"If I can't get into Gryffindor, so be it. What's the big deal?" Ginny said indifferently from the other side. "My godfather also graduated from Slytherin. If you can't go to Gryffindor, just go to Slytherin."
"Ah? Then I'm afraid I'll be drowned by my grandma's spit. She said that Longbottom wizards have always graduated from Gryffindor, which is a symbol of courage." Neville scratched his head nervously.
"Don't put so much pressure on yourself. Your talent is actually very good. As long as you let nature take its course, your future achievements will be limitless," Alan said with a smile. He wasn't trying to fool Neville. Although Augusta had always been very strict with Neville, she never lacked necessary care, so Neville's physique was actually quite good—excellent material for martial arts.
"Thank you, Uncle Wilson." At this moment, Neville thought Alan was comforting him. Being introverted, he was always full of self-doubt, but he did feel a rare joy with Alan.
Seeing Neville still acting so dull, Alan didn't really mind. It takes a lot of time to change a person's personality. "Oh, Neville, you'll have another surprise after you enroll this year!"
"Oh? Really?" Neville raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Is something special going to happen at Hogwarts this year?"
"You'll know when the time comes." Alan kept him in suspense, then urged, "You two hurry up and wash up, then we'll eat together."
Ginny and Neville immediately cheered upon hearing this. The happiest thing for them when they came to Alan's place was probably being able to enjoy delicious food every day. Alan, in a good mood, rarely cooked himself, letting the two wizards have a good meal, and then personally saw them off as they returned home via the Floo Network.
After seeing off the two wizards, Alan, now free, returned to the briefcase space to continue working. His magic briefcase had been upgraded multiple times, and although the internal layout remained unchanged, the space inside was now more than double what it used to be. Now, more than half of the entire internal space was a magical animal breeding area. Of course, the magical animals raised were still those backup food ingredients, but after his careful care, the populations of Tebo warthogs and Re'ems had multiplied several times over. After all, just the few of them eating couldn't keep up with the reproduction rate of these creatures, and after years of nourishment from magical animal meat, their physical condition had improved significantly.
At this point, Alan's magic power reserves alone were approaching the two thousand-point mark, reaching 1863 points. Of course, this wasn't solely due to eating magical animal meat; it was more so achieved through the many battles he fought with his sword.
After his trip to Germany, Alan conducted various tests on the life force and magic power absorbed by Eclipse and compared them to the life essence extracted from the Life Transmutation array. He found that the life energy extracted by Eclipse was indeed purer. In addition to Permanent Energy Absorption at work, Wild Thunder also had an energy refining effect. After all, the birth of Wild Thunder originated from a Thunderbird that wanted to complete its life evolution. Therefore, in this original magic rune, in addition to containing world-destroying power, there was also a hidden ability to purify energy.
Of course, the life energy purified by Eclipse also had some shortcomings compared to the transmutation array: the amount extracted was relatively small. Alan could only get a feedback of ten to twenty points for each ordinary wizard he killed, but because the energy purity was extremely high, when it was fed back into his body, it could directly increase his life and magic power upper limit. The reason he acted as a bounty hunter in the United States, aside from grudges and bounties, was primarily to experience the sublimation of life essence through killing. His current magic power reserves also indirectly show how many wizards have fallen under his sword.
Alan, who stayed in the United States for about a year, even earned a formidable reputation in both the underworld and the legitimate world, indirectly causing the local crime rate to drop significantly, almost to the point where children would stop crying at night. And the final harvest was very significant. Alan could even feel that if he continued this way, he might achieve immortality just by killing people.
But after discovering this, he didn't appear particularly happy; on the contrary, he felt a hint of fear. Alan was not a bloodthirsty person, but he found that he was becoming increasingly indifferent to life. This change in his state of mind made Alan very uncomfortable. He didn't like this feeling of losing control, so Alan had rarely taken action himself in the past year or two. He needed some time for self-adjustment, so Alan put a lot of energy into the company's business and the teaching and cultivation of Ginny and Neville.
And the effect of doing so was very obvious. He could feel that he was less indifferent now and had more of a human touch. Therefore, accepting Dumbledore's invitation to return to Hogwarts was not entirely for the many conditions the other party promised.
After a moment of thought, Alan plunged into the laboratory. Teaching hundreds of wizards was very different from training Aurors, and he needed to do more preparations for it. At the same time, Alan did not neglect the Magic Communication System business undertaken by the company. After Bones accepted his invitation and returned to Britain, Alan began the long-term Alchemy Room construction project. Working at the Ministry of Magic during the day and coming back at night to scold the two young brats for being lazy and preparing teaching aids, the days passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed.
And the time had also come to July 15th, the date Alan and Dumbledore had agreed upon for the new school year planning meeting.
...
In the Hogwarts staff common room, Severus Snape, who had just walked in, looked at Dumbledore and McGonagall at the conference table with a look of displeasure.
"This is simply ridiculous! Why do we have to hold such a strange meeting during the holidays? I've told you already, inviting that kid back is not a good idea. Look, school hasn't even started yet, and he's already giving us orders!"
"Don't be so irritable, Severus. This will only take up less than half a day of our time. Alan naturally has his reasons for calling us for a meeting. I'm quite curious about what he'll share with us," Dumbledore said to Snape indifferently, trying to comfort him.
"I know that guy's tricky mind perfectly well. As soon as you give him an inch, he'll take a mile. Maybe he'll even assign us some strange tasks, as if he's the Headmaster." Snape felt uncomfortable all over whenever he recalled the time when Alan dominated Slytherin.
"Why do you have such a prejudice against Alan? He helped you a lot in the house back then, didn't he? If it weren't for him, Slytherin wouldn't have won the House Cup for seven consecutive years!" McGonagall glared at Snape in displeasure.
Of course, she was very annoyed. Back then, Slytherin House and Gryffindor were both slacking off, but because of Alan's sudden emergence, Slytherin House transformed into the school's dominant force, while her Gryffindor remained the same. And now Snape still had the nerve to speculate about their meritorious student.
*It's precisely because I understand him well enough that I know how terrifying that kid is. He's a guy who doesn't care about his life when he's messing with people,* Snape couldn't help but complain in his heart.
"I also think inviting Alan back to school isn't a bad idea!"
While the people in the common room were arguing, they suddenly heard Flitwick's laughter. They turned their heads and saw Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, Hagrid, and Madam Pomfrey walking in one after another.
After sitting down, Flitwick continued to laugh, "Alan is a big name in the academic world now. I can guarantee that just the news of him joining Hogwarts will be a big story, which is a great thing for our school."
Flitwick was overjoyed when he learned that Alan was returning to Hogwarts. As his most outstanding student, the achievements of the other party even made Flitwick proud, not to mention that many products of the company also had his patent shares. The annual dividends alone made it impossible for him to feel any ill will toward Alan.
"Heh, since when did Hogwarts start to take pride in someone's joining? The resume of a Hogwarts professor seems more commendable!" Snape, standing next to him, curled his lips in disdain.
"You can't say that. Hogwarts is proud to have a Headmaster like Dumbledore. Alan joining the school is good news in itself," Hagrid also spoke up in his booming voice, defending Alan.
"You're close to him, so of course you're speaking up for him." Snape looked up at Hagrid speechlessly. The big guy had been speaking much louder ever since he became a shareholder of the company. He got angry every time he saw the other party pairing that pile of luxurious accessories with his old leather jacket.
And just as everyone was still arguing back and forth, the door to the staff common room opened again, and everyone saw Alan, dressed in a formal suit, slowly walking into the room, holding a thick stack of parchment.
"Hey, Alan, long time no see!" Seeing Alan appear, Hagrid immediately stood up with a laugh and walked over, giving the other party a firm hug.
"I remember we were fishing together two weeks ago; don't be so mushy," Alan, who was completely squeezed into Hagrid's belly, muttered with a wry smile.
After breaking free from the enthusiastic Hagrid, he finally found a moment to greet the professors one by one.
"Professor Snape, you still look as distinguished as ever after all these years." Alan greeted the others, then smiled at Snape. Why was this guy's hair still so greasy? Doesn't he know how to wash his hair?