days at Hogwarts

Chapter 631 New Connection
The entrance to Diagon Alley.

He tapped the brick wall gently with his magic wand, and a wide, straight archway appeared before his eyes. It looked no different from previous years. The archway led to the backyard of the Leaky Cauldron, where there was nothing but a trash can and some weeds.

Occasionally, pedestrians would come from the other side, while Loren and Hermione would walk out.

Passing through the small patio in the backyard and entering the front hall, the bar that used to be bustling seemed unusually deserted. Loren looked around and found that the lively crowd with strange clothes in the past were gone. The only one left in the room was the owner Tom, with a wrinkled face and gloomy eyes.

Hearing someone coming into the store, the bar owner immediately looked up and looked over hopefully. Seeing that it was the two little wizards who had finished shopping, his cloudy eyes became dim again and he lowered his head again, wiping the table absentmindedly.

When they passed by a few years ago, Old Tom always looked energetic. Only now did they realize that all his teeth had fallen out.

The two men did not disturb old Tom, but passed silently through the front hall and left the room quietly.

When they reached the corner of the street, Hermione looked back.

The shop front is still as small and dirty as before. Compared with the bookstore and record store next to it, the sign of the Leaky Cauldron is covered with mud, dust and sticky dirt due to years of wind and sun. People passing by in a hurry will not notice this wizard tavern, and wizards in special times do not have the leisure to chat in the tavern.

It is foreseeable that the cold weather will continue for some time.

It won't be long.

Retracting her gaze, Hermione put her hand into his and said, "Loren, can the transformation of the fireplace floo network you just mentioned be implemented on a large scale?"

"Yes, yes..."

Loren suddenly remembered something, turned his head and looked at her in surprise: "Are you really planning to transform the Transportation Department and soak the Knight Bus in water?"

"I just think the current Floo Network is flawed."

"I don't believe you, you just want to soak the bus in water!"

"Just say it is..."

"We have such a good relationship, I will definitely be the first one to support you. Not to mention the Knight Bus, I would support you even if you want to soak the Ministry of Magic!" Loren said to himself, "It's troublesome to modify them one by one. It might be easier if we modify the existing system of the Transportation Department. Let's see what Minister Granger decides..."

……

end of August.

The temperatures in London are starting to cool.

Wendell has been complaining these days that the temperature this summer is a bit low and the weather is not suitable for going out fishing. It is warmer at this time of year in previous years. According to Hermione's guess, the drop in temperature may be caused by the Dementors. The thick fog formed by the gathering and reproduction of dark magic creatures swallowed up some of the heat, and this winter may be colder.

During the few days staying at home, Loren simulated the reconstruction of the fireplace in the Book of Fantasy, and gained a deeper understanding of the magic of space, making him more confident about this renovation.

Just last night, Harry called through an anonymous phone call from the Burrow and informed Loren that Arthur and Sirius had prepared all the materials, and Mad-Eye Moody had also persuaded Scrimgeour to completely dismantle the Floo Network at the Burrow. In short, everything was ready.

Loren planned to go there today and complete the renovation work before school started, so as to avoid having to leave school for field work after arriving at Hogwarts.

Hampstead, suburb of town, eight or nine in the morning.

The dentist couple had just finished breakfast and were preparing to start a busy day. The students and retired elderly people on summer vacation had nothing to do, so they got together to kill time.

Loren and Grandpa Bates sat on the sofa, listening to the sound of water splashing in the kitchen. It was Hermione washing the dishes for breakfast. Loren made breakfast, so the cleanup naturally fell on the girl, as it was not good to trouble the old man.

The TV program was the same old morning news: "Britain and France jointly build the largest missile company in Europe. British Aerospace and France's Matra officially signed an agreement in London to jointly establish the largest missile company in Europe. According to the agreement, British Aerospace and Matra will merge their missile production companies to form a joint Matra British Aerospace. In a joint statement issued after the signing of the agreement, the two companies emphasized that the establishment of the joint enterprise marks that the joint revitalization strategy of the EU arms industry has entered the concrete implementation stage..."

"Grandpa Bates..." Loren leaned lazily on the sofa cushion: "Hermione and I are going out later."

"Where are you going?" Bates stared at the TV screen intently without turning his head.

"Go to Ron's house to do an experiment."

"The kind that explodes?"

“It won’t explode.”

"Oh..." Grandpa Bates nodded, obviously not taking it seriously, "Will you come back for lunch at noon?"

"I probably won't be back. Mrs. Weasley is very welcoming."

"What about tonight?"

"Go home and eat tonight."

"Take care of Hermione."

"understood."

When Hermione finished packing and came out, she said a simple goodbye to Grandpa Bates, and the two of them waved their wands and disappeared.

The Burrow is located on the outskirts of the village of Ottery St. Catchpole in Devon. The two had stayed there for a while and remembered the location. Apparition was the most convenient way to get around.

Surrounded by rolling hills and fertile grasslands, the place was well hidden from Muggles. Only when you got closer could you see four or five chimneys on the red roof, and then you realized there was a crooked big house here. In front of the house was a chicken coop, a utility room and a garage, and behind the house was an overgrown garden. At the back door, there were still many old boots and rusty cauldrons piled up in a mess as before.

The grass rustled, and the goblins hiding inside glanced at the two guests furtively.

dong dong dong.

dong dong dong...

A dull knock on the door sounded on both sides, and the footsteps in the room gradually became clearer. Along with the creaking sound of the door hinge turning, a smiling Molly appeared in front of the two of them: "Oh, welcome back here, my dear——" "Ahem!"

A sudden cough interrupted her, and Mad-Eye Moody's rough voice came from behind: "Stay alert! Molly, we must confirm that they are not Death Eaters in disguise!"

"Okay..." Molly asked helplessly, "Sorry, Loren, Hermione, I have to ask you a question that only you know... Let me think about it..."

Loren and Hermione waited quietly outside the door, feeling a little amused.

"Your test scores, no, that's not a secret..."

While Molly was thinking hard, Moody came over with his wand raised and asked viciously, "Little witch, when did we first meet?"

This question can indeed verify identity. Ordinary students and people who don't know the inside story may answer in Hogwarts. Only the real Hermione knows: "In the Ministry of Magic, Professor."

"Come in." Moody limped open the door.

"Don't mind, dear." Molly welcomed the two in and poured them hot tea.

As soon as Loren and Hermione sat down, the sound of footsteps was heard on the stairs. Harry and a few others quickly jumped out, chattering about the recent troubles caused by Moody.

"Everyone in the Burrow will be questioned when they come back from outside. I wanted to remind you on the phone..." Harry glanced at Moody secretly and lowered his voice slightly, "but he stopped me, saying that Muggle calls are not safe and there is a risk of being monitored."

Ron nodded and complained angrily, "Yesterday evening, I was delayed for a few minutes feeding the chickens in the yard, and he actually asked me how many slices of fried bacon I had for breakfast. Who in their right mind would remember how many slices of bacon they had for breakfast? Just because of this, he wanted to cast a spell on me!"

Ginny deadpanned, "Because mom didn't even fry bacon for breakfast yesterday."

"I eat whatever my mom cooks. Who in their right mind would remember when there was no bacon or fried eggs?"

"We all remember except you!"

"I do not believe!"

Ron was so angry that he screamed and everyone burst into laughter. The room was filled with a happy atmosphere. The Weasley family was still the Weasley family. No matter what time it was, this family could always live a happy life.

While they were chatting, Moody glanced at the wall clock and said in a muffled voice, "Let's talk later, little guys, let's get down to business first."

Before Loren could say anything, he heard the mad-eye man muttering to himself: "At this time, Mrs. Edgemer of the Floo Network Administration is holding a morning meeting to report on yesterday's situation. We should act quickly while they are not at work yet..."

In fact, the fireplace in the Burrow has been disconnected from the Floo Network, so the Transportation Department Administration Bureau cannot monitor this place regardless of whether it is on duty or not. But there is no end to idle chat, so we should really start working.

Loren didn't mind listening to the retired Auror's chatter. That was how Moody was. Even though he was a little neurotic and didn't understand the Floo Network and space magic, he would do his best to do all the work within his ability.

Lauren stood up and walked to the place where the living room and kitchen of the Burrow met. There was the fireplace, and next to it stood the grandfather clock with nine hands on it. Each needle was engraved with a member of the Weasley family. Arthur and Percy currently worked in the Ministry of Magic, Bill was in Gringotts, George and Fred were in the store, and the others were at home.

The scale on the clock seemed to have changed, and the pointer became unstable. The pointer of Bill and others would occasionally point to deadly danger, but would quickly turn back, as if it was some kind of omen.

"It's been like this for a while..." Molly moved the prepared magic materials over. "It's been like this since the mysterious man made his public comeback. At least it's not always pointing to the red area, which means we're safe most of the time."

The onlookers were silent, and Loren did not respond. He looked through the materials piled in the cardboard box: bird snake eggshells, two-horned beast horns, dragon gill sacs, Floo powder...

Loren opened a box of brand new Floo powder. The newly-made powder was actually a shiny silver color, similar to the space magic collected by the planetary room, except that the magic reaction was weaker.

After exposure to fresh air, the surface powder faded and turned green visibly. Loren suspected that it was some kind of oxidation reaction, similar to copper rust, and did not affect the effect.

He did not delve into the properties of Floo powder too much. Now was not the time to study this. After briefly feeling the magic of Floo powder, he moved closer to the fireplace. The brick and stone interior had been cleaned, and the places blackened by the flames looked clean and smooth. He picked up a fingernail's worth of Floo powder and tried to sprinkle it into the fireplace, and mobilized the magic to erupt from his fingertips.

There was a flash of golden light, and then the Floo powder was immediately ignited. A cluster of bright green flames bloomed and quickly turned into a thriving fire.

Loren stuck his head into the emerald green flames, and a feeling of boundless emptiness came over him. His perception had some kind of connection with the space that was usually difficult to perceive. He could vaguely see some images outside the fireplace, and even outside the burrow, such as the goblins walking in the backyard and the frogs swimming in the pond...

As a magical invention several centuries ago, the Floo Network has been improved by successive generations of wizards and has gradually become perfect. It can build a stable and lasting space channel, and even solve the problem of splitting during Apparition. A wizard's body can span two places thousands of miles apart, with the body on one side and the head on the other.

This was the result of disconnecting from the Floo network. If it was connected, Loren might have seen more and more distant blurry images.

The transformation that Loren wanted to make was more like some kind of restriction. He would build a channel between two fixed places. In order to improve security, he would only allow directional transmission and the consent of the other party was required. Compared with the Floo Network, it was closer to another teleportation magic, the portkey.

He didn't know whether the Floo Network or the Portkey was better, but at least under the current conditions, the Portkey was more suitable for the connection between the Burrow and the Black Mansion.

In Loren's conception, this new connection could optimize the security and privacy of the Floo network, solve the shortcoming of the Floo network's inability to transmit over ultra-long distances, and reduce the impact of door key transmission on passengers, which was more in line with his plan.

The Floo powder ran out and the emerald flame gradually died out.

Loren turned around and saw several people standing behind him with obvious curiosity on their faces. Harry and Ron seemed eager to try the feeling of putting their heads into the flames.

"What's the situation? Are you sure?" Moody stood in the outer circle, his magic eyes rolling around. "If you're not sure, just maintain the status quo. We have prepared a door key that can also avoid supervision..."

Loren nodded slightly, "It should be ready before lunch."

Loren took out the two horns of the bicorn, placed his magic wand against the cross-section of the broken horns, and carefully controlled the power of Shenfeng Wuying. The dry and hard keratin turned into fragments and powder and fell off. After about three minutes, the medulla inside the two curved horns was hollowed out.

Then he used the magic wand to stimulate the magic power of the unicorn hair, and manipulated them to carve the base of the magic circle on the bird snake eggshell, filling the 17 groups of magic patterns connected in the space, shrinking them and embedding them into the inner wall of the curved corner...

Then fill the Floo Powder into the fire dragon's gill sacs and fill it into the hollow curved corners. The spatial magic power in it serves as fuel for activating the magic pattern.

Each material is engraved with an alchemical array. When all the materials are assembled together, the arrays are connected to each other and become one. The secret connection between the two-horned beasts can mark each other's positions in space and establish a channel in the twisted space turbulence. The magic pattern is responsible for the carrier of transportation, maintaining the stability of the channel and protecting the safety of passengers.

(End of this chapter)