, who should be very smart in theory, made up such an unrealistic excuse.
Was it because he had never thought that his actions in the Forbidden Forest would be discovered, or did he think that this matter was open enough to leave it undisclosed
"Riddle, don't hide anything, otherwise you should know the consequences." Dracula put on a cold expression.
But with the lollipop in his mouth, his cold expression seemed a bit out of place...
"Professor Dracula, I really can't tell you this secret." Riddle shook his head helplessly, "If I tell you like this, it might make you unhappy."
"But the fact that you're hiding it now is just making me even more unhappy." Dracula said coldly.
There was suddenly a light in Dracula's eyes, and he stared straight into Riddle's eyes.
Some vague images emerged from Riddle's eyes, but these unclear images quickly disappeared.
"Compared to your spellcasting skills, you're pretty good at Occlumency," Dracula sneered.
"After all, in order to guard against Dumbledore's snooping, my main soul paid the most attention to this during school." Riddle smiled, "and his Legilimency gradually became more proficient as a result."
Dracula looked at Riddle again, waved his hand, and drove him out of the office.
He stood up from his chair, tasting the blood-flavored lollipop in his mouth, feeling the salty taste on the tip of his tongue, while thinking about the secrets in the forbidden forest.
Even though Riddle's brain-blocking technique is already among the best in the magic world, no wizard can make his mental protection perfect when facing Dracula's mental spying.
From the images just shown, Dracula saw an ancient building filled with endless swarms of snakes.
Dracula was once very familiar with this place, but he never bothered to recall it.
If Riddle's abnormal behavior in the Forbidden Forest was to find this place, then Dracula would indeed be unhappy about it and would be too lazy to pay attention to him.
That was a place he didn't want to mention for a long time.
…
Christmas dawned.
The weather was cold and everything was white.
Looking out of the window of Gryffindor Tower, one could barely see the spire of the opposite tower, nor the Quidditch pitch or the frozen Black Lake.
The wind and snow roared around Hogwarts Castle, raising a cloud of snow dust in the air. The snow seemed to be a piece of white brocade, spinning and falling from the sky one after another, making the young wizards who stayed in school feel cold from the bottom of their hearts.
In the Gryffindor second-year dormitory, which was usually bustling with activity, only Harry and Ron were left.
It was almost noon when Ron sat up from the bed, hugging his pet mouse Scabbers and stretching lazily.
"Harry, how are you preparing your Christmas presents this year?" He saw Harry sitting by the window opening presents, yawning and asking vaguely.
"Everyone else's Christmas presents are almost prepared, but there's still one missing and I don't know what to prepare," Harry responded.
Harry unwrapped a small package, and his owl, Hedwig, stood on a nearby table, watching him curiously.
The little parcel had been from the Dursleys - they had given Harry a toothpick for Christmas, and a short note asking him to find out if he could stay at Hogwarts for the summer vacation as well.
In fact, Harry also wanted to stay in Hogwarts during the summer vacation, but unfortunately Hogwarts never agreed to the little wizard's request.
"Is there another gift that hasn't been prepared yet?" Ron glanced at the bad weather outside the window. "Then you might have to hurry up, otherwise the owl won't be able to deliver the gift on the same day in such heavy snow."
"I know." Harry said, "The gifts that needed to be sent to places a little further away were mailed last night. The remaining gift is at Hogwarts, so it will definitely be delivered that day."
"Gifts inside Hogwarts?" Ron asked in surprise. "Why hesitate? The classmates are all about the same anyway, so why not just pick a few and give them out?"
He moved closer to Harry and looked at the signature on the envelope, "Hey, you haven't prepared Professor Dracula's gift yet?"
"Yeah, I don't know what to give Professor Dracula," said Harry.
"Isn't this easy?" Ron slapped his thigh and said decisively, "Didn't we analyze this last Christmas? Professor Dracula's favorite things are wine and lollipops. My choice of vodka and Sunshine Orange Flavored Lollipop is absolutely fine!"
As he spoke, he took out a bottle of vodka from his pile of gifts and placed it in front of Harry, "I bought an extra bottle of vodka, I can lend it to you!"
"Um... Ron, I was actually wondering if Professor Dracula would dislike vodka?" Harry took a look at the bottle of legendary water of life and fell into hesitation.
"I remember that after last Christmas, both of our Defense Against the Dark Arts homework was sent back for rewriting... Do you think it was because Professor Dracula was not satisfied with our gifts?"
"No way?" Ron was stunned for a moment, "My analysis should be correct, and is Professor Dracula so petty?"
'Professor Dracula is so petty!'
Harry complained secretly but didn't dare say it out loud, for fear that the walls might have ears and the narrow-minded Professor Dracula might hear it.
"Ron, the general direction of your analysis should be correct..." Harry said reasonably, "But when Professor Dracula usually drinks, he always drinks red wine very elegantly from a goblet, which seems to be different from the 'ton ton ton' temperament of vodka."
"It seems to make sense." Ron fell into deep thought.
"So I think we should buy some high-quality red wine!" Harry raised his head confidently.
"But where can we buy high-end red wine in this weather?" Ron muttered softly, "Besides, Professor Dracula would definitely not like ordinary red wine, and we don't have that much money to buy such luxury goods."
Harry's head drooped as he heard what Ron said.
"So what should we do?" Harry said dejectedly, "I don't want to be punished to rewrite my homework again because of the gift."
Ron held his chin, thinking, with a wise expression on his face.
"I get it!" He clapped his hands vigorously. "Although we don't have the money to buy the most expensive red wine, we can make the most unique red wine!"
"What?" Harry asked.
"Look, Harry, the main difference between vodka and red wine is actually the color. Drinking vodka from a goblet would look weird." Ron said confidently, "But what if we dye the transparent vodka red?"
"Huh?" Harry opened his mouth.
He always felt that there was something wrong with Ron's ideas, but he couldn't tell what was wrong. In short, he felt that they were somewhat unreliable.
"Don't worry, Professor Dracula must also want to taste vodka, a high-proof liquor, but he thinks it's not elegant enough and damages his image, so he thinks our gift is not good enough." Ron said.
"But what if vodka turns red? As long as it is disguised as red wine and packed in a high-end red wine bottle, Professor Dracula can openly use a high-heeled glass to hold vodka and drink it elegantly."
Ron's eyes became brighter and brighter, and his expression became more and more confident.
"Come on, Harry, let's go to Greenhouse No. 1 and pick some cockscombs." He put on his thick coat, pulled Harry and rushed out of the dormitory. "It's Christmas now, there must be no one in the greenhouse. My plan is completely feasible!"
Harry was dragged by Ron, stumbling all the way to the greenhouse in the northeast corner of the castle.
He was a little hesitant about Ron's fantastic idea, but he couldn't stand his best friend's overconfidence, and he didn't hear any of Harry's doubts...
…
At night, the wind and snow outside had not stopped yet, the wind was blowing hard, and people outside wrapped their robes tightly.
But on the contrary, the Hogwarts Great Hall was warm under the effect of magic.
At the Christmas dinner, everyone enjoyed the food with gusto.
The auditorium looked majestic, and thousands of candles in the sky emitted a bright yet gentle light.
There are more than a dozen frosted Christmas trees scattered throughout the hall, and on the ceiling there are many beautiful criss-cross ribbons of mistletoe and holly.
Magical snow was gently falling from the ceiling, warm and dry, not as cold as the snowflakes in the cold wind outside.
Dumbledore led the young wizards in singing some of his favorite Christmas carols.
Although these carols sung by the young wizards were out of tune, out of tune, or had broken voices... but compared to the Hogwarts school song, at least there was a standard tune, so the singing didn't completely lose its tune and become just random singing.
As Hagrid sang, he drank cup after cup of eggnog, and his voice became louder and louder. In the end, his ghostly howling voice was the only thing that could be heard in the hall...
Percy Westley also did not go with the Westleys to visit their eldest son, Bill, but he explained to the other young wizards that he stayed over Christmas only because, as an excellent student, he had the responsibility to support the professors during the holiday when staff were scarce.
So, Fred, who couldn't bear to watch, secretly cast a spell on his brother, adding a few small letters to the "P" on his prefect badge, which represented prefect, and changed it to "Pinhead".
Percy was totally oblivious and kept asking everyone what they were laughing at.
During this lively Christmas dinner, Dracula sat bored in his professor's seat, watching the little wizards laughing and playing, and even some professors joined in.
He casually took out a bottle of red wine that he didn't know where he got it from and poured it into the goblet in front of him.
The red wine in the goblet is crystal clear, with a slightly purple color, which looks particularly tempting.
Dracula nodded with satisfaction, raised the glass to his lips gracefully, and took a sip...
"puff-"
The "red wine" in Dracula's mouth instantly sprayed all over Snape's face who was sitting opposite him.
"Dracula!" Snape stood up suddenly, gnashing his teeth and pulling out his wand. The wine on his face was still dripping onto the table. "If you are trying to provoke me, then I admit that you did it!"
"I'm sorry, Professor Snape." Dracula knew he was in the wrong, so he cast a cleaning spell on Snape's hooked nose and cleaned up his greasy hair. "This glass of wine is a bit unexpected..."
"Vodka?" He looked at the bottle of high-end red wine in front of him, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.
Dracula immediately thought of the bottle of red wine he had picked up from a pile of Christmas gifts. Potter and Weiss, who were still thinking about gifts, finally learned their lesson and knew his preferences...
Now all the new and old grudges are settled together, plus that bottle of vodka and Sunshine Orange lollipop from last Christmas, these two can basically be declared dead!
"How about this, Professor Snape..." Dracula looked at Snape, who looked somewhat handsome after his hair was no longer greasy. "As compensation, I will send back the homework from Potter and Weiss to rewrite it once, no, three times!"
After hearing Dracula's compensation, Snape thought for a moment and his angry expression gradually calmed down.
"make a deal!"
He nodded heavily and sat back in his seat.
Offstage, Harry and Ron, who were bickering with Draco Malfoy, suddenly felt a chill down their spines...
…
…