The days at Hogwarts

Hermione pressed her lips together, her face tense.

Ginny tugged at the hem of her clothes, feeling uneasy.

Ron and Harry scratched their heads. Today's mother was still angry for so long. The problem was more serious than they thought.

Loren asked quietly: "Are they okay?"

Bill shook his head, looked at the few people who had not graduated, and said softly: "You guys go upstairs to see George and Fred. Charlie and I stay here to help mom prepare lunch."

Ron nodded heavily, pulled Ginny and Harry and ran upstairs, with Loren and Hermione following behind.

Out of Molly's sight, Hermione finally breathed a sigh of relief and said with some fear: "An angry Mrs. Weasley is scarier than an angry Professor McGonagall."

Loren smiled without saying anything and pulled her all the way up.

On the top floor, they finally saw the legendary ghoul. It was an ugly humanoid creature with dirty mucus on its body. Its fuzzy facial features were completely unrecognizable as a human being, and it had buck teeth.

The twins were tying it to the water pipe with cloth tape, wrapping it around and around, even sealing its mouth tightly so that it could not make annoying moans and whimpers, nor could it hit the water pipe.

Ron was silent for a moment and asked tentatively: "Are you... okay?"

George made a knot on the cloth belt, clapped his hands and turned around: "Oh, dear little Ronnie, you don't think this little blow will make us cry, do you?"

"We are not children who are afraid of spiders." Fred pulled the cloth strap to test the elasticity and nodded with satisfaction.

After saying that, both of them laughed.

……

George and Fred were lying dejectedly on the bed together. It was already almost twelve o'clock in the night. Obviously at this time yesterday, they were still happily checking the order form, planning to buy storage scales from Loren. How to expand the business and how many products should be prepared to take to Hogwarts and sold in the school next semester.

They could rush out the batch of goods that their mother confiscated before the Quidditch World Cup finals, and now that they have storage scales, they don't have to worry about being discovered again.

But I still feel so uncomfortable.

My mother’s words kept ringing in my ears:

"It's not that they are not smart, but their smartness is not for the best use. Unless they cheer up quickly and change their ways, they will be in bad luck."

"..."

"More owls flew from Hogwarts to complain to them than everyone else combined!"

"If they continue like this, they will eventually be caught by the Office for the Prohibition of Abuse of Magic, and their father will be subject to scrutiny. They may lose their jobs."

"..."

"I really don't understand where we are educating people wrong."

"It's been like this for many years. One trouble comes after another, and we don't listen at all."

……

"George, Fred, are you still going to do business?"

The twins listened to the questions coming from the bed opposite, and were not surprised that Loren was not asleep at this time. He knew their business and their ambition to open a store, and was willing to give them those storage scales and was looking forward to them. A full range of products!

After only a second, George sat up from the bed and said firmly: "Loren, congratulations, we have decided to make you the most distinguished customer of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. From now on, every product we buy will be given away for free. One for you."

Fred stood up and said, "Yes, you will definitely be proud of this in the future."

Loren: "..."

I was worried for nothing, it seemed like I really wasn't hit.

"I wish your dreams will come true." Loren lifted the quilt, stepped over the sleeping Ron and got out of bed, "I'm going to use the bathroom."

George shouted in a low voice: "Remember today!"

"The day the new Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was born..." Fred drawled.

It seems that Mrs. Weasley will still have to scold her in the future...

Walking toward the bathroom in the dark under the moonlight, Loren shook his head and couldn't help but think of Mrs. Weasley's irritable, complaining, or self-blame talk that lasted all day.

From the time she found the order form to the end of dinner, Mrs. Weasley repeated these things all day long, and by the way, she dug out every mistake the twins had ever made, and every complaint letter they received from Hogwarts. Said it several times.

After Percy and Arthur got off work, the dinner table became a judgment seat for her twins. Mr. Weasley was the deputy judge. However, the deputy judge didn't think this was a mistake, and sometimes he couldn't help it. Admiring the twins' whimsical ideas intensified Mrs. Weasley's anger.

Loren had no idea about this situation. As a mother, Mrs. Weasley hoped that her son would study normally and graduate, find a serious and stable job with good income, and not live in the same embarrassment as the Burrow... Who can say that she is not? Good intentions.

George and Fred hope to achieve success in the fields they like and are good at. Although the future is unclear, there is nothing wrong with being happy and satisfied.

It's just the friction between mother and son in a normal family.

It was Hermione who seemed intimidated by such an atmosphere.

Loren came out of the bathroom and was thinking about how to comfort Hermione tomorrow. Suddenly he saw a faint light at the top of the stairs, and the sound of rustling things coming from downstairs.

With a slight thought in his mind, Loren stepped lightly and leaned over.

……

The village of Little Hangleton is located between two steep mountains. Like most old country villages, many young people in the village have left the village to find decent jobs in big cities, and the remaining older generations are always there. Talking about old things in the tavern.

For example, fifty years ago, three members of the Riddle family were murdered.

They believed that the murderer was Frank Bryce, the gardener of the Riddle family. He was a wounded soldier who had retired from the battlefield. One of his legs was so stiff that he could not control his movements. He was also lonely and eccentric, staying away from the crowd.

He has the spare key to the Riddle House, and who could be more of a murderer than him?

At that time, there were no outsiders visiting the Riddle House, no one broke into the door, and the windows were not broken. Frank only had to sneak into the mansion while everyone was asleep...

The villagers thought so at the time.

But the police autopsy report ruled out Frank as a suspect. Doctors had never seen such a strange way of death: no one in the Riddle family was harmed by poison, force, or pistols, nor was they suffocated or strangled. Completely healthy bodies, only with the same frightened expression on their faces, as if they were scared to death at the same time.

Therefore, there was no evidence that the Riddles were murdered, and Frank was not jailed.

Some of Riddle's relatives had been here before, but they all found the house eerie and scary and did not stay there for long. Since then, the Riddle family's house has been uninhabited, fell into disrepair, and gradually deteriorated.

Only old Frank cleans it from time to time to prevent it from being completely abandoned.

On this day, Frank, who was about to celebrate his seventy-seventh birthday, came to the old house again on his stiff legs. When he opened the door with a rusty old key, he heard that this old house had been deserted for a long time. Cold voices came from the house.

……

Chapter 418 Parental Heart

On the landing of the burrow in the village of Ottery Saint Catchpol, in the utility room on the fourth floor, a soft white light group and an orange-yellow columnar light kept shaking, dragging a short, fat, and a The tall and thin figure was constantly swaying and elongated.

Arthur held an old flashlight with its shell removed in one hand and a wand with a fluorescent spell on it in the other. He watched helplessly as his wife rummaged around in the utility room. The old display window was pulled out and the drawers were opened to contain the children. The small boxes of childhood toys that were opened and the various containers that were rummaged through all reflect the wife's stubbornness.

Ever since he came home from get off work, Molly had been dwelling on George and Fred's mistakes.

Even though he was already lying in bed, he still couldn't let go. He had to pull him up in the middle of the night and rummage through the house looking for prohibited items that might be hidden. Seeing that Molly was about to dig deeper into the utility room, and a power strip he had hidden was about to be uncovered, Arthur quickly took his wife's hand.

"Oh, my little Molly, don't worry about it so seriously..." Arthur sincerely advised, "I've seen what they made, and it's not enough to violate the Ministry of Magic's ban... And I have to admit, they You’ve put your knowledge of Potions and Charms to use, haven’t you?”

"I don't need them to apply what they learned, I need them to learn how to fill in the test paper." Molly's expression was a little irritable, "Have you ever seen their OWL test scores? George and Fred combined can't keep up. Percy."

"..." Arthur closed his mouth knowingly.

"I can imagine what they will be like in the future, just like those people in Borgin Burke's store - bad grades, weird, always tinkering with things that can be easily investigated..."

Molly wiped her eyes as she spoke, with a bitter nasal voice: "You will regret it then. No one is willing to hire them, and you can only make a living by reselling things - oh, who is on top?"

"Um, it's me..." Loren stood up from the corner of the stairs, "I'm very sorry, sir, madam, I just came out to use the bathroom, I didn't mean to hide here and eavesdrop."

"Oh, Loren." Molly hurriedly hid behind Arthur, wiping the water from her eyes in a panic.

Arthur shined the flashlight in his direction and raised his voice slightly: "It's okay, Loren, go back to sleep."

"Please wait..." Molly calmed down and exhaled, looked at Loren for a while, and said hesitantly, "I want to ask you about George and Fred at school."

Loren walked softly downstairs and came to Arthur and Molly.

Molly's mood seemed to be very complicated. Her eyes were not as sharp as the head of the Weasley family, but rather confused. She knelt down and looked at Loren: "Dear, tell me, have they ever sold these messes in school before?" s things."

Loren shook his head: "Although some interesting inventions have been displayed before, they have not been sold openly."

Molly breathed a sigh of relief, paused, and then asked, "Are they always causing trouble in school and annoying the professors?"

"There is no such thing." Loren looked at the somewhat elderly woman in front of him and asked softly, "Mrs. Weasley, although Percy has just graduated from school, Ron and Ginny are still in school. Could it be that Didn’t they tell you about what happened at school?”

Molly and Arthur thought about it silently. They would more or less mention some things that happened at school, but most of them would accuse George and Fred of being naughty, especially always teasing Ron... Think about it carefully, although There were always violations of school rules, points deducted by Filch, and confinement by Professor McGonagall, but there were no particularly serious mistakes.

Molly wanted to say something several times, but she couldn't find the words to refute and belittle her two sons when she saw the look in her eyes.

"Mrs. Weasley, you always said in the afternoon that they have no ambition. I would like to ask you what ambition you expect?" Loren suddenly asked softly.

Molly was stunned for a moment and replied subconsciously: "I hope they can go to school peacefully and find a stable job like Bill and Charlie after graduation -"

"Don't be like Charlie, raising a fire dragon is not a good job." Arthur interrupted.

"Then earn enough Galleons, buy a decent house, start your own family, have your own children, and live a relaxed and comfortable life. It would be best if you could have a house elf...is that right?" Loren Fill in the unfinished expectations for Molly.

Arthur tilted his head and frowned, as if he was imagining that kind of life.

Molly frowned. This description seemed to be in line with her expectations for the children, but she felt something was wrong. After thinking for a long time, she couldn't describe her thoughts. She just said dullly: "It doesn't have to be a decent house. No need for house elves..."

Loren said softly: "You can also find a place they like and build their own house layer by layer starting from the pigsty. House elves don't need it either. They can learn how to cook food from the housework magic book, and learn how to Knit sweaters with wool, right?”

Arthur and Molly were both stunned, and suddenly realized that the life Loren described was their own life. They had lived together for many years, accumulated wealth bit by bit, and built the burrow layer by layer in their minds. emerge.

As a member of the ancient pure blood, Weasley gradually declined because he did not want to be involved in businesses that were full of dirty calculations. The signs of Arthur Weasley's closeness to Muggles began to be revealed as early as their father's generation, which made it even more... Pureblood wizards in the wizarding world look down upon them.

Molly's Prewett family also gradually declined. Her brother was besieged by five Death Eaters during the First Wizarding War and was unfortunately killed.

Two members of a run-down family came together. Some of their rich relatives looked down upon this marriage, let alone their run-down home...

The Burrow originally had only one floor of pigsty, and Arthur built a house next to it. As they had more and more children, the house became taller and taller, and decades passed before they knew it.

"Do you think it's hard? Do you regret your decision?"

"us……"

At this time, Loren turned around and walked slowly upstairs. His steps were very light, but the wooden floor was too old and it still made a slight creaking sound: "Although I don't know what George and Fred's trick shop will do." It will not be a commercial success, but I think even if they are still building their shop brick by brick, layer by layer many years later, they should still be happy."

……

The creaking sounds upstairs gradually faded away and disappeared.

The flashlight in Arthur's hand was extinguished at some point, leaving only the fluorescent light cluster on the tip of the stick emitting a faint light. Molly's eyes reflected a little light, and the couple just stood at the door of the utility room. Until the moon hangs from the treetops in front of the window.

Molly suddenly took steps to walk downstairs, which was obviously not the direction back to the bedroom.

"Molly?" Arthur looked at his wife in shock, "Where are you going so late?"

"Go and pack up the garbage that will be thrown away tomorrow." Molly's voice slowly came over, "I packed those weird things in a separate bag. They shouldn't be dirty... I can do it even if they are dirty. Wash it clean."

"Wait for me, Molly..."

Arthur shook the flashlight in his hand, and the bulb only flickered, and the weak light quickly went out and never came back. He muttered depressedly, "The battery is broken again. Really, why didn't I ask Loren how to repair these batteries just now..."

While flicking the unlit flashlight, he bent downstairs to chase Molly.

Fortunately, Molly has always been in the habit of sorting garbage. The bag of fake magic wands, Fat Tongue Toffee, and other messy things were well wrapped in paper bags and separated from the kitchen waste without any damage.

……

At the end of the corridor of Riddle House on the hill outside Little Hangleton Village, in a small room on the second floor that had been closed for a long time, the slightly opened door was filled with faint firelight, casting an orange-yellow beam on the dark floor. light and shadow.

With the help of the faint firelight, Frank Bryce, the old gardener who had worked at Riddle House for decades, could clearly see the furniture covered in white cloth, the wooden stairs covered with heavy dust, and the ivy creeping in from the corner.

The winding and twisted vines made the place look like a cold cave inhabited by poisonous snakes. The air was filled with a faint smell of mold and rot. The room was dark and deep, and along with the faint firelight, there was a cold and hoarse voice.

"We need to get the Dementor quickly. We don't have a suitable body, and the road here is wearing me out."

Frank put down his crutches and carefully moved his stiff legs and feet. The thick dust and unfamiliar military skills prevented him from making any footsteps. He leaned sideways and approached the door, carefully peering through the narrow gap.

An unkempt woman stood next to the chair, her posture humble and slightly bowed, her expression solemn.

"But...Master, we clearly have a better choice. You can be truly resurrected at any time, right?"

The woman said to the chair, "If we use another wizard, whether male or female, the matter can be solved quickly! Whether it's me or Fenrir Greyback and the guys, it only takes half a day. Bring you a suitable candidate."

"Of course I can use another wizard..." A cold voice came from the chair, "You don't understand at all, Bellatrix, that boy has unique magic power... I have my own reasons for using him. I’ve been waiting for this for thirteen years, and a few more months won’t hurt.”

"In this case... Master, please allow me to say something." The woman said sincerely, "We must act as soon as possible. Hogwarts is about to start school, and the boy will soon return to the castle and be protected by the Ministry of Magic and Dumbledore. Liduo is closely guarded."

"Don't worry, don't worry, the most important thing right now is to find a suitable body for me..." The cold voice slowed down, "And now, we have guests."

The strange-looking woman looked toward the door and caught his eye, and Frank was startled.

"Invite him in, Bellatrix, and be polite."