14 Everything is on track

Anthony thanked the headless Nick and continued walking towards the library. He probably knew what Nick was talking about.

Death

Anthony also experienced death. Water pressure entered his mouth and nose, and his vision went white and black for a while, and the world slowly receded into the distance. But he didn't understand what "this road" meant. He felt that this had something to do with why he became a necromancer when he woke up.

Mrs. Pince looked up and lowered her head again when she saw him walking in. Anthony goes to the library every once in a while, and even sits in the study area for a whole day when preparing for classes. He almost treats the library as his own study room. Mrs. Pince reminded him that the professor was not restricted by the number of books he could borrow. As long as the books were returned on time, he could take all the lesson preparation materials back to his room.

Anthony refused. He loved the smell of parchment and ink in the library and the soft footsteps of students walking through the bookshelves.

"Hogwarts: A School History" does not mention the origin of Peeves, but only records a few of his more destructive pranks. It seems that he has been here since the beginning of Hogwarts, and then one day the consequences of his prank were too serious, and the historian decided to record it in the school history, and then suddenly his head was slapped by someone when he was writing the record.

Interestingly, Anthony discovered that Professor Binns had been the History of Magic professor since the school was founded. He is known as "the knowledgeable Binns" and "the youngest master of the history of magic", and has a high reputation among students. If anyone (or a ghost) knows the origins of Peeves, it's Professor Binns.

Anthony made up his mind to visit Professor Binns.

Before, he had been a little worried that the ghosts could detect his identity as a necromancer, but now it seemed that they were not really curious. According to Headless Nick, Hogwarts ghosts and necromancy appear to have taken two different paths to death. Besides... Dumbledore hired him knowing that he was a necromancer, so maybe his identity as a necromancer wasn't a big deal.

Having said that, as he gradually learned about the wizarding world, he became increasingly confused as to why Dumbledore suddenly decided to hire him. Granted, the Ministry seemed determined to punish him - whether it was a dementor's kiss or having his hands chopped off or something - and Hogwarts was an easier option for him, but he didn't understand Dumbledore's motivations What considerations go into extending an invitation.

There is no doubt that allowing a necromancer who keeps skeletons as pets to enter Hogwarts is the safest arrangement the headmaster can make. Necromantic magic? Great, he can just take the students to do a general cleaning of the Forbidden Forest - when Anthony went to find Hagrid, he found that there were many magical bones buried deep in the dense forest hidden by trees, enough for him to invade Hogwarts.

…

After pushing the school history back to the bookshelf, Anthony stretched and walked slowly towards the hall. The corridors were filled with students going to dinner. Since the start of school, the elves in the school kitchen have changed their tricks every day to provide a variety of delicious food, with many more types than during holidays. Hopefully the elf has prepared steak pudding tonight, but he won't turn down a treacle pie either.

"Who is the crybaby in Gryffindor? Longbottom!" Anthony suddenly heard Peeves' voice, "Who is the unlucky guy who loses points every day? Longbottom! Who is the forgetful guy who can only remember to eat? Longbottom!"

Anthony walked over. A seemingly young student was blocked at the end of the corridor by Peeves, looking behind him frequently in anxiety and fear. His face was flushed with anxiety. Groups of students passed by Peeves, and occasionally cast helpless looks at the young Gryffindor. They hurriedly pretended not to notice, for fear that Peeves would change his target.

"Fat, stupid Longbottom! No one likes your Longbottom!" Peeves teased.

"Oh, Neville, why are you here?" Anthony was trying to go against the crowd of students when a girl holding two books much larger than her suddenly said loudly and strode to Neville's side, " Peeves, go away!"

"Hermione!" Neville called gratefully.

"Haha! Granger, who no one likes, comes to save Longbottom, who no one likes! Granger likes Longbottom!" Peeves chuckled, whipping up a gust of wind that made her parchment crackle. , "Granger - likes - Longbottom!"

Hermione shook her long brown hair away from her face impatiently: "This prank is really boring, okay? And you made a logical mistake. If I like Neville, then it's not like no one likes him. Logic, think about it, Peeves."

"Well said." Anthony finally squeezed into the range where he could influence Peeves, "Ravenclaw?"

"No, Gryffindor." Hermione said proudly, "Hermione Granger, first-year Gryffindor, Professor Anthony."

"Excellent argument, two points for Gryffindor." Anthony nodded, he had heard about her - the student who seemed to have previewed all the lessons throughout the semester - and then turned to Peeves, "Okay, the prank is over."

"What?" Peeves muttered, "Nasty thing" He grinned and looked back, "The nasty professor is holding me back!"

He was dragged into the empty room next door by Anthony. Peeves seemed to think this was quite funny. He smiled playfully without much resistance and broke a crystal lamp in the classroom.

Even though he was surrounded by the noisy conversations of students going to dinner, Anthony still heard Filch's angry roar downstairs.

"Let's go." He smiled at the two children. "Eating is a very important thing. Today's dinner is said to be very good."

Neville and Hermione thanked him and hurried toward the hall. Anthony heard Hermione lecturing Neville on the way.

"You shouldn't be afraid of him! There's nothing scary about Peeves, he only plays pranks."

"I've been deducted eight points since school started, all because of Peeves..."

"Oh, that really shouldn't have happened. I mean, I got two points from Peeves, right?"

Anthony stood guard in the corridor, worried that Peeves would come out again and harass the students who were going to eat. Peeves was much stronger than Anthony thought, and he didn't even seriously resist. This was the first time he encountered such an uncontrollable wraith since he mastered undead magic.

He leaned against the wall and greeted the students. The third-year Gryffindor seemed to have helped him spread the word a bit, and he saw many more smiling faces in the crowd than he expected.

He waited until the hallway was almost empty before going to the lobby.