Chapter 2718 The Land of Firebirds (Twenty-six)

On the first day of school every year, after completing the sorting ceremony and starting the banquet, Albus would deliver a brief speech on the owl podium. Usually it was the same thing, reminding students to abide by school rules and not go into the Forbidden Forest.

For students before fifth grade, they must return to the common room before 9 pm. They can do homework or have parties in the common room. This rule does not exist after sixth grade, because they are about to enter adulthood.

No more "kiddy" rules to follow.

Pomona stood on the moving staircase, waiting for it to turn to the platform she wanted to go to. At this time, the light sources in the castle had been extinguished, and the portraits had fallen into a deep sleep, not staring at her as described in the story.

.

The iris of the portrait does not rotate like that of a living person, but when the person looking at the painting changes the angle, the iris and pupil of the portrait seem to be no longer in their original position when viewed from the side. This is actually an illusion, just like the perspective effect

Portraits themselves also make use of people's visual illusions. The space occupied by the three-dimensional people in the paintings is only a two-dimensional plane, and the three-dimensional feeling is caused by the light and dark of the picture.

Soon the stairs stopped moving, and although no one could see her wearing an invisibility cloak, she still went upstairs with an elegant demeanor.

It wasn't a full moon tonight, and there wasn't much light because of the thick clouds, but she could see some things after getting used to it. So when she came to the tapestry where the troll beat Barnabas, although she couldn't see it clearly

pattern, but you can tell that you have arrived based on the rough outline of the tapestry.

Not only Dumbledore's Army, but also the house elves and Filch knew about the existence of the Room of Requirement. However, even a room that can satisfy anything you want has its rules. Generally speaking, only one person can enter at a time, unless

Those who enter later have the same needs as those who entered before. For example, like "Dumbledore's Army", they need a room where 28 people can practice Defense Against the Dark Arts without being known by any teacher. Otherwise, even if they know about the Room of Requirement

, will also be refused entry because they do not meet the requirements.

Severus should have already gone in, what kind of place would he want?

Pomona recalled his habit of always closing the classroom windows to keep the classroom dark when he was taking Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, so she guessed it was a black room.

But not too dark, like when he used candlelight to illuminate the oil paintings of tortured people in class.

A polished door appeared on the wall. She stretched out her hand, turned the brass handle, and pushed the door open. It was a dark room with only a fireplace beside the wall and a fire burning inside.

There is a sofa next to the fireplace, and wooden bookcases are arranged along the wall. If it had a window, it would be almost the same as the house in Spider End Alley.

She walked to the low table by the fireplace, where a gramophone stood, and when she placed the probe on it, soft music came out.

It wasn't Beethoven or Elvis Presley, but it was a piece of music with a soothing rhythm. Just when she was about to sit on the sofa for a while, the secret door behind the bookcase opened, and Snape had already taken off his cloak, Godless.

His dark eyes stared at her.

"Don't stand there." He said smoothly, "You look like a painting."

She felt very strange and subconsciously turned around to find an empty picture frame behind her.

"What do you want this for?" Pomona was a little creeped out. The frame reminded her of the curse that had trapped Phoebe for a year.

"Look what I found." He held a dusty wine bottle in his hand and two gold-rimmed glasses in his other hand.

"I know there are a lot of drunkards in this school." She looked at the bottle and thought it looked very familiar.

He opened the bottle and poured the red wine inside into the cup. If it weren't for the smell of grapes, she would have almost thought it was blood.

"You want me to investigate why Slughorn invited Astonia Greengrass." He handed a glass of wine to Pomona. "You are studying vampires. Do you know their recent situation?"

She didn't understand the relationship between the two, but she still took the glass.

"The Muggles hoped to gain the power of vampire immortality through the 'First Embrace', but there was no such ritual at all, so the Muggles gave up on them, just like they gave up on using alchemy to create the elixir." She frowned, "At least there is.

Muggles are like this, they don't lack 'food', but they lack money, and Romania is not a wealthy place."

Severus sat on the sofa with a wine glass and looked at her for a while, "Take off your clothes."

She wanted to throw the wine in her hand at his face.

"You can stand there all night." He said slowly and calmly, "If you don't agree to my request, I won't continue talking."

She knew what was going to happen next, so why not be generous?

The long skirt slid down her skin, making a rustling sound, and finally fell to the ground, looking like butter on a cake.

He took a sip of wine. "Not just them, but also wizard mercenaries. The Dark Lord is building an army."

"I'm not surprised," Pomona said. "Any other information?"

"Aren't you cold?" he said in a flattering manner.

"Won't you put some clothes on me, like a true gentleman?"

"Is this the reward you're talking about?" he said contemptuously.

She hesitated for a moment, then walked to the sofa and sat down on his lap.

"Can you tell me now?" Her fingertips drew circles on his chest.

"They are now in Malfoy Manor. Arthur Weasley came to search that day but failed because they received the news and evacuated early. The Ministry of Magic has their internal agents, and I believe that the Order of the Phoenix cannot organize another similar search.

.”

"That's it?" She unbuttoned a button on his chest and put her hand inside.

Maybe her hands were indeed too cold. He stiffened for a moment and then continued.

"Bella is very angry and she won't just let it go."

"What does she want to do?"

"I don't know, she doesn't believe me." He curled his lips and smiled at her, "But I don't think the Order of the Phoenix will like this 'Christmas gift'."

"So, Harry is staying at Hogwarts for Christmas?" She looked at her hands and moved them under his coat.

His heartbeat quickened.

"Give me a kiss." He made a new request.

"How can you talk if I kiss you?" she said with a smile. "Will Harry go back to Grimmauld Place for Christmas? The same as last year?"

"That will make him emotional, given his sentimental character." He put his hand on her leg, "Keep your voice down."

She didn't know what he did next, but she jumped off his lap with alarm and quickly grabbed the clothes on the ground.

"You didn't answer my question!" she said, meeting his angry gaze.

"I said that."

"You just said not to go back to the old Black house, but you didn't say what would happen if you stayed in school!" Pomona said immediately, "Is it because the school is unsafe?"

"I don't know," he whispered. "The Dark Lord gave Draco a mission."

"What mission?" Pomona asked.

After a moment of silence, Severus said, "We are talking about Astonia, don't change the subject."

She heard the annoyance in his voice and felt very comfortable sitting back on his lap again.

Then he let out a long sigh.

"He left a mess on me and went traveling by himself."

"Him? You mean Albus?"

"Slughorn invited a vampire to the party. He is an expert on blood." Severus whispered into her ear, "He came to confirm one thing."

"What's up?"

"Don't move." He warned, as if he was afraid that she would run away like she did just now.

Before sucking blood, vampire bats bite the animal's skin and lick the bleeding blood with their tongues. Because their saliva contains anticoagulant components, the wounds will not heal as quickly.

The bat often stays in its chosen spot for a few minutes, smelling and licking it, before biting, but it's disgusting and ugly and not a pleasant experience for the victim.

In the earliest vampire movies, beautiful women would scream when they saw monsters, but I don’t know when the image of vampires began to change.

He picked her up easily and walked towards the secret room behind the bookshelf. It was even darker inside than outside.

She grabbed the bookshelf and caught his eye.

"You haven't told me yet..."

"Astonia Greengrass may be a person of this generation who has been cursed by blood. The vampire is here to confirm this." He said impatiently, no longer being as coy as before. "Horace wants to

Study the curse on her."

"You called him Horace?" Pomona said in surprise. In fact, what she wanted to ask was whether the old slug had made Astonia human.

"What tricks are you playing again?" He looked at her in confusion.

It was difficult for her to explain clearly to him. The topic just now was like a basin of cold water, and no matter what kind of flame it was, it was extinguished.

"I didn't agree." He said as if trying to make up for it. "I think he crossed that line by doing this."

That line, what line?

"No wonder he would teach a lunatic like the Dark Lord." She said teasingly, "You did a great job."

Then she let go of her hand.

"You can take your reward."

She said with a smile, and then followed him into the darkness.

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To be continued...