The days at Hogwarts

Monica agreed with this statement, "As the last queen of the Tudor dynasty, during her tenure, the dynasty's economy and culture flourished. Many writers such as Shakespeare and Bacon were born in that era."

Monica graduated from medical school during a special era, facing discrimination against women all the way, and she has feminist ideas in her bones.

This idea had some influence on Hermione, and both of them had a special respect for Elizabeth I.

Wendell interrupted: "There is a museum here with things belonging to Queen Elizabeth I. We can go visit it later."

He sat up immediately and said, "Let's go now. We can go to the restaurant for dinner when we come back."

Hermione and Monica looked at each other, agreed to the suggestion, and then dragged the bewildered Loren to visit the exhibition hall.

The bright lights, glass covers, occasional security guards, and the layout of the exhibition hall are more modern. Bows and arrows, swords, and shields with royal emblems are mostly these things in the glass covers.

Loren always felt that whether the things here were real or not needed to be questioned.

But Monica and Hermione were very interested. They held hands and stopped to look at each item, reading the introduction next to the glass cover with great interest.

Wendell and Loren were not that interested. They went straight to the glass cover in the middle of the exhibition hall, where a set of Elizabeth's hunting suit was displayed.

The text beside it records Elizabeth's life story:

Elizabeth received a good court education in her early years, but was suppressed during the reign of her half-sister Mary I.

After Mary I died, Elizabeth inherited the throne. After ascending the throne, she relied on the support of the new nobility and the bourgeoisie to strengthen her autocratic rule and restore the Protestant Act. Externally, she focused on combating Spanish maritime hegemony, vigorously developed maritime trade and colonial undertakings, and established the "East India Company". Elizabeth's reign is known as the "Golden Age" in British history.

But Loren was more interested in the latter part, about the hunting ground:

Elizabeth I did not hunt much during her reign, but her sister Mary I was keen on hunting and used living people as prey in bloody hunts.

Such hunts were organized many times during his reign, and the prey included Protestants, death row prisoners, and even innocent peasants.

Loren reached into his pocket, pinched the small mirror over there, and murmured: "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, who is the real you?"

"There's a reason why Queen Mary I is called 'Bloody Mary', right?" Hermione appeared beside Loren at some point and said as she looked at the text.

Loren remained noncommittal. He didn't care about religious struggles or the Tudor dynasty, and had no opinion on Mary I's behavior.

"Oppression and tragic experiences in childhood will accompany a person throughout his or her life. Her experiences shaped her distorted personality, but she became the queen..." said Loren.

Hermione turned to look at him, "None of this can justify her bloodlust."

……

Even the next day, as they were driving back, Loren was still wondering whether Bloody Mary was a witch.

If it was just a weird folk legend, then where did the mirror in his pocket come from?

If Bloody Mary was a real witch, then which one was the real Bloody Mary, the Countess who bathed in blood to maintain her youth, or the bloodthirsty Queen?

Hermione was as joyful as when she arrived.

She sat in the back seat, leaning against the window, looking at the scenery outside with bright eyes and humming a broken melody.

"Hermione, did you enjoy your camping trip?" Wendell obviously knew the answer, but he just wanted to ask.

Hermione responded cooperatively, "Happy!"

Wendell smiled with satisfaction, and his heart felt as refreshed as if he had drunk ice water in the middle of summer. To him, his wife and daughter were everything.

He occasionally turned the steering wheel and said, "We are not well prepared for camping this time. We have been to the forest twice. How about we change the place next time?"

Wendell glanced at his wife sitting next to him and asked, "What do you think?"

"Okay." Hermione agreed while humming a song. For her, this was a perfect trip.

The bonfire lit at night, the shyness of sleeping in a tent, the aroma of roasted meat, the family members and best friends by your side, all the pictures and happy feelings are engraved in your memory.

She thought that some changes should be made to the practice of the Patronus Charm.

"Monica, what do you think?" Wendell looked at Monica again, who was the key point.

Without even looking at Wendell, Monica said, "Where do you want to go next time?"

Wendell pretended to suggest casually: "How about we go camping on the water on the yacht next time?"

Loren saw that Wendell's little fingers were trembling slightly as he gripped the steering wheel. It was obvious that Mr. Granger was not so indifferent and he cared a lot about camping on the water.

Hermione made a teasing sound, "Eh~"

Monica's lips curled up into a smile, "Then how about preparing a fishing rod?"

"Ahem!" Wendell pretended to cough twice. "For water camping, fishing is a good option. We can rent fishing rods then."

Hermione couldn't hold it in any longer and started laughing.

He laughed along with the other three people in the car.

Loren felt the happy and wonderful smell in the car and put all his chaotic thoughts aside.

Who the hell is Bloody Mary?

He just needs to live his own life well, cure Grandpa Bates's werewolf disease, wait until Voldemort is defeated and he successfully graduates from Hogwarts, then make a lot of money and enjoy life.

The warm sunshine soaked the breeze on the road, and the bright green color went straight from the wilderness to his heart. Loren was full of expectations for the future.

Chapter 135: Exploring the Secret of the Magic Mirror

Late at night, stars and the silver moon hung on the black curtain, the sky and the city were silent, and a faint light was still on the second floor of a villa in Hampstead Garden on the outskirts of London.

Loren was bent over a desk by the window, holding a small black mirror with a thin handle in his hand, flipping through the pages.

On the silver mirror, cracks spread from the center and covered the entire mirror. Seven teardrop-shaped petals twisted slightly to wrap around the mirror, which was like the core of the flower. The handle as thick as a little finger served as the branch, and a red gem was adorned at the end.

Turn it over, you will see a small bulge on the back of the flower, which is the receptacle.

Through the strange vision, one can see the scarlet magic light contained in the hand mirror, but Loren did not see any traces of alchemy, nor did he know how to use this mirror.

He didn't find anything strange. Apart from the fact that it could withstand a Sharp Shadowless Spell and magic power, the rest was almost no different from an ordinary antique hand mirror.

Loren recalled the legend Wendell mentioned, "holding a mirror in one hand and a candle in the other, calling out Bloody Mary's name."

He picked up a piece of letter paper at random and tapped it with his wand.

Ripples like water waves surged on the paper, the four corners quickly folded towards the center, and the newly appeared corners folded towards the center again. The whole process did not stop at all. After repeating several times, the thin paper turned into a wrinkled cylinder, standing upright on the table.

Loren held the magic wand and tapped the cylinder folded out of paper, and a candle flame rose.

A white candle stood upright on the desk, the wax slowly melting and accumulating at the top, ready to drip.

Loren smiled with satisfaction, "If Professor McGonagall could see this, she should give me extra points for my superb Transfiguration skills."

He held the candle in one hand and the mirror in the other, and suddenly hesitated.

In horror movies, people who do this usually get what they want soon, summon a female ghost or a demon, and then die.

Isn't it a bit unlucky for him to do this?

But Loren was a faithful materialist. He came to his senses and called out to the mirror: "Mary Stuart, Mary Stuart, Mary Stuart."

Calling out Queen Mary I's name three times, Loren stared at the mirror nervously.

The white cracks divided the mirror into countless pieces, making it almost impossible to reflect a person. Only three pieces of the mirror could barely make out something.

But no matter how hard he looked, he only saw his own handsome face and nothing else.

Loren waited a few minutes and decided to chant a different name: "Lee Kester, Lee Kester, Lee Kester."

Still nothing, only his reflection in the mirror.

In normal horror movies, the female ghost would rush towards my face at this time.

Loren was silent for a moment, then changed the name and chanted: "Elizabeth Bathory, Elizabeth Bathory, Elizabeth Bathory."

There are only three sources for the Bloody Mary legend: Mary I, Countess Lee Kester, and Elizabeth Bathory of Hungary.

Now he called out the names of the three people, and nothing happened.

Could it be that it was really damaged by his Divine Sharpness and Shadowless Curse? For some reason, Loren actually felt a little regretful.

Loren sighed, "Looks like I still have to ask Flamel."

He pushed the candle onto the table, and the flame spread along the candle and the wax on the table, rising above the table. When the entire candle melted into wax, the flame went out. The wax squirmed and gathered into a regular rectangle, and then turned back into paper.

Pure white, smooth, without even a crease.

Loren stood up with the mirror in his hand, turned around and collapsed directly onto the bed. He reached his other hand under the pillow, fumbled and clicked on the icon on the fantasy book.

When he opened his eyes again, Loren's consciousness appeared in a bright library, sitting opposite Flamel.

Flamel was holding a book, with a page of parchment floating beside his shoulder, and a quill pen on the parchment was writing something.

It was this behavior that made Loren feel that Flamel had his own life and his own way of thinking. When he didn't need to teach him, Flamel would entertain himself.

Flamel tilted his head and looked at Loren: "Oh, Loren, how is camping?"

Loren nodded. "Camping is nice, but the place to camp doesn't seem right."

Flamel realized that there was something serious to discuss, so he threw the book in his hand back. The book flew up, and the parchment and quill were tucked into the book like a bookmark, and fell on the bookshelf behind him.

"When I was camping in the Forest of Dean, I was brought into a fantasy world through a mirror... I witnessed..." Loren thought for a moment and said, "I witnessed the origin of a legend about Bloody Mary."

He reached out and pulled out a flower-branch-shaped hand mirror. "It was in my pocket after I left the illusion."

Loren looked at Flamel and asked a series of questions in rapid succession: "Do you know the legend of Bloody Mary? Nico lived in the 14th century, and the prototypes of the legend of Mary all came from the era after him. Mary I was the queen of the Tudor dynasty, so you should have some impression of her, right?"

Loren had thought about it a long time ago. The memories of Nico's personal experiences were more real than the documents of all archaeologists.

"And this mirror, is it broken? Can it be repaired? How can I use it?"

"Hey, Loren, come one at a time." Flamel stretched out his palm, signaling not to rush.

He took the hand mirror and turned it around in his hand to examine it.

"You should learn to view items from an alchemist's perspective."

Flamel let go of the hand mirror and let it float between the two of them. The mirror gradually became transparent, leaving only the black outline.

He reached out and fiddled with the gem at the end of the small handle of the hand mirror. Colorful beams of light poured out from the gem at the end and filled the transparent area again.

With silent vibrations, the colored hand mirror quickly grew larger. Colorful light beams filled Loren's field of vision, and the light particles in the beams turned into the size of fists.

It turns out that the colorful beams of light flowing on the hand mirror are a stream of light composed of magic symbols gathered together.

Loren was stunned for a while as he watched the shocking scene in front of him. He blinked and looked at Flamel innocently, "But I am just an alchemy apprentice now."

"Don't worry, you have plenty of time to study."

Flamel would occasionally grab one from the magic rune light stream and hold it in his hand to examine it. "Mirrors are very strange things to ordinary people. Unlike tables, chairs, and benches, they are often given unique meanings."

"So what's the magic of this mirror?" Loren asked.

Flamel advised, "Don't worry. I am teaching you to analyze with the mind of an alchemist."

Loren sat back down.

Flamel continued: "Mirrors are often associated with images of truth, inner self, and prophecy. In Greek mythology, Narcissus died because of his narcissistic illusion, and Venus also had her own mirror."

"Reality and illusion, inner heart and desire, these are the meanings derived from the characteristics of the mirror. As for the prophet seeing the future through the mirror image," Flamel paused, "now it has been replaced by a crystal ball."

As Loren listened to Flamel's words, he thought of the Mirror of Erised in Hogwarts, which completely conformed to the two characteristics of reality and illusion, inner heart and desire.

"So when analyzing the effects of magic items, we should consider the imagery and connotation of the items."

Flamel waved his hand to disperse the colorful hand mirror in the space. "Now, based on your experience and understanding, analyze the function of this hand mirror alchemical item."

Loren began to recall his experience of entering the illusion. After a while, he tried to speak: "The first layer we entered was a reflection of reality. This is the true nature."

"But the reflection is mixed with illusions. It can create the illusion of a hotel manager and lure me into the second floor with food. This shows that the mirror can enter my heart or read my memory to a certain extent. This is a false characteristic that contains some characteristics of the heart and desire."

"The second layer is the story of Countess Lee Kester. I'm not sure whether this is a real memory or an illusion."

Flamel nodded with satisfaction. "We are very close. This mirror can create three layers of illusions, each one deeper than the last. The first layer is a real reflection. The user can make slight interventions and distortions to guide you into the second layer."

"The second level of illusion is dominated by the user and is generated in your own mind." Flamel looked at him, "Do you remember it now?"

Loren's eyes widened in disbelief: "You mean! On the first floor, the Countess Lee Kester and the ball mentioned by the hotel manager were all hints to me!"

Flamel nodded and continued, "If it weren't for your strong consciousness, you would have entered the second floor unknowingly and participated in everything that happened at the ball."

"You may even enter the third level of illusion and face the illusion deep inside your heart. This is the most dangerous place. Anything in the third level is a reaction of your consciousness. Every change will have an impact on you."

Loren clicked his tongue.

Isn't this the subconscious suggestion and hypnosis?

psychology?