A ruined Hogwarts

"Ding-a-ling-ding-a-ling--"

The black wooden pendulum clock on the wall swayed with a small silver bell, and the clear and melodious sound of the alarm woke Owen up from his peaceful and dreamless sleep.

He opened his eyes in confusion, watching the curtains beside the bed gently roll up, and the alarm ringing in his ears stopped. The silver embroidered curtains automatically folded to both sides, letting the bright and soft morning sunlight shine on his pale cheeks.

Owen stretched out and accidentally tipped Melete, who was sleeping on his chest. Melete jumped up high with a "meow", then shook her big furry ears, and glared at him resentfully and helplessly with her bright golden eyes, like an old man looking at his incompetent and stupid son. Mother.

Owen hugged Melete and curled up into a ball like a lazy cat. He stroked the cat up and down, and then let go of the little guy with explosive hair.

He got up from the bed, put on a simple dark green silk robe, and stood in front of the mirror to straighten his hair. The little wizard in the mirror moved gracefully and calmly, but his bottomless black eyes seemed to lead to a lightless abyss. He blinked slowly, and the look in his eyes became clear and bright in an instant, and he looked like a man. A child.

Owen squinted at himself in the mirror and smiled, then quickly shook his right hand. A card flew out of his empty hand, spinning rapidly and knocking aside a wooden pole by the window, and then fell aside. on the table. The windows opened in response, and the soothing breeze blew the curtains, bringing an elegant and charming floral fragrance.

The white roses surrounding Shafiq Manor are in full bloom, making this ancient manor seem to be immersed in a sea of ​​flowers, like a dream castle in a fairy tale.

Owen walked through the corridor hung with portraits of his ancestors and beautiful tapestries, and walked down the escalator to the restaurant on the first floor. Melete followed him with graceful cat steps, raising her increasingly handsome little head high and jumping up and down the edge of the escalator's handrail nimbly.

"Good morning, Dad." Owen greeted as he sat down at the dining table and picked up an omelette and jam sandwich.

Mr. Albert was leisurely drinking a cup of morning tea, holding a copy of the Daily Prophet in his hand. He raised his head and glanced at Owen: "Good morning, Owen. Are you down so early? Let me tell you, you should sleep well after the holiday. Just take a nap, look, your mother hasn’t gotten up yet..."

"So what, Albert?" Ms. Adeline walked slowly over and leaned against the door and said with a smile. She wore a simple yet stylish dark blue velvet robe, and her black curly hair hung naturally on her shoulders. She was elegant and calm with a charming charm.

"Ah, I envy this state of sleep." Albert smiled and turned to look at Adeline, "Adeline, why did you get up so early today?"

"You haven't forgotten to clean things at home, have you, Albert?" Adeline sat down and said in a slightly hoarse voice.

"Oh, I remember." Albert put the newspaper aside and rubbed his forehead with a headache, "The Ministry of Magic recently planned to inspect magic items... Those people in the Department for the Prohibition of the Misuse of Magic Items are really busy. Why bother? What? They work so hard and they won’t get a salary increase."

"It's actually a good idea to take this opportunity to clean up the manor. Last month I was supposed to have encountered a Boggart in a secret door on the second floor, but I couldn't find it anymore." Adeline said slowly, " How many years has it been since we took a careful inventory of our house?”

"To be honest, it's probably more than a hundred years ago. Maybe you can find something from hundreds of years ago in some secret room." Albert smiled and spread his hands, then looked at Owen who was eating seriously, "Owen, if If you're going to need the suitcase with the Invisible Stretch Charm, hide it carefully from Ministry investigators - I don't want to do a lot of paperwork."

"I'll let Wendy bring it back later." Owen said with a smile and fed Melete a sausage.

"Great, can I see the surprise I've been thinking about?" Albert raised his eyebrows.

"Of course, I hope you won't be too surprised when the time comes." Owen blinked his left eye lightly and said with a mysterious smile.

The Philosopher's Stone was of no use to him, at least not yet. He is not short of money, and there is no need to consider the issue of immortality at the moment. After all, he is still a child. He wants to study the magic stone and does not have the corresponding alchemy level. It is better to leave it to his parents who may need it more for safekeeping.

"Surprised?" Albert laughed and said, "I haven't been surprised for several years. Even if the black market agent took the store's money and ran away, I just gently asked him to read "Forget" to him. He cursed it and threw it into Azkaban."

"What about ungrateful means?" Owen raised his eyebrows.

"That is not something that children should be exposed to." Albert said, "It is now a time of peace, and the law is a good thing to use."

"Owen, you opened a bookstore in Knockturn Alley?" Adeline suddenly said softly.

"It seems like nothing can be hidden from you." Owen said helplessly, "Did something happen?" He knew that if something hadn't happened, his parents would not mention such a small matter to him.

"It's not a big deal. You know, Knockturn Alley has always been a mess. After all, there are many dark wizards living there." Adeline said unconcernedly, "There will always be some people trying out the shades of a newly opened store. We I secretly helped you deal with several temptations."

Her pair of deep and quiet dark green eyes stared at Owen, and she said in a soothing tone: "I want to ask you what you think, whether you want to continue to develop independently, or directly use the banner of Shafiq."

"Let it take its own course, no need to look after it anymore." Owen said casually, with a nonchalant expression, "I just did it on a whim, and I had no intention of developing it."

"Really? The woman looking after the store is actually pretty good." Albert smiled. He suddenly realized that there was an ambiguity in his words, so he coughed lightly and added: "My hands and feet are very clean, I haven't had any evil intentions, and my troubles have been cleaned up. It's still worth cultivating."

"You all investigated clearly." Owen shook his head and smiled.

"There is no way, we also have to prevent you from being defrauded of money and sex by dark wizards..." Albert returned to his usual cynical state. After receiving a sideways look from Adeline, he quickly changed his words and said, "Ahem, lest you be deceived. Kidnapping or something.”

"I know, thank you." Owen smiled and narrowed his eyes. It feels good to be a simple kid in front of your parents.

After breakfast, while his parents were dealing with contraband at home, Owen snapped his fingers and summoned the house elf Wendy.

"Wendy, has anything strange happened near the cave recently?" he asked calmly.

"There's nothing unusual, Master!" Wendy said sharply, her voice sounding flattered at all times.

"Bring it back." Owen nodded.

"Understood, Master!" Wendy apparated away with a "pop", but less than a minute later, she appeared on the spot with a burst of explosions, holding the black suitcase in her hand.

"Thanks, Wendy." Owen said, carrying the box.

"It is Wendy's honor to serve the young master!" The house elf bowed deeply with tears in her eyes, excited for Owen's polite "thank you".

Owen came to his parents' study stiffly, staying away from the house elf who had a slight psychological shadow on him.

"Want to come in and take a look?" He shook the box in his hand at his parents, smiling innocently.

"Oh? I want to see what you got in it." Albert casually took the box and raised his eyebrows.

Adeline rubbed Owen's head lovingly, then gently pinched his pale face with her long white fingers, frowned slightly and said, "I think you should get more sun, Owen."

Owen endured the cold fingertips pinching his cheeks, and after a moment he hid aside, deftly avoiding his father's secretly extending paws, and said with a smile: "Of course, I quite like to bask in the sun. "

He watched the couple enter the suitcase, then sit quietly on the chair next to the desk, open an old spell book and wait. The levels in the box are basically no longer dangerous, and the remaining levels will definitely not be a problem for the two of them. After all, they did not think that those levels were set by Dumbledore under Owen's psychological suggestion, and they treated them as a game for their parents to play. A real-life escape room mini-game.

Melete jumped into the box unwillingly, intending to join in the fun.

Time passed by, and after almost thirty minutes, the couple left the suitcase, and then stared at Owen without saying a word.

Ms. Adeline held the bright red magic stone tightly in her hand, and her face, which had always remained calm even when the mountain collapsed, had a rare look of disbelief. Mr. Albert's eyes widened unabashedly, his mouth slightly opened, and he looked at Owen as if he was sizing up an alien creature.

"Philosopher's Stone?" Albert spoke first. He held his forehead and wiped it on his face: "I admit, I was really scared. Owen, don't tell me that you robbed the treasure house of a well-known alchemist master... "

"Not really." Owen said slowly, then changed his words, "But the nature is similar."

Albert frowned tightly, as if he was enduring something. Adeline stared at Owen quietly, her beautiful dark green eyes reflecting a soft shimmer, like a quiet lake.

"To put it simply, Nico Flamel discovered that someone was coveting his Philosopher's Stone, so he gave it to Dumbledore for safekeeping. Dumbledore placed the Philosopher's Stone in Hogwarts Castle for the purpose of luring the snake out of its hole. "He introduced danger into the school." Owen said lightly, "The magical animals that broke into the castle on Halloween and the subsequent fire in the Forbidden Forest were all the work of those who were attracted."

"I accidentally discovered this incident and accidentally got involved. So I designed the mechanism in the box and got the Sorcerer's Stone in my hand by a trick." Owen said calmly with his fingers crossed on his chin.

"Owen, you...really..." Albert suddenly waved his fist hard, with a smile on his face as if he wanted to eat a child, "What a great job! From Dumbledore and a group of people with evil intentions In the hands of the wizard, the fishermen profit..."

"You participated in such a dangerous thing silently, and you didn't even know to tell us?" He suddenly stepped forward, gritted his teeth and rubbed Owen's hair hard, making his well-groomed and smooth black hair look like a mess. A hen's nest. "What do you want me and your mother to do if something happens to you? Brat, have you forgotten that you are only in the first grade?"

Owen was caught off guard and could only raise his hands to resist his father's ravage, but his strength was still too weak compared to an adult. After resisting to no avail, he began to let his father knead him like dough.

At this time, Ms. Adeline, who had always been silent, said calmly: "Are you sure Dumbledore won't have any means to track it?"

Owen took advantage of his father's moment to break free, rubbed his sore face and said, "I had a conversation with Dumbledore afterwards. Judging from his attitude, he didn't know that the Sorcerer's Stone was in my possession." In his hand. The method he left on the magic stone has been cracked. Without the magic spell arranged in advance, this powerful magical creation is difficult to track by other means..."

"After getting it, I asked Wendy to hide the box together with the Philosopher's Stone in a cave for almost two months. Wendy kept watching during the process and did not find anything strange. Although Dumbledore was not excluded. It was found secretly, but the possibility has been minimized.”

Owen pursed his lips and smiled slowly: "In other words, as long as we hide it, no one else will know that the Sorcerer's Stone is in our hands. Of course, it doesn't matter even if Dumbledore finds it, the big deal Just return the Philosopher's Stone to him. Anyway, I didn't do anything bad at school. I only violated a few school rules."

"You are very thoughtful." Albert sighed deeply, then showed an excited and proud smile, raised his hand and patted Owen on the shoulder, "Good job, but next time Don't take any more chances, okay? My heart can't handle any more scares."

"Dad, didn't you say you haven't been surprised in many years?" Owen raised his eyebrows and joked with a smile.

"Yeah, so when the shock suddenly came, I couldn't bear it even more." Albert said matter-of-factly.

"The Philosopher's Stone, you really brought back a big gift." He said with emotion, "Its value is probably more than the total wealth of our family. The elixir of life... This is really the most wonderful gift."

Who doesn’t want to live forever? People who despise immortality like Dumbledore are freaks.

"I don't know what you have been through. Thank you for your hard work, Owen." Adeline bent down and looked directly into Owen's eyes, her tone was as gentle as the spring breeze, "Actually, you don't have to carry everything alone. Your father and I will always be your strongest supporters, and we will always stand by your side."

She kissed Owen's cheek, her expression gentle yet firm, just like her own character that was soft on the outside but strong on the inside.

Owen touched his cheek and smelled his mother's elegant perfume, and his cold and silent heart finally began to fluctuate briskly. He smiled sincerely and said softly: "I know."

He raised his eyes and saw that the bright red stone was casually placed on the table, quietly reflecting the clear light.