Volume 1 Chapter 45 Filch
"They all look down on Squibs!"
Filch's voice was hoarse with a sense of wanton venting.
"They think that people like me are not worthy of being in the wizarding world. That's right! How can someone who can't even cast a spell and isn't even qualified to hold a wand be called a wizard? Squibs! Squibs! A firecracker that doesn't fire is just trash! Trash! Everyone thinks so! Everyone!"
Neville seemed to feel sorry for Filch at this moment, and he said something comfortingly.
"But the professors at Hogwarts don't think so..."
"That was only to save Dumbledore's face!" he roared. "I know they all despise me! Lily Potter never takes the initiative to talk to me! McGonagall has never treated me well in the past twenty years! Slughorn even wanted to humiliate me on the night of the first attack on Hogwarts. I was locked in the office alone and was very scared! He didn't let me out until very late!"
As Jon listened to his "accusations", he felt that Lily and McGonagall were treating him like that purely because of his attitude towards students, and it had nothing to do with the Squib incident. As for Slughorn... he had always been like that to people who weren't outstanding, but he certainly wouldn't take the initiative to humiliate them.
So Jon was quite curious about his last words.
"You were locked up that night? Who did it? The man hiding in the coach?"
"Who knew that I didn't have any magic and couldn't cast the unlocking spell? If that person really thought I was in the way, he would just secretly lock the door! It must be Slughorn! He knew that I was a Squib and had no way to open the locked room, so he locked me in the office to embarrass me!"
Filch screamed, as if he had made up his mind and would not listen to any explanation from others.
Jon could only comfort him.
"Don't be sad, Filch. We don't look down on you because you're a Squib, and we won't tell anyone about this. We only come to ask you because we suspect there's something wrong with you not using magic."
"Is there a problem?" Filch's eyes bulged. Just because he was a bad person didn't mean he was a fool. "Do you think I would do something to let down Hogwarts? Am I crazy? Or are you crazy?"
Ron turned his head away guiltily. He didn't expect that Filch would reveal the matter of the Squib after just saying a few words to John. Now it was of course impossible for Filch to be an undercover agent.
"Now that we are sure that you are really a Squib, there will definitely be no such suspicion. I am sorry to bother you today."
Jon said in an apologetic voice. He himself had no prejudice against Squibs, but he also felt that the administrator had a terrible character.
"Is what you just said true?" Filch stared at John. He obviously realized that among these four people, this boy was their core. "Don't tell anyone else..."
Jon shrugged: "This is your privacy. If you think it should be kept confidential, we will keep it confidential."
"Ah... thank you...thank you." He thanked them dryly, obviously not very familiar with saying such words.
Jon and the other three left the office, and in the corridor, Ron said dejectedly.
"I didn't expect that he was actually a dud..." But he seemed to still be unwilling to give up, and speculated again to prove his idea, "But these are all what he said. Maybe he actually wants to use the incident of the dud to cover up his suspicion?"
His guess was a bit too far-fetched. This time even Justin felt that Ron was making a baseless guess. At this moment, a burly figure happened to walk towards them.
"Hi, Hagrid." Jon greeted Hagrid who was looking for something on the corridor.
Seeing Jon and the others, a smile appeared on Hagrid's face.
"Good morning, Jon."
"Are you looking for Biqi again?"
"Yes, it has been unruly lately, always running around in the carriage. I was afraid it might steal something, so I came in to look for it." Hagrid said with a frown, "Have you seen it?"
Jon shook his head.
"No, if I had seen it I would have caught it and sent it to you. By the way, we have something to ask you." In order to make Ron give up completely, Jon said, "Do you know why Filch never uses magic ? We are very curious about this."
Neville and the others around him immediately pricked up their ears, and after hearing his question, Hagrid's face showed obvious surprise, obviously not expecting him to ask this.
After looking around to make sure there was no one else , Hagrid bent down and approached Jon and the others.
"You actually discovered this. Of course I know the reason, but I can't tell you. After all, this is his personal privacy, and he cares about it very much, so even if the professors in the school know about it, no one will talk about it."
This answer said nothing but also said everything, which was very consistent with Hagrid's big mouth and his character of wanting to keep secret things he promised but couldn't.
After separating from Hagrid, Ron was completely speechless, but all their efforts only cleared Filch of suspicion. There was still no clue as to the whereabouts of the intruder hiding in the carriage.
"Don't overthink it. Let the professors handle this matter. Taking good care of ourselves is the greatest help we can give them."
Neville agreed with Jon's words very much. Ron and Justin finally went back to their dormitories obediently. It seemed that after today's incident, they would be able to live in peace for a while.
After returning to the dormitory, Jon picked up the parchment filled with spell pronunciation combinations again, but this time he couldn't calm down. A certain sentence he heard in Filch's office kept lingering in his mind.
In the end, he simply gave up trying and leaned back in his chair, staring blankly at the scenery outside the window that was constantly receding.
Neville, who was revising his Transfiguration paper, raised his head and looked at him strangely.
"What's wrong?"
Jon shook his head silently and spoke softly.
"Nothing, just thinking about something, something not so good."
…
Life after the Christmas holidays did not change much for the little wizards on the carriage. Just as Jon said, the greatest help they could give to the professors was as long as they could take care of themselves and not cause trouble to the school.
Jon also tried all the pronunciation combinations of the levitation spell before February, and finally determined that the pronunciation that was completely opposite to the normal levitation spell was the most suitable spell for him to cast on himself using the ring.
After confirming all this, Jon found Slughorn , wanting to learn from him how to improve the effect of the levitation spell.
Obviously, compared to just reducing weight and increasing jumping ability and speed, what Jon wants more is to be able to fly relying solely on his own abilities.
