The days at Hogwarts

"Loren, are you sad?"

Loren was silent for a moment. "Fortunately, I only recovered those memories after the start of the second grade. I only spent one year with them. During that time, I was always asleep. Harry is similar to me. He can hardly remember the memories before the age of one."

He didn't mention mom and dad, and one could hear the forced casualness in his words.

Hermione squeezed his hand tighter, "So you're sad?"

Loren's heart seemed to be blocked and he felt a little uncomfortable, but something warm flowed out from Hermione's palm and flowed through his blood throughout his body.

He slowly stopped.

Loren wanted to say something witty to dispel this uncomfortable atmosphere, but he couldn't think of anything. Not wanting Hermione to see his expression, he could only turn his head and look out the window in the corridor.

Outside was the Forbidden Forest in spring, a deep green expanse, lush and verdant under the bright Easter sunshine.

Hermione stood behind him, gently pressing against his body. His red and yellow magic robe had the scent of lavender from detergent. In the sunlight, she could smell the boy's clear sorrow.

After thinking about it, Hermione took the initiative to pull him to the other side, took him to another staircase, and went up the escalator.

Below the big clock in the Hogwarts clock tower, there is a hollow attic, from which you can see the Black Lake, the Forbidden Forest, and most of the castle's pavilions.

In her first year, she had mistakenly thought Loren had lycanthropy and had pulled him here for comfort, and just as they had just met, Hermione pulled Loren to sit down and put her feet outside the attic.

The wind blew through the attic from one side to the other, bringing with it a hint of coolness that still lingered in the spring sunshine.

Hermione took a deep breath, feeling refreshed and comfortable. She asked, "Do you remember this place?"

Loren also took a deep breath: "I remember, in the first grade, someone was ostracized by his roommate and secretly hid here to cry."

Hermione listened to what this man said and wanted to beat him up right here and there, but he should be sad now and she would feel guilty if she did that.

"Some people are always worried during the days when the moon is full!"

"Some people even mistook others for werewolves and were so scared that they started crying."

"I'm not crying!"

"Cried!"

"you……"

The wind blew over from afar, and mistletoe hung down from the crabapple tree. White beads hung on the branches, giving birth to tender white buds that would bloom in the near future.

Loren lay down and chatted with Hermione. His emotions, which had been fluctuating for a short period of time, relaxed and he fell asleep unknowingly.

"?"

Hermione noticed that the person next to her was quiet, so she turned her head and saw that he was asleep.

She didn't say anything, but turned sideways to look at his peaceful expression as he slept. This man was much more pleasing to the eye when he didn't speak.

After looking for an unknown amount of time, Hermione withdrew her gaze and was about to take out the book from the pendant around her neck to read, only then she realized that one of her hands was still clenched in that person's hand.

I tried to pull it out without disturbing him, but it didn't come out.

He used his left hand to take out the book "Human Transformation: Transformation and Fixation" from the storage scales, put it on his legs, and turned the pages in a somewhat awkward position...

Loren opened his eyes.

It was already quite late, and the sky outside was a dim black. Only a few blue flames as stretched out as silk were floating quietly overhead, bringing some warmth and light.

Hermione's face was very close to his, staring at him with open eyes.

"What are you looking at?"

Loren turned his head, stretched his lazy muscles, and fumbled with his arms to sit up. As soon as he moved, he found that he was holding something soft and tender in his hand.

It was Hermione's little hand, warm and a little steamy, from the sweat from his hands that he kept covered when he slept.

Loren felt his face getting a little hot, and he complained first, "I was distracted when I came here and forgot to let go. How come you didn't know how to pull it out? Look, you're sweating."

Hermione pulled her hand out unhappily and slapped the back of his hand, using quite a bit of force and making a crisp sound.

"I tried! I couldn't pull it out. You got anxious when I moved, and you kept squeezing tighter and tighter."

I didn't intend to write Sirius as a purely bad guy. What I wanted to express was the gap between wizards and Muggles and to highlight a universal concept.

In the general environment of the wizarding world, even wizards who do not subjectively discriminate against Muggles will regard Muggles as another different species.

The fountain in the Ministry of Magic gave a small hint that except for wizards themselves, the status of other creatures is lower.

Chapter 250 The Ripples Gradually Calm Down

The bright magic candles glowed, dispelling the fog in the greenhouse. The magic runes engraved on the walls and dome exuded a reassuring warmth. Most of those runes contained the meaning of the sun, warmth, and nurturing of life. They were linked to each other into a whole, maintaining the temperature and humidity in the greenhouse.

Loren stood on the edge of the mandrake bed, covering his ears tightly with earmuffs to block out all the sounds from outside. The quiet environment gradually calmed his slightly restless mood.

Mandrake, also known as mandrake and mandrake, is said to have originated in the Mediterranean region and is produced all over the world. It is highly poisonous, and the sound emitted by the human-shaped root is deadly.

But it does not only contain destruction and violence. Mature Mandrake can be used to prepare potions to wake up petrified people. The magic of Mandrake is not only that, its leaves have magical effects. The first step in the Animagus training process is to hold Mandrake leaves in the mouth for a month.

There is much speculation in the fields of Transfiguration and Herbology about this, with the mainstream view in the Transfiguration community being that Mandrake has the ability to break through morphological limitations, breaking petrification and modifying human form;

The mainstream view in the herbal medicine community is that the nature of mandrake is similar to that of humans, and some clues can be seen from its human-shaped roots.

Its growth process is even more difficult not to be associated with the growth process of human beings, infancy, childhood, youth, and old age. There may be the highest truth hidden in it, but no one has made a breakthrough in this field so far. The philosophical community has put forward many views, but they are basically of no practical value.

I wonder if the transformation between life and death can be reflected in the withering and sprouting of mandrakes. The essence of both contains incredible magic. The resurrection potion may also use the principle of this, as well as the refining of the Philosopher's Stone...

Loren suddenly shook his head, slowly gathering his scattered thoughts and focusing on the mandrake in front of him.

During the Easter holidays, the fast-growing mandrakes had completely passed their adolescence, and the dense acne on their human-shaped roots had healed, leaving behind freckles. They cursed people every day, and they couldn't wait to move to a bigger shelter.

Professor Sprout needed some students who had excellent grades in Herbology and had completed their holiday homework in advance to help with the transplanting and repotting of the mandrakes. Professor McGonagall even went straight to Hermione and asked her to collect some single leaves of the mandrake for the Animagus teaching class.

So Loren, Hermione, Neville and Rolf were recruited.

Bury a mandrake in the soil, make sure the soil is loose enough, and then water it a few times. The kettle is filled with diluted nutrient solution specially prepared by Professor Sprout. The smell is hard to describe, like a month-old broth stewed with fermented cheese, and finally added with moldy socks.

Fortunately, Mandrake absorbs water quickly, and you only need to endure the half minute of watering.

Hermione walked from one end to the other in the aisle between the gardens, checking the condition of each mandrake as she walked back and forth, finding those human-shaped roots that had passed puberty, marking them and leaving them for those behind to transplant.

The girl was wearing a yellow gardener's suit, which was slightly loose and tied with a belt around her thin waist. She looked neat and heroic. The earmuffs on her head were tightly tied, making her head look smaller, and her serious face looked a little cute.

Loren put down the kettle after watering the plants and felt his shoulder being patted. He turned around and saw Hermione wrinkling her nose and knitting her eyebrows tightly because of the stench.

Despite the overpowering smell, Hermione resisted the urge and pulled Loren over, brushing the hair around his ears before waving her hand in front of his eyes.

Loren stood there obediently, allowing Hermione to check him thoroughly before letting him go.

She would pass by Loren from time to time to make sure there were no gaps in his earmuffs, to make sure he was concentrating and would not be bitten by the Mandrake...

It has been like this since he came out of the headmaster's office that day. She followed him to eat, do homework, and review. Except for going to the bathroom and sleeping, Hermione was almost always with him. Even Professor Flitwick's invitation to teach was temporarily postponed.

The little witch always suspected that Loren was trying hard to be strong to deal with her, but she didn't know whether he was crying secretly behind her back.

Loren didn't know whether to laugh or cry about this. He had explained it many times, but Hermione just thought he was being stubborn. After repeating it several times, he just let Hermione do what she wanted. After all, it felt good to be cared for by others.

After confirming that all the Mandrakes of the appropriate age had been transplanted, Neville and Rolf left, while Loren and Hermione stayed to pick the Mandrake leaves needed for the Animagus class.

The earmuffs could not be removed, so the two could only communicate by gestures and guessing.

Loren pointed to the garden on the right and then pointed at himself, meaning that he should deal with the mandrake leaves on the right.

Hermione nodded and waved her fingers to indicate 40 portions, half for each person.

With perfect tacit understanding and no misunderstanding, the two began to act.

At the very edge of the nursery, a pot of mandrake that had not yet healed from its acne and had not been repotted was shaking its branches and leaves lazily, completely unaware of the danger that was about to come.

Loren saw the right moment and slashed with the scissors. A single-leaf mandrake fell into his hand and was then put into the cloth bag hanging on his belt.

Part of the humanoid root's face was exposed above the ground, staring blankly at Loren. Although it was just a mandrake, Loren could still see the meaning of grievance on its face.

The mandrake's little mouth pursed and it immediately started squeaking.

But Loren went to cut another one without looking back.

These mandrakes are very arrogant and are very particular about their hairstyles. Whether they are going through puberty or have already passed puberty, they will cry out in death as soon as the scissors are cut.

"...17, 18, 19."

Loren counted and found that he was still one leaf short of the right platform. He looked around and saw that the first plant had cried so much that it lay listlessly in the pit to rest.

I walked over quietly without attracting its attention, then I saw the right moment, grabbed a single leaf and scissored it again.

Mandrake cried even harder and louder this time, but Loren, who was wearing earmuffs, was like a deaf person and could not hear anything.

"Work together!"

Loren nodded with satisfaction and turned to meet Hermione.

After each changing into their daily clothes and taking a quick shower, they walked out of the greenhouse together.

Hermione held a bag of mandrakes in her right hand, which was more than what Professor McGonagall had asked her to give her, so she kept some leftovers. In her left hand, she held the greenhouse key, which she intended to give to Professor McGonagall so that she wouldn't have to go back to Professor Sprout to return the key.

Walking side by side on the path back to the castle, Hermione talked about what she saw at the Ministry of Magic that day, about the Time Hall in the Department of Mysteries, and about the power of time.

"Time Turner?" Loren looked at Hermione curiously and took the bag of mandrake. Although it was hard to say who was stronger, they still had to behave like gentlemen.

Hermione nodded. "It's an exquisite-looking hourglass. Headmaster Dumbledore said it's a prop for resolving class time conflicts."

"So don't worry about not being able to take full classes. The professors have already arranged it!" Hermione was all smiles, and began to look forward to a fulfilling study life in the next school year. "The course selection period has not yet ended. Loren, come with me and take full classes! We won't miss any class!"

"Hiss...it sounds scary."

Loren was very interested in the time turner, but he was only resistant to the full course life. It was impossible to take full classes, so he could just borrow Hermione's time turner to study it.

"Why would I take full classes? I'm learning Ancient Runes on my own, and I'm not interested in Muggle Studies. And I don't take full classes because of schedule conflicts," Loren muttered, shaking his head firmly, "because I'm lazy."

Hermione was so angry that she slapped him. When she realized that she couldn't persuade him, Hermione went on to talk about Dumbledore and Mad-Eye Moody entering the Hall of Prophecy.

"We separated in the Hall of Time, and Mr. Weasley took me to see a court trial. Um... it was quite complicated, and I can't explain it clearly at the moment, but the important thing is the Hall of Prophecy."

"There seems to be something in there that is related to Voldemort. Dumbledore cares about that thing very much." Hermione lowered her voice, "I think that is the main reason why Dumbledore went to the Ministry of Magic. Moreover, we sneaked in. Mr. Weasley helped us cover up our identities, and Mr. Moody took us through the wand registration stage."

"Maybe it's just to help you hide your tracks. With Dumbledore's magical attainments, he can just break in. Even if he sneaks in, he can do it without alerting anyone."

Loren complained about the little witch, and then fell into deep memories and thoughts.

What else could be in the prophecy hall? The prophecy ball.

Dumbledore probably learned from Snape that Voldemort only knew half of the prophecy, and guessed that Voldemort might be interested in the remaining half. In addition, Peter Pettigrew's strange escape meant that there must be Voldemort's people inside the Ministry of Magic. Dumbledore was worried that the prophecy ball was taken away by the insider and given to Voldemort, so he went to check the situation.

The purpose of hiding the identity is to avoid alerting Voldemort. It is possible that Voldemort has not remembered the prophecy yet. If Dumbledore leaks the news, it will remind Voldemort instead.

"The Hall of Prophecy... I roughly know what it is." Loren pondered for a while and looked at Hermione hesitantly, "I don't know whether I should tell you about this. It may disrupt Dumbledore's arrangements..."

"Then don't tell me!" Hermione answered straightforwardly, but became a little hesitant after she finished speaking, "Hiding...can't tell...this feeling is so familiar."

What is going on...

Hermione quickly remembered, glaring at Loren with gritted teeth: "I remember now! It's the basilisk, you know the truth about the basilisk from the beginning to the end!"

After a beginning, the rest of the memories kept popping up, becoming clearer and clearer.

The shame she felt when she turned into a cat came over her mind, and she recalled how this person was playing with her tail with great interest, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong.

"You watched me make Polyjuice Potion and drank the potion with cat hair in it! No wonder you had such a weird expression on your face, you must have known it a long time ago!" Hermione's fists hardened.

Loren began to panic: "Slander, total slander!"

"Dumbledore asked for the basilisk to be kept secret, so I can't tell you. I was also surprised by the cat hair incident. How could I have known about it in advance? I can't predict it."

Loren retorted while quietly distancing himself from him.

"Then why are you running?" Hermione shouted and chased after him.

"I won't run unless you chase me!"

"If you don't run away, I won't chase you!"

"I do not believe!"

"stop!"

……

On the Quidditch field, the Gryffindor team was practicing their newly prepared tactics. There would be a match against Hufflepuff after the Easter holiday.

Their team now has three high-end brooms. The fastest Nimbus 2001 is confirmed to be used by Seeker Harry, and there are two Nimbus 2000s. Wood is making various attempts to find the best distribution plan.

The more difficult part was that Ron came up with a wild idea to give one of the Nimbus 2000s to the goalkeeper. Wood thought the idea was clever, but no one in the team, except the goalkeeper, agreed.

In the audience, Ron looked at the grass field over the greenhouse from afar. On the path beside the grass field, Hermione kept closing the distance and jumped onto Loren's back...