From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 90 The Old Bee in the Sugar Jar

"Hello, little gentleman." A smiling female police officer came up to me. She had a lot of harmless fat, making her look round. Freckles of varying shades dotted her round face, making her look non-aggressive.

"Hello, ma'am, I'm Ivy Doom, a student of Professor Dumbledore." Ivy put on a social etiquette smile that he rarely used recently.

"Really? I didn't even know he was a professor!" The policewoman turned her head and her eyes lingered on Dumbledore's half-moon glasses and long white beard. Then she turned back to explain what happened to Ivy. "Professor Dumbledore walked into this candy store and wanted to pick out some sweets, but something went wrong when he was paying the bill."

Her companion, the male policeman standing next to Dumbledore, showed Ivy the banknote in his hand, which was the one Ivy handed to Dumbledore in the principal's office.

In an instant, Ivy knew what was going on.

The ten-pound note in the Grimoire of Destruction came from the British Royal Mint in the 19th century. Although the UK had begun to use paper money on a large scale at that time, the printing technology and anti-counterfeiting technology were completely different from today.

The design of the pound sterling banknotes at that time was on a large white paper with watermarks for anti-counterfeiting, with text and patterns printed in monochrome on one side. The back was blank, with neither patterns nor text, and the only anti-counterfeiting technology was the watermark pattern on the entire banknote.

So as soon as Dumbledore held out his hand, he was rejected by the young shopkeeper. After several arguments, the police patrolling the surrounding blocks discovered the situation here. Therefore, when Ivy arrived, there was a circle of people around Dumbledore.

"I'm sorry. This is my negligence." Ivy sincerely apologized to the patrolman. "Because of his age, Professor Dumbledore is a little..."

Ivy pointed his finger at his head, and the two patrolmen showed understanding. Then Ivy continued, "Don't worry, I will take care of everything. I'm sorry to have delayed your work."

Ivy's superb charm and second-level spell suggestion influenced the judgment of the two young patrolmen. They looked at each other, returned the banknotes in their hands to Dumbledore, and turned away.

"Hey! What's going on?" The middle-aged man who was discussing desserts with Dumbledore scratched his head in confusion. "When did those civil servants become so easy to talk to? I thought you were going to pester me for a while longer!"

Dumbledore smiled and introduced Ivy to his new friend: "This gentleman is Keith. His lifelong dream is to buy this candy store. It is said that this is one of the few shops in England that still uses manual hard candy pressing machines."

At this point, Dumbledore blinked and said, "Although I have never seen the 'machine' he mentioned, I think it is something full of magic."

"Of course!" The old man named Keith couldn't stop talking about candies and shops. "Sweets are like magic! They can make you feel good all day long! If I could buy this shop, I would paint the doors and windows white and write a big '1827' on the sign! Did you know? This shop has been selling candies since then! It may be the oldest candy shop in the UK, or even the world!"

"Okay, okay." Ivy said perfunctorily and was about to use a suggestion to send him away, but Dumbledore reached out to stop him.

"I haven't paid for my candy yet!"

Ivy rolled her eyes and said, “I don’t think you’re worried about Quirrell and Voldemort at all.”

However, Dumbledore's request made Ivy feel troubled. Apart from the gold Galleons, the banknotes he had were not the type that could be used in 1992. He couldn't really use suggestion to ask the store owner to give it away for free, right? "I'll pay!" Keith volunteered. "It's nice to chat with you. When I take over this store, you must come often, especially bring some for your lovely students!"

By the time the old bee finally got his sugar jar, it was almost evening. The dim sunlight shone through the treetops and reflected on the ancient buildings of Yorkshire.

Throwing a sour jelly candy covered in icing into his mouth, Dumbledore said, "We finally have time to listen to what's going on."

Ivy sighed, put his silver basswood wand against his temple, and drew out a wisp of silver mist. That was the memory of fighting with Quirrell and Voldemort. He had already thought about doing this on the way from Hogwarts.

"Look for yourself. It's all in there."

Ivy watched as Dumbledore turned a coffee-flavored hard candy into a small bottle and placed the silver mist inside.

"Fortunately, I have a Pensieve in my office, otherwise I would have to bother you to explain it again." Dumbledore put the bottle away, stared at Ivy's face and said, "If we go back to Hogwarts now, maybe we can still make it in time for dinner. What do you think, Ivy?"

Ivy suddenly realized that there might be nothing more stupid than skipping school to see the headmaster. He could just tell Snape. After all, he was the person Dumbledore trusted most in Hogwarts.

So he shrugged and said, "Please."

Dumbledore took Ivy to Diagon Alley using Apparition, and then borrowed the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron to return to the headmaster's office. It must be said that wizards' methods are sometimes quite useful, at least in terms of the convenience of life spells.

The principal's office remained the same, with steaming silverware (Ivy suspected it was a magic humidifier), all kinds of shiny devices, portraits of past principals dozing off all over the room, and a plate of candy that was always on the table.

Dumbledore picked up the last sugar from the plate with a happy expression, poured some more from the sugar jar in his hand, and then invited Ivy to sit down.

"Ivy, the appearance of a dark wizard in the castle was indeed my negligence. When I heard the names of Quirrell and Voldemort, I was panicked for a while! But when I thought of you, the hero who once saved Hogwarts, I put my heart back in my stomach!" Dumbledore slurped the candy and said to Ivy without paying any attention to his image. For a moment, he really looked like an old madman.

Dumbledore never plays by the rules.

Ivy narrowed his eyes: "Why don't you take a look at my memory first?"

"Forgive an old man's knees. I've been standing outside all day!" Dumbledore pounded his leg seriously. "In fact, that's what I was going to do."

(End of this chapter)