The days at Hogwarts

"Really? I'll remember that. I'll freeze some delicious fruits and share them with you!" Hannah skipped away.

After saying goodbye to Hannah, Loren shook his fingers and tickled the pear on the image, then entered the kitchen listening to the pear's giggles.

In addition to preparing today's lunch and dinner as usual, the house elves in the kitchen are also making some preparations for the Christmas dinner.

You can't imagine such a scene: 100 slaughtered turkeys are bathing each other in a huge wooden barrel. Their bath water is various marinated sauces. The turkeys smear the sauce on every part of their bodies to ensure that the finished roasted product is tasty.

Wheat and several other house-elves whose names were unknown stood by and waved their fingers to direct them. It looked a bit like a concert, with the elves acting as conductors.

Loren found Xiaomai and asked for some more pears.

"Of course! It's Xiaomai's honor!" Xiaomai raised his eyebrows, and he looked very happy that Loren liked the pears last time.

Loren couldn't get used to this flattering tone and got goose bumps all over his body.

Xiaomai quickly brought Loren a basket full of pears. The pears were crowded together, filling the entire basket, and a few of the pears outside looked like they would be squeezed out of the basket at any time.

Loren carried the fruit basket carefully, afraid that the pears would fall out of it. He took out a box of chocolate frogs from his pocket and said, "It's not a valuable thing. Just consider it as a Christmas present for you."

It's just like when you see kids, water delivery workers, or takeout delivery men during festivals, you give them a tip or a compliment. There's no hidden meaning, it's just for good luck.

Xiaomai stared at the candy blankly, tears welling up in her eyes, and murmured, "A Christmas gift. Mr. Morgan gave it to Xiaomai as a Christmas gift."

"Oh my God, Xiaomai has a Christmas present!" the elf screamed.

The house-elf was running around the kitchen like a madman, holding a Chocolate Frog in his hand and shouting something incomprehensible.

There were exclamations from the other elves, as if this was some big deal.

Loren was wondering whether he should slip away now. He knew that house-elves might have psychological problems, but he didn't expect them to be so serious.

Xiaomai ran a few laps and returned to Loren, looking at him straight in the eyes.

"Mr. Morgan, kind, great, I will always be loyal to you!"

"Even if you graduate from Hogwarts, as long as you are willing, Wheat will always be your servant."

Hiss, Loren took a deep breath. What a lie! He tricked a free laborer out of a piece of candy. How black-hearted must this capitalist Dumbledore be?

But he didn't have this idea. Any person in modern society would not be able to accept such a thing. He felt uncomfortable every time he came into contact with the elves. If he accepted it, he would probably have goose bumps in the future.

He quickly explained: "No, no, it's not worth anything."

Xiaomai stared at Loren stubbornly, "This is Xiaomai's promise. In Xiaomai's eyes, there is nothing more precious in the world than this."

This guy is so stubborn. Loren couldn't persuade him, so he ran away with the pears.

Next time I go to the kitchen to get food, I’ll have to ask other elves. No, next time I’ll just ask other little wizards to help me get things.

Chapter 72: The Fisherman's Christmas Vacation Begins

Just as Loren was placing the pears outside the window, Ron came back with his head lowered, holding the chessboard and two chess pieces.

"Ugh."

Ron sighed loudly, trying to get Loren's attention. He tilted his head forward and glanced to the side, quietly observing Loren's reaction.

Loren ignored him; he was thinking about how to improve the frozen pears.

There were a total of 18 pears in the basket this time. Loren divided them into 3 groups, 6 in each group. One group was frozen and left alone. The other two groups were frozen once a day, taken out to thaw, and put back to freeze again after thawing. Every time they were thawed, he would eat one to try.

"Ah~" Ron continued to try, this time his sigh was longer and louder.

"Is Harry gone?"

Loren was afraid that if he sighed any more, his lungs would run out and he might faint. As he spoke, he piled up snow on the platform outside the window to create a grid and divide the area.

Seeing that Loren finally noticed him, Ron said quickly, "Yes, he ran very fast. He couldn't wait to spend Christmas with his godfather. If you ask me, there's nothing wrong with spending Christmas at school."

"Is there a possibility, I mean possibility, that he really doesn't want to play chess with you anymore?"

Loren closed the window, walked to the soft cloth chair in front of the fireplace and sat down. He wiped his hands that were wet by the snow with a handkerchief and stretched out his hands to warm the fire. His hands were now cold.

"What's wrong with wizard chess? It helps improve intelligence. Many great wizards loved playing wizard chess when they were young." Ron muttered.

"A childhood without wizard chess is incomplete."

"I can guarantee that I won't checkmate you in the first 50 steps."

"Let's play one round, just one round."

Ron was so bored that he didn't know where the twin brothers had gone.

Loren's hands warmed up, and he rubbed them left and right, looking at Ron helplessly, "Let's play another game of chess."

"I'm fine with anything, just tell me." Ron changed his weak look and became excited.

Loren took out his wand and pointed it at the table next to him. A neatly arranged grid appeared on the wooden table, consisting of 15 horizontal lines and 15 vertical lines.

The two books on the table opened up by themselves, and the papers inside kept flipping, as if they were being blown by a strong wind and were about to fall out of the covers, but there was no wind in the lounge.

The pages of the book quickly broke free from the hard cover, curled up together, and turned into black and white, round, flat-bottomed jade chess pieces, exactly what Loren had imagined.

The remaining bare hard cover page was turned into a box for the chess pieces, and a high-end Go game was created.

Ron stared at the scene in amazement and exclaimed, "Oh, I'd say your Transfiguration is much better than Hermione's!"

Loren spent some time explaining the rules of Gobang to Ron, the kind that did not have any forbidden moves.

With such simple and interesting rules and round chess pieces, Ron was happy to try this chess game he had never heard of before.

The two officially began to "play chess". Loren wanted to give Ron some sweetness so as not to dampen his enthusiasm, so he pestered him to play wizard chess again.

But soon, he himself was hit.

“So it can be done this way!”

After experiencing classic defeats such as double three and three four, Ron became excited and enthusiastic. He seemed to be addicted to this simple game of Gobang.

Loren thought he could bully Ron for a long time, at least during the one-week novice period.

Things did not develop as he expected. Ron was really good at playing chess. He would not suffer the same loss as before. He could also quickly absorb Loren's previous routine and use it on Loren.

Wow, it turns out that all your talents are focused on this.

Loren failed to bully the weak opponent, and was even about to lose. He managed to deal with a few rounds, and then hurriedly ended the battle with the excuse that it was time for dinner.

But Ron still couldn't forget it. Even though he was defeated repeatedly, he was still passionate about this novel way of playing.

When playing wizard chess with others, the outcome is basically no suspense, and one has to take into account the opponent's emotions and not kill him. In comparison, this kind of Gobang where he will lose is more fascinating to him.

"Let's go to the dining table and continue."

"You go with the roast turkey."

At the dinner table, Loren was dealing with the chicken leg in front of him while checking the situation on the tables of other colleges. He noticed that many people from the four colleges stayed to celebrate the festival.

The Slytherins had the least number of people left. Loren took a look and saw that most of them were half-blood wizards, while the pure-blood wizards had basically all gone home.

Loren tore off a large piece of meat with his teeth and chewed it, enjoying the wonderful feeling of the gravy and salty flavor swirling in his mouth.

Ron leaned over and asked, "Want to play chess after dinner?"

Loren turned his head away, ignored the possessed man, and continued to finish his food.

Ron went around to the other side and said, "I have nothing to do anyway, let's play a few games."

Loren was chewing the bones in his mouth, making a crunching sound, and ignored Ron.

It's impossible to play chess. You can only play one or two games occasionally to maintain your status and give yourself experience. It would be very embarrassing if you were defeated by accident.

Ron got no feedback, so he turned around and walked towards the twins, "George, I just learned a new game..."

Evening, Gryffindor common room.

Thanks to most students going home, the common room was much emptier than usual, allowing them to take up good seats around the fire and enjoy the more comfortable soft cloth chairs with armrests.

The twin brothers brought out a lot of food from the kitchen, all of which could be directly stabbed with a fork and put into the mouth, such as bread, mushrooms, fruit pieces, and cut meat. If it was cold, they would heat it on the fireplace.

Loren stared at the roaring fire in fascination. This fire looked very suitable for barbecue. He must find an opportunity to try it sometime in the future.

At this moment, they were sitting there, enjoying the food and chatting.

Fred told some interesting stories about the professors, and George lost more than he won at Gobang to Ron.

George was content to play only wizard chess, but they had been mocked even more ruthlessly by Ron.

The twins severely criticized their parents for their favoritism. Christmas would rather go to their brother's side, which made them homeless.

They talked about Dumbledore's lady's hat, Professor McGonagall's tabby stripes as a cat, and the twins said they would do things differently in the future, and they would let the entire wizarding world know their names.

Speaking of Professor Quirrell, the twins said they had had a good opportunity to see what the back of his head really looked like.

They exchanged experiences of night walks, telling which floors Filch always patrolled, and which books in the restricted section were the most exciting.

"If Professor McGonagall were here, she would turn us all into fat pigs!" said George.

"Maybe turkey, so there will be a few extra roast turkeys for the Christmas party." Fred rarely disagreed with George.

Everyone laughed together, and the laughter roared along with the fire.

The party lasted until late at night, and Ron was rejected by everyone. No one wanted to play chess with him anymore.

……

The next day Loren got up early because he had important things to do.

Loren opened his eyes and sat up to see Ron, fully dressed, sitting cross-legged on his bed, playing chess with himself.

The chess pieces fell on the cotton sheets without making any sound. The 15-line chessboard was almost full, and it looked like the game had been going on for a long time.

He turned the pattern on the bed sheet into a chessboard. I don't know what the chess pieces were made of, they looked all different sizes, all shapes and sizes, and the colors could only be roughly divided into dark and light colors.

Loren stared at the chess pieces carefully for a while. Ron had an idea. The chess pieces transformed from Bibi's every-flavor beans could be eaten while playing.

Maybe you could consider teaching him how to play Go, where each time you lift a piece, you capture a piece, and whoever eats it first wins.

Ron was happy to see Loren get up, and he held out the chess pieces and invited Loren, "Want to play a game?"

"No, no." Loren shook his head quickly. This child has become possessed.

Loren changed out of his pajamas and took out another item from the bottom of the box, the blanket that Nico had sold him along with the book. It was windproof and warm, and he wouldn't feel cold even if he spent the night in the snowy mountains. It was perfect for what he was going to do today.

Ignoring Ron's pestering along the way, the two went to the restaurant to have breakfast.

The decoration here is more gorgeous than yesterday. Some parts of the decorations have not been hung up yet, so it looks like it is not finished yet.

While eating, Loren looked at the main guest seat. There were only Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick. It seemed that the professors' holiday life was irregular.

Snape was not at the table of honor.

He might be sleeping in, Loren thought.

Dumbledore noticed Loren's gaze and winked at him mischievously.

It was so childish. Loren pretended not to see it, turned his head and glanced around, then returned to the plate in front of him.

Ron was still whispering in his ear, "Let's play chess, let's play chess."

Loren pressed his hand on the wand and squeezed it again and again. He made up his mind that if Ron's first words when he woke up tomorrow morning were still about playing chess, he would put him under a Stunning Spell and let him play chess to his heart's content in his dream.

I picked some carrots, bread and chicken legs on the dining table.

Loren put them into the food box that turned into a dinner plate, held the food box in one hand, and covered himself with a white fur blanket, then headed towards the Black Lake.

It has been almost two months since winter began. The fish at the bottom of the Black Lake have been hungry for a long time. It is a good time to catch big fish.

There are warm blankets and the ability to transform into various fishing rods at will.

The time, the place and the people are all right. I have everything in my hands. I will definitely reap a lot today.

Chapter 73: First Day in the Air Force, No Crime of War

The Black Lake was frozen solid, like a mirror.

It is said that there is a friendly giant squid living below, which will use its long tentacles to lift the little wizard ashore when he falls into the water.

There is also an entire mermaid tribe in the Black Lake. As a kind of intelligent humanoid magical creatures with a long heritage, the mermaids lead the aquatic animals under the lake.

Loren walked across the snow-covered lawn to the edge of Black Lake and looked at the lake with joy.

I used my feet to dig away the snow on the lake surface and kicked it hard twice, but there was no movement at all.

It’s okay. The ice is about 1 meter thick and there’s snow on it. We can definitely catch fish.