days at Hogwarts

Chapter 804: The Snake at the Good Luck Fountain

The first level you encounter while searching for the Fountain of Good Luck.

Both of them were a little embarrassed.

Hermione paced back and forth along the lakeshore, frowning, thinking about how to prove to the snow-white rat snake that pain had passed the test, or quietly evaluating its magic power, wondering if it could be fooled by using a Confusion Charm or an Imperius Curse. However, considering its friendly attitude and the magic of the Fountain of Good Luck, she gave up this plan for the time being.

"To prove some kind of pain..."

Maybe it has something to do with the Cruciatus Curse.

It should not only refer to physical pain.

If it involves emotional and psychological pain, it may be related to Dementors.

"what is it……"

Hermione paced back and forth for a few circles but still couldn't come up with an answer. Just as she was about to discuss it with Loren, she turned around and stopped where she was.

Loren squatted in front of the snow-white rat snake, holding the pendant on his chest in his left hand, and constantly taking out things with his right hand, trying his luck and putting them in front of the white snake. Sometimes it was potions and alchemy materials, and sometimes it was various ingredients and seasonings. When the magic materials didn't react, he put them back, and he wanted to feed the ingredients and seasonings to the white snake to taste them. When she looked over, Loren was holding a dried white mouse and feeding it to it. It was a snack for a certain spectacled owl.

"Hiss..."

Although the white snake had dull eyes and no expression on its face, Hermione could still see some helplessness in the arc of its tail.

"..."

Hermione suddenly felt some sympathy for the white snake.

But this is also a way to try.

Hermione temporarily put aside all the thoughts in her mind and started to do the same as Loren, squatting down to take out various things from the pendant and trying them in front of the snow-white snake.

Book: Hogwarts: A History.

NEWT exercises.

Literati feather pen.

Loren glanced at her. "What does this have to do with pain?"

"So what do chili oil and mustard have to do with pain?"

"These are all seasonings made from magical plants. The raw materials are prohibited items that are prohibited from entering the country. The chili oil is specially made to be devilishly spicy, and the mustard is also top-grade mustard. It will feel the pain as soon as it tastes it."

"?"

Hermione was silent for a few seconds.

I still think the Confusion Curse and the Imperius Curse are more appropriate.

Over the next ten minutes, the two men dug out all sorts of materials and daily necessities from the pendant, waved them in front of the white snake, and then put them back into the pendant. The white snake never paid any attention to them.

Loren was not discouraged. He tried his luck and reached for the pendant with his right hand, taking out a red stone. Just as he was about to take back the pendant, the white snake suddenly moved.

It leaned forward, stuck out its tongue, and began to lick the red stone.

"what?"

Loren kept holding the stone in the air and carefully observed the red stone.

Hermione's eyes widened slightly, revealing a bit of surprise. She had recognized the stone: "It's the coral stone given to us by the mermaid."

"What does this have to do with pain..."

Loren hadn't finished his question yet, with a thoughtful expression on his face. "That mermaid elder had personally witnessed his compatriots being poisoned and deformed, dying tragically in agony. The toxin spread along the ocean currents to the entire world, affecting more and more mermaids. He saw that the entire race was heading towards extinction, and he was powerless to do anything about it, so he felt pained."

"is that so……"

There was also a hint of realization in Hermione's eyes.

To the white snake, this red coral stone seemed like a rare delicacy, attracting it to lick it. Even when Loren reached out to touch the scales, it did not disturb its movements, as it was immersed in the world of tasting the delicious food.

Loren held the coral in one hand and gently stroked its scales with the other.

In fact, there are still many questions that have not been answered.

What is the specific connection between red coral stone and pain, why is the mermaid elder so sure that he can save the mermaid tribe, how did he know that I would be looking for the fountain of good fortune a few years later, whether Dumbledore knew about these connections...but the answers to these questions are no longer important now.

Loren and Hermione squatted side by side by the lake, quietly watching the white snake lick the coral rocks.

The white snake moved slowly, and the whole process lasted for more than ten minutes. Like a flock of sheep on the wild grassland licking the salt crystals on the rock wall, the white snake also absorbed some substance from the coral stone. Loren tried to observe it with magic vision, but only saw the crystal red light contained in the coral stone. Halfway through, he remembered the magical use of the Soul Stone, and then he saw what it absorbed. It was a substance with a dim light, similar in nature to magic, but somewhat different.

After licking, the white snake broke free from Loren's hands, twisted its body lazily, and returned to the lake.

Did you pass the test?

The two were slightly excited and quickly stood up, waiting seriously.

A few minutes passed and nothing unusual happened.

Hermione stared at the little creature, watching it swimming leisurely in the water, then turned to look at Loren and frowned slightly: "Did we pass the test?"

Loren paused for a moment and said, "Strictly speaking, this snake did not reveal any information related to the test. It just saw the two wizards approaching, swam ashore to us, hissed twice, accepted the food, ate and drank enough, and then went back to rest."

"..."

It makes sense and is convincing.

The two of them didn't hesitate much. They stayed by the lake for a few minutes and then headed towards their next destination.

Loren and Hermione moved slowly through the dense bushes towards the place where the magical light was shining, exploring as they cleared the way.

This oasis is rich in species, with wild animals and plants growing and reproducing freely.

Along the way, the most common things I saw were various drought-resistant tree species, including the date palms, fig trees and olive trees that we can name, and there are many more that we cannot name. The next most common things were low trees and shrubs, which, judging from the morphology of their branches and leaves, are all drought-resistant plants. Considering the abundant water resources here, these trees must have fallen here a long time ago from the surrounding deserts and took root and sprouted.

There are no signs of human presence.

This is not surprising. The last time Dumbledore looked for the Fountain of Luck was nearly a hundred years ago. All his footprints have been lost in the erosion of time and wind and sand.

Loren thought as he walked.

The two soon arrived at the next place where magical light was shining.

It is still a clear and transparent lake. The water plants are swaying and the bottom cannot be seen clearly. There are no fish swimming around, but the shore is covered with footprints of small animals. It seems to be a drinkable freshwater lake.

Loren stood by the lake and watched for a few minutes, then he moved his toes to fiddle with a few stones, raised his foot and kicked it into the lake, which immediately caused a few ripples. Then they saw a rat snake swimming out from the water plants.

This time, the Elaphe was not completely white, but its eyes were still dull. Fortunately, it basically did not rely on vision, but judged the direction based on the senses in its cheek pits. It swam slowly in front of the two people, raised half of its body, and spit out its tongue, making a hissing sound. "I will feed it the dried white rat directly, what do you think?"

Loren had experience this time.

Hermione ignored his suggestion, half-knelt down to take out her coral stone, and moved in front of the elaphe. She was not surprised to find that it did not react at all, and said to him:
"I think we should just empty the pendants and try them one by one. We don't speak Parseltongue, and they don't speak human language. It's better to try them all than to guess aimlessly. Speaking of which, did Dumbledore's letter mention the demand for these snakes?"

"Absolutely not."

"Then squat down and try it slowly."

"Ugh……"

"In The Tales of Peter the Poet, it is mentioned that the second test is to give the fruits of labor. I think everything can be considered the fruits of labor. Some are physical labor, some are mental labor. Even the gold galleons used as currency are cast by goblin craftsmen."

"This snake obviously disagrees with you."

Loren looked at the rat snake, then squatted down again to fiddle with the pendant, and began to try each item one by one.

It didn't take long before the rat snake started licking.

This time, what attracted the rat snake was a mass of black residue, the waste of unicorn tail hair.

This piece of tail hair was obtained several years ago, when Loren was still a junior student. He was punished with detention because of the incident with his dragon Norbert. He followed Hagrid to patrol the Forbidden Forest at night and happened to interrupt Voldemort's killing of unicorns. Afterwards, he received a thank-you gift from the unicorns, a ball of unicorn tail hair handed over by Hagrid.

Loren used these tail hairs to practice alchemy and carve runic circles. However, his skills were not good enough at that time, and several strands of hairs were melted by magic and turned into this residue.

Looking at the king snake immersed in the delicious food, Loren curled the corner of his mouth. He had just come into contact with alchemy at that time and had no concept of dealing with waste materials. He just put the residue away casually. He couldn't even remember when he put it into the pendant.

Later, Loren Morgan was skilled in this technique, and even if he made mistakes occasionally, the residual materials would be burned on the spot, so the amount of this pile of residue was not large, and the rat snake licked it clean quickly. Loren and Hermione waited for a few minutes, then said goodbye to it and left.

The two continued to move forward, groping in the bushes for a while, and soon came to the third lake and met the third elephant snake.

"This time I remember that in The Tales of Beedle the Poet, the third test is to surrender the wealth of the past."

"Put it away. I don't know what the correct answer is, but it's definitely not your gold Galleons, or this £20 note."

“How can this not be considered wealth?”

"..."

Hermione squatted down and began to repeat the previous actions, trying the items in the pendant one by one.

In the fable about the Fountain of Good Luck, the third level requires wealth from the past, and the answer is given by the third witch, Amata. She was abandoned by the man she loved deeply, and felt that the pain in her heart could not be healed. She hoped that the Fountain of Good Luck could soothe her pain. Faced with this difficult problem, she handed over the memories of her once beautiful love.

Loren watched her movements, but this time he didn't try it with her, but watched from the side: "It's lunch time, let's eat something before trying it."

"Sound like a traveling picnic?"

"Alchemy preserves freshness, and it tastes just like when it was just out of the pot..."

"You should have planned it before you set out."

"Hey, when you travel, you have to act like you're traveling."

"You prepare lunch first, I'll give it another try."

"Then move faster."

Loren touched the snake scales, turned around and started to set up the place. He took out a picnic blanket and prepared to spread it out. Unfortunately, this place was too close to the lake, the weeds were too lush, and the soil underfoot was too muddy. It was really not a good place to set up a picnic.

The surrounding areas are not very smooth either.

Loren simply put away the picnic blanket and waved his wand. In a few seconds, an exquisitely crafted dining table appeared out of thin air, with two carved chairs, and even tableware, porcelain plates and goblets.

Hermione was still squatting in front of the elaphe, looking up at him placing the dishes, the sunlight on the lake reflected in her eyes: "Loren, you shouldn't..."

"of course not."

"Can't do anything?"

"I will never give up the beautiful memories we once had. Even if we will create more beautiful things in the future, the past time cannot be abandoned. I deeply believe this." Loren did not pause at all and turned back to smile at her, "I know you think so too."

"..."

Hermione said no more.

As he said, after being together for a long time, they understood each other's thoughts and were very determined in their hearts, but they just couldn't help but confirm with him.

A few minutes passed, and before Hermione had tried everything in the pendant, she smelled an enticing aroma coming from the dining table not far away. The aroma was a blend of fat and carbohydrates, mixed with wisps of complex spices, and it was salty and fragrant. It was the smell of potatoes stewed with beef brisket.

"Ok?"

Hermione was a little confused.

How come there is freshly cooked beef brisket?

The smell of puff pastry onion soup, Basque chicken, and cream ice cream immediately came into my nose. Although I tried hard to focus on the rat snake, the fragrance in the air seemed to have some kind of attraction. The speed at which I took and put things in my hands began to slow down, and my mouth began to secrete saliva.

"Don't try. Time for lunch."

"Just a few last things left."

Hermione lowered her head and sniffed. Her expression could not be seen clearly, but her voice was a little vague.

The girl silently increased her speed, tried the last few items, paused before leaving, put out a few dried white rats for the elaphe, and quickly stood up and ran away:

"You were eating secretly! I saw it!"

"Um..."

The soft sunlight shines on my body, the temperature is reduced by the green plants and the lake, so it doesn't feel scorching. The air is filled with the heat of food, which reminds me of the time when I lay on the shore of the Black Lake to bask in the sun after the Hogwarts exams, and I was as leisurely as I am now.

The rat snake nearby turned its head, seemingly confused, but soon lost interest in them, nor in the dried white mouse left by the girl. It lowered its head, curled up its body, squinted the outer membrane of its eyes, and also basked in the sun.

Hermione sat down at the dining table, tasted the soft and sandy potatoes in the stewed beef brisket, squinted her eyes in satisfaction, and then asked:
"Have you thought of the answer the third snake needs?"

"Just a guess."

Loren held a silver metal knife and fork in his hand and bit into a piece of soft beef brisket. He said nonchalantly, "The last witch gave me a memory that she cherished very much but had to give up. It just so happens that I also have such a memory."

"..."

Hermione studied his expression quietly, her eyes flickering, but she didn't ask any further questions.

(End of this chapter)