cycle

"Why on earth is Dad staying at Hogwarts during the summer vacation?" I tried to ask my mother again when she was busy sorting clothes while helping her pack. "Tell me, Mom, I promise I won't tell anyone else."

"Buy some things that need to be kept secret for the time being." The mother who regained her complexion almost made the whole ward shine, even if she braided her waterfall-like red hair into braids behind her head for convenience, "When you start school, you will be ready." Knowing about Liz, I think you'll all be screaming - I wish I was still at Hogwarts, but I'm sure I'll have a chance to go back and see."

Mom didn't feel unhappy because she was suddenly transferred to the Department of Magic and Sports, she accepted her new job very positively.In her words, almost everything in this world has two sides, and she chooses to embrace the bright and splendid part while guarding against the dark and corrupt.

The Department of Magical Sports was overwhelmed, and the Quidditch World Cup was getting closer every day. Ludo Bagman hoped that his mother, who was still recovering at St. Mungo's, would immediately take over the part that should have been in charge of Bertha Jorkins.Mom asked me if I would go to the Quidditch World Cup with her as a vacation - I agreed, but I was a little disappointed that if Dad didn't stay at Hogwarts to work on that "I must not tell you children ", it might be a rare family vacation.

"Liz, can you take these flowers to the office by the door at the end of the corridor for me? I have to answer a letter right away." Mom looked at a paper folded in the shape of an airplane that squeezed in through the crack of the door. Paper, "You can't use owls here, I have to go to the first floor-you just send them there, and the therapist in the office will help them."

I walked out with a large bouquet of lilies full of fragrance. I had never wandered in the corridor on the sixth floor, where there lived patients who were seriously ill-so serious that they sometimes seemed dangerous.According to my mother's words, I walked towards the end of the corridor. When I was a few steps away from the door, I suddenly felt that I was hit hard, and the flowers were scattered all over the ground.

But there was no one in the corridor. I looked around blankly, and the burning pain in my shoulder reminded me that the impact just now must not be a hallucination.Something completely invisible, yet physically present—I would probably have been baffled if it had been before last semester, but I happened to know someone with a near-perfect invisibility cloak.

"Who?" I pulled out my wand from my pocket (although I knew I might have trouble using magic outside of school).

"Miss Alice Snape?"

I nearly jumped up at the sound behind me, and I stared wide-eyed as Professor Dumbledore appeared at the door at the end of the corridor, with Neville Longbottom beside him.I suddenly realized who lived in the closed ward behind that door, the Longbottoms who were tortured and insane by Death Eaters for refusing to reveal where their son was hiding--the official has always wanted to prevent them from being out of curiosity. People bothered to say where they were being cared for, and many tabloids speculated that the Longbottoms were not actually rescued by Dumbledore in time, and that they were dead long ago.

"Can you explain why you are here?" Dumbledore looked into my eyes sharply, and I had the illusion that I was being read by him, "I remember that your mother's ward is not here."

"Uh, my mother asked me to send flowers to the therapist in the office, and said they would help to accept them." I pointed to the lilies under my feet before I could pick them up, "But I was hit by something just as I walked here. After a while—”

"Bumped?" Dumbledore interrupted me very quickly, "What is it?"

"No, I don't know, Professor." I felt a little uneasy, "Something I couldn't see, it hit my shoulder."

"Miss Snape and I heard those words together, Professor" Longbottom said to Dumbledore, "she didn't have to overhear—"

"That's natural, I don't doubt Miss Snape's meaning." Dumbledore's tone returned to kindness, but his eyes were still fixed on the corridor for a while, and then he looked down at me, "Son, you think you guessed it Who lives here, may I ask you not to tell the people around you - no matter how close your relationship is?"

"Of course, Professor." I nodded. "I assure you."

"Flowers, beautiful and fresh fragrance." Dumbledore waved his wand, and the lilies on the ground shook the dust and gracefully flew into Longbottom's arms. They looked even more delicate, as if they had just grown from the branches. Cut like, "I think Lily is going to pass them on to your mother through a therapist, she'll love it."

"Have a nice holiday, Miss Snape." Professor Dumbledore winked at me behind his half-moon glasses, "and congratulations on your mother's discharge from the hospital."

I went back to the ward and waited for a while before my mother came back. She said to me a little sorry that she met Barty Crouch, the director of the Department of International Magic Exchange and Cooperation of the Ministry of Magic, and had a few words with him, so it was delayed. time.

"It's probably because of too much work pressure recently, and Quidditch and that thing again. I insist on doing everything by myself, but my body no longer allows it." Mom shook her head, "Although many people say-hey, Liz, You must make more friends, you can't stay alone all the time, are you still communicating with Miss Granger recently?"

"Yeah." I nodded, but made up my mind not to tell her that we were exchanging notes in a black cover that I took out from the basement recently. My mother didn't let me touch the things my father left in the basement when he was a student, but They're obviously fun, of course - and most of the time they're dangerous too.

However, the notes this time are not dangerous, but they are very difficult to read. They are divided into two parts, the front and the back. The front is scrawled with "Taking Reading" and the back is just "Closed".I have never read such a difficult content, the two parts look like a game together, and it is full of theories that I can't understand-Dad seems to be able to do it well, he uses various abbreviations to take notes, still Paint and change in various places.

I tried to communicate with Draco about the potions notes my dad left behind, but he never seemed interested.Hermione is undoubtedly a much better subject for discussion than Draco, we can't wait to start school immediately, the communication efficiency of owls is really too low, often I just sent a letter and have new insights in the evening, we Tried calling, but the communication network between wizards and Muggles is too unstable-but our progress is really limited, and we only barely figured out the book until she set off to visit the Weasleys. Notes are used to probe other people's minds and how to deal with this probe.

Hermione told me when she sent me a birthday present (a mobile medicine cabinet that folds into a small bag, I love her) that the Weasleys invited her to the Quidditch World Cup, and that Potter and Black would be with their parents Go (I'm not surprised at all), we may have to wait until school starts to continue the discussion.

I didn't tell anyone that I was going to the Quidditch World Cup with my mum, I valued the time I spent hanging out with my mum, and she had to go to work and probably couldn't be with me all the time.

I got a ton of birthday presents - never thought I'd get that many.In addition to the portable medicine cabinet that Hermione gave me, Longbottom gave me a pot of plants that hadn't bloomed yet, and Black and Weasley gave me the first and second volumes of a set of books (thanks to the work I did to save Buckbeak. Contribution), Aunt Petunia gave me a handkerchief, and Mom and Dad bought me a self-cleaning and tidying workbench that I wanted for a long time (including 38 stains and toxic by-products that are difficult to remove directly by magic, can complete 80%+ self-repair. "But not for school loafing," Dad wrote).

There was only one letter from Potter, and I have to say I was relieved that his birthday was on the same day as mine, and I just bought him a bottle of All Purpose Broom Cleaner, and if he bought me another expensive things-

Alice:

You said before that you need an owl. This owl is the child of my old owl. It is just old enough to fly long distances stably, and it didn't cost money.My family doesn't need so many owls. Mom and Dad said that it would be great if you would help us take care of it. It is very docile. Hedwig taught it to eat dead mice, which is a headache.My mother named it Vivienne, but you can call him another name.

Life is good!

Harry

The little owl with soft and shiny feathers squatted quietly by the window and looked at me. When I reached out my hand, it rubbed its head against me affectionately, making a "cuckoo" sound.

Draco's present was a brooch in the shape of a star, which he said would go just right with the dress robe he had given him for Christmas.I haven't worn that robe yet, don't know why he's so sure I'll use it.

After following my mother to the venue of the Quidditch World Cup, she began to be busy preparing for the event. I stayed in the tent with nothing to do, and there were often various noises outside that interfered with my concentration (sometimes I feel like forcing wizards to follow the maze Melon's habit would have led to greater disaster, and I'm sure I've seen some wizards bring over with levitating spells some huge metal bottles with "Gas" written on them in English).So I asked my mother to help me as much as I could to pass the time. After thinking about it for a while, she asked me to guide the wizards who had just arrived at the camp with the Portkey when Mr. Basil was too busy.

"You are really the treasure in Merlin's heart, just like your mother." The bloodshot Mr. Basil looked like he would fall to the ground and pass out at any moment, "There are people everywhere, I really can't remember how many tickets we sold, I mean, the salary didn't go up - here it is again, Miss Snape, can you pass me the roll of lists on the floor - the ones that start with W? Let me see, um, and the ones that start with D .”

There were several sheets of parchment curled up in a mess on the ground, and I squatted on the ground to search for a while before I pulled out two crumpled lists, which looked as if they had been roughly rubbed impatiently.

"Alice?" I was trying to smooth out the rest of the parchment (it is not wise to use magic outside the school in front of Ministry of Magic staff), when I heard a very surprised voice, "God, you didn't tell We and you will come too!"

Hermione was easily the most properly dressed of the group of wizards who had just arrived, even though her hair was a mess from the Portkey trip and a few strands stuck to the corners of her mouth.She was standing with Ron and Ginny Weasley, and the tall, thin, red-haired man should be Mr. Arthur Weasley, who was talking to Mr. Basil, and I saw him looking angry. The bulging Weasley twins - that's a rarity.There were two men standing next to them, one was about the same age as Mr. Weasley, and the other looked like his son. It was the kind of look that was difficult to ignore in the crowd. There was a large group of witches, and I suddenly guessed who it was, especially since Mr. Basil had just said "Digory".

"Is this your daughter? You are hiding such a charming daughter from us!" Mr. Diggory said with a style of his own.

"Of course not." Mr. Basil didn't seem to be in the mood to greet him politely. He wished he could quickly hand out the keys in his hand and go back to the tent to sleep soundly. Maybe it doesn't matter if he slept in the World Cup. "This is Lily's. Daughter Alice Snape, she saw that we were overwhelmed and offered to help."

"Cedric Diggory." The good-looking boy politely extended his hand and shook it with me, "I know you, last semester Professor Slughorn always said your name when he was a substitute teacher, and I regret that you Didn't even go to one of his slug parties in the end."

I tried to get a little 'I'm really sorry I didn't go', but it looked like I was failing because Hermione covered her mouth and smiled happily.

"Come and play with you when we settle down!" Hermione said to me before following them away. "I didn't expect you to come. If I had known, I would have brought that book I bought on vacation—"

"Merlin's tattered pants!" Ron Weasley seemed to be suffocating, "Hermione, it's summer vacation, it's the Quidditch World Cup!"

"Did you see Harry and the others?" Ginny Weasley asked me suddenly, "If you stay here all day, whoever comes will know?"

"I didn't see Potter and Black." I answered her without raising my head while continuing to help Mr. Basil flip through the parchment. "There are many meeting places, and this is just one of them."

By the time Hermione came to see me, we were ready to call it a day.I saw that Mr. Basil was really tired, so I assured him that I would pack up all the things and let him go back to rest first.

"It's my first time attending a wizard's camp." Hermione rolled up the parchment with me and stuffed it into a bag, looking very excited, "We went to pick up the water before and met Harry and Talus , and Neville! He said that Mr. Potter invited him, oh, and Seamus and Dean, I don't think I have enough eyesight. Before I could stop Ron, he told them that we met You—I think you didn't say it because you didn't want many people to know, sorry."

"Uh, it's okay, I'm just not used to sharing... my arrangements." I looked down and said, "If I really wanted to hide my whereabouts, I wouldn't come here to give directions and distribute tents gone."

She looked relieved.

"It's also the first time for me to participate in such an event." I said to her, "I wouldn't have come if my mother hadn't been transferred. I think it's a bit noisy and there are people everywhere. By the way, you just said you went to fetch water Is it? I also want to go later, my mother should be busy until late tonight, I want to make some hot tea for her. "

Along the way, we talked in a low voice and didn't have time to say in the letter. It was so strange. I used to see Patil and Brown whispering things in a low voice and quickly saying things that the people around me couldn't understand. I only feel happy when I have such a friend, and I can't wait to pour out all the words in one breath.

"When we passed by here before, people here haven't released the peacocks." When we passed by a huge tent that looked like a palace, Hermione looked at the two white peacocks leisurely shaking their tails at the door, "No wonder Those Muggles would be suspicious, wouldn't they, that's an exaggeration—"

"That's purely because you haven't seen the world, Granger, you've only seen Muggle stuff." A slow voice came from the back of the tent, and a man raised the front curtain and came out. Stared wide, "Alice?"

"You didn't tell me you'd come to the Quidditch World Cup, with Granger—you'd rather come with that group of people than me?" Draco frowned and looked at me, He impatiently kicked a white peacock aside when it came to rub his leg affectionately.

"I don't think Alice needs to report everything to you." Hermione said sharply. "Is this a rule that she needs your permission wherever she goes?"

Draco narrowed his eyes: "I didn't talk to you Granger, this is not Hogwarts, jumping up and down won't give you points."

"I came here because my mother was coming to work." I realized that I needed to separate the two of them quickly. "I didn't talk to anyone. It was originally a temporary decision."

"Politeness, Draco, I told you many times not to make a scene outside without etiquette - especially many people passing by here are senior officials of the Ministry of Magic." The platinum-haired man opened the curtain and walked away When he came out, he tightly pursed his lips and held a slender cane in his hand. When he saw me, a smile twisted from the corner of his mouth, "Miss Snape, it's been a long time since I saw you last time." .”

As a junior, I should at least say hello at this time, but before I could speak, Lucius Malfoy looked at Hermione, but he was still talking to me: "It seems that your father will no longer take you to our Banquets are there for a reason, you prefer to hang out with people who are more like you from birth, it seems that you have not only inherited your mother's looks, but also more... things that can't be changed .”

"I'm proud of it, sir." I straightened up and looked into Mr. Malfoy's eyes that gleamed with undisguised malice. "Everything Mom gave me was the best present I've ever received."

"dad--"

"Why don't you listen to me and go to the next tent to take care of Astoria? She's not feeling well, you should stay with her." Mr. Malfoy interrupted Draco coldly.

I turned and left with the kettle and Hermione, and Mr. Malfoy's words continued to drill into my ears from behind.

"You're not a child anymore, Draco, and your mother and I felt that we needed to be reminded that you have relationships that aren't worth keeping—maybe there used to be, but it doesn't mean they always have."