Harry Potter: Charlie's Candy Factory

"You say you are Mr. White's... brother?"

A look of surprise appeared on the woman's face, even covering up her original vigilance.She had no choice but to adjust her glasses and take a closer look at the man standing in front of her at the moment, with a proper smile on his face, elegant demeanor and well-dressed man who was obviously out of place on this street.

Looking at the face and brows that have a bit of resemblance to Ryan, but the resemblance is a little less melancholy and a little more arrogant.

Immediately, a distorted history of love, hatred, and hatred between noble and wealthy families rolled in her mind unstoppably...so much so that she was momentarily distracted.

Seeing the woman staring at him blankly, there was no further movement. After hesitating for a moment, Charlie had to pretend to cough twice as a reminder, and then drew the other's attention back.

Noticing her gaffe just now, after reacting, the woman hastily apologized and explained
"Sorry, I'm just a little surprised... After all, we have been neighbors for nearly ten years. This is the first time I know that Mr. White actually has an older brother..."

"Neighbor of ten years, you mean...he has lived in this place for ten years?"

After listening to the woman’s explanation, it was Charlie’s turn to be surprised this time.He raised his eyebrows, sighed, and couldn't help but look at the dilapidated house from top to bottom again with the dim light.

He carefully looked at the details that had been ignored by him before—the trimmed lawn, the low fence repaired with broken planks and rusty iron nails, the randomly stacked firewood leaning against the house, and an ax with a polished handle... ...Everything is like a wordless storybook. Although nothing is clearly expressed, Charlie can use it to imagine how the noble young master named Regulus completely gave up his identity step by step. , blended with the name White Lane.

After feeling a lot in his heart, Charlie quickly restrained the waves and restored his expression to the state just now.

His eyes shifted to the woman again, and he continued the topic just now and asked

"So... now you can tell me, where did Ryan go?"

"Oh, of course!"

This time, the woman didn't say anything else, she nodded briskly, then pointed to the end of the block, and said,
"At this time, Mr. White usually likes to go for a walk in the square with the fountain over there. If you go now, you might meet him."

"Thank you."

Without saying much, after getting the answer he wanted, Charlie nodded his thanks first, then took Peng Peng who was obediently standing aside, and returned to the car.

The car was started by Peng Peng with the flickering lights and the slight roar from the engine.

Just when the two were about to leave, suddenly, Charlie seemed to think of something.

He slowly lowered the window of the car, turned his head to look at the woman who was watching him leave at the next door not far away, and said in a gentle voice
"Sorry, I almost forgot...what should I call you?"

The woman was taken aback for a moment, but soon realized that she brushed her loose hair behind her ears, and replied:
"Dorothy Graf, you can call me Graf."

"Thanks, Ms. Graf... Merry Christmas to you."

Charlie nodded, smiled and sent Graf his best wishes.

Graf also smiled back.

"You too, Mr. White. Merry Christmas."

Charlie's car drove away, and under the watchful eyes of Graf, it drove to the fork not far away, and followed the direction she pointed to find the trace of Ryan...

..........................................

At this moment, in the square not far away, instead of the desolation and silence of only two or three people walking in the past, a huge Christmas tree rose from the center, shining colorful lights, decorating every corner of it, Accompanied by pleasant and catchy familiar songs, the cold wind of winter and the darkness of night are dispelled.

Countless people living nearby all put on thick clothes, taking advantage of their free time to stroll here with their families, chatting endlessly, and laughing from time to time, but also combined into this ordinary place. There are countless highlight moments in this place......

Ryan leaned comfortably on the back of the bench with a friendly smile on his face.

In front of him, seven or eight young children surrounded him, their eyes sparkled with surprise, and they stared at the magical hands in front of them without blinking.

"Come on, look at this carefully..."

As Ryan spoke, he spread his palms and presented a shiny twenty-pence silver coin in front of everyone.

"Are you going to make it invisible?!"

A little girl with blond hair raised her head, blinked her eyes, and asked excitedly.

"Changed?"

Mr. Lane showed a pretentious smile.

Immediately afterwards, he suddenly leaned forward, put his head in front of the children, then lowered his voice, as if he was telling an extremely important secret, and seriously preached
"Only the most boring magician would make it disappear—and I, I'm going to do something more incredible..."

For a moment, all the children who heard the words couldn't help but exclaimed, and the light in their eyes became brighter.

"Now, just wait and see..."

After all, I didn't say anything anymore, I saw Ryan put the silver coin on his thumb and gently bounced it upwards.

With a crisp sound of "Ding!", the coin spun and flew into the air, drawing a beautiful arc at the highest point...

The small audience couldn't help but hold their breath, and their already huge eyes were opened again and again, as if they were afraid of missing any wonderful process.

"Snapped!"

There was a crisp snap of fingers, and in an instant, the silver coin that should have continued to fall lost its trace, and disappeared out of nowhere in front of everyone's eyes in the night illuminated by Christmas tree lights and moonlight.

"Where did it go!?"

"God, I'm obviously looking at it!"

"It just disappeared before my eyes..."

"Sir, where did you send it!?"

........................

Such a miraculous scene immediately caused a group of children to explode. They shouted in shock, while twisting their necks, looking for the trace of the silver coin, and wiping their eyes with their hands in disbelief. Doubt dazzled.

Ryan watched this scene with a smile, and seemed to be able to live a great sense of satisfaction from the exaggerated feedback of these children.

After waiting for a while, seeing that the children who had reacted no longer looked for it, but turned their longing eyes back to themselves, Ryan finally gave this not-so-clever trick a perfect ending.

"Okay, now, touch your pockets."

Ryan said so, and immediately the children all lowered their heads and subconsciously put their hands into their pockets.

"It's a coin!!!"

"I have it here too!"

The children yelled and jumped high, and everyone happily pulled a silver twentypence from their pockets.

"It's yours now, Merry Christmas!"

Taking a deep breath of the cold air, Ryan pulled the zipper of the down jacket upwards, saying so.

………………

After the children left contentedly, Charlie took Peng Peng and walked to his side unhurriedly...

"So, do you have any pennies left? I'd like to buy a glass of mulled wine on the way."