The days at Hogwarts

The sky was empty, as if no one was around. The sunset glow flowed past them like running water, and the clouds were like a dream.

They looked out from the cabin, and it seemed as if they were the only two people in the world. Loren wanted to say something, talk about the golden sunrise, talk about the hot air balloon, it seemed like he could say anything. But when he turned his head and met Hermione's gaze, he suddenly understood -

Nothing needs to be said.

……

Boom boom——

The sound of the flamethrower continued for a long time. Hermione recognized the hot air balloon her parents were riding by the colorful painting on the balloon. They were kissing in the cabin, oblivious to the people around them.

Even though they flew a certain height, the sea of ​​clouds was still above their heads, out of reach. Below them were sand dunes with scattered mountains, and the Nile River in the distance of the hot air balloon was sparkling, like a silver ribbon, winding around the city of Luxor.

Hermione stood in the shaking cabin, but her heart was extremely calm.

It was the same when she first arrived at Hogwarts. Everywhere was a strange landscape, everywhere were strange people, and the eyes of the people around her were like a pod, lifting her up high, hanging in the air. Loren was like a hot air balloon, allowing her to land safely.

A year has passed in the blink of an eye. A lot of things have changed, yet it seems like nothing has changed.

Hermione looked at the scenery of the whole world and couldn't help but look at the people around her.

He stared at the balloon pilot, exchanged glances with him tentatively, and hesitated about how to convince the man to let him play with the flamethrower.

The balloon pilot calmly turned his head away, avoiding his gaze.

Hermione couldn't help laughing.

The world is picturesque and the scenery here is unique.

……

The ancient Egyptian city of Luxor is located on the east bank of the Nile River. It is famous for the ruins of the ancient Egyptian capital of Thebes, among which the Karnak Temple is the most complete and largest. The building was built more than 4000 years ago and completed during the reign of Ramses II in the New Kingdom.

After visiting the temple, the group took a car to the seaside resort hotel in Hurghada.

Hurghada is located on the Red Sea coast in eastern Egypt. It is the capital of the Red Sea Governorate and a famous tourist attraction. As a livable city in the desert, it is also a gathering place for Egyptian wizards.

Wendell looked at the scenery along the Red Sea coast and couldn't help rubbing his hands. He said eagerly, "They say the fish here are very stupid and will burrow into the sand on their own initiative."

Hermione interrupted warily, "Don't even think about it. Loren won't go fishing with you. We're going to visit the wizarding gathering place here."

"it's a pity……"

Bates, who had been resting with his eyes closed, turned his head and said, "Is it safe? The wizards here should not be under the jurisdiction of the British Ministry of Magic."

"Don't worry, Grandpa Bates." Loren explained, "Most wizards abide by the conventions of the International Confederation of Wizards. Even if we encounter some unruly dark wizards, Hermione and I can teleport away immediately."

Hermione nodded somewhat smugly: "Apparating, we can get back to the hotel in an instant."

Loren smiled softly and said nothing more.

He still had the Philosopher's Stone in his pendant, and the Deluminator stored the Basilisk's magic, so unless he was a wizard of Dumbledore's level, it was hard to say who would be afraid of whom.

……

Hurghada, on the Red Sea.

Loren and Hermione walked on the streets of the coastal city. Without the tour guide and parents, this country seemed closer to them.

Some were shirtless, wearing only a pair of shorts, while others wore white robes and heavy red hats in the scorching desert.

Camels with strange humps passed by them, chewing some unknown hay.

"Loren, do you really know the way?" Hermione suddenly hesitated. "I mean, you have never been here before. Can you really find the entrance to the wizarding world?"

"Well, I may not know the way, but I definitely know the destination." Loren's eyes were floating with crystal blue, reflecting the magical light not far away. In the wide desert, there was nothing more dazzling than the sun.

After crossing several streets, they finally came to a small shop selling handicrafts.

In front of him was a dirty, shabby little shop with a crooked sign that read 'Hermes Merchandise Store', and the outer wall was covered with yellow and black stains.

Passersby seemed to be unable to see the bar.

Looking at the scales on the sign representing alchemy, Loren smiled and said, "It seems we are lucky."

"Egyptian Alchemy Research Center." Flamel's illusory figure appeared aside, with a look of distant nostalgia in his eyes.

Pushing the door open, the shop was empty except for an old man dozing behind the counter. He was wearing a long tubular gown made of a white translucent rectangular fabric and a wrap-around apron tied around his waist.

In Loren's eyes, the old man's body was shining with surging magical fluctuations. Judging from the magical power, his strength was probably about the same as Professor McGonagall.

Hermione, however, seemed to not see the old man. She looked at the empty shop and asked in confusion, "Isn't this a merchandise store? Why can't I see any merchandise?"

“Hahaha!” The old man was amused by this question. “Because someone has bought out all the alchemical products, and they are eager to enter the newly discovered tomb.”

Hermione stared with wide eyes at the figure that suddenly appeared in the corner.

Loren noticed the message in his words: "Are you saying that all the products sold here are alchemical products?"

"Yes, yes. There are clay pots that can curse others by writing a name on them, cat's eyes for finding treasures, and scepters for avoiding water... but they are all sold out."

The old man shook his head, looked up at them, and said in a strange English: "Although there are many wizards coming here recently, young wizards of your age are rare."

Hermione pulled Lauren and whispered, "Professor McGonagall said that Professor Barbling was in a hurry to come to Egypt for the newly discovered ruins."

Loren did not reply. He looked at the old man in the corner with twitching eyes. Flamel's shadow was floating behind him, shouting excitedly in a voice that only he could hear: "He is from the Alchemy Research Center. Just reveal your identity as an alchemist!"

It was the first time Loren saw Flamel so cheerful, and he was speechless.

He hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and said, “There is no doubt that this is not an idle lie, but the most solid truth.”

This sentence is the opening of the Emerald Record and the first sentence translated from it. As the site where the Emerald Record stele was unearthed, this sentence is the purpose of the Egyptian Alchemy Research Center and represents the truth of alchemy.

The old man smiled and shook his head when he heard his words. "Young man, if you had come here a month ago, I would have been happy to bring you into our alchemy room and show you our latest research results. Maybe three months later, but not now."

Feeling somewhat ashamed, Flamel instantly disappeared into thin air.

"Hello sir, we don't have to go to the Alchemy Research Center. We just want to ask for directions..." Loren didn't care. He was just interested in the Alchemy Research Center and didn't have to go there.

It's not a second creation. Egypt has the world's largest alchemy research center, which is Rowling's setting.

Chapter 268: Gringotts Encounter with Professor Babling

After hearing the two people's purpose, the old man nodded, with an expression of uncertainty on his face. It was unclear how much he believed.

He hunched over and walked to the counter, then pulled out a parchment scroll from the box below. "I'll give you a free map that marks some buildings in the Hurghada district and the newly opened pyramids. For the sake of alchemy, young man, the advice I can give you is to stay away from those unexplored pyramids."

"I read about it in a book," Hermione said mysteriously, "In 1916, a British knight opened the tomb of Tutankhamun from the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. It is rumored that they were cursed, and the 20 people who entered the pyramid died one after another within 5 years."

The old man smiled and said, "They were not killed by a curse."

Loren's heart moved, and he said seriously: "Our purpose is to visit the wizard street here, and we will not rashly enter the ruins."

The old man didn't say anything else. He placed the parchment map on the counter, slowly sat back in the corner, and his figure gradually became transparent.

"Disillusionment Charm?" Hermione's voice was soft.

"It's a little different from the Disillusionment Spell, but the principle is similar." Loren saw the trajectory of the magic power clearly, "Let's go."

Taking the parchment map from the counter, they tiptoed out of the store.

"I always feel that the atmosphere in that store is a bit depressing, and people dare not speak loudly." Hermione seemed to be relieved. "I thought there would be a magic door leading to the wizarding district, like the Leaky Cauldron or Platform Nine and Three Quarters."

"Perhaps there is indeed a hidden magic door, but we are not allowed to enter."

Loren looked back, and in his sight, the "Hermes Merchandise Store" was still shining with dazzling magical light.

Half an hour later, the two followed the map's guidance and walked along the direction of the tributary of the Red Sea towards the entrance of the Wizarding District.

On the left is an endless sea of ​​sand, and on the right is a gurgling river. The two are clearly separated, and there are no weeds or vegetation growing in between. The traces of industrial civilization are gradually disappearing, and there are fewer and fewer highway signs. I don’t know how long I walked, but in the end there was only a deserted road left.

After walking for who knows how many steps, they soon lost the sense of distance, as if they had walked very far away, yet also as if they had always been in the same place.

Just as Loren was checking the map again, an obelisk suddenly appeared in front of him, standing between the sand and the water.

The obelisk on the sand and its reflected obelisk in the water form the tower gate. The entrance is between the two obelisks. Half of the tower gate is in the water, floating with the rippling waves.

Loren and Hermione looked at each other with surprise in their eyes. They walked towards the gate of the obelisk, shadows passed by, and a layer of coolness like running water washed over their bodies.

Suddenly, the view in front of them was a winding, endless limestone street, the same earthy yellow color as the stone of the pyramids. This was a street full of Egyptian style, and the decoration of the shops on both sides of the road was mostly golden as the main color, with a rough and bold style.

Looking back, the door they came in through slowly closed and turned into an ordinary obelisk.

The nearest store to them was a shop selling magic materials. A fat, dark-skinned woman stood outside the door, shouting at them in broken English: "Salamander's tail, ten Sickles an ounce! Winged lizard's tongue, sixteen Sickles an ounce! Come and have a look!"

Hermione craned her neck to get another look, but Loren reached out and pulled her away. "Sixteen Sickles an ounce, they're crazy."

"Huh? Any problem?" Hermione looked confused and a little cute. She was not sensitive to the prices of magic materials.

"This is the price of a dragon's liver."

So Hermione looked around the shops with a wary look, but her vigilance was soon melted away by the dazzling array of exotic colors.

It was even more lively here than they had imagined, with the constant hawking of merchants, the sound of customers lowering their prices with red faces, and even the clatter of camels' hooves on the stone slabs and the ringing of bells hanging around their necks.

People wearing all kinds of strange costumes walked on the streets, including ordinary wizards in robes; people wrapped in cloaks and unwilling to reveal their faces; mysterious witches wearing sun hats and using scarves to pretend to be their faces; noisy dwarves, goblins, house elves...

The most eye-catching are the local Egyptian wizards who are shirtless and wearing white khaki skirts. Their wands are of peculiar style, with golden ring patterns inlaid on the surface, which are somewhat similar to the pharaoh's scepter in the museum.

"It's so magical, completely different from Diagon Alley." Hermione looked at the magical street in front of her, her eyes full of curiosity.

A shrill scream came from a simple shop. Hermione craned her neck and squinted her eyes to look for a long time, but she couldn't figure out what the Egyptian word on the sign meant.

Standing at the door and looking inside, the store was also very simple. There were many wooden beams in the stone house, and various bird cages were hung underneath - black-headed ibis, red-crowned ibis, black ibis, falcons, and vultures.

The vulture flapped its wings and let out another round of shrill squawking, which frightened Hermione so much that she shrank her neck.

Continuing to walk forward, after they were far away, the little witch became bolder and explained to Loren with a professorial look on her face, "Owls are not adapted to the desert climate. The wizards here use ibises and falcons to deliver messages, and occasionally vultures. A long time ago, the Egyptians saw wizards using sacred ibises and falcons to deliver messages, so they believed that these birds were messengers of God, and they added these birds to the objects of sacrifice, and even derived a god with an eagle's head and a human body - Horus."

"What a learned professor, Professor Granger."

Several boys with local faces had their noses pressed against the window glass, where flying brooms were displayed. On the store's outer wall were several posters of new flying brooms, with product descriptions written in several languages:

This latest high-speed flying broom features a streamlined design, a premium ash wood handle, diamond polished, and hand-engraved registration number. Each carefully selected birch branch at the end of the broom is ground into a streamlined shape, giving the broom unparalleled balance and exquisite accuracy. The Firebolt can accelerate from zero to 150 miles per hour in ten seconds and has magical braking effect. Price negotiable.

English is rare here. Hermione read the product introduction carefully and said, "Let's prepare a birthday present for Harry here. He likes flying brooms anyway."

"Birthday present..."

Considering that Harry was in the summer vacation, the time was indeed very close.

Loren looked at the other broomsticks in the window that had clear price tags, and pointed to the ones with three digits and upwards, and the currency unit was Galleon. "Are you sure?"

"Of course not a broomstick!" Hermione pulled him into the store. "They also sell broomstick-related maintenance products. Let's pick something with Egyptian characteristics for him."

"But..." Loren thought for a moment, "The Weasleys are also traveling in Egypt. Will they also buy Egyptian specialties?"

"Ah?!" Hermione slapped her head, "I forgot about that! But... Ron wouldn't buy the same thing as us."

In the end, Hermione picked out a broom care kit for Harry and a retired Bludger signed by Laoya Zaghloul, the Seeker of the Egyptian Quidditch team, for Ron.

When they were about to pay at the counter, Hermione finally remembered that they didn't have enough gold Galleons on them. They had almost spent all the Galleons they had exchanged last semester, and they hadn't gone to Gringotts to exchange them for money this semester.

Fortunately, the clerk at the counter had a good service attitude, and even though they couldn't pay, he still looked at them with a smile, although this might be due to the language barrier.

She blinked and looked at the selected items for a long time, then lamented plaintively, "Why doesn't Gringotts have a check service?"

Loren couldn't help but smile. He had thought of this problem when he first entered the store. Not to mention a three-digit flying broom, they couldn't even afford a single broom hair.

Moreover, they were in Egypt, and Gringotts here had not reached an agreement with the British Ministry of Magic and would not exchange Muggle currency for them, the Hogwarts students.

But there are still some solutions. His pendant contains many valuable materials, such as unicorn hair, basilisk scales, basilisk fangs, and even finished potions. These materials can be sold to Gringotts. Those greedy goblins will take anything valuable.

"Let's go to Gringotts first and exchange some money before going shopping." Loren comforted.

"But this is Egypt, can we switch to galleons?"

"Don't ask any more questions. I have a way." Loren smiled and nodded to the clerk. He turned around and left the flying broom shop with Hermione and walked towards Gringotts at the end of the street.

Among the many shops with golden colors as the main color, the snow-white building Gringotts stands out. It is almost exactly the same as Gringotts in Diagon Alley. It has a shiny bronze door and goblin waiters in scarlet and gold uniforms. The only difference is that the warning on the silver door is written in Arabic.

As they approached, two goblin waiters bowed to them and led them into the tall marble trading hall. On the high stools behind the long counters, many goblins were trading with various customers...

After two years of currency trading, the two were no strangers to Gringotts and walked straight to the counter.

"Hello." said to an idle elf, "I have some things I want to sell."

"Hello, sir!" the goblin greeted enthusiastically, "Whether it's gems, precious metals, or any other treasures, Gringotts will give a fair price."

"Do you collect unicorn hair?"

In the first grade, Loren didn't use much of the unicorn hair that Hagrid gave him, which contained impurities. Later, the unicorn gave him better and higher-quality hair to express its gratitude, so the inferior products were left.

They would just gather dust if they were kept in his hands, so Loren planned to exchange them for Galleons.

"Unicorn hair! Oh!" The fairy's eyes became more eager, and the smile on his face became more enthusiastic. "Of course we need it, distinguished guest..."