HP Nocturne and Evening Bell

Chapter 11

The flames of the fireplace lit the small living room.There are two small sofas and a low round table with a book half-opened on it. Green leaf bookmarks randomly fall on the corners of the pages of the book. There is almost no decoration on the wall, and faint patterns of flowers and branches spread on the wallpaper.

"Hermione, it's good if you can come back. I'm afraid something happened to you. There was a riot in the East End of London yesterday. Many police officers were mobilized. I heard that several people died. I thought..."

"I'm fine. I'm sorry to make you worry. Something happened to the orphanage yesterday and I need help. I don't think there's anything to do today, so I stayed there. I didn't expect to make you worry."

Hermione really didn't expect that yesterday's riot happened to make the Watson family worry. She was even more grateful for the Watson family's concern for her. After all, in this strange time and space, it is such a rare blessing that someone can worry about you. .Thanks Merlin.

Tom was sitting on the small sofa in the living room, and Hermione moved it closer to the fireplace and threw another blanket over him.He stared at the dancing flames, not knowing what he was thinking, and remained silent.

"Tom's illness shouldn't be serious, right? I didn't expect that after such a long time, you can still find someone who has a connection with your past, God bless." Mrs. Watson sighed.

"Yeah, he's the only one I've been in touch with. Tom just has a cold. The fever's gone, but he needs a few days of rest."

"Can I help you? He doesn't look very..." Mrs. Watson watched Tom face the fireplace motionless.

"It's okay, he... just a little tired, he is more introverted, and he was very silent the first time I saw him."

"Hey, it's also a poor kid, and his father is gone?"

"Uh...I don't know either, maybe."

There was a softness in Mrs. Watson's eyes.

"Hermione, as long as you're fine, I'll help you get back the salary you paid for translating the manuscript last time." Virgil hesitated for a long time, and finally found a chance to speak. He took out an envelope from his pocket.

"Gill, thank you, this is obviously rent, for June and July." Hermione reached out and returned the envelope.

"But it's only February now, and you've already paid the rent several months in advance."

"It's okay, it's just handed over in advance."

"But, you obviously..." Virgil wanted to say something.

"I have money, don't worry." Hermione blinked at Virgil and smiled mysteriously.

"I..." Virgil's face suddenly turned red.

Hermione didn't dare to tease the shy young man in front of her anymore, she straightened her face: "Trust me, I still want to eat a few more delicious meals from your mother, just give me a reason."

Virgil shook his head helplessly, he pointed Tom's direction with his eyes, and asked silently, Hermione gave him a reassuring expression: "He's just a little shy, little boy, so..."

Merlin, I hope Tom didn't hear what she said to Jill. He probably didn't want others to treat him like a child. In front of her, he behaved like a peer. Although there were many things he didn't understand, he always It is to restrain his own doubts, never ask casually, he is good at observing other people's behavior, and always quietly learns how to behave and behave properly.Coupled with his natural and harmless face, people who don't know him often can't refuse his request. Only the children in the orphanage are afraid of him and dare not have too much contact with him.Hermione couldn't understand why no family had adopted him for so many years. Did no one mention it or he didn't want to go?Mrs. Carl said that she was the first person to visit him actively, so what was he like when he was younger?

Hermione chatted with the Watsons for a few words, and after seeing them off, she hurried back to the living room. Tom was still sitting quietly on the small sofa, and finally turned his gaze to her.

"Feeling better? I'll go upstairs and make some potions for you. Do you want to go and see?"

"Fine. Hogwarts will have Potions too, right?"

"you......."

"I've finished reading "Hogwarts, A Piece of School History." Tom smiled.

"Oh, you're so quick to see. Let's go, wait." Hermione took out her wand and cast a transfiguration spell, and the blanket turned into a small trench coat, which she put on Tom.

"Let's go." Hermione nodded in satisfaction and walked towards the stairs.

There were three rooms upstairs, and Hermione went straight to the one facing the stairs, opened the door, and found a large desk under the window, covered with various glassware and stacks of books.On the right-hand side of the table was a shelf full of books, inkwells and quills resting on the spine of Hamlet, many paper parcels were stacked at the corner of the table, and a black cloak hung over the back of the chair.

"Sit down." Hermione moved a high stool, tied up her long hair, tightened her cuffs, and took out the cauldron.

"I think I can add less peach branch powder, so that the effect of the medicine will not be so strong."

Tom didn't speak. He watched Hermione carefully chop up the materials with a knife, and placed them next to each other by category. The sunlight came in from the window, outlining the shape of the broken hair falling in front of her eyes. Her eyes were focused and her expression was serious. Tom had never seen such Hermione before, as if this was the real her, and everything around her was familiar to her, and she was enjoying the happiness of working in an orderly and busy manner.

puzzle.The Hermione in front of him was still a mystery.He seemed to know her well, but never really understood her.He didn't know where she came from, where her parents and relatives were, she didn't seem to belong here, this era, or...him.He hadn't really owned anything, Nagini was a very clever companion, he thought he had it, but it was dead, and it wouldn't come back to life no matter what he ordered or asked.It is not that he has not witnessed death. In the most difficult tide of the financial crisis, the shadow of death is everywhere. The little Sony who was discarded by the roadside failed to survive his first Christmas in the orphanage.Mrs. Carl was so sad that time that she even forgot to pray before cooking.Tom couldn't feel sad, he had only a dull insensitivity.Few people patronize the orphanage anymore. An old gentleman who used to donate books heard that he jumped from a tall building and ended his life.He won't be coming back. "What's not coming back?" Tom, ignorant, had asked Mrs. Carr, just as he had asked "What's Mom and Dad?"

"Not coming back means he went to heaven."

"Heaven?"

"Maybe I didn't go to heaven, maybe... there is no heaven at all." Mrs. Carl was still immersed in the pain of losing little Sony, but this answer left deep fear in Tom's heart, and Nagini's Death, so that he can no longer escape this fear.

When he saw Hermione, he thought that there was finally a solution to the problem of death, but Hermione told him that magic could not completely avoid death. Nagini's rotting body and little Sony's wide-eyed eyes appeared before him again, and he felt bouts of dizziness......

Maybe it's just that Hermione doesn't know it, just one trip to Diagon Alley has made him understand how many unknown secrets there are in the wizarding world, and he can't lose the only thing he has, even if he doesn't have it yet.If one day he dies, he will no longer remember a person named Hermione, and he will really lose everything and the meaning of his heartbeat.

At all costs, he will find a way to defeat death.

"Tom?" Hermione looked at the flames in Tom's eyes again, and some emotions she didn't understand danced in his eyes. He looked like an ancient Greek philosopher, wandering among the stars in the universe, leaving behind to look up. The eyes of the starry sky hover in the hearts of the seekers of the hereafter.

"Tom, the potion is ready, drink it, it may taste a bit..."

Tom had already picked up the potion and drank it down.He still frowned.

"Sorry, I've been trying to improve the poor taste of potions, and I was in Snape..." Hermione stopped suddenly.

"Have you... ever been to Hogwarts before?" Tom finally asked.

"I... no, I studied in a small wizarding school in the south of France, but I really wanted to go to Hogwarts, I really wanted to go to Hogwarts, in fact, for some reason, I didn't go to school Finished seventh grade."

Tom looked skeptical: "But you like reading "Hogwarts, a School History" very much."

"Yes... yes, I was very fascinated by Hogwarts when I was very young, before I reached the school age, and hoped to go to school there one day, but my parents passed away, I had to go to live in France and I never came back to England until recently."

"When you met my mother, your parents were still alive, weren't they?"

"Yes."

"Where do you live?"

"Little...Little Hamilton." Hermione paused, recalling the Dark Lord's visits to his living relatives in the future, and hastily added, "Tom, I haven't been back since I returned to England, wait for me When I have time, I will take you to see your mother's former residence." And your father, Hermione sighed in her heart.