The days of hanging out at Hogwarts

Shortly after lunch, the sun rarely showed up, and the golden soft sunlight made the ice and snow even more crystal clear. After looking at it for a long time, your eyes will feel swollen, your nose will feel itchy, and you will feel like sneezing.

On the third floor of Hogwarts Castle, Loren and Hermione strolled along the window side of the corridor. Warm golden sunlight shone in through the window, casting elongated square light spots on the corridor. You can feel a slight warmth when passing by.

Harry and Ron ran and stopped in front. They always ran quickly through the shadows, ran into the golden sunshine, raised their faces and closed their eyes, enjoying the rare sunshine in winter. When Loren and Hermione were about to catch up with them, they screamed again and ran quickly into the next spot of light.

Golden light shone on the faces of the young men, and the fine hairs that had not yet faded dragged out velvety shadows.

The magnificent history and worrying prophecies in the morning were all melted away by the warm sunshine.

Soon arriving at the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, Harry and Ron knocked on the door: "Professor Lupin! Professor Lupin! We are here to find you!"

The wooden door was unlocked and creaked open. A sweet smell of pumpkin porridge spread out. Behind the desk, Professor Lu Ping, who was drinking pumpkin porridge, raised his head blankly and held up the last spoonful of pumpkin porridge in his hand. It doesn't matter when you put it down halfway, nor does it matter when you put it in your mouth.

"Professor, do you eat this every day to avoid us?" Harry's complaint was hidden in his concern for Lupine.

"Yeah, yeah!" Ron followed Harry into the office.

Although Loren and Hermione came in behind without speaking, their eyes showed some concern.

"What? I'm not trying to avoid you..."

Lupine shook his head dumbfounded, quickly swallowed the last spoonful of pumpkin porridge, used a cleaning spell to deal with it hastily, and put the tableware into the cupboard. He invited a few people to sit down and took out the tea he had scouted. While making tea, he explained, " I am here for the Animagus ceremony, and a lot of food in the auditorium may damage the leaves and cause the ceremony to fail, so I eat soft food in the office for three meals."

Lu Ping was a little embarrassed to elaborate. He was afraid of being tempted when he went to the auditorium. Since joining Hogwarts and the food became better, he seems to have become a little greedy, especially on the night of the full moon and the days after the full moon. He is particularly fond of roasted chicken legs. The night when Harry and Ron discovered his werewolf identity, he I was almost frightened by the sound of him chewing chicken legs.

"That's right..." Several people nodded suddenly. Loren and Hermione were the ones who proposed the werewolf training Animagus. Harry and Ron were informed by Lupine that night.

"Where are you guys, how are you doing with your Animagus studies?" Lupine poured hot tea for several people, not caring whether the tea leaves were soaked or not. Maybe he didn't even realize that the tea leaves needed to be steeped for a while.

Lu Ping smiled and teased: "You guys should start practicing before me. Don't let me, a latecomer, overtake you."

"How is that possible!" Harry and Ron immediately looked at the other two people, their eyes full of pride, as if they were the ones who started brewing the secret potion.

Hermione held the hot tea and lowered her head, seemingly observing the cup of tea carefully.

Loren smiled sheepishly: "We were too relaxed during the holidays. On Christmas Day, we forgot to recite the spell to our hearts..."

"Have you forgotten even Hermione?" Harry and Ron then looked at Hermione in disbelief. It is normal for Loren to forget, but Miss Know-It-All has also forgotten. How is this possible?

Hermione's ears gradually turned red, and she couldn't refute, she could only teach someone a lesson in her heart.

It's not all Loren's fault. If he hadn't held her in his arms, how could she...

"We just came back from Diagon Alley..." Loren said in time, taking out several mandrake blades from the pendant, "These are the mandrake blades bought at the potion material store. You can start to practice. ”

"this……"

Harry and Ron looked at each other, with a strong struggle flashing in their eyes. If they took the mandrake blades in their mouths, the holiday would be over. They couldn't eat delicious food, play happily, and even had to pay attention to their tongues when speaking. s position.

They don't want to give up their leisurely vacation, but they also want to make progress.

This is the pain of ordinary students. They can't be completely messed up like Seamus and Dean, but they can't be cruel to themselves like Neville, stuck in the middle.

After struggling and hesitating for a while, Harry and Ron took the mandrake blades bitterly and took them into their mouths with painful expressions.

"What about you, when will you start practicing?" Harry looked at Loren and Hermione, feeling the cold bitterness of the mandrake blades as they spoke.

"Wait until the next full moon." Loren said cheerfully.

Harry and Ron's eyes suddenly opened wide with sad and angry expressions.

Lupine finally couldn't help but laugh out loud.

They chatted until three or four in the afternoon, and the bright sunshine slowly faded away. Just when Loren and Hermione were about to say goodbye, a silver-white phoenix with a soft light flew into Lupin's office. Dumbledore was gentle and gentle. A powerful voice sounded from Phoenix's mouth:

"Loren, Hermione, please come to the principal's office. I think it's time to send you back."

"Oh..." Ron sighed and muttered in frustration, "I thought you would just stay in school until the holidays are over."

The smile on Harry's face gradually disappeared. After Christmas, the deserted castle became a bit boring. The professors could not be seen all day long, and the few remaining students who stayed at the school were not familiar with them... Loren and Hermione was away, and so were George and Fred, making the Christmas holidays much more difficult than the previous two years.

"You can write to us, the vacation will be over soon..." Hermione comforted her a few words, then suddenly remembered something and reminded, "Remember to do your homework, and don't wait until the night when school starts and return to school to copy other people's work. There are mandrake leaves, so remember to eat less food that requires chewing..."

Hermione rambled on for a long time, and Harry and Ron suddenly felt that holiday life was not that difficult, at least not as difficult as Loren's. I heard that they were still neighbors.

Harry and Ron looked at each other, and then stared at Loren with pity, which made Loren confused.

After saying goodbye, Harry and Ron stayed in Lupin's office, while Loren and Hermione went to the principal's office.

…

"Headmaster..." Loren pushed open the oak door, and Hermione squeezed in beside him, "When will we... leave..."

Loren's voice paused. He saw Dumbledore standing in front of the desk, carefully studying a small golden cup with two finely processed solid gold handles. The cup body was engraved with the symbol of Hufflepah. Beautifully carved in the shape of a strange badger.

If observed from another perspective, the golden cup is filled with pure yellow magical brilliance. The yellow brilliance is majestic and majestic, but it is mixed with wisps of black smoke, revealing an indescribable weirdness.

Loren and Hermione stepped forward and carefully inspected the delicate ear handles on the small gold cup and the badger-shaped carvings on the cup.

"This is..." Loren recognized the carvings on the cup and already had the answer in his mind, murmuring, "Hufflepuff's golden cup."

Hermione's eyes widened.

"Yes, Ms. Helga Hufflepuff's golden cup..." Dumbledore read softly, with a strange luster in his eyes, "It is also another Horcrux of Voldemort..."

Hermione's eyes grew wider.

Loren noticed that in addition to various silverware and gold cups on the table, there was also a small glass bottle, which contained a wisp of silvery smoke, which looked like someone's memory.

He looked up at Dumbledore: "Headmaster, can you tell us what happened in Diagon Alley? And how did you find this golden cup?"

"Of course, there is still some time before dark, we can sit down and drink another glass of pumpkin juice, right?" Dumbledore sat back behind the desk, poured pumpkin juice for the two of them, poured a glass for himself, and held it. The cup said slowly, "Mrs. Lestrange attacked Diagon Alley. She caused multiple explosions in the streets to attract the attention of the Ministry of Magic's Aurors."

"And she disguised herself as a customer handling business. After waiting for the explosion to draw away the Aurors and Dementors, she kidnapped an elf manager, broke into the underground vault, and snatched the gold cup."

"Fortunately, Minerva and the others arrived in time. Although Bellatrix Lestrange injured Severus and escaped, the gold cup was recaptured."

"Injured?!" Loren quickly asked, "Is Professor Snape okay?"

Dumbledore shook his head, a deep light flashed in his eyes: "It's okay, I just broke a few ribs due to the repelling spell."

Loren was stunned for a moment when he heard this.

Repel spell? Would a senior Death Eater like Bellatrix use a repelling spell?

Didn't it start with the Cruciatus Curse, followed by the Crushing Curse and then the Death Curse? How could a low-level spell like the Repel Curse be used?

Loren glanced at Dumbledore and subconsciously felt that Professor Snape took the initiative to let Bellatrix go, but he didn't know whether it was Dumbledore's instruction or Professor Snape's own initiative.

If it's the former, fine, if it's the latter...

"Headmaster, how do we destroy this Horcrux?" Hermione asked softly, her eyes still resting on the small golden cup. "Can you find a way to keep Ms. Hufflepuff's golden cup?"

"I can't promise you, Hermione, but I will definitely find a way." Dumbledore gave her a gentle smile, and then slowly drank the pumpkin juice in the cup, drinking it together with the thoughts in his mind. many doubts.

The diary, Ravenclaw's diadem, Gaunt's ring inlaid with the Resurrection Stone, Hufflepuff's golden cup...How many Horcruxes did Tom leave behind, and did he create new Horcruxes?

If he wants to completely defeat Voldemort, he must determine the answer to this question... At present, there are only two ways he can think of - Harry and Severus.

What is Tom planning while hiding in Ilvermorny? Is it related to the strange snake tree?

Dumbledore caught a glimpse of a wisp of memory smoke in the glass bottle on the table, and couldn't help but feel an even bigger headache.

Loren also noticed the smoke containing a wisp of memory and asked curiously: "Principal, whose memory is this? Is it an important clue?"

"It's a house elf named Hao Qi..." Dumbledore came back to his senses and said, "Its owner is a descendant of Ms. Hufflepuff, Ms. Hepzibah. She bought it and bought it at Boginbok. The Slytherin locket there, at first I thought it was because she is a descendant of Hufflepuff and collects relics of her ancestors’ friends..."

"But later, I investigated and found out that Hao Qi was accused of manslaughter of Ms. Hepzibah and was imprisoned in Azkaban... I realized that there might be something hidden in it, and I always hoped to see it alone. But since last year Connelly was wary of me at first."

A strange and intriguing smile appeared on Dumbledore's face: "To this day, Cornelius hopes that I can give the credit for repelling the Death Eaters to the Aurors, and for this reason he did not hesitate to allow me to meet Hao Qi alone... He probably thinks that I'm investigating Hufflepuff's gold cup, and I'm even willing to give it to me."

Hermione was keenly aware of something and asked tentatively: "Ms. Hepzibah was killed by Voldemort, right, Headmaster? He did it for Slytherin's locket and Hufflepuff's golden cup. In order to make the relics of these two legendary wizards into Horcruxes!"

Dumbledore nodded: "I think so. If I have enough time, I would like to show you this memory, but now it can only be narrated by me... In short, after Voldemort learned that Ms. Hepzibah had these two founders Lady Hepzibah died two days after the relic, and the Ministry of Magic determined that the house elf Hooch mistakenly put poison in her mistress's bedtime cocoa tea..."

"Poor house elf..." Hermione said sadly, she had already deduced what happened next, "Headmaster, can we save her?"

"I will find a way..." Dumbledore said, he pursed his lips, looked at the girl's eyes full of pity, and failed to tell her the rest of the situation.

Hao Qi is already a very old house elf. Its memory was modified by Voldemort. It really believed that it had accidentally killed its master. It spent a long life in prison filled with guilt and self-blame. Although the dementors were not very good at it. Love the smell of the house elf, but it's still tortured.

Judging from Dumbledore's experience as an old wizard, Hao Qi probably won't live long.

Loren noticed the old principal's hesitant expression, and had some vague suspicions in his heart. He looked at Hermione beside him and couldn't think of anything to comfort her for a while.

"Let's go, the sun is about to set!" Dumbledore put down the empty tea cup and winked at the two young wizards, "Please be considerate of me, a hundred-year-old wizard. After I send you home, I will also I have to rush back in the dark."

The more than 100-year-old headmaster held the hands of the two young wizards. Fox consciously stood on Dumbledore's shoulders. The firelight circulated and the three of them disappeared into the office.

——

Happy New Year! I don’t know if the stuck point is successful or not hehehe