The days at Hogwarts

Hair is insignificant and can be supplied continuously, but horns are different. Each unicorn has only one horn. If the unicorn horns sold on the market for 21 galleons are real, then unicorns are extinct.

In fact, the unicorn horn worth 21 galleons is the horn of a one-horned bison. It is just called the horn of a unicorn beast under some unspoken rules. It is only used as a basic antidote, similar to a fecal stone.

"If we can't get through Hagrid, what about the black market..." Loren raised his right hand and spread out his five white fingers, letting the light from the roof shine through the gaps between his fingers.

After thinking for a long time, he finally gave up the idea because the risk was too great. Besides, the Ministry of Magic was vigorously investigating contraband items, and no one would want to do this business under the gun.

Loren narrowed his eyes, the white light was pulled into blurry beams, and he repeated in a low voice what Dumbledore said before he left: "If you live long enough, you will naturally know some secret things..."

Who could outlive Nico?

He turned over, turned off the light, and entered the world of the fantasy book.

The neat and bright library was empty. Loren looked around and shouted, "Flamel!"

The sound of "tapping" footsteps came from behind him. Loren looked back and saw that Flamel was wearing hard-soled leather shoes, and his footsteps made crisp sounds on the floor.

"You've upgraded?" Loren looked puzzled.

In the past, Flamel had obvious features of a magical creation. Although his upper body was solid and the colors were lifelike, his lower body gradually became distorted, becoming blurrier and blurrier as he went down, and the area near his shoes was almost transparent.

Flamel's way of moving has always been to float, like a ghost.

Now, Flamel in front of him was wearing a neat suit, and his every move was like that of an elegant gentleman. If it were in the Middle Ages, people would be able to tell at a glance that he was of noble birth.

Loren was used to him floating around and flying everywhere, so now seeing him walking so seriously, he felt a little uncomfortable.

Flamel had a smile on his face. "The highest pursuit of potions is the elixir of immortality, the elixir of resurrection. Do you know what the highest pursuit of alchemy is?"

"Why are you talking about this suddenly?" Loren shook his head, indicating that he didn't know the answer.

Flamel looked down at his solid legs and said softly, "Before Nico, alchemy was a mess. It was a relic of ancient magic, and scattered knowledge was scattered in waste paper piles around the world. People who had a glimpse of some knowledge could follow the records in the book step by step and refine rigid items.

Magical items permeate every corner of the wizarding world, but no one can make the thousand-year-old Deathly Hallows or the mysterious Mirror of Erised... Alchemy continues to weaken, and even the magic school Hogwarts can no longer make things like the Sorting Hat or Ravenclaw's Diadem.

It’s not even a science, not even as good as prophecy.”

Flamel looked up and looked at Loren quietly: "Until Nicolas Flamel appeared. He traveled around the world, referred to the Emerald Record, integrated ancient languages ​​and magic runes, and stopped the trend of alchemy's continuous demise."

There was not much sadness in his tone, but it was a bit regretful: "People only remember that he made the Philosopher's Stone, achieved immortality, and turned stone into gold, but what he was most proud of was alchemy."

He sighed: "Six hundred years..."

Upon hearing the news of Nico's death, Loren felt a strange feeling in his heart.

He had only met Nico twice, once at a small bookstall and once in Devon. Both meetings were hurried, so there was no deep affection between them, but he still felt sad.

He consoled her: "Don't dwell on your sorrow too much."

Flamel stared at him in surprise: "Sad? I don't feel sad."

"what?"

Flamel asked in return: "He has lived for more than 600 years, traveled around the world, and enjoyed all the good things in the world. He has lived long enough. Death is a decision that has already been made. Why should he be sad?"

Loren:…

He was silent for a moment, deciding not to mention Nico's matter again: "What is the highest pursuit of alchemy that you just mentioned?"

"When Nico was three hundred years old, his pursuit was to use alchemy to create true intelligent life. I am the product of that time." Flamel spread his hands and showed himself to Loren.

"Because biological refining is taboo, Nico started with the soul. Unlike those magical portraits, Nico wanted to refine a magical life that is intelligent, can think independently, and even has creativity."

"But it never worked. There was a lack of something, a kind of--" Flamel frowned, thinking about how to use more accurate words to describe what was missing.

"A mysterious substance. You can think of it as the life force of the soul. Nico has observed it in ghosts, but not in magic portraits."

"Unable to refine this mysterious substance, the experiment could not proceed, and even I was only a semi-finished product before. After Nico died, he passed a part of the mysterious substance to me through the unique connection between us, causing me to undergo some changes."

After listening quietly, Loren looked at Flamel's body. Apart from the changes in appearance, he didn't feel any difference from before.

After all, the former Flamel was also very lively, loved opera, could think, and could change his views.

Loren suddenly had a magical guess: "If I refine the Philosopher's Stone in the future, use it to make a body without a soul, and then put you in it, will you become a complete person?"

Flamel froze in place, thinking for a while before saying, "Nico has no relevant experience in his memory, so I can't deduce the answer."

"Let's give it a try!" Loren waved his arms excitedly, "The ultimate pursuit of alchemy may be realized in my hands!"

Flamel glanced at Loren and hesitated, not knowing whether to say it.

Finally he spoke: "That was just Nico's pursuit when he was three hundred years old. He gave up in less than sixty years."

Loren's eyebrows slowly knitted together. After all, this was the highest pursuit of alchemy. Wouldn't Nico be too careless?

"So what is his next pursuit?" Loren asked.

"To refine the sun and create the world," Flamel replied.

It sounded like a dream. Loren had a blank expression on his face, pretending not to hear this: "I came to you for the unicorn horn. Do you have any channels to buy a real unicorn horn?"

As he spoke, he walked to the table and sat down.

"No."

Flamel sat across from Loren and answered straightforwardly, "Legal unicorn horns don't exist, and you can't get illegal ones. So I asked you to find a unicorn horn first, because this is the most difficult step in repairing the magic mirror."

Loren was prepared and was not disappointed: "Dumbledore said there might be clues in the Muggle Windsor Castle. Do you know the connection between Windsor Castle and unicorns?"

"Windsor Castle is the royal palace. The Queen of England once received a unicorn horn from a merchant, but later found out that it was the spiral horn of a narwhal. She was deceived."

Flamel speculated, “I think the unicorn horn they got might be real, and they used fake news to cover up the truth.”

Loren was puzzled: "How can a Muggle hunt a unicorn?"

"Don't underestimate the power of Muggles." Flamel said something similar to Dumbledore.

He began to tell the history: "The Statute of Secrecy is to protect wizards, not Muggles. Hundreds of years ago, there were professional unicorn hunters in Northern Europe.

The hunter lets the pure girl wait under the tree. When the unicorn is attracted by the girl and falls asleep with its head on her legs, the hunter will take the opportunity to chop off the unicorn's head, or kill it with a crossbow, trap, or poison. Even if such an opportunity only occurs once every ten years, it will always happen. "

Loren couldn't understand it. Unicorns are stronger than werewolves. If Muggle hunters kill unicorns, more Muggles will die.

"What use is there for ordinary people to get a unicorn horn?"

Flamel smiled softly and said, "Don't forget, there is a unicorn representing Scotland on the royal emblem. The symbolic meaning is also very important."

Loren began to discuss with Flamel how to steal the unicorn horn from the heavily guarded Windsor Castle.

Flamel, who has hundreds of years of Nico's memory, is experienced and suggests that the Freezing Charm can stop the Muggle alarms, and the Disillusionment Charm passes over their sight.

"It will be safer to wait until you learn how to Apparate," Flamel suggested.

……

"Loren, wake up!"

"Breakfast is ready!" Grandpa Bates's cheerful voice came from downstairs.

"Hmm~"

Loren answered with a long nasal sound. He turned over and moved around. His breathing became even again and he fell asleep again.

"Loren! It's time for breakfast!" Grandpa Bates's voice was so loud and powerful that it still echoed in Loren's ears as it passed through the stairs and the door.

Loren grabbed the quilt with both hands and pulled it up over his head, then buried himself in it.

Boom!

dong dong!

The knock on the door was followed by Grandpa Bates' joyful voice: "Get up quickly, don't sleep in, Hermione will be waiting for you soon."

On the bed, a hand reached out from under the quilt, picked up the alarm clock on the bedside table and put it in front of the gap in the quilt.

Loren struggled to see the alarm clock clearly. The hour hand and minute hand overlapped, and it was around 6:35.

"I can't live like this anymore." A dull and painful groan came from under the quilt.

He was so excited about planning the theft last night that he didn't know how late he slept, but he definitely didn't get enough sleep now.

A few minutes later, Loren dragged his stiff body downstairs with a numb expression to wash up. It was not until the warm milk entered his mouth that his brain slowly started to work.

Put the fried luncheon meat and bacon on the bread slices, fold it in half, put it in your mouth and take a bite. Carbohydrates, fats and proteins bring a happy satisfaction, injecting energy and vitality into the stiff body.

"Alive!" Loren exclaimed.

Bates had a smile on his face. He had already finished eating, but he could also feel a sense of happiness and satisfaction when he saw Loren eating.

"Is the headmaster of the magic school very busy? He left in such a hurry that I didn't even have the time to thank him." Bates woke up on the sofa in the morning and took some time to think clearly about what happened last night.

"Maybe I've been busy lately." Lauren replied, "I'll thank Headmaster Dumbledore for you."

He finished one piece of bread and started to roll the second piece. As he rolled it, he asked, "How do you feel after the ceremony?"

"Relaxed, happy, and ten years younger," Bates replied with full energy.

Loren laughed and said, "Magic isn't that magical. It's just your psychology."

“I’ve been carrying this burden for decades, and I’ve finally thrown it away.”

Bates was more happy than anything else. He didn't want to talk about the heavy past. He looked at his watch on the table and said, "You should entertain Hermione at home. I still have to go to the bank to handle some business."

Loren complained: "I go to do business every day. Is the procedure for this house so complicated?"

“It’s not just this house.”

Bates thought for a while and thought he could tell Loren, "The company that rented the farm signed a long-term agreement with me. I sold the proceeds to the bank and got a lot of money directly. I still have a lot left after buying this house. I went to the bank to handle the fund procedures."

Can an elderly person who has lived alone in a remote area and has been isolated from the world for decades engage in finance once he enters society?

Loren was stunned and forgot to chew the luncheon meat in his mouth.

Chapter 145 Making Money

Loren swallowed the food in his mouth and asked in surprise: "Grandpa Bates, did you go to college before you joined the army? Did you study economics and finance? How can you adapt to the current economic market so quickly?"

The grandpa I thought was a reckless man turned out to be an intelligent soldier.

Bates glanced up at him and seemed to know what he was thinking: "My family used to make a living by running a farm, and no one in the family went to college."

"Then why you...you--" Loren hesitated.

"The son of one of my comrades went to university with my financial support and now works at HSBC. I signed the long-term lease agreement and exchanged the long-term lease income for cash with his help."

"He suggested that I keep enough money for living and use the rest to buy some long-term income funds, mainly real estate funds."

"I don't think he would lie to me." Bates told Loren the whole story without hiding anything.

Because all the money is prepared for Loren. He is almost 80 years old. How much money can an old man spend?

The house will be left to Loren, and the long-term income fund will not only guarantee income, but also reduce some inheritance taxes. This is all prepared for Loren.

Loren nodded stupidly, thinking that this was Grandpa Bates being rewarded for his good deeds.

You have indeed not been cheated. The global economy will enter a stage of rapid development in the coming period, and British real estate will continue to appreciate in value, especially since this country has just emerged from an economic downturn. Now is the low point, and there is a lot of room for appreciation.

His mind began to search through distant memories, looking for details about economics, especially details about how to make a lot of money.

In last year's Christmas correspondence, he mentioned to Hermione that the pound would depreciate significantly this year, and if they invested enough capital plus bank leverage and ignored the risks, they could earn enough money to achieve financial freedom.

He needs to recall the specific details carefully.

Bates saw that the time was almost up, so he made an appointment to meet with his comrade's son before the bank opened.

"You can go to school and do what you want to do without worrying about money." Bates said, then got up and went into the cloakroom to get dressed for today.

Loren absentmindedly put the fried egg into his mouth, chewed a few times and swallowed it.

It should be around September this year when the capital tycoon Soros stepped in and sold a large amount of British pounds to short sell.

Bates, wearing a satin suit and slicked-back hair, came out of the cloakroom and wandered around the living room, doing the last bit of work before going out.

Although he had an extraordinary temperament, Loren always felt that Grandpa Bates was awkward.

"Do I have to wear it like this?" Loren couldn't help but ask.

Bates did not answer the question, but went out.

"I think Hermione will come today, treat her well!" Bates' voice came from outside the door as he closed it.

While eating breakfast, Loren recalled what he knew about currency devaluation and thought about how to follow the capitalists and make enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his life.

Ding!

Ding Ding!