cycle

"Well, I told my parents that the OWL exam is very important, and it would be nice to stay here and review with everyone." After going upstairs to comfort Neville, Hermione easily explained to Mr. Potter why she gave up skiing with her parents, Potter The gentleman also seems to be very curious about the sport of skiing.

"She's not serious, is she?" Tallus' eyes widened. "She won't ask us to study with her for Christmas, will she? It's Christmas!"

"She looks serious, buddy," said Ron pessimistically. "Didn't you notice that she's taped up her study planner on the wall?"

In the living room on the other side, Harry and Ginny were still chatting with Neville who was finally willing to go downstairs.Neville looked as if he hadn't slept in days, and his hair was even messier than that of Potter and his son. I sat on the creaking sofa and listened to Harry patiently assure Neville that he had never left the dormitory. Neville looked a lot more relaxed at once, reached out his hand to grab a piece of smoked fish sandwich on the plate and ate it with big mouthfuls.

"And you don't forget what you did, do you?" Ginny asked Neville with her chin propped up, "You don't have large gaps in your memory, you don't know why you appeared in a certain place, Don't you know what you just did?"

"I often forget what I just reviewed." Neville replied nervously, "Does this count?"

"That doesn't count." Harry waved his hand bluntly. "Who but Hermione can immediately remember what they just reviewed?"

"Then you must not be possessed by a mysterious person." Ginny stood up and shrugged. "I am the person with the most say in this house. After all, he was really possessed by me."

I raised my head in confusion. Ginny had already shaken her long hair and walked out of the living room. Neville, who was in a good mood after eating a plate of sandwiches, muttered that he wanted to eat something more, and went to the basement with an empty plate.

.

"She was really possessed by a mysterious person?" I was surprised. Although there were many rumors about why Ginny was locked in a secret room as a pure-blood at the end of the second grade, I didn't expect the most ridiculous one. It turned out to be true.

"Well." Harry replied, "Because Lucius Malfoy put the You-Know-Who's diary in her schoolbag, and the You-Know-Who's memory seduced her."

The whole living room fell silent, and I suddenly realized that this was the first time Harry and I were alone since the DA party that day, but I opened my mouth and didn't know what to say-I didn't want to talk along the lines of Lucius Malfoy Going on, I don't even want to talk about the parasite that night, but if I don't say anything, it seems to be more embarrassing——

"Hey, come and help!" Mr. Black's voice came from the hall, and I breathed a sigh of relief.I've never helped prepare a Christmas with so many people, and at one point when I visited Aunt Petunia I suspected she was trying to glue my chair all over her house to keep me from wandering around her house, convinced that if I approached The ingredients in the kitchen, Cousin Dudley will be infected with evil magic by eating everything I touch.And this year we're going to be spending Christmas in an old musty house, and we're going to have to deal with the whims of Mr. Black and Mr. Potter—they're going to have a mead fountain in the kitchen, so we'll bring Mrs. Potter, carrying a large box of ingredients, arrived in time, followed by Mrs. Black, mother, and Tonks who were off work. Otherwise, we suspect that the entire basement will be flooded with mead exuding a mellow and sweet smell.

"I swear I've only done the first bit," muttered Mr. Blake, and Mrs. Blake raised her eyebrows, and neatly chased the two gentlemen out of the kitchen, leaving them to hang holly and gold and silver ribbons on the chandeliers. .

"Liz!" Mom opened her arms and gave me a hug before taking off the scarf. There were still small drops of water from the melted snowflakes outside on her hair. Tonks was curious about the smell of wine wafting from the kitchen. Grinning and shaking my hand, today her image is that of a shiny blonde.

The most unhappy person in No. 12 Grimmauld Place should be Kreacher, the eccentric house elf of the Talus family. The Christmas tree obscures the Blake family tree, and puts Santa hats and beards on the elf heads that line the foyer wall.Under Hermione's reproachful gaze, Talus could only clear his throat and drive Kreacher out of the room where we were working. Hermione was even thinking that she would take some time to prepare Kreacher's Christmas present.

"Don't give it clothes," Tallus said immediately. "It can't leave here. It knows too much about the Order of the Phoenix."

"Of course I know that!" replied Hermione impatiently, "but it deserves a new quilt! It's done so much for your family—"

"Oh, believe me, my father and I are so annoyed by it that the shortened lifespan is enough to offset its efforts." Tallus scratched his hair nonchalantly, and shouted at Kreacher who was trying to move the Christmas tree away: "We've cast a fixation spell and you can't move it—get out! Don't make trouble anymore!"

The house was almost unrecognizable on Christmas Eve, with magically conjured snowflakes piling up around the Christmas tree, and the Weasley twins made two giant snowmen with toy wands.Mrs. Weasley also brought back some good news from St. Mungo's. Although Mr. Weasley's wound is still not healed, the blood flowing out has turned into a normal color. After Christmas, we can visit him in batches.Mum also had good news - although it didn't seem like the news was so well received by others - Dad would be joining us for Christmas dinner this year and then head to St Mungo's in the afternoon to see if he could help.

"I'm going to finish the Christmas pudding before they start fighting," Tallus said firmly when he heard the news. "And the jelly cake. I won't allow myself to be without those two things for Christmas."

"Be optimistic, they might start fighting before dinner," said Ron, eating the plum jelly the Weasley twins had stolen from the kitchen ahead of time, "and then you'll hear my mother's voice echoing through the house— She's going to kill anyone who ruins her Christmas muffins, and I mean it."

Facts have proved that although the atmosphere at the dinner table was weird, the adults did not behave like throwing food in each other's faces, but when Dad and Mr. Potter greeted each other with a smile on their faces, everyone Very nervous, probably because the eyes of the mothers were too sharp, the two of them just chatted a few words dryly. Then present him a pudding with a tempting aroma to gag his mouth.

"They think it's the snake venom," Mrs. Weasley said to my mother. "The healer Smethyke said he'd seen a similar wound, but not as big. Anyway, it's under control. Arthur is optimistic, but if the wound keeps bleeding—"

"Sev will figure it out," Mom reassured softly, "right?"

Dad glanced at Mom and nodded slightly.

"But is it really all right if you don't come to the Hogwarts Christmas banquet?" Mom asked as she sliced ​​the steak in front of her. Didn't move.

"This year the teachers have made excuses that are too urgent to refuse." Dad's lips twisted into a smile, and he exchanged his plate of steaks that had been cut with his mother's, "Dumbledore is very considerate-- Whether other people are considerate is not my concern."

"Can no one care about that crazy woman?" Mrs. Potter placed a large bowl of stew on the table heavily, shaking everyone's plates to make a loud noise. She noticed that Harry and Neville were holding Frustrated after engraving, I borrowed the "Healing Handbook" from Mrs. Weasley, tried every method under the chapter "Bruises, Cuts and Abrasions", and was so angry that Mr. Potter's There was a burst of tears in her arms ("How dare she give Neville another indelible scar! And Harry... what will others think when they read those words! She is a wicked - disgusting - —Damn—she better hope she never sees me in her life!")

"It seems that the only person who can control that lady is not on our side." Dad helped me take away the steak that couldn't be cut and replaced it with his fried lamb chops, and said calmly, " Otherwise, no one would be so free, right?"

"James and I are not idle at home!" Mr. Black retorted loudly with his mouth full of pudding. "The two of us are following Dumbledore's instructions—"

"There are children on the table!" Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Black roared at the same time, and our ears were pricked up to listen to the rest of us, and our heads were downcast.

"Relax, Blake." Dad looked very satisfied, and he showed a mocking smile, "I didn't say who it was, why bother to come out and admit it in such a hurry?"

"Everyone." Professor Lupine, who had been silent all this time, finally said, "I think Arthur is still waiting for someone to visit him in St. Mungo's. Today is Christmas."

"I want to see Mom and Dad too." Neville said softly, "Uh... can I?"

"Of course!" Mrs. Weasley lovingly piled a lot of food on his plate, "We'll go after dinner, you can set off with us, I think we'd better divide into two batches, people who visit at one time are too It will also affect other people in the ward."

The journey to visit Mr. Weasley in the afternoon was not very pleasant. Mrs. Weasley was keenly aware that his bandages had been changed a day earlier, and uttered horror after learning that it was because he had tried Muggle "stitch therapy". She screamed - I think the whole St. Mungo's could hear her scream, which made us rush out of the ward in a panic.Mom and Dad had been chatting with Mr. Weasley's therapist, and I hurriedly said that we're going to have some tea to digest the midday meal, and fled to the tea room with the others.

"Sewing!" Ron's mouth grew wide. "I said, don't you guys do such a crazy thing? Use thread to sew up the wound? What kind of thread? The kind used for fishing?"

"The Muggles have conducted in-depth research on this, and now it seems that there is a thread that can be directly absorbed by the skin." Hermione said objectively and impartially, "This method is very effective for non-magic wounds, I think it's just Because there is something in the snake venom that dissolves it."

"Who would sew with thread—wouldn't be afraid that the contents of the stomach would fall out of the gap?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, looking like she didn't want to continue the conversation with Ron anymore.Harry asked me, "Do you remember when we came here in third year?"

"Of course." I looked at the festive atmosphere in the waiting room, "There weren't so many crystal bubbles back then, and they were pretty pretty."

"No, I mean, my dad's wound at that time." He said slowly, "I remembered that my mother also wrote at that time saying that his wound was difficult to heal, and I wondered if it was also the snake that attacked him. He. Dad's therapist at the time was Smethyk, so he said he had seen similar ones, but not as large."

"But I think they should have thought of this level long ago." He shook his head, his tone firm, "I'm just a little scared... that snake... one day I must kill it."

"I like the gift you gave me very much." He changed his tone back to his usual tone in an instant, ""Tracing the Origin of Quidditch" is very interesting, and I unknowingly read a third of it this morning."

"Really?" I breathed a sigh of relief, "I was worried you thought it was too boring."

Ron somehow got into an argument with a portrait that sounded like it thought he had varicella and was eager to offer a cure, while Ron insisted it was just freckles that the medieval healer tried to convince He has followed us with six photo frames.

"Did you like my Christmas present?" Harry's tone was casual, he seemed more interested in the argument between Ron and the portrait.

"Yeah." I nodded, "Thank you...I didn't even know you still had so many photos of Vivienne when she was young."

"It was actually taken by my mother," he said. "I haven't told her about it, otherwise she would be even more upset. If I had known I would wear gloves like before, but I couldn't spend my whole life putting myself in front of her." hide one hand."

Ron yelled that the portrait should not follow him anymore, we wandered to the fifth floor, and accidentally ran into Professor Lockhart who taught us Defense Against the Dark Arts in the second year.His golden curly hair and bright eyes matched with dazzling white teeth - the smile on this face captivated many girls back then.He beamed and pulled us to sign for us. We said awkwardly that we didn't bring parchment. He generously said that he could sign on his robe and gave us the robe.In order to prevent him from starting to undress in public, we had no choice but to divert his attention while looking for his therapist. He enthusiastically took my hand and said that there were many, many signed photos in his ward, and Harry quickly pulled me away. took his hand and asked him: "Remember me, Professor?"

He obviously doesn't remember anything, but his therapist came quickly and invited us to sit down after hearing that we had been students of Lockhart.

"He's recovering well," the therapist looked lovingly at Lockhart, who was writing hard. "We hope this behavior can help him recover a little memory! The patients in this ward are very poor, but they are also very sad." Work hard, this is Mr. Bird, I heard that he used to work in the Department of Mysteries of the Ministry of Magic, amazing people, no one knows what they are doing - and now no one knows what he is talking about, but he can already speak Yes, I just don't get it...Look, Broderick! Someone sent you a little plant to wish you a Merry Christmas!"

After finally escaping from the pile of photos signed by Professor Lockhart, we wanted to visit Neville's parents, but Tonks didn't allow us to approach that floor. It seemed that she was on duty there to protect the safety of the Longbottoms. .Neville looked calmer and happier after spending the afternoon with his parents, and he showed us a sweet wrapper that Mrs Longbottom had slipped him.

"Mom always gave it to me," he says, "never to anyone else, and while the therapists always said she and Dad didn't know who I was, I think they did, they just couldn't tell. "

But Neville's happiness didn't last long. After his father had a conversation with him, it seemed that for him, the remaining Christmas atmosphere of 12 Grimmauld Place was gone.

"Uh, Dumbledore asked Dad to teach you Occlumency?" I asked back, frowning.

"I'd rather you teach me." Neville's eyes were full of fear, "Professor Snape said that once a week there is private tutoring, and you can't tell Professor Umbridge."

"Why learn this?" asked Ron. "What's this for?"

"Professor Snape just said that Professor Dumbledore asked him to do so." Neville buried his face in his hands in frustration, "Why is Professor Dumbledore unwilling to teach me himself? He clearly knows that I have been... ...uh, does he also think I'm stupid and a waste of his time?"

"Are you kidding me?" said Harry dryly. "Don't forget how fast you learn at DA meetings - only Hermione is ahead of you!"

"So, Alice, can you teach me?" Neville looked at me expectantly, "I'm not saying that Professor Snape is bad! It's just that when I look at him... I think if it's you or Harry I might learn better!"

"I won't." Harry turned to look at me, "Alice, will you?"

"I'm not very good at it either." I looked at his disappointed eyes sadly and said, "That's hard, I've always mastered it badly."

"It's hard for you." Tallus sighed. "How hard is it?"

But one person picked it up so easily, and it was a strange feeling to finally remember Draco Malfoy's name after all this time, as if he had completely disappeared from my life, and I I didn't feel any discomfort, but this feeling of recalling it made me feel uncomfortable.He looked like he knew how to close his brain naturally, and his father's notebook was just a signboard to show him the way.

"But I might... maybe help a little," I said slowly, "but I need to get something back—something that's long overdue."