The days at Hogwarts

That's fine.

Loren quickly scratched Crookshanks' chin, making the kitten squint his eyes in comfort. "Why, are you going to persuade him to give up the captain's position?"

"No, it's not!" Harry was shocked and explained before the man could say anything more outrageous. "We are considering recruiting new players for the team. We should recruit new players in the third grade, but Wood doesn't seem to want to recruit new players."

"They are going to miss out on a talented player like me..." Ron sighed sadly. "The team's current configuration is just right, not too much, not too little. Wood doesn't want to spend time training new players. He is already in the seventh grade this year and wants to win the Quidditch Cup again before graduation. Alas..."

"They're going to miss us too, alas..." Seamus and Dean were equally melancholy.

"What are you two doing here? Even if we recruit new members, you won't be chosen." Loren combed the fur along Crookshanks' back, making the kitten purr happily.

"That's too much! You can't even fly as well as us!"

"That's it!"

Seamus and Dean united in their hatred of him.

Loren said lightly, "I don't want to join the team."

Seamus and Dean: "..."

Why is he so irritating!

"Stop arguing, Seamus, Dean, you can't win the argument with him." Harry advised helplessly, "Loren, is there anything you can do to help us?"

Loren is obsessed with petting cats: "What do the other players think?"

"Katie, Alia, George and Fred don't care. Angelina does want to recruit new people, but her willingness is not very strong."

"Just state the pros and cons directly. He will graduate next year, and by then he will have to change captains and recruit new members. He will also have to train with the new members. You can just wait to be humiliated by the Slytherins."

"Ah? Ah!"

"I'm going to find Wood now!"

"Wait a minute Harry, it's almost twelve o'clock!"

……

After the little wizards went upstairs to their dormitory, the candles in the lounge went out automatically, leaving only the remaining firewood in the fireplace with sporadic red flames.

Crookshanks opened his eyes, jumped off the sofa lightly, and lazily returned to sit beside the portrait hole. His bright yellow eyes flashed a cold light in the darkness.

Chapter 299 A Not Ordinary Weekend

Saturday morning.

Because they went to bed early last night, when Hermione got up, the other roommates were still sleeping soundly.

After putting on her slippers, Hermione came to the bedroom window and pulled open the cold copper edge of the window. She quickly withdrew her hands and put them on her fluffy pajamas. Her hands were gradually warming up. The fresh and cold air penetrated her nose, making her mind gradually clear up.

The good weather that had lasted since the heavy rain at the beginning of the school year has finally come to an end. There are now some dark clouds visible to the naked eye in the clear sky, which keep changing shapes under the blowing of the autumn wind. Those light ink-colored clouds are accumulating water vapor, but no one knows when this rain will fall.

From a distance, you can see the Whomping Willow outside the school. Its sparse leaves are gradually turning red. When the leaves on the branches are completely red, it will shake off all the leaves, which means it is about to snow.

"Hermione, it's cold—"

Hearing Parvati's mumbling, Hermione quickly closed the window, leaving only a tiny gap for ventilation.

After washing and changing clothes, Hermione was lazy and didn't do her hair because it was the weekend.

Go downstairs.

In the common room, Loren was lying on the sofa. He didn't have to attend class, so he didn't wear a magic robe, but a beige sweatshirt and casual pants.

New clothes, probably bought for him by Grandpa Bates, Hermione thought silently.

Crookshanks, looking sleepy and listless, lay on his lap.

Whenever Crookshanks closed his eyes, the man would rub his belly. Crookshanks got angry and opened his mouth to his hand, pretending to bite. Loren was not afraid at all, but put his hand forward, but Crookshanks closed his mouth, and his cat-like face showed human helplessness.

Hermione was speechless. He often did this during the summer vacation and called it "staying up with the cat". He kept saying: If people don't stay up with cats during the day, the cats will stay up with people at night.

I really don't know why Crookshanks is willing to be so close to him.

Hearing footsteps on the stairs, Loren looked up and smiled unconsciously when he saw the girl: "Good morning, Hermione."

"Good morning."

Sitting down next to him, Hermione rescued Crookshanks from his clutches and placed him in the corner of the sofa so that he could sleep peacefully. She looked up and asked curiously, "Why are you up so early? It's the weekend today."

"I was lying in bed thinking about something last night, and fell asleep. As a result, I couldn't fall asleep when I woke up in the morning. I felt so energetic." Loren sighed in a sad tone, "Going to bed early made me miss the wonderful nap."

As he spoke, he lazily leaned back on the sofa, exuding a decadent smell of salted fish, "I really envy Crookshanks. He can sleep as long as he wants. He's such a lazy cat."

"You are the lazy cat." Hermione rolled her eyes, not wanting to talk to him any more. "Come on, have breakfast first, and then we'll go to the library to do our homework."

"Ah? The weekend is just for doing homework, then what's the difference between this and not having a holiday." Luo Li looked at her confidently, "I won't go!"

"Isn't it going to be me trying to persuade you, you refuse, I trying to persuade you again, you refuse again... let's see who gives in first?" Hermione said calmly. She had plenty of experience in fighting this.

"You are so cold and have no sense of humor," Loren complained.

"Get up!" Hermione pulled him.

This person is too lazy, there is no way to move him.

"If you don't get up, I'll leave on my own," Hermione threatened viciously.

Because of the two additional elective courses, she had a lot of homework backlog. Taking into account the review and preview content, she also wanted to discuss some issues with Professor Bubbage of Muggle Studies in the afternoon, so her weekend schedule was very tight.

Loren blinked and looked at the girl. Her fluffy, messy curly hair was so fluffy that it made the girl who pretended to be fierce look like a long-haired cat with its fur standing on end, looking cute, fierce and a little sloppy.

"Wait..." Loren patted the seat next to him, "Come sit over here, I'll smooth your hair for you."

Hermione's fierce expression froze, and she was a little dazed, blinking twice blankly. After a few seconds, as if she was under the Imperius Curse, she slowly sat down next to Loren, quiet and well-behaved.

Loren took off his shoes and stepped onto the sofa, then sat cross-legged behind the girl. He took out a wooden comb from the pendant and began to comb her hair gently.

"You have so much hair. Why aren't you bald even though you study so much?"

"It's definitely not the right time yet. You'll start to go bald when you become an adult."

"Wendell is a little bald. You have the gene for it."

"..."

Hermione remained inexplicably quiet as he talked, not saying anything in reply.

Loren didn't understand those complicated hairstyles, he just tried to make Hermione's curly hair more docile according to her original look, so as not to let the stubble appear randomly and make the girl look like she had a mop head.

Hermione is not suitable for a hairstyle that sticks to the scalp. It makes her look old. Let the brown curly hair hang down naturally and leave some bangs on the forehead. This will look good, fresh and a little playful.

"It just doesn't feel smooth enough, it's too curly."

"If you find it troublesome to comb your hair every day, you can get it permed, but don't touch your bangs. It looks better this way."

Hermione lowered her eyes, and something in her heart was trembling.

In fact, it can be done well if you spend time on it. She would simply comb her hair in the morning, but it would take at least an hour to do it carefully. She would rather spend her time on more useful things.

The wooden teeth of the comb sank into the long brown hair, and the slight rustling sound traveled along the scalp into the ears, making the eardrums itchy and the heart also a little itchy.

This guy obviously didn't know how to comb girls' hair. Sometimes some curls would get tangled in the comb and couldn't be untangled. He would observe his own reaction, then calmly grab the front section and pull it off with force.

He probably thought he wouldn't notice if he wasn't in pain.

Hermione silently counted how much hair had been pulled out of her head.

1...

5...

9...

"How much of my hair are you going to pull out?" Hermione's voice was cold.

"Ahem." Loren coughed twice, "These are normal losses. In fact, people lose their hair naturally every day..."

Looking into Hermione's eyes, Loren's arguments became less and less powerful. He finally muttered, "You are not proficient in the business. I just need to practice more in the future."

Hermione glanced at him, but gently let him go. She tidied up her hair that fell on the sofa, stood up and walked out: "Remember your words."

"Ah? Oh!"

Loren was stunned for a moment, then followed happily.

……

In the morning, Loren was forced by Hermione to finish his homework for the week. In the afternoon, Hermione went to see Professor Burbage of Muggle Studies to discuss some questions, and the two parted ways.

I went straight up to the 8th floor, turned around a few times opposite the tapestry where the troll beat Barnabas to death, and entered the Room of Requirement. It was a room that looked like a potion classroom, with an empty space in the middle.

Loren took out the materials for the [Wolfsbane Potion - Rafflesia Revised Version] given by Snape. The pendant box that stored the materials was made of black chestnut wood, with intricate Ouroboros patterns carved on it, inlaid with gold threads, and exquisite workmanship.

"Tsk, the Untraceable Extension Charm was used very mediocrely. I wonder if Snape did it himself. Seeing the locket reminded me of an acquaintance... Forget it, I'll find a chance to give old Dumbledore some clues later." Loren muttered, opened the lid of the locket, and took out one of the 10 materials.

"Let me see... resin of the lily of the valley... dew on the full moon..."

After the simulation of the Book of Fantasy, although Loren had already memorized the dosage of materials and the brewing process, he still took out the list and counted the materials one by one according to the list on it.

"Finally, this is the Rafflesia flower extract."

Loren looked at the glass bottle in front of him, which was smaller than a finger. There was a hint of hesitation in his eyes. There was a little curiosity in his hesitation, and there was an eagerness to try in his curiosity.

The Rafflesia flower has a terrible odor, similar to the smell of a rotting corpse, and is recognized as the world's stinkiest flower. The extract is the essence of the Rafflesia flower. If a drop of it gets on your sofa, it will be unusable.

Although we know that this thing stinks and is incredibly powerful, we should handle it with caution and care.

But when the real thing appeared in front of him, he still wanted to open it and take a look.

I don't mean anything else, I just want to clear my nasal cavity.

Boer~

The moment he opened the bottle cork, Loren felt a burning pain in his eyes.

A strong smell enveloped the entire virtual potion classroom. The fermented stench violently penetrated into the brain from the nasal cavity. Every breath made the stomach spasm, churn, and twitch uncontrollably.

About thirty seconds later.

Loren stood expressionlessly opposite the tapestry of the troll beating Barnabas silly with a club, facing the door of the Room of Requirement that he had closed.

An idea came to his mind. He would go find Hermione now, use the time converter to travel back to one minute ago, and give a big bag to the Shabiloren from one minute ago.

Are you stupid to open it even though you know it stinks?

After using [Whirlwind Cleaner] to remove the odor from himself, Loren stood outside and calmed down for a while.

Fortunately, the Room of Requirement is a magical house. After walking back and forth a few times and re-entering the room that looked like a Potions classroom, the smell inside had dissipated.

This time he focused on setting up the cauldron, lighting the fire, and beginning to brew the potion.

It takes about a week to brew the wolfsbane potion, during which time the temperature needs to be adjusted every day when the sun rises and sets, based on the moon phase and weather changes of the day.

If there is no stormy weather with thunder and lightning, add the extract of Rafflesia in the middle and late stages of the brewing process, about three days later.

The dosage of Rafflesia extract was as set by Snape, a slight excess.

I still plan to add some rue. It won't affect the efficacy of the medicine, but it can at least help.

After the potion in the crucible stabilized, Loren stood up, stretched, twitched his nose, and slowly left the virtual room.

"I still feel like there's a smell on my body... Damn Snape, I must let him smell it too..."

"Get a gas mask when you need the extract."

The charcoal fire under the crucible was burning, and the flames licked the bottom of the crucible. Some incompletely burned particles adhered to the crucible, leaving behind wisps of black coal ash, like the dark clouds accumulating outside the castle, floating, gathering and dispersing...

After leaving the Room of Requirement, the silly Barnabas in the tapestry has stopped being beaten, and it is time for the trolls to dance again.

Loren paused. Since he was already here, there was no reason not to go to the room where the things were hidden. He began to walk back and forth in the same place as before. After three times, he opened the door of the Room of Requirement and walked in.

In a room as spacious as a cathedral, beams of light cast from high windows illuminated the room. Items hidden by successive Hogwarts residents were piled up together like small hills, and broken furniture was piled precariously on both sides of the mountain path.

There were broken bottles filled with solidified potions, as well as hats, jewelry, cloaks, and things that looked like dragon eggshells. There were also some magical items from who knows how many years ago that still retained the glow of magic.

Even though Loren and Hermione had taken away a lot of books, there were still tens of thousands of books here, banned books, books with scribblings on them, books stolen from the library; in addition to these useful books, there were also many useless piles of old papers that had been oxidized and decayed over the long years, waiting for someone to touch them lightly before they became part of the dust in this room.

To Loren's surprise, there were some new footprints in the dust on the floor.

He knew that the house-elves at Hogwarts sometimes hid things in this room, that Professor Trelawney hid empty sherry bottles in it, and that Dumbledore also knew about this room, so it was not surprising.

But their footprints definitely wouldn't be like these rat footprints, especially since one of the rat's front feet was partially missing.

Restraining his inner excitement, Loren squatted down and took a closer look at the footprints.