The days at Hogwarts

"We'll wash it later. We agreed that if we can beat Ron tonight, he will never play chess with us again."

"But I can't play wizard chess better than Ron," Loren said.

Ron raised his chin, looking very cocky, "I can beat you in Gobang."

When Loren first taught Ron how to play Gobang, he almost failed because he was just trying to cope with it. After being influenced by Go, Ron reviewed the original game and thought he had already surpassed Loren and was full of confidence.

So arrogant?

Loren looked at the other Weasleys, "Did you break his head during my absence?"

George thought about what he had experienced in the past few days and said, "I would like to smash his head."

Fred nodded aside, "But he really seems to be amazing."

After Loren taught Ron how to play Go, he has been playing it by himself these past few days. Ron does have a talent for Go, and he has made a lot of progress in both his calculation ability and layout.

Once he knows one thing, he knows a hundred things. When playing other games, Ron naturally brings in the thinking of Go, looking ahead to several steps before taking one step. He can also analyze the game from the overall situation, and a stalemate will open up another battlefield.

Sometimes, before the stalemate even started, Ron could foresee the stalemate and lay the groundwork in another place in advance.

The moves were so imaginative that the twins couldn't cope with them, so they pulled Percy in, which resulted in them losing even faster.

If Ron relied purely on talent to play chess before, now with the help of Loren, he seems to have found a way to explore a path that will take him further.

"Then let's play Gobang. I'll go take a shower first." Loren didn't refuse. He wanted to see if Ron was getting too cocky.

Loren washed up carefully, and if possible he would like to soak for a few hours. When he came out, Ron was playing Gobang with three people.

"Down here." Percy pointed out a spot.

"You're still a prefect."

"If you go there, you lose."

Although George and Fred had learned their lesson and no longer believed in slander, they were still defeated in the end.

Ron couldn't suppress the smile on his face, but pretended to be calm, "Let's change Loren."

Seeing this arrogant look, Loren was itching to give him a little shock.

The rules of Gobang itself are incomplete. Regular Gobang games usually have forbidden moves to put both players on the same starting line. Without forbidden moves, there are many sure-win openings.

For example, the Flower Moon Style. Loren once relied on this skill to conquer all levels of primary, middle and high school, and never met an opponent since he was a child. Now, it's time to teach this Loren a lesson.

Neither side thought much in the first few moves of the game, one attacked and the other blocked.

As more and more chess pieces appeared on the board, Ron's relaxed expression gradually disappeared.

As a result, Ron has never been able to take the initiative since the beginning of the game. The more pieces he makes, the clearer the situation becomes.

Finally, Ron couldn't hold it back any longer and the fight ended with Four-Three's Finger.

"Oh, that's it." Loren said nonchalantly, imitating Ron's indifferent attitude before.

Ron's face turned pale when he heard this.

The twins cheered, "Finally we don't have to play chess with Ron."

Ron ignored the cheers of several people, stared at the chessboard with wide eyes, and said in disbelief, "How is it possible?"

He recalled every move in his mind bit by bit, and gradually realized that Loren had a very clear layout from the beginning.

"Such an opening..."

Ron did not indulge in the disappointment of losing the game, his eyes became brighter and brighter, and his fingers kept dropping several chess pieces on the chessboard with the same opening as Loren's.

He played the opening moves over and over again, constantly deducing, and in just a short while Ron seemed to be able to come up with Hua Yue's pattern.

Loren's mind was no longer on the chessboard. He came back from the forest and took a shower, feeling his stomach was empty.

His first reaction was to go to the kitchen to find something to eat, but going to the kitchen would mean meeting Xiaomai. Loren felt uncomfortable when he thought of the last scene.

Watching the hilarious twins, Ron engrossed in the chessboard, the fire in the fireplace lit Loren's eyes.

"It's the last day of the year, let's do something special."

The twins stopped and looked at Loren expectantly:

"Want an exciting adventure?"

"How about a night out in the Forbidden Forest!"

Hearing this, Loren shook his head violently. I just started the engine and you guys stepped on the accelerator. If we talk about violating school rules, you two are the experts.

"How about a barbecue over the fire in the fireplace?"

George and Fred were a little disappointed, but they were also very interested in the barbecue and went to the kitchen to move things with ease.

Percy hesitated, but did not stop the twins.

Soon, all kinds of meat were brought into the lounge by the twins using a levitation spell. Normally, spells were not allowed in the corridor, since they were George and Fred.

The house elves cut the beef, mutton and pork into small pieces, and the little wizards used the elongated forks of Transfiguration to pick them up and put them in the fireplace to roast. Their barbecue skills were not very good, but the grease still gave off a tempting aroma under the smoke of the flames.

Ron burned the bread, but still insisted on eating it and said it was delicious.

The twins laughed so hard that they wanted to bake two more loaves of brown bread for Ron...

Their laughter turned into a strange tune, and the lyrics of their singing changed again and again, until they simply repeated "Happy New Year, Happy New Year".

Many Gryffindors who stayed in the castle to celebrate the festival also came out of their dormitories and joined in.

Such a banquet was far from being as rich as Christmas, without gorgeous decorations, and even the food was not as delicious. But on the last day of 1991, the fire in the fireplace of the Gryffindor common room burned in everyone's heart.

Many years later, they still remember this warm feeling.

The next morning while having breakfast, Lauren received a letter from Hermione.

[Mr. Morgan:

I hope everything is going well for you when you receive this letter, and Happy New Year!

I still can't understand why you forgot to write to me. Hanhan would appear at the window on time every morning. He is such a diligent postman. You probably don't know that Hanhan's favorite thing to eat is mice.

We all like Han Han. My father always tries to talk to owls. He thinks owls can talk. My mother tries to make Han Han hoot so that she can hear the owl's cry in Shakespeare's Macbeth, announcing the death of King Duncan. But I don't think Shakespeare wrote about a spectacled owl.

During the holidays, my family went to the Forest of Dean to camp. Hanhan seemed to like it very much. The fog was like a cloud, hiding the trees and the camp. When the campfire was lit, it was like the sun shining through the clouds. I really want you to see this scene, maybe it would be better to come in the summer, it's a bit too cold now.

……

How's Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays? Hopefully you won't get any jam on the common room seats.

Give my regards to Ron and look forward to hearing from you.

Hermione Granger

It was a very ordinary letter, with ordinary complaints about Loren's behavior, some interesting things happening at home, and an ordinary greeting at the end.

Loren noticed something extraordinary from these ordinary things.

Dear Hermione,

I’m glad to see you in person. Happy New Year.

When I received the letter, I fed Hanhan the cheese and bread I was eating, and he seemed to like it very much.

The Christmas feast at Hogwarts was very sumptuous, with hundreds of roast turkeys, and the Christmas trees you saw when you left were all spurting flames, with candles hanging on the trees like stars...

Dumbledore and I went to the forests of Albania, where we saw a brilliant light. I'll tell you more about it when you come back...

I think you might want to say hello to Lou Williams more, but don't worry, everything is fine.

Best regards

Loren Morgan

After writing the letter to Hermione, Loren also wrote a letter to Grandpa Bates, using the Hogwarts owl.

I greeted Grandpa Bates about his New Year and where his journey was going. Finally, I asked if I could have his roast lamb when I go back for the summer vacation.

After several days, Loren walked in Hogwarts Castle again, enjoying the atmosphere here.

While walking on the road, I received frozen fruits from the Hufflepuff wizards one after another, including various frozen apples, frozen yellow peaches...

Loren felt that if he ate all these frozen fruits by himself, he would probably be scolded by Madam Pomfrey in the school infirmary. In order to have a pleasant holiday experience, he shared these things with a few friends he knew well.

In the lounge, Ron had three chessboards in front of him, one for wizard chess, one for Gobang, and one for Go. He was immersed in his own world.

Loren placed the fruit next to him and sighed.

Maybe it's because he was too bored when Harry was away, and Ron would come out of the chessboard when Harry came back.

At the same time, they hope that Harry's return to school will promote Nagini's redemption and allow him to heal Grandpa Bates as soon as possible.

Chapter 83 The First Day of the New Year

A hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, January 1992, 1.

A warm and wet touch on his face woke Rubeus Hagrid from his sleep. He opened his eyes and saw a big black dog looking at him expectantly.

"Well, okay Yaya, I'll go make you something to eat."

He put his hound down on the floor, took his moleskin coat from the bedside, and put it on.

He looked out the window. The snow reflected the sunlight through the window and onto the wooden roof, making it bright.

The giant stretched every bone in his body with force, feeling the soreness and swelling in his muscles.

"Ah~" Rubeus Hagrid cried out in relief.

His body was so big that just by stretching he almost filled the entire space of the cabin.

He opened the door and the cold wind that rushed in made his neck shiver.

I picked up a large bundle of firewood from the pile. There was no need to light a new fire as there was still some unburned firewood in the stove from last night. The flames gradually licked and wrapped around the firewood, and the wooden house became warm again.

Throw a pile of chopped frozen meat into the pot, add some salt, and soon the aroma of broth will spread.

Yaya's saliva flowed on the ground as he jumped around in joy.

A pot of broth was divided into two portions. One portion was poured into Yaya's food bowl. Watching it hurriedly bite out a piece of meat and bone, it barked because of the burn. Hagrid laughed loudly.

Rubeus Hagrid ate the hot rock cake baked by the stove with his broth. The giant's teeth easily bit through the dry and hard cake, making a crisp sound.

After breakfast, I took Yaya for a walk in the forest.

The inspection process was nothing more than repetitive walking, following the snowy path he had previously stepped on, deepening the footprints on the road.

In winter, most of the animals in the forest stayed in their homes, waiting for the arrival of spring. He did not meet any friends to say hello to.

Rubeus Hagrid returned to the front of the cabin and sat down, looking at the clouds in the sky, his eyes slightly narrowed.

The giant's mind was wandering aimlessly. If the clouds in the sky lost their magic, they would fall down and become snow. He almost lost his magic once, but fortunately Dumbledore was there.

Harry should have a great time, that flying motorcycle is great to ride.

Rubeus Hagrid actually has a lot of things to do, such as picking some fruits that are only available in winter in the forest, or preparing firewood for next winter because there is enough firewood this year.

He could walk around the castle and chat with professors. Even though he didn't understand what the professors were saying most of the time, he could still tell them some interesting stories about animals in the forest to amuse them.

The professors at Hogwarts are very patient, but funny things become less funny when they are told too many times.

He watched the dim sun climb from the second branch of the pine tree next to the cabin to the top of the pine tree, and Rubeus Hagrid decided to do something.

"Come on, Fang, let's go outside the forest. Those two Weasley brats might try to break into the Forbidden Forest, so we have to be careful." The giant's rough and powerful voice echoed in the woods.

"Woof woof woof!" Fang circled around Rubeus Hagrid's trouser legs.

His dog is just as energetic as he is.

Yaya suddenly stopped spinning and shouted outside.

"Hagrid! Hagrid!" came the voice of the Weasley brat.

Hagrid looked over and saw Harry's two friends, the Weasley twins, and a little Hufflepuff wizard, the five of them wading through the snow towards the cottage.

His mouth grinned unconsciously, and he thought to himself, I knew it, they really wanted to break in, they are two bad guys.

Hagrid didn't go over to meet him. Instead, he walked briskly back to the cabin, rekindled the fire, and baked a few rock cakes.

When they went out again, the giant's voice was filled with joy: "Why are you here?"

"Happy New Year Hagrid, we're here to play with you!"

"Let me introduce you to a new friend, this is Rolf Scamander."