days at Hogwarts

The diligent elves are busy in the kitchen stove. The kitchen is fully preparing for the year-end dinner. Rich aroma fills the whole room. The quietly burning flame licks the bottom of the pot, making a distinct gurgling boiling sound. Broth is being boiled inside.

A house-elf stood nearby, wearing a neat little skirt. Her thin hands gripped a soup spoon that was taller than she was, stirring it unsteadily, occasionally waving her fingers to adjust the flame at the bottom of the pot to ensure that the soup remained at the right temperature.

Compared to when she first came to Hogwarts two years ago, Winky's mental state has recovered a lot. She stared at the soup pot with wide eyes and a focused expression. Only when she was blinking constantly because of the steam, it seemed a bit like the days when she had been in tears.

"Giggle..."

Li Zi's shrill laughter was heard and the wooden door of the kitchen opened.

The house-elves stopped what they were doing and turned to look.

A young wizard with black hair and black eyes walked into the kitchen. He was wearing a standard wizard robe embroidered with the Gryffindor emblem. He was tall and slender, and should be a senior student. His eyes were smart and deep, and they glowed faintly in the dim kitchen.

"Mr. Morgan?"

Shanshan, who was standing next to the soup pot, tilted his head.

Loren's eyes passed over the elf and glanced at the boiling soup pot. When the water was boiling, hot liquid would splash out and emit white steam. He couldn't help but frowned slightly: "Why don't you use magic to stir it? It will easily burn you, right?"

"Shanshan likes to stir it this way, and Shanshan is very careful so she won't get burned."

The house elf, Winky, responded in a low voice, hung the soup ladle on the rack next to him, jumped off the boiler, and trotted over to greet him: "Mr. Morgan is here to look for Xiaomai, right? He was on duty in the kitchen last night and is resting now. Do you need me to call him?"

"Where's Dobby?"

"Dobby is slacking off."

Loren was immediately amused, and a smile appeared on his face. He asked curiously, "Why is it that when Xiaomai is not working, he is resting, and when Dobby is not working, he is being lazy?"

"Because Dobby is turning evil."

"Didn't you think he was a bad guy before?"

"It's worse now."

Winky's face tightened and he said seriously, "He listened to what Xiaomai said about those books, believed the evil Muggles' instigation, and went to Headmaster Dumbledore to ask him to work only eight hours a day."

"Dumbledore agreed?"

"accepted."

"What a bad guy."

"That's right..." Winky nodded continuously, looking up at him with sparkling eyes, strongly condemning him. "It's already too much for us to ask for a salary, and he's not willing to work wholeheartedly. This behavior is a betrayal of Mr. Dumbledore and a betrayal of Hogwarts!"

"What I mean is that Dobby only fought for an eight-hour workday for himself, and Xiaomai had no objection to this. Don't they know that if the problem is not solved from the root system, a few elves in the group will be given preferential treatment, and the extra work will only be distributed to other elves?"

"..."

Shanshan had a dazed expression on her face and looked up at him stupidly.

That's not what she meant.

"I know, Mr. Morgan."

A slightly hurried voice sounded nearby.

Loren turned his head and saw Xiaomai coming over at some point, with his brows knitted together, anxiously defending himself.

"I know this approach has its drawbacks. At that time, Dobby listened to me explaining the evolution of labor relations in Muggle society and thought that this was normal treatment for humans, so he went to the headmaster to raise the issue. Mr. Dumbledore did not simply agree to it directly, but specifically consulted me and asked me if I had any suitable reform ideas..."

Seeing that he did not interrupt her narration, Xiaomai's anxiety gradually calmed down, and she spoke slower. While sorting out her thoughts, she recounted the original situation:

"But I still don't know what to do. The Muggle methods can't be directly applied to elves, and the other elves don't have much resistance. Although they despise Dobby's behavior, they are willing to do more work and even take pride in it."

Loren smiled and didn't comment too much: "Don't be so cautious. Dumbledore won't use his slave master tricks on you. Professor McGonagall, who will take over, is also a gentle person. You don't have to worry about being fired and expelled from the school. Since there are no unbearable consequences, you should throw away the burden and stride forward. If you are unsure, ask Professor Bubbage. If you have any ideas, just try them out."

"I...I know."

"In the future, there will be fewer constraints and restrictions, and you will have more room to develop. Your companions generally have wrong ideas, which we call ignorance. Don't be annoyed or hate them because of this. Explain what you are going to do clearly. If they don't understand, explain it repeatedly. Get to know their personalities, take them with you, and guide them to do it. They hated Hermione before, but now I see a few elves are wearing the gloves given by Hermione..."

Loren continued to grumble for a few more words, then came to his senses and found that Shanshan had gone back to watch the fire, obviously not accepting their point of view.

He just found it funny and turned to look at Xiaomai: "I came here specially to say goodbye to you. Hermione and I are about to graduate and will leave the school after the year-end dinner."

"Mr. Morgan..."

Xiaomai was a little stunned, looking up at him, lost in thought.

Having known Mr. Morgan for several years, Xiaomai knew his character to some extent. He knew that the master he had chosen would not accept a house-elf servant. After reading so many books and watching so many videos, his ideas and thoughts were more or less affected, and he could no longer be a slave as firmly as he was a few years ago.

"What's that expression? We are just graduating, not parting forever."

Loren acted as if he was disgusted: "If you have time off during the summer vacation, you can come to my house as a guest. At least Grandpa Bates is very welcome. If my plan goes well, I may need your help in the future... Hey, are you listening to me?"

So Xiaomai showed a bright smile on her face and nodded heavily: "Yes!"

……

Leaving the kitchen and walking deeper into the corridor, there is an aisle with candles lit during the day, but it does not illuminate the surroundings, but instead makes the underground corridor even darker.

It was a kind of slender and strange magic candle. When the wax burned, it flashed a faint blue and black light, and it felt slightly cool when it shone on the living people. It seemed eerie, and the temperature got lower the further one went inside. In the corners of the aisles or in the invisible shadows, there seemed to be tiny voices whispering and discussing.

"Almost...Sir Nicholas Porpington?"

Loren's slightly halting voice echoed in the room.

"Oh! Who called me?"

A rougher voice sounded, and a head suddenly dropped from the ceiling. It was connected to translucent illusory muscles, tender red and bloody. The almost headless Nick slowly floated out:

"Oh, Loren, my dear friend, you came to see me at this time. Are you here to enjoy my new play?"

"Uh, Nick—"

"I really can't help you. I know you can't wait, but my dear friends, the first impression of a play is best left on the stage. Reading the script in advance will destroy the mystery."

Nick kept on talking, and if it wasn't for the smile that he couldn't suppress, others might think he was distressed about it: "You don't have to wait too long, it's Halloween Eve, just take a nap and it will be here."

"Nick, I came to say goodbye to you."

"What?" Nearly Headless Nick paused.

Loren looked at his head seriously and said in a gentle voice, "Nick, we are graduating and we will not be going back to school after the summer vacation."

“Oh, I graduated.”

Nick repeated softly, floating upright in the air, with a strange expression on his face, as if he was sad, as if he was sorrowful: "Then you can't watch my play next Halloween, or Christmas Myrtle's play, or Easter, or attend my 510th anniversary party, and you won't have the chance to watch it in the future..."

“Maybe you will be able to step onto a bigger stage in the future.”

Loren joked with a smile.

In fact, the separation between living people and ghosts is not that sad.

Nick has been staying at Hogwarts for five hundred years. Only the first few decades will he remember those impressive students, but later he gradually got used to it.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

Hogwarts is like this, with new students enrolling every year, watching them grow up little by little, and the vigorous vitality can make ghosts feel the feeling of being alive. Every year, students graduate and leave, some may come back to school in the future, and some may never come back. This long-term separation is also a part of vitality.

Just thinking of the familiar faces of Loren Morgan, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Seamus Finnigan, and realizing that he would never see these people again, Nick still felt that this empty and illusory body was a little cold, and his numb chest was slightly aching.

They were different from the students in the past. In their first year, they raised dragons in school and fought against the most powerful dark wizard in hundreds of years. In their second year, they chased after the basilisk and almost got hurt. And there were also third and fourth years...

So many vivid and lively people will only exist in memory from now on, and the ghost's incomplete soul cannot remember them, so it can only let them fade away gradually and become like other students in the past few hundred years. Perhaps these students will be successful and famous in the future, and their names can be heard in the History of Magic class. But those who are not so amazing will really disappear from the ghost's memory.

Nick opened his mouth, not knowing what to say. His head fell off his neck several times and he couldn't hold it steady.

Finally, he could only retreat into the armor in the corner and speak in a muffled voice:

“There’s also an end-of-year party where you can see the first three acts of the new play.”

"Okay Nick, I'm looking forward to it."

Loren waved and turned to leave the ghost's room.

As I approached the door where a faint blue candle was lit, I felt a bone-chilling chill. The candlelight swayed gently, revealing a skinny ghost.

"He didn't know how to face the separation."

The ghost was wearing a robe covered with silver bloodstains and a pair of shackles. His body was slightly transparent, his black eyes were wide open, and his voice was hoarse: "It has been like this for hundreds of years. I can't face the farewells of others, nor can I face my own farewell."

Loren knew the Bloody Baron, of course, but he was not very familiar with this ghost. He did not expect him to talk to him, and was a little surprised: "I didn't expect Mr. Baron to be so thoughtful."

"I have something I want to ask you."

"You said."

"Dumbledore can send ghosts to that world, can't he?"

"That world..."

Loren raised an eyebrow, lost in thought.

There is no doubt that the world the ghost is talking about is of course the world of the dead.

Dumbledore's magical attainments had already reached the standards of a legendary wizard. He had witnessed Voldemort reversing his residual soul to refine his body, touching the Resurrection Stone to communicate with the dead, and seeing Snape manipulate the resurrection ritual to open a channel connecting the two worlds. If Loren had not touched the power of the god of death, he would have been amazed.

After Voldemort's incident ended last summer, Dumbledore did go to the Twilight Zone in person, so it is not surprising that he can extradite ghosts now.

Bloody Baron saw his expression and had already come up with the answer in his heart. He couldn't help but feel a little dazed:

"So, Helena is really leaving?"

"..."

Loren looked at his expression and shook his head slightly.

Who says Sir Nicholas is the only one who doesn't know how to face separation? All the ghosts in the school are like this.

……

The final exams were over and all classes were suspended. The door of the basement potion classroom was locked and it was quiet. The sound of my footsteps reflected off the wall, as if they were coming from further back, which was a bit creepy.

I don’t know how Slytherin students adapt. When they come back from patrolling in the middle of the night, they will probably be scared by themselves.

Loren shook his head and walked inside with more force.

As if knowing he was coming, the office door was unlocked, leaving a small gap. The candle inside was lit, and the bright yellow light leaked out from the gap, casting a spot of light on the corridor floor and wall. Pushing the door open, the room was spacious and clean. The display shelves around had been removed and moved. There were no eerie embryo specimens, no creepy toads and venomous snakes. The blue wallpaper was painted with the Slytherin emblem, clean and even exuding a bit of elegance.

A figure in a dark green robe sat behind a desk with a light source placed on the table.

It turned out that it was not a candle but a desk lamp, and it was a gift from him.

Loren closed the door and greeted the professor:

"Good morning, Professor Snape."

"..."

Snape raised his head and stared at him, his face expressionless and his eyes flat: "If you are here to say some meaningless goodbyes, please remember to close the door when you leave."

"emmm..."

Loren had a complicated expression.

No wonder the office is located underground. This professor’s personality is similar to that of a ghost.

"If you're bored, sit down and help me grade the third grade papers."

"Oh."

"..."

The office gradually became quiet, with only the sound of feather pens sketching on parchment. The electric desk lamp emitted a warm yellow light, illuminating the entire room.