The days of hanging out at Hogwarts

Although he did not witness it with his own eyes, the Boggart and the Soul-Capturing Stone did undergo indescribable and wonderful changes under the witness of Loren. He observed them carefully for a long time, came back to his senses, and picked up the stone from the wooden box to investigate.

Regarding the whale carvings above, Loren had a preliminary guess.

On the Hogwarts Express three years ago, the dementor who broke into the carriage was swallowed by his patron saint. Before disappearing and turning into the Dementor Stone, the whale-shaped patron saint became the deepest fear in its heart.

And the Boggart sensed this fear...

When his fingers touched the surface of the stone, the carved patterns felt a bit rough. A cold touch came from his fingertips and palms, but it only stayed on the surface of the skin and did not penetrate deeper into the flesh and bones. Loren could clearly feel it. The lingering coldness disappeared.

Crystal blue light and shadow floated in Loren's eyes, and he could clearly see through his magic vision that the magic power attached to the stone had changed.

The original weak magic power of the soul-stirring stone is dim black, while the magic power of the Boggart is gray. After being fused together, the carved stone exudes a light white-gray magic power, lingering on the surface of the stone. It would spread out like the smoke rising from Hagrid's burning of damp wood.

"It did not complete it into a brand new life form, but merged into a new magic power..."

Loren felt it carefully. This magic power did not try to explore the things he was afraid of, nor did it absorb fresh and happy emotions. Except for the white-gray magic smoke lingering on the surface of the stone, it seemed like an ordinary stone.

"[Split into pieces]"

"[Burning flames]"

"[Copy into pairs]"

"..."

Loren shook the magic spell and cast out a dozen commonly used spells in succession, but the stone did not change at all.

"Inherited the property of soul-absorbing stones that are not affected by conventional spells and curses..."

Loren showed a thoughtful expression and thought for a few minutes. He did not choose to continue trying more powerful spells such as Shen Feng Wu Ying or Li Huo. After all, no matter how hard the material is, it has its limits. He does not have any more soul-absorbing spells in his hands now. Stone.

…

"Password?"

"A small glass of beer."

"The password is correct."

The portrait of the Fat Lady turned sideways to move away from the portrait door stone, and murmured, "Oh, Loren, where have you been? My friends and I searched the entire castle and couldn't find you. Sir Cadogan didn't even find you." I'm going crazy."

"You can't blame me for this. Sir Cadogan went crazy hundreds of years ago..."

After paying casual greetings to the Fat Lady, Loren walked into the Gryffindor common room and saw a group of people crowded in the center of the room. Inside were the students from the Apparition class, and outside were the lower-grade students who were watching the fun and chattering. Discuss a recent class session.

Taking a few steps closer, you can hear Seamus' voice coming from the center of the crowd. He is explaining the principles of space and magic. The drake voice in the voice-changing stage, coupled with the serious tone, is inexplicably funny.

There are no errors or omissions in the content, the logic is smooth, and the derivation steps are detailed, but it has nothing to do with Apparition.

It sounds like Hermione's style. Miss Know-It-All always pursues thoroughness when taking notes. Especially when studying spells and looking up information, she has to record down any irrelevant expansion content she encounters.

The little wizards who were watching looked eager.

Loren shook his head and walked back to his old spot.

There was a familiar figure beside the round table by the window.

The standard college magic robe is slightly loose. The tie and emblem are in brilliant gold and red colors, which adds a touch of liveliness to the girl. There is parchment on the table, and she holds a white quill in her hand. Rong's head was slightly tilted, revealing her beautiful face. Perhaps she had just finished writing a certain sentence. She raised her head to think about the words and happened to see him.

"It's only been two classes since I last saw you, why do you feel beautiful again?"

"..."

Hermione had a sullen face, tried her best to cover the raised corners of her mouth, and asked calmly: "Why are you back now? How was the experiment?"

"It's a bit complicated to explain..."

Loren took out the scored stone and talked about what happened in the Room of Requirement. He also talked about conjectures about Boggarts and Dementors, conjectures about souls and bodies, and an analysis of the principles of Apparition.

Hermione sat next to her, turning her face slightly, listening quietly. She didn't know when she had put down her quill. She occasionally lowered her head to look at the carvings on the stone. When she encountered something she didn't understand, she would ask questions. If she could understand, If you understand the explanation, just nod. If you don't understand, don't continue to ask. Just write it down in your heart.

"...That's the thing, I haven't discovered the function of this new magic yet."

There were exclamations from the crowd in the center of the room, and Loren subconsciously looked sideways, stunned for a moment.

There was a faint coolness in the carved stone in his hand, and another strange scene appeared in his eyes. The crowd not far away was covered with colors. The main tone was red, mixed with some other colors, both warm and cold tones. It seemed that It varies from person to person.

In the center of the crowd, Seamus's body had the brightest colors.

Loren narrowed his eyes slightly. It was slightly different from the magical vision. This feeling was more like Legilimency. Those colors seemed to be their emotions, or...souls?

Hermione noticed the change in his expression: "What's wrong?"

"I think I have a clue."

…

A flat and spacious main road runs through the village of Hogsmeade, with various magic shops on the left and right, including Honeydukes, Puddieffe's Tea House, Devis and Bans Shop, Literary Mansion, The Three Broomsticks, and Zuko's Magic Joke Shop. , Pig Head Bar...

Behind the shop are alleys that wind around, which are where the villagers live. It is said that Professor McGonagall also bought a house in the village. No student has ever seen it. Every time during Hogsmeade event week, around the main road There are too many shops on both sides to browse, let alone the small alleyway behind.

The shops in the commercial street all rely on students to take care of business. There is basically no business on weekdays, and they have not even opened their doors recently. Only the Three Broomsticks and the Pig's Head Bar usually have customers.

Honeydukes' mail-order business is as prosperous as ever. Students graduate from Hogwarts every year. Most students will still miss the taste of these candies after they leave. It is not that there are no candy shops in other places and wizarding settlements, but they are not installed. The taste made by the Brosius couple.

Whenever I see the strange-looking bee on the kraft paper package with a somewhat cute fire paint mark, and smell the sweet smell coming out of the package, those graduated wizards feel like they have returned to their student days...

By accumulating money year after year, the candy store has a considerable number of loyal customers.

When doing the accounts at the end of the month, the Ambrosios firmly believed that a certain sixth-year Gryffindor student had the potential to become a loyal customer, so they were particularly enthusiastic and smiled brightly when they paid.

"Goodbye, I hope these candies can bring you a good mood!"

"Goodbye, Mrs. Ambrosio..."

After walking out of the candy store, the cold wind blowing in front of him made Loren shrink his neck. He stuffed a large bag full of snacks and candies into the pendant, leaving two nut chocolates, one into his mouth and one into Hermione. In the mouth.

"Ugh!"

The girl immediately objected, but the chocolate blocked her mouth, and the sweet syrup melted between her lips and teeth, and she couldn't speak clearly.

"Well..."

Loren's voice was also unclear, but Hermione could tell from his proud tone that he was happily saying, "Is it delicious? I think it's delicious too."

"..."

Hermione rolled her eyes and didn't argue with the man.

"hey-hey!"

The two walked side by side towards the three broomsticks not far away.

After being together for a long time, the two of them can feel each other's emotions and thoughts even without communicating with each other. When exactly this tacit understanding began, the two of them can't remember clearly.

Many things are so natural, like the February breeze in early spring, the sweet smell outside the candy store, and the new buds of vegetation.

…

At about 11 o'clock, the two of them slowly walked to the Three Broomsticks.

When I walked in and took a quick look around, I saw that there were quite a few customers in the store. Most of the people sitting at the tables were students from Hogwarts. The residents of the village gathered around the bar and looked at this group of energetic students with smiles. , talking to each other while holding glasses of wine, Ms. Rosmerta occasionally said a few words, without the usual bustle.

Harry and others were sitting against the wall, and four red-haired brothers and sisters were talking quietly. Two of them were students who had not yet graduated, and the other two were twins who came to Hogsmeade to inspect the location of a new store.

"The residents here don't like pranks..." George saw Loren and Hermione approaching from the corner of his eye, and his voice suddenly raised, "Hey, aren't these a couple in love? How about a date in the candy store?

"The candy store is great, but it would be even better if there was a joke shop." Loren replied with a smile, and sat down next to Hermione.

"Oh, we were just talking about this. The branch store plan is not going well." George sighed.

"We planned to rent Zuko's store and open a Hogsmeade branch, but the current situation..." Fred said dejectedly, "I heard that your event was almost canceled, so what's the use of that store?"

“If you think about it from another angle, now is a good time to buy a store.”

"What's the meaning?"

"If the business on the whole street is not good, the housing prices will drop, and the prices are the lowest at this time."

George and Fred were stunned for a moment, and their eyes gradually brightened.

Harry scratched his head and joined in the conversation: "But if you can't open a store, or the business of the store is not good, what will you do if you buy the store?"

Without waiting for Loren to explain, Ron turned to look at him: "Why are you so stupid? Think about it with your head, why is business bad now?"

"Vol...Voldemort?"

"Yes, once Dumbledore defeats Voldemort, won't business get better?"

"oh……"

Ignoring the discussion there, George and Fred told Loren about the recent development of the joke shop: "Diagon Alley is becoming more and more deserted, but our business is okay, and even wizards from other countries order by mail. The Ministry of Magic has placed an additional order for our products..."

Now Weasley's Trick Shop is about to be renamed the Military Workshop. The business of prank products is completely inferior to that of protection products against the dark arts. The Ministry of Magic has placed additional orders, and some high-ranking officials and Aurors will buy them for their families privately. The news is As word spread, more and more wizards entered the trick shop to purchase protective equipment.

A large order means a large Galleons. George and Fred felt happy at first, but later they calmed down and realized that this was somewhat contrary to their original intentions. The business of the trick shop was getting bigger and bigger, but it did not bring more laughter.

So the two discussed and planned to open a branch in Hogwarts, where the students are more pure and love pranks.

"..."

Loren didn't have any good suggestions for this. He couldn't stop the business of protective equipment. He took a sip of butter beer. The salty and sweet hops brought some comfort: "We are in a special period now. It will be fine."

"Don't talk about this anymore."

George and Fred were not very depressed. George took out a small cloth bag and placed it on the table. The contents inside made a crisp and sweet jingle when they bumped against each other: "This is the revenue share during this period. The communication badge design you gave us The picture has been put into production. Ms. Bones signed the order directly after seeing the sample, and all employees of the Ministry of Magic will be equipped with it.”

"Not only the British Ministry of Magic, but also the Ministry of Magic in other countries have sent people to contact us, and they also have purchasing intentions." Fred looked around and lowered his voice, "Mad-Eye Moody has also seen it. The Order of the Phoenix also plans to equip it."

"We have a hunch that this thing will become popular very quickly, and it will become a must-have item for every wizard just like the wand." George stared into Loren's eyes with a solemn expression, "As the inventor of the communicator, You will be awarded the Order of Merlin, be featured in the Chocolate Frog Picture, and your name will be the focus of textbooks. Loren, do you really not want to make it public?"

"Uh... I don't have any plans for the moment."

Loren replied without much thought.

It sounds very troublesome. It is better to wait until you are enjoying your old age before making this kind of thing public.

George and Fred looked at each other with complex expressions and a hint of shock. After thinking about it, they felt that this was Loren's style.

…

The cool breeze is still blowing in Hogsmeade. Whether it is a bar, a teahouse, a candy store or a stationery store, those magic shops that have been dormant for a long time are welcoming laughter again.

Except for the Screaming Shack.

In the abandoned Shrieking Shack, the old and broken furniture was covered with dust. Although he had already received the news in the letter, Draco Malfoy couldn't help but be stunned when he really saw his father who had been away for a long time.

It was no different from the figure in his memory. The robe was brand new, made of luxurious materials and fine workmanship. The gilded cane and expensive tie highlighted the identity of the Malfoy family.

If you observe carefully, you can still see the changes. The pale and swollen cheeks have clearer wrinkles, the back is a little stooped, the temples are gray, and the pupils are cloudy.

He seemed to really smell the smell of old age and exhaustion from his father.

Lucius had a lot to say. He moved his lips a few times, and when he came to his lips, he only called out a short name:

"Draco."

"Dad...dad."