HP solves the mystery

"Look, it's far away from the crowd and has convenient transportation. Does it meet the house requirements you mentioned?" Zhang Mingyuan pointed to a two-story villa not far away with a single family and independent gardens at the front and back, and said quite proudly, "It also comes with There is an underground garage, so if you buy a car in the future, you can park it in it.”

Hearing this, Severus really wanted to pry open Zhang Mingyuan's brain to see what was inside. Did he forget his brain in China when he came to England?

After a night of repairs, the two of them contacted Li Ming, who had made an appointment, to look at the house together the next morning. Good houses in the center of London were hard to come by, and Severus had also said before that he wanted to find a place that was quieter and not too crowded. A place that is out of touch with society, so that he can better hide his identity as a wizard.

They took Li Ming's car from the prosperous Thames River to the northeast corner of London, where the houses are cheap and occupy a large area.

This dilapidated villa located on the hillside, a small town in St. Albans, was their last destination today. The entire town could be seen from here.

The corners of Severus' mouth twitched. The exterior of the villa looked relatively clean. The walls were covered with dried ivy. The big lock on the door was already rusty. Through the dilapidated iron fence, one could clearly see the garden covered with snow. The weeds, the cold wind howled, and the trees high above the wall made a strange rustling sound.

Recalling the reluctance on the seller's face when he asked the seller to lead the way, as well as the whispers from the surrounding villagers, after repeated inquiries they learned that someone had died in this villa more than ten years ago, and he was a relative of the current owner.

If all the owners of the house had not died, it would not have been his turn to get the villa as a relative of the owner. He did not dare to live in the house because of the deaths, so he had to lower the house price so that he could sell it or sublet it. Some people saw the house price. I rented it because it was cheap. As a result, several waves of people who lived in it eventually moved out again because it was haunted, and this originally beautiful villa became desolate and dilapidated.

Severus and others later learned that the original owner of the house was an old woman. Her husband died in World War II. She did not remarry. She spent the rest of her life in this villa full of happy memories with her husband. The old woman said several times that she had seen her The ghost of the deceased husband is in the villa.

It's just that the children in the village are naughty and always like to throw stones at the windows of the villa or steal some gadgets. They are frightened by the old woman who is getting more and more erratic as she gets older, so some bad rumors spread. The old woman's death is also the reason. Children playing in the villa discovered it. After that, the parents of the children in the village were reluctant to let their children get close to the villa.

Zhang Mingyuan was not afraid of these legends. He muttered that he should believe in science, then pulled Li Ming to open the big rusty lock and explored the villa with great interest.

Severus looked at their backs and followed them helplessly. Why were they both so brave?

And what he wants is a quiet place, not a haunted house!

As expected by Severus, the villa looked shabby on the outside, but even more sinister on the inside.

Zhang Mingyuan tried pressing the light switch and found that there was no response, so he walked to the window and opened the heavily moth-eaten curtains. The dust that was raised got into his nose, making several people in the room couldn't help but sneeze.

The electricity in the villa had been cut off a long time ago, but fortunately the sun outside was still bright, allowing people to see clearly inside the house.

The room seemed empty, valuable things had been removed, only some tables and chairs were left, and the white cloth covering them was covered with dust.

When Severus was still looking at the layout of the first floor, Zhang Mingyuan tapped on the wall with his hands and invited him to go up to the second floor. After seeing that except for the faded wall coverings and empty rooms, everything else was pretty good. , showing a fairly satisfied smile.

Severus was also satisfied with this villa. Of course, except for the terrible thing about the house, he was still very satisfied with the rest.

"That's it, right? There are subways and highways, and it takes half an hour to get to the city center..." Zhang Mingyuan calculated and asked the most critical question, "Li Ming quoted us 15 pounds, but after looking at it, we have the most For 7 pounds, oh, damn it, I heard he would charge a % agency fee! What a black heart..."

He was quite envious in his words. His restaurant may not be able to make that much money in two months. I can only say that being a lawyer is really profitable!

Zhang Mingyuan said this, but in fact he still felt that it was not practical. Only by having a shop could things flow smoothly.

Severus couldn't remember how many times he sighed. He tugged at the corner of his mouth, "Alan, I remember the seller said, isn't this place haunted? Aren't you afraid?"

"I asked about it before bringing you here, don't worry," Zhang Mingyuan blinked and said in a funny voice, telling him about the original owner of the house and the pros and cons of buying the house.

Severus nodded slightly. Thinking about the hardships along the way, he felt that he couldn't go through any more trouble, so he had no opinion. However, Zhang Mingyuan's next words made him dumbfounded.

"And I'm Chinese, so I'm not afraid of Western ghosts. You're a wizard, so you shouldn't be afraid of ghosts." Zhang Mingyuan said, and nodded confidently.

"Okay, I'll listen to you." Severus was speechless and gave up the home court to Zhang Mingyuan.

Zhang Mingyuan went to the side and talked quietly with Li Ming, pointing to the broken glass on the window and the cracked floor on the ground, with a serious expression.

Li Ming nodded finally and walked slowly towards the seller at the door.

The seller was a thin old man in his fifties. He had been lingering at the door because he was afraid to enter the house. When he saw Li Ming coming out, he quickly led him to the garden to talk.

After listening to Li Ming's words, the little old man frowned and looked into the room several times. Finally, he relaxed his brows and even felt a little happy.

Then the four of them went to the little old man's house, warming themselves by the fire in the fireplace and negotiating the contract.

"Severus, 10 pounds. He will help us teach us about stamp duty and sort out those miscellaneous things." Zhang Mingyuan discussed with Severus in a low voice. He was just talking about 7 pounds. He still has to make some money for others. This villa plus the garden is three to four hundred square meters.

Severus didn't agree immediately. He took a sip of coffee and counted his savings.

Most of his money was used to invest in Zhang Mingyuan's restaurant. The return on investment was ideal. Plus the money he earned from brewing potions, he could still afford it.

"Can I settle it all at once?" Severus slowly spoke and made his decision.

The little old man had long wanted to get rid of his dead aunt's shabby house. He nodded happily when he heard this. With this money, he could buy a good house in the center of London and make things easier for his children.

Seeing that the two parties had reached an agreement, Li Ming took out the newly drafted contract for them to confirm, and then used

Zhang Mingyuan hesitated to speak. He had paid a lot of dividends to Severus' restaurant, but seeing that the matter was a foregone conclusion, he said no more.

In the next few days, Severus, accompanied by Zhang Mingyuan, traveled around the Real Estate Registration Bureau, the Taxation Bureau and other places. Fortunately, he only needed one person to help, and there was help for the rest.

After working hard for several days, the necessary procedures were completed. The procedure that originally took three months was reduced to one month with Li Ming's ability. The next step was to wait for the villa to be owned by Severus. All.

Severus' Christmas period was only two weeks long, and he had already spent four or five days on buying a house. During the remaining time, he planned to go back to Spider End Alley.

As for the subsequent cleaning of the house and the purchase of new furniture, these were left to Zhang Mingyuan, and the expenses were taken from the restaurant's dividends.

Severus also took the opportunity to go to Diagon Alley and bought some potions for Zhang Mingyuan. Of course, the glory potion he brewed himself was indispensable.

Zhang Mingyuan and Li Ruolan had bought Hogwarts books before and knew some things about the wizarding world, but this was their first time coming into contact with beauty potions. The ones they bought most before were those for treating illnesses.

But they all like this glory potion. After all, both men and women want to be more handsome/beautiful.

Severus was very happy to see Zhang Mingyuan and his wife, and secretly he breathed a sigh of relief. He was really not good at getting close to people.

Although Christmas has passed several days ago, the atmosphere outside is still strong.

Christmas carols were playing in the store, and the children were buying candies in the store with their pocket money. The men and women in love on the street were each holding a bouquet of bright red roses. The little flower seller's face was red and cold, and her smile was getting bigger and bigger. sweet.

Severus carried his suitcase and bought a bunch as he passed by.

Even if you don’t give it away, you can take it back and decorate the room in Spider End Alley.

The bus with the image of Santa Claus painted on it stopped at the platform. A group of people got on and another group of people got off.

The crowd quickly disappeared, leaving only messy footprints on the ground.

Severus sat in the back seat by the window, looking at the rapidly receding houses and tree shadows outside the window, his eyes flashing with confusion.

There is thin ice floating on the Thames River. To save trouble, some women will wash vegetables and laundry directly on the shore. They don't care even if their palms are frozen. Children will stay and play with their noses sniffling, teasing the hair that comes out for breathing. fish.

Severus pursed his lips and walked along the river. He was still wearing the black coat from last year, with a dark green scarf draped over his shoulders, making his skin look whiter and whiter.

He just walked quietly, turning a blind eye to the curious glances from around him.

Until I reached the junction of the slums and the rich area, I saw a familiar tall and thin figure next to a Davidia tree that had lost all its leaves. His slightly narrowed eyes widened and he spoke uncertainly.

"Penny?"

The figure heard the call and stepped out of the shadows, revealing a delicate face that was much rosier than before.

"Severus...I..." Petunia breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the person coming. She felt much less uneasy. When she saw the boy's doubtful eyes, she started to feel uneasy again. She twisted her clothes with her fingers and was speechless.

Severus blinked and looked at Penny, who was about the same height as him, and thought silently, 'Drinking milk every day is useful! I'm 175cm now. If I grow longer, I'll be 180cm, which will make me taller than Penny! I'm not a dwarf anymore! '

His focus was on Petunia's height, and he was so proud that he couldn't help but stare at her for a little longer.

Penny, however, was full of worries. She blushed under the young man's undisguised gaze and felt very embarrassed. Should she tell him about that? Will he agree?

"You..." Penny took a deep breath, mentally cheering herself up, and raised her head suddenly, "Are you willing..."