[HP] Alchemy and Love

In fact, closing the store was something that Lorencia had thought about for a long time—it wasn’t because she couldn’t make a decision. In fact, the turbulent situation caused the business in Diagon Alley to become increasingly deserted. This store should be closed.

She didn't close the door because she couldn't bear Remus.but now……

"You also know that there are almost no customers in the store, and more than 80% of the business comes from owl orders." Lorenzia said, "There is no need for the store to be open. And now, several Death Eaters...they must see It's my turn. Whenever they find time, it's not hard to figure out where all the magic items used by the Order of the Phoenix come from, and I'm actually surprised no one is making trouble in the store yet."

"Mad-Eye has already thought of this, and he has increased the Auror patrol over Diagon Alley."

"I must remember to thank him." Lorenzia forced a smile.She has made up her mind a long time ago, and the sales of owl orders have not decreased but increased compared to before, but when she really talked about this matter, she still felt a bit of reluctance and loss, as if it symbolized some kind of failure like. "So, about this...well, what do you think?"

"This is your store, so it's up to you to make the decision." Remus said calmly, "Besides, your concerns are justified. Death Eaters are likely to attack your store as revenge. After all, Aurors don't Maybe keep an eye on it 24 hours a day. In fact, if you’ve made up your mind, it’s better to pack things there as soon as possible.”

Lorenthia felt a little hurt: "You sound eager."

She didn't intend to say this sentence, but she blurted it out somehow, as if it were an accusation. "That's not what I meant." Remus quickly explained, "It's just... for your safety, this is the safest way."

"Okay." Lorenthia whispered, suddenly losing interest in continuing the chat.For some reason, the conversation between her and Remus had always felt a little choppy this time around.She wasn't sure which side the problem was—maybe Remus was upset about something, maybe it was her own sobering grief for Dorcas and concern for Dearborn that had returned.She wanted to let go of this topic so that the two parties would not fall into an even more embarrassing atmosphere, but she couldn't let go of some things, she would rather ask quickly: "Then you...how do you plan?"

"I saw an advertisement for Lihen Bookstore recruiting temporary workers the day before yesterday." After a moment of silence, Remus said, "I want to try there first... Anyway, I will stay in London, that's for sure .”

This time it was Lorenthia's turn to almost spill the pot: "Don't you want to stay here any longer?" She asked in a very small voice.

"I guess now that the shop is closed, you don't need to hire another clerk, do you?"

"Of course I need it!" Lorenthia immediately retorted, "The number of orders has not decreased, you can still make those magic items as before, and I will pay you the processing fee..." She said, suddenly remembering , Remus has always been gentle, never rejecting or beating others outright.Maybe it's just his way of tactfully wanting to leave?She paused for a moment, and suddenly lost her confidence in her next sentence: "Of course, if you want to leave... I think maybe you can consider..."

The more she spoke, the lower her voice became, and gradually she lost her voice.She looked down and felt Remus turn to look at him.But just when he seemed to be about to say something, Snowflake meowed, Remus cursed softly, and frantically turned the potatoes in the frying pan over - a few pieces were already burnt.

The two finished their lunch in a delicate and unspeakable atmosphere.After both of them put down their knives and forks, Remus asked, "Do you have time in the afternoon? We can clean up the shop right away."

"I have to tell my father first, after all, the shop is still his, and I'm just in charge of it," Lorencia said.

Remus nodded and sent the dishes into the sink with a wave of his wand.Lorenthia took out the double-sided mirror and walked into the living room.While Remus was washing the dishes, he couldn't help listening to her, but until he ordered the hurried dishes to fall into the cupboard, the living room remained silent.Remus walked out of the kitchen and saw Lorenthia sitting on the sofa, holding the edge of the two-way mirror with both hands, biting her lip and staring at it in a daze.

"I don't know what to say!" she heard Remus come in, looking up and complaining, "I don't think they'll object, but they must ask why - I can't say because I was almost killed by Death Eaters And probably already on their revenge list, Merlin mum would go nuts - or should I just say the store sales are poor? Do you think they would agree for that reason?"

"That's a good reason," said Remus, taking a seat beside her, "but you can't keep it from your parents."

"But their worries will far exceed what they really need—" Lorenthia put her hands on her forehead and sighed, "I know the truth, but...but...how can I tell them like this, I'm going to scare my mother to death..."

"You almost scared me to death," Remus blurted out.

Lorenthia was taken aback: "What?"

"When I got Edgar's urgent summons. I hoped you weren't there at first, but when I got here, the room was empty, the cat and the box were missing, and I..." Lay James shook his head, "If something really happened to you, it's all because I broke the appointment, I... Fortunately, you are safe and sound in the end."

"I can't blame you." Lorenthia said, "I changed the time on a whim, and I even forgot to notify Edgar."

"I'm partly responsible after all." Remus frowned.

"Even if I'm not as good at fighting as you guys, I'm still an adult!" Lorencia dissatisfied, "You don't have to think that everything is your responsibility, you didn't make decisions for me."

Of course, she knew Remus didn't mean that.But now, having just decided to close the store, and faced with the arduous task of explaining to her parents, she was inevitably unhappy, and her words became rushed.After she finished speaking, she also felt a little regretful, but she was not in the mood to apologize for a while, so she dropped the topic and raised the double-sided mirror: "Isaac Field!"

Remus stood up consciously, and walked a little further away. The voice on the other side of the double-sided mirror was not loud, and he couldn't hear what Lorenthia's father said on the opposite side. He could only hear Lorenthia explaining: "Dad, Do you have time now? There is something I want to talk to you about... No, it's not urgent, I just plan to close the alchemy shop.... You agreed? Did you not ask why?... Yes, Store turnover has been going down, I don't think it's necessary to keep it up, there's actually enough mail order turnover...well, ok, ok...I've discussed this with my mum, several times...UK It's not that dangerous, really...Mom? No, we talked about...really...listen to me..."

On the other side of the mirror, a female voice was talking endlessly, while Lorenzia paused. "It's not... um... I'm fine, really... um..." She just gave such a short response from time to time, opened her mouth several times but was interrupted again, and finally gave up trying, just humming from time to time as a response .Remus didn't listen any more, just rehearsed his lines in his mind.After a long time, Lorenthia finally said, "Okay, let's talk next time. . . . Well, I love you too, Mom. Goodbye."

She let out a long breath and leaned back on the sofa.Remus asked, "Your mother still wants you to go to America?"

"A long-lasting topic." Lorenzia said helplessly.

"Perhaps you should think about it," Remus said.

Lorencia suddenly sat up straight, looking at him in disbelief: "What?"

"...Maybe going back to the United States is not such a bad choice." Remus said, the words were harder than he thought, but he had made up his mind, "After all, you don't need to stay here to help the Order of the Phoenix... ..."

"I've heard all these reasons countless times," said Lorenthia, still with a shocked expression, as if he was pretending to be someone, "and I thought you could understand my reasons. You once agreed my decision!"

"I—can be wrong sometimes," Remus said.

"Now you think it was a mistake for me to stay in England?" asked Lorenzia.Grievance, shock, anger and bewilderment came together in my heart.She'd just felt like she was really worth something in the Order of the Phoenix—truly helpful, helping the Edgars and Dearborn get out—and Remus was telling her she shouldn't Stay in the UK?

"Why?" she demanded, her lips quivering with rage. "Why did you change your mind? Just because I was in danger this time? Every one of you is facing the same danger!"

"You don't understand!" Remus raised his voice involuntarily, "You don't know that when I rushed to Edgar's house, I saw a ruin... When I moved the bricks and saw you lying there, Still motionless, with blood all over your head and body, I don't even know if you're still alive...you don't understand what it's like! I'd rather you go back to America than face such a scene again!"

"I don't want to face such a scene either!" Lorenthia shot back, the guilt and heartache she would have had for Remus evaporated in anger at this moment, "Do you think Lily and James think? Alice and Frank? Can the Weasleys, the Burnses, the McKinnons, and the Meadows parents handle it? But even if we're all terrified, someone has to take that risk. We join Didn't you know this when you were in the Order of the Phoenix? Are you going to push me away just because of this?"

She felt her eyes warm, and tears flowed unconsciously.It is a very imposing behavior to cry after a quarrel - but there is no way, it seems that she can't control her tears.Lorenthia wiped her eyes vigorously, "I thought you would understand." She whispered, feeling great disappointment and emptiness, "I thought you would agree with me."

"I can understand. But you are different from us." Remus said, he took a step forward, his right hand twitched, as if he wanted to grab her, or raise his hand to wipe her tears, but he was forced to Stopped halfway, "We need to fight, and we can't continue to fight without Britain. And you only need to provide alchemy items, and there are many ways to quickly transfer them. Now you already know the fighting style and habits of each of us , has customized and improved many items for us, and there is no need to continue..."

"This is just a change of rhetoric, the actual content has not changed at all. There are thousands of wizards in the UK, not everyone is a combatant. Are you going to persuade every wizard outside of the Aurors and the Order of the Phoenix to leave?" Luo Renthia asked, "Non-combatants have non-combatant ways of resisting."

Her teary eyes turned to Remus, who looked at her sadly.Lorenthia's anger slowly subsided, leaving only sadness and fatigue. "You used to understand."

"It's not that I don't understand now." Remus argued, "I just..."

"You just won't take it," said Lorenthia, wiping away another tear, "so you're going to let me escape to America and leave all my friends and people I like in England Fighting Death Eaters, risking being attacked and sacrificed every day. Have you ever thought about how I feel?"

Remus was speechless.Lorenthia turned her back and pulled a tissue to wipe her tears. "I don't want to continue talking about this," she said tremblingly, "at least not today. Didn't you say you were going to clean up the store?"

The work of tidying up the shop went on silently and quickly.The two each used magic to gather all the goods into boxes, moved the boxes to the warehouse behind, and added a lot of defensive spells around the warehouse.The alchemy laboratory left some relatively basic instruments for Remus to process alchemy items, and Lorenthia put the rest in the box.Even when they were saying goodbye, the two of them simply and slightly embarrassedly nodded at each other, and then they apparated away.

Sirius was opening the door when she returned to the apartment.Lorencia naturally didn't want to bump into him at this time, she quickly lowered her head and pretended to be busy opening the door, but Sirius still keenly noticed her abnormality. "What's wrong?" he asked immediately, "Who bullied you? Got into a fight with Remus?"

Lorenthia pretended not to hear him, but she was not in the mood to refute the lie.Sirius clicked his tongue, "Unexpectedly, Remus has always been very gentle... Don't be sad, James and I will scold him for you when we go back."

"No need." Lorenzia said gloomily, just as the spell passed and the door was unlocked, she quickly slipped into the room, "Thank you, goodbye."

"Hey……"

Sirius' voice was shut out.Lorenthia turned around and leaned her back against the door, feeling completely different from before, but still drenched in bone marrow.

For the first time in several years, she also began to wonder if staying in the UK was really the right decision.