The days at Hogwarts

"Are you really not having dinner here?" Loren asked into the air, his tone rather regretful.

He teleported away before he could finish his words. It must be because of the incident at Hogwarts School, and Dumbledore was in a hurry to go back to deal with the inspection of the Ministry of Magic.

He hoped that the Ministry of Magic would not search the Potions Professor's office. Otherwise, based on the specimens of various magical creatures in the storage room, according to the newly introduced Magical Creatures Protection Act, his beloved Snape should be sentenced to life imprisonment.

Loren thought so, walked back into the house, and closed the door to the backyard. Bates, who was sleeping on the sofa, made a soothing snoring sound, which echoed throughout the living room.

Loren stopped to think for a while, and finally did not wake him up, dragging a thin blanket over him. Loren simply ate some milk, bread and luncheon meat for dinner.

……

On a midsummer night in Paris, the Seine River meanders through the city, and the lights are reflected on the river, shining like shooting stars in the Milky Way.

A couple with gray hair, thin limbs and an old appearance were walking slowly along the bank of the Seine, supporting each other. In the pockets of their silver-white clothes, a ticket stub from the Paris Opera lay with a corner of it sticking out.

The play performed tonight is Faust.

The young man in a patched jacket followed the old couple. He ran away from home with the dream of becoming an opera singer, but ended up selling leftover tickets at the entrance of the opera house. Now he is working hard for his dream.

He asked in a chattering voice, "Hey, what are your identities? I asked the ticket agent but he wouldn't tell me. I asked a few actors I know but they didn't know either. But you can enter the box without tickets and you are not the ones who have special cars to pick you up. What connections do you have? Tell me about it."

Two old people had been lingering at the theater entrance before the opera started. The young man felt sorry for them and had a few remaining tickets but didn't plan to sell them. He wanted to give them away for free and invite them to watch the show for free.

As a result, the two men didn't use his ticket at all, and dragged him in with them. The boy could only follow them in a daze.

The theater staff, who used to look down on him, led them into the luxurious box with a respectful look. After listening to the entire opera, he was still a little confused.

In any case, these two people can definitely help him talk to the theater.

A thin old man in silver-white clothes walked slowly, smelling the aroma of coffee on the street and occasionally looking down at the lights on the river.

Because it is too strenuous for him to raise his head, he might accidentally break his neck or cervical vertebrae.

The old man said slowly: "Don't follow us, we are just two ordinary old people."

The boy didn't give up, he wanted to try again: "Please write me a letter of recommendation, I will reserve two front row tickets for you for every show in the future."

The old man in silver-white clothes laughed and said, "I can't listen to so many shows. I'm already very old."

“Please, the person you help will star in a great play like Faust in the future,” the boy pleaded.

The old lady next to him, who had always been smiling gently, raised her lips and smiled even more happily. It was hard to tell whether she was laughing at the young man's overestimation of his abilities or whether she felt good about this pure dream.

"Tell me, what is the story of Faust?" the old man asked softly.

The young man perked up, thinking it was a test for him. "Faust was a learned scholar in the 15th century. He was thirsty for the mysteries of the universe and life. He spent half his life studying and mastered all kinds of knowledge, including philosophy, law, medicine, theology, and even the most mysterious alchemy."

"As he grew older, he felt trapped in his body."

At this point, the young man paused, looked at the two elderly men, and continued, "So he made a deal with the devil and drank a potion that could keep him young forever..."

The two old men walked slowly as they listened to the young man's detailed narration of the content of "Faust".

"...Faust understood, the angel defeated the devil with the fire of love, and God rescued Faust, and the whole story ended." The young man smacked his lips, as if he was still unsatisfied. He felt that he should add some subjective comments.

The old man looked at the flowing Seine and asked, "Can you understand anything from this?"

The boy's eyes lit up, and he just wanted to say something of his own: "Faust's character design has the typical contradictions of medieval scholars..."

The old couple stopped at an open-air coffee shop on the street, sat down at a small table by the river, and ordered three cups of coffee.

During his youth, he kept showing off himself in an attempt to win the favor of these two old men of extraordinary status. "... even if he had eternal youth, the gulf of desire would still be difficult to satisfy."

He glanced at the two elderly people sniffing their coffee and began to add his own personal opinion: "Every day we live, we should strive to pursue our dreams and freedom. This is the real liberation."

The old man felt that the coffee was at the right temperature, took a sip and asked, "Is eternal life important?"

The young man laughed and said, "If I say it's not important, that would be a lie. If I could choose eternal life, I would definitely not refuse it."

He had been talking so much and was thirsty. He picked up the coffee cup and drank it in two gulps. Suddenly, he seemed to have come to his senses and didn't ask for a recommendation letter anymore.

The young man put down his cup and sighed happily: "Don't talk about me. Just like you two, at your age now, don't you want to live a few more decades and listen to more performances of Faust?"

The old couple laughed when they heard this. The old man in silver clothes and silver hair asked, "If I say that I have a very close relationship with Faust, what would you think?"

The boy savored the bitter taste on his tongue and thought they were teasing him, so he laughed and teased back, "Are you close to Goethe, the original author of Faust, and to Gounod, the composer?"

The prototype of "Faust" is a person from the 15th century. Goethe began to compose this masterpiece in 1768. Charles Gounod arranged the music for the opera, and it premiered in Paris in 1859, more than a hundred years ago. How close could they be?

The old man did not answer the question, but kept talking to the young man about his interpretation of "Faust", its creative background, and social trends.

The boy did not ask for a letter of recommendation, but just listened quietly and occasionally offered his own opinions.

The old man in silver clothes stood up after the old woman finished her coffee and said to the child in front of him with a smile: "I did spend some time with Goethe, but the story I told him was not like this, and the draft he showed me was not like this either."

As if remembering something, the old man looked at his wife and asked suspiciously, "Did you tell Goethe something to make him change Faust into what it is now?"

The old woman shook her head and said nothing, still with a gentle smile on her face.

The old man could not get an answer, so he looked at the young man and continued, "More than two hundred years ago, I lived in Germany and met Goethe. I told him about my story of searching the world for the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life. I don't know how much of it he remembered, but he actually wrote Faust like this."

"But!" The silver-haired old man looked at the young man and said gently but firmly,

"It is entirely possible to say that I am Faust."

The boy's eyes widened, frozen in place with shock at these words.

After saying that, the old couple disappeared instantly, leaving only a warm coffee cup on the table and a letter of recommendation underneath, proving that there were indeed two such people here.

……

An old man wearing a white robe with curling patterns embroidered on the cuffs and a long white beard went out to sea to cross the English Channel.

It was already 1992, and crossing the English Channel was simple, whether by ferry, train or plane, there were very convenient ways to get from London to Paris.

But this time when he went out to sea, he dragged his body without stopping for a moment and used Apparition continuously.

As a commonly used spatial displacement magic, Apparition is very suitable for short-distance travel, but a long teleportation distance will increase the pressure on the body, not only the danger of separation, but also the risk of being crushed. Therefore, wizards usually use portkeys when traveling across borders.

But the old man felt that returning to Hogwarts Castle to retrieve the portkey would be slower than the current way of traveling.

The old man raised his aged face, looked in the direction of Paris, and sighed, "Nico, are you really not going to leave a word?"

Along the route from London St. Pancras train station, all the way to Dover, 120 kilometers, flashing continuously without stopping for a moment.

Then he sailed out of the harbor and crossed the English Channel. Every time he flashed onto the sea, gravity had no time to pull him back into the sea before he flashed out again. Not even a drop of water stained his white skirt.

It took less than half a minute to sail from Dover to Calais in northern France. This sensational speed would make Muggles and wizards look askance, but it was so fast that no one saw it.

This is the current head of the Wizengamot - Albus Dumbledore.

……

An old couple with silver-white hair and thin and old faces appeared outside the magnificent manor castle and slowly walked in.

After refining the Philosopher's Stone, he could easily smelt gold with mercury and sodium metal. This is the Midas Touch, which is praised by the world. He used the gold to buy this manor.

At that time, he, like Faust, had an endless life span, and he wanted to explore the mysteries and truths of the universe and the human world, learn all the knowledge in the world, and enjoy all the beauty in the world. This manor was built in an extremely luxurious way.

Travel around the world, find famous alchemists from all over the world to exchange and learn. Make friends with outstanding Muggle people, enlighten them with the thoughts and knowledge blessed by a long time, and enjoy the feeling of being close to the creator.

He used alchemy to transform this place into what he imagined, exquisite and profound. But he didn't live here all the time, as the outside world was more attractive to him than this manor.

The more you enjoy the benefits of a long life, the more you cherish your broken and aging body. You dare not do anything out of the ordinary or damage it in the slightest.

It was not until decades ago that a Muggle, or No-Maj, found him and he suddenly walked out of the cage of life and found himself.

Nicolas Flamel tremblingly took Perenel's arm and said with a smile: "Fortunately you have always been by my side, otherwise I would have died long ago."

Perenelle was also old, her body trembling, but the smile on her face was still warm: "Isn't it a pity to use the manor that I have spent my whole life building and refining to make a sarcophagus?"

Nicolas Flamel gradually straightened his back, no longer caring whether his old bones could bear it. This action took a lot of effort, and he began to speak unclearly, and he had to rest for a while after every few words:

"I, I'm mature... I've become more stable. After six... six hundred years, I've been willful for once..."

Perenelle just smiled gently. Although she didn't say hello to anyone, not even Dumbledore and the people from Beauxbatons, she arranged everything before leaving. The manor was moved to an empty shell, which could not be considered as being willful.

The two old men walked laboriously to the gate of the manor, turned around, faced outside, and leaned against the gate.

The walls of the entire manor gradually began to glow with a glittering light, and the cracks in the brick walls were filled with magic patterns and the foundation of the magic circle. The doors, windows, walls, and roof began to fluctuate and change, gradually collapsing and tightening, turning into a sarcophagus.

Nicolas Flamel finally said the last sentence: "What's wrong?"

After saying this, the two old men gently closed their eyes.

Dumbledore, who had just arrived in Paris, suddenly looked up. Just now, he suddenly couldn't remember where Nico's manor was.

He looked at the brightly lit city in front of him, at the stars and the lights reflecting off each other, at the Seine River carrying the laughter and joy of the entire city, and sighed softly.

The Fidelius Charm, the wizard who hides the secret is called the secret keeper. If the secret keeper chooses not to reveal the secret to anyone, once the secret keeper dies, the secret will be forever.

Stars twinkled in the deep blue night sky, the dark houses were shrouded in shadows, warm and bright yellow lights were sprinkled on the cobblestone square outside the houses, and outside the cafe, the orange lights illuminated the tarpaulin.

The space flickered quietly, and Dumbledore appeared under a tree next to an open-air cafe. He came here following some kind of magical wave.

In the corner, next to a simple small table and a chair, sat a dazed boy, holding a letter with scribbled handwriting.

The moment Dumbledore stared at the letter, a silvery-white light invisible to Muggles shot up and rushed straight towards Dumbledore.

Dumbledore did not dodge or evade, allowing the silver-white beam of light to hit him and break into countless tiny flashes in front of him.

Nicolas Flamel's voice sounded: "Tell Loren for me that I have nothing to say about the sun and the world."

Dumbledore watched the light gradually disappear and repeated: "No comment on the sun or the world..."

Accompanied by the orchestra, a deep and loud male voice sounded from the phonograph in the cafe:

He is ambitious and always has his sights set on faraway places.

I also half understand my own arrogance

He wants the most beautiful star in the sky

And he demanded extreme debauchery on earth.

……

I can say about this moment

You are so beautiful, please stop

The traces of my life

It will last for thousands of years and will not be forgotten

Now I have a presentiment of sublime happiness

Enjoy this supreme moment

I don't know if those who haven't read Faust will have any reading difficulties, but I feel that I have tried my best to write the content of Faust clearly.

And!! Nico and Faust are really, really, really related.

The original version of the opera is available on Ab.

Finally, I kowtow to the readers who have turned on automatic subscription. I will try my best to finish my saved manuscripts to prevent this kind of writing jam from happening again.

Whispering: The word count is based on the first release, so readers won’t lose out.

Chapter 144 Flamel Upgrade

In order not to disturb Grandpa Bates's sweet dream, Loren returned to his room after dinner and began to think about how to get the unicorn horn.

Unicorn horns are always sold in the herbal medicine shop in Diagon Alley, 21 Galleons each, and the supply is sufficient.

But if Loren bought it, Snape would definitely punish him to copy the Potions textbook again, because it was a unicorn-type horn, not a unicorn horn.

In the first-year Potions course, they used "unicorn horns" to make a very common antidote potion. It was then that he realized that the unicorn horns sold on the market were not real unicorn horns.

As a strange magical animal, the magic of the unicorn is very special, with pure power, vigorous vitality, and a difficult curse. The blood, hair and horn of the unicorn all have strange effects.

The blood contains a powerful vitality that can sustain the life of a dying person. Voldemort hunts unicorns just for their blood.

The hair is mainly used for wand cores. Ollivander believes that unicorn hair wands are more faithful, more likely to reflect the nature of magic, and have the strongest resistance to dark magic.

There is a saying that unicorn hair also has some kind of life activity. When it loses its activity as the core of a wand, the wand will be prone to unexpected situations such as backfire.

The unicorn horn has extremely pure magic that can suppress many kinds of black magic. It has a restraining effect on many creatures such as Voldemort and Dementors. Detoxification is only the most insignificant effect.

The new version of the Magical Creatures Protection Act prohibits any act of harming unicorns. Out of fear of the unicorn curse and the Ministry of Magic, basically no one will provoke this creature that is more dangerous than a werewolf.

Unicorns value their horns very much, and they will not trade their own corpses with wizards. In theory, except for the fact that some unicorn hair will flow into the market, both blood and horns should be classified as prohibited items.

Interestingly, of the three materials, only unicorn blood is a prohibited item. The Ministry of Magic prohibits its sale on the grounds of preventing the spread of the curse and protecting unicorns.

In the drugstore, unicorn hair is priced at 7 Galleons per bag, and unicorn horns are priced at 21 Galleons per strand.