The days at Hogwarts

Untended lavender bushes are not pure. The continuous purple is mixed with scattered variegated wild flowers, which are full of vitality in the late summer and early autumn.

Loren stopped, took out his outdated camera, and pointed the lens at the flowers.

After pondering for a moment, Loren adjusted the direction slightly, brought the beautiful girl into the frame, adjusted the focus, and shouted softly: "Hermione?"

The little witch turned around leisurely, tilted her head, her smart eyes seemed to be speaking:

"what?"

……

The clearing in front of Hagrid's hut.

Hagrid announced to the little wizards with a cheerful face: "I can't wait to share some good news with you!"

Looking at the several large wooden boxes placed nearby and listening to the constant crackling and explosion sounds inside the wooden boxes, Loren and others felt an ominous premonition in their hearts.

The other little wizards didn't react at all. They knew without guessing that there was still a snail in the wooden box.

Oh, it's a bigger squid.

If the snail had gone through metamorphosis, things might be different inside.

Hagrid winked at Loren and others: "After Principal Dumbledore's instructions, I have applied to the Ministry of Magic for an exclusive training project for the Contest. That's right! It's a Blast-Ended Skrewt!"

"After approval from multiple departments of the Ministry of Magic, these snails will be used in the level layout of the tournament. My dear, please concentrate on studying these little guys..."

Harry and Ron opened their mouths slightly, their expressions dull.

I can't understand it at all. Is Dumbledore so stupid that he would allow Hagrid to conduct such an experiment?

Loren glanced at Hermione and said quietly: "It seems that Hagrid has seriously considered your suggestion. He has studied the laws and regulations related to magical animals..."

Hermione lowered her head silently.

This was not the way she wanted to learn.

Although no one has figured out what they like to eat, Hagrid seems to have determined some of the recipes, and the little monsters grow very quickly. Compared with the six-inch body length of the previous week, the size of the snails has doubled in just one week. The segmentation of the maggot-like body is more obvious, and the white-gray and sticky skin surface shows signs of hardening into a shell. .

The stench of rotten fish and shrimps became more intense. Whenever sparks were ejected from the tail of a snail, the little wizard who was closer would feel slightly dizzy due to suffocation and lack of oxygen.

The little wizards howled.

Chapter 449 Magic and Bloodline

The green grass grows wildly, and the wind blowing through the wilderness already has the smell of autumn.

The little wizards were scattered on the grass, gathering in groups of twos and threes, squatting or sitting, staring boredly at the squirming little monsters. This is the content of their lesson, taking the snails for a walk and seeing if there is anything on the grass that they are willing to eat.

Bang!

The vaguely bluish white gunpowder smoke dispersed, and the pungent fishy smell spread. Several young wizards who were close to them hurriedly stood up and took several steps back. They waited until the smell was almost gone before gathering around again.

Loren squatted on the ground, holding a head soaking spell on his neck, and poked the soft little thing in front of him with a small wooden stick with great interest.

The bomb-tailed snail squirmed slowly, and the bulges on its body expanded and contracted one by one to move its body.

Loren poked the middle part of the snail's body, and it sunk in immediately. It was so soft that it seemed like there were no muscles or bones inside, and it was just fluid wrapped in a piece of insect skin.

Blast-tailed snails don't have a single bone in their bodies and rely on crawling to crawl. They should probably be classified as molluscs, but there seem to be signs of hardened shells on their backs. Maybe they will be arthropods in the future?

Loren glanced back. Professor Granger in the distance was still earnestly advising Hagrid. Hagrid, who was about three meters tall, had a humble posture, and Hermione, who was thin and slim, showed the majesty of the professor.

"..."

Poor Hagrid.

He lowered his head again and continued to observe this brand new creature.

Until the bell rang for the end of get out of class, the little wizards returned the squids to Hagrid one after another. Most of them were already half dead.

They have undergone some experiments with relatively extreme conditions, such as to see how many times the snail can spray at most, whether the snail can eat rocks, and how fast the snail can endure the rotation speed.

What bad intentions can the little wizards have? They just want to observe the project object carefully.

Hermione looked at the densely packed snails in the wooden box and felt fuzzy in her heart. She advised: "Hagrid, this won't work. Look at their size. In a few months, one of them can grow alone." It’s bigger than a wooden box, and it can blow up your wooden house casually.”

Hagrid picked up the box and walked towards the wooden house with a kind smile on his face: "No, when they become more sensible, I will teach them well... Aragog was like this when he was a child, with cobwebs everywhere. , as you will see later, they will be very well-behaved."

Hermione looked extremely distressed, while Harry and Ron remained silent and acted very calmly.

They were very open-minded. Dumbledore had approved it anyway, so why did they have any reason to object?

Loren followed beside him, and the bubble spell on his head had dissipated: "Hagrid, why can a manticore hybridize with a fire crab and still produce offspring smoothly?"

"Oh, Loren, actually I didn't expect that at first." Hagrid patted the box, "Their parents don't look like they can get along well, but who would have thought... probably their parents At that time, my mother felt that she should find a partner for herself, and then she fell in love with the Fire Crabs I placed next to her. Things like love are so unreasonable, but both parties are willing to do so, and I am happy to fulfill them. "

"You are in love with me?" Hermione couldn't help but complain, "You mean you are in love with me. Almost all the fire crabs that were bred were eaten. Is this love?"

"Well..." Hagrid said hesitantly, "There is such a thing in the forest. Mrs. Mantis will always eat Mr. Mantis. This is all to give birth to the next generation to inherit life."

"You are hopeless, Hagrid." Hermione felt very tired.

Following Hagrid into the cabin, they watched Hagrid light up the fire and felt the gradually increasing temperature and firelight. The snails in the box became excited and squirmed incessantly.

"Actually, I'm still more concerned about the issue of the union of different species of magical animals..."

Loren pulled up a stool and sat down, continuing the topic: "Completely different types of magical animals can produce offspring, and can stably inherit the magic power of their parents... This is completely different from us humans, not to mention wizards and Muggles. Combined, even wizards and wizards will produce squibs.”

Harry nodded thoughtfully: "My mother is a wizard, but Aunt Petunia is not a wizard... Colin's parents are both Muggles, but Colin and Denis are both wizards."

Thinking of Harry's two fans, Loren paused for a moment before continuing: "Did you notice? Magical animals don't have to worry about the inheritance of magic power at all."

"It sounds like a relationship between genetics and mutation..."

Hermione's parents were both Muggles, and they also felt about this kind of thing. By analogy, Hermione quickly thought of other phenomena: "Parents without magic may give birth to children with magic, but ordinary animals without magic will never No magical beasts will be born...

"The descendants of magical animals will basically inherit magic power. Not only the blood gestation, but also the hatching method of oviparous animals will have an impact, causing the magic power of the offspring to mutate."

Ron couldn't understand what they were talking about, parent-child, genetic mutation. His face wrinkled up, full of confusion: "It sounds like magical animals are closer to magic."

Hagrid reached behind his waist and scratched it. He felt that as a professor of Care of Magical Creatures, he could not quite understand what they were talking about: "Magical animals may not completely inherit their parents' magic power. If magical animals are combined with ordinary animals, The magic power of the remaining descendants will be weakened, and the magic power will be diluted like blood. If they reproduce for a few more generations, there will be no magic power left...

"The same is true for Crookshanks and Fang. They have the blood of magical animals, but they are just smarter than ordinary animals and can no longer use magic."

"It sounds very involved..." Harry was vaguely aware of the importance of this topic.

"Then it will be useful to study the principle of the relationship between magic power and bloodline." Loren waved his hand, "Anyway, it is a very troublesome matter. We may not be able to understand it when we are too old to move."

"I see……"

Harry and Ron suddenly felt that this matter had little relevance to them, at least until they were too old to move.

Hagrid's head was dizzy, but he didn't want the students to think that he couldn't understand. He was silent for a while and said, "It's lunch time. Do you want to eat here? I've prepared rock biscuits."

"No, no, no..."

The little wizards quickly said that they had classes in the afternoon and would not waste time here. After Hermione gave Hagrid a lot of fire prevention precautions, the group left in a panic.

Chapter 450 Second Week

Evening, auditorium.

The last class in the afternoon had just ended, and there was still some time before dinner. Some little wizards were sitting on the long table chatting, and some took time to do some homework.

Harry and Ron were making up their fortunes for the next few weeks.

"Next Monday, I'm probably going to have a cough because Mars and Jupiter are in unlucky alignment."

Loren was silent for a moment, and then said earnestly: "Ron, although there are no math classes at Hogwarts, you can't do without basic common sense. You must know that no matter when, two planets can be connected in a line."

"Whatever, Professor Trelawney won't care." Ron waved his hand, "You know her, she likes to watch the bad things we make up more than planetary trajectories."

Harry couldn't agree more: "That's right...next Monday I'll be at risk of...well, getting burned."

"Yeah, we're going to see Blast-Ended Skrewts again on Monday, so you're at risk." Ron muttered, "Well, on Tuesday, Mercury is moving away from the sun, and I'll... lose my money."

"This is good. You can say that you lost money in a bet... Come and see me. Venus is in the zodiac... Will I fall down the stairs?" Harry said and paused, "This has been used before. ”

"How about you being stabbed in the back by someone you thought was your friend?"

"On Wednesday, I got into a fight and lost."

"..."

The tragedy around the Gryffindor table is getting more and more intense. Young wizards who have not taken Divination classes have no idea that so many unfortunate things can happen in school.

next Monday?

Next Monday he's going to have a big meal, a top meal!

Loren looked towards the door of the auditorium, took out the goblin silver coin, and sent a message to Hermione.

Loren: Why haven't you arrived at the auditorium yet? Did the professor catch you sleeping in class and stay after class to criticize education, huh?

Hermione didn't reply.

Fifteen minutes later.

Hermione rushed to the auditorium. She had just finished her discussion with Professor Barbling and was in a daze. Everything she saw now looked like ancient runes.

But seeing her plate piled with lamb chops, grilled chicken legs, cod, and mushroom slices... the crooked runes in Hermione's head drifted away, and she turned to look at Loren: "It's just because I didn't reply to you. News, are you going to retaliate against me like this?”

"How could you think that?" Loren said with a serious face, "I was worried that you would not be able to make it in time for dinner, so I helped you pick up the meal."

"..."

Hermione rolled her eyes, picked up the knife and fork expressionlessly and began to eat the mutton chops, her movements fierce and somewhat cruel.

But Loren didn't care at all. When Hermione cut up a piece of mutton, he stuck a fork into his mouth and said incoherently while chewing: "Harry and Ron were just making up their fortunes for the next few weeks. Ha, so stupid... I plan to take some time to go to the infirmary and ask Madam Pomfrey to borrow a medical record book, which records all kinds of unlucky things."

"..."

He would go to the infirmary later and reveal his conspiracy to Madam Pomfrey so that he could not borrow the case book.

Hermione looked up and caught a glimpse of his proud smile, noticing the teeth hidden deep inside.

Well, the wisdom teeth have started to erupt, so let Madam Pomfrey check them and remove them if they are crooked.

Hermione silently cut the mutton chops, inserted a piece into her mouth, the mutton was completely cooked, the outer layer was very fibrous, but the inner part was very tender, and when she took a bite, the salty gravy overflowed. , also has a slight sweetness, and the spice flavor is a bit abrupt.

It's delicious, no worse than any Muggle fine dining restaurant.

But the texture is not her favorite, and neither is the taste.

After eating too much of Loren's food, her taste has changed along with him. Hermione now also likes to eat grilled meat that is a little burnt, even crispy and thin-shelled. The spices should be heavier, preferably with a spicy taste. .

The plate seemed to be piled high, but with this person chattering next to me and grabbing pieces of meat from time to time, my appetite was surprisingly good. I ate everything in half an hour without wasting any food.

Hermione felt that her belly was a little bloated, and she was silent for a moment before she said, "I have talked about magic with Professor Barbling."

"Oh?"

"Professor Babbling said that the magic of magical animals is different from that of wizards. Their magic has only one effect, while wizards can use a variety of magic."

"Principal Dumbledore also said something similar." Loren enjoyed the chocolate mousse for dessert and waved his hand casually, "Someone has done this kind of thing involving blood and magic thousands of years ago. Let's not get too carried away. Great expectations.”

"Oh."

Hermione nodded belatedly.

……

Night, edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Rolf followed Luna, tiptoeing through the grass on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Every time Rolf walked a certain distance, he would look back in the direction of the castle.

I want to go back in time, but I also want to follow and go deeper.

Rolf said tangledly: "Luna, why don't we go see the unicorns again during the day..."

"No, I made an appointment with Fred. We will meet under the 17th beech tree on the path tonight. We can't break the appointment." Luna calmly pushed aside the weeds, her voice becoming more ethereal in the quiet moonlight of the forest. .

Fred is Luna's unicorn friend. I heard that he is still an underage unicorn. In the words of centaurs, he is still a pony. Of course, centaurs call all underage creatures ponies. foal.

Rolf subconsciously asked: "The 17th beech tree?"

"Yes, there are a total of 41 beech trees from the intersection to the fork. I counted them from this side, and Fred counted them from that side. We counted them five times, and there is absolutely no mistake."

Luna hummed happily: "We are going to start naming them from next month. How about naming them after stars. I plan to call the tallest tree the morning star."

On the September night, there was already a thin layer of fog at the edge of the forest, which made it a bit cold. But listening to the girl's carefree voice, all the worries in Rolf's heart seemed to dissipate.

"How about Polaris?"