cycle

"Didn't you see something suitable?" Mom pushed open the door of the robe shop and walked in after Draco and Mrs. Malfoy left. I was relieved. If she didn't come again, I really couldn't resist Madam Malkin's enthusiasm. Promoted.I muttered that I didn't like it, and hid behind my mother. I really didn't want to try those weird robes and dresses anymore-but it didn't seem right to delay Mrs. Malkin for so long and finally didn't buy anything. Well, that's why I don't like shopping.

"I think that dress should be pretty good." Mom looked at the long dress that Madam Malkin was waving at her that I just took off, "The dark red can bring out your complexion."

"That's what I told her, ma'am, you can't find roses like that in other tailors." Mrs. Malkin immediately turned her attention to my mother. Gorgeous, I bet any young wizard who sees her will die of her—"

"Don't talk about it." I had a fever on my face, "Then buy this one, don't talk about it."

People on the street looked anxious and walked in a hurry, gathering in groups of three or four and quickly moving from one shop to another, as if as long as they walked alone on the road, they would be caught by Death Eaters who jumped out from the wanted list.The brightly colored and exaggerated author signing posters at the entrance of the Lihen Bookstore in the past are also gone. The safety manuals officially published by the Ministry of Magic and distributed to everyone for free are stacked high outside the bookstore. They are constantly being taken away and new ones are constantly emerging. .

"Mom, did you check the Malfoy's house later?" I walked beside my mother with a pile of new books, and after thinking about it, I asked, "After Lucius Malfoy was captured in Azkaban, what happened to the proud man?" Luo's office should no longer be stopped and searched for the same reasons as before, right?"

"Of course, but only some innocuous things were found." My mother replied while reviewing the shopping list I wrote, "If an experienced wizard family wants to hide something, the Ministry of Magic's surveillance order will ignore it." Used—what's up Liz? Did you find anything?"

"No." I hesitated or shook my head, feeling that what I was thinking was a bit ridiculous, "I just—wow, mom, did you see that over there?"

My mother looked over with my fingers, and the window seemed to have absorbed all the disappearing colors of Diagon Alley. The passers-by around me had similar expressions to mine, and they couldn’t help but stop and stand in place to watch the jumping and flickering products in the window. .Even half a street away, I could see that the store was full of people, and outside the store, like other stores, there was a huge purple poster - at first glance it was no different from the poster of the Ministry of Magic, but it was shining brightly. in yellow letters:

Why are you worried about You-Know-Who?

you should care

Constipation Ren——

The feeling of constipation afflicts the Chinese people!

My mother couldn't help laughing, she asked me if I wanted to go in and have a look, I hesitated for a while before answering, she shook her shoulder-length short hair and said happily: "Mom wants to go and see, you accompany me Bar."

Squeezing into Fred and George's store is no easy feat - readers may recall their annual summer launch in Diagon Alley, and I've heard quite a few wizards trying to concoct fake ones this year The entrance tickets tried to get mixed in, and the full set of new product experience coupons and new product lucky bag cards in the front row were more than five times the market price. The Jokes from Zero: The Road to the Kingdom" This collection of media interviews is written so briefly that even in that precarious period when everyone was in danger, everyone was willing to let go of the panic in their hearts and squeeze into the country that had not yet developed into an anti-truth at that time. A small shop in the iconic building of the corner alley.

The atmosphere inside the joke store is very different from the outside. Cardboard boxes of all kinds are piled up to the ceiling, and the shelf of quick-acting skipping candy is almost empty, and a strange female shop assistant is replenishing the goods.A group of children looked eagerly at the magic wand that happened to be in their sights, and some students looked curiously at the quill that demonstrated how to automatically spray ink and spell check-but we couldn't squeeze in to see the really popular products, The crowd in front is full of people.

"Hey! Alice!" One of the twins stuck out a fiery red-haired head from the crowd and waved at me, "Aunt Lily is here!"

"Harry and the others just left," Fred squeezed out of the crowd to shake hands with my mother, then turned to me and said, "I don't know where he slipped off to before, but he insisted that it was in our little room, and Mrs. Potter took it." They can't help it - do you want to see if there is any need? Come here, we have plans to compete with the charm witches. Although we just wanted to make color-changing lipsticks to tease people at first, we didn't expect to be sold out by the witches all of a sudden. , to be honest, we never thought that the witch's money is more profitable than the wizard's, here is this, the hottest shade, and it will be out of stock again-although we don't understand why they think this red is the most nice."

"What's this?" Mom looked curiously at a large pile of balls of dark and shallow fluff in the cage, they were rolling around screaming, "It looks a bit like velvet, but—"

"The miniature cattail, we call it the pygmy cattail." Fred said with a smile, "it's very popular with girls, and it's easy to raise."

"Do you want one, Liz?" Mom asked me.

"Well, no need." I shook my head, "I don't want to have any more pets."

"There are some things over there that you two beautiful ladies will never use. The pustule special effect to deal with blackheads and acne and the long-lasting hair smoother-advanced love potion, of course, there is a restricted product production license from the Ministry of Magic. , the effect is up to 24 hours and cannot be superimposed, Aunt Lily, we do not sell this to people under the age of 16."

"After all, some people have to spend a little effort to make themselves attractive. You will never experience this kind of trouble in your life, Miss Snape." George came out of nowhere and shook hands with the two of us. I wonder if you are satisfied with the delivery of the Ministry of Magic, Aunt Lily? Feel free to write to us for feedback, after all, we are also in the field of Defense Against the Dark Arts products."

"The Auror office didn't distribute those things. After all, Aurors can't be expected to use auxiliary products to catch Death Eaters." Mom replied with a smile, "However, I heard from colleagues in other departments that they are very useful, and many of them want to give them to their families. Buy a few more sets."

"Our delivery business card!" George flipped a card out of his pocket and handed it to my mother. "If you need to place an order directly with owls, we have someone specially hired to handle owl orders, which is more convenient than buying in the store."

"You can buy whatever you want," Fred told me, "just as we pay DA's tuition."

"How can I do that?" I had already taken some Sickles out of my wallet and planned to pay for the lipstick, but Fred waved his hand away, "We are still thinking about you helping us establish an agent in the United States in the future, besides this Harry lent us the start-up capital for the store, and you're his girlfriend—”

"I'm not his girlfriend yet." I looked at my mother, who was standing by the side with a smile and still looking at the cage of pygmy cattails, as if she hadn't heard our conversation.

"Saying 'not yet' basically means 'the future will be'." Fred winked at me, "Hold on tight, Alice, didn't you see the crowd when he and Neville were in the store just now?" The way the Hogwarts girls looked at them."

"Because he is the son of the Minister of Magic now?" I raised my eyebrows, "Is it too superficial?"

"Love is a very shallow thing, otherwise how could you be fooled by the love potion?" Fred patted me on the shoulder.

There aren't many things on the shopping list, but after shopping, it's already dusk when the sun sets, and the mist that doesn't match the season has begun to cover the streets of London quietly, making everything look even more desolate.The happiness and warmth I just got from the joke store were quickly replaced by coolness, as if something invisible was hiding in the air and devouring them.

In the Leaky Cauldron, the people who used to sit around the tables and drink and chat on the bar in twos and threes disappeared. Tom, the owner of the wrinkled face and lost teeth, stood sullenly behind the bar and wiped a glass. I thought my mother would bring I walked across in the same hurry as when I came here, so I apparated in a corner, but she sat down, waved her magic wand at the big and small bags I bought today, and sent them home.

"A glass of mint raisins, a glass of mead with two ice cubes." She tapped the table, wondering how deftly Tom would serve us a tray that looked as deserted as Madam Malkin's.

"More bread, ma'am?" he said cheerfully. "I think you're exhausted."

"No need." Mom stroked her broken hair and smiled at him. To my surprise, she brought a cup with a mint leaf floating on the sparkling water to her, and held the cup exuding the sweetness of honey. The breath of wine was pushed to me.

"I may go back to the Ministry of Magic at any time, so I don't drink anymore, although I think if I sit down and talk as two adults, I should drink a little wine to increase the sense of ceremony." She took a sip of sparkling water, and looked at me with a blank face. Blinked.

"Should we... talk about something? Talk about what?" I felt a little anxious, although my mother's tone was calm.I ran my fingers across the water mist that condensed due to the temperature difference outside the glass, looked at the ice cubes that were dyed orange by mead and asked softly, "Why can't we talk at home?"

"Because of what Mom is going to talk to you about next... You may be more receptive than your Dad, although we just sat down to discuss a possibility." Mom was still smiling, but I felt a familiar fear .

"I don't want to talk about it," I said quickly, "I don't think it's necessary—we're all sitting here, there's no need to think about—"

"Liz." She gently took my cold fingers from gripping the ice-filled glass, "You have to accept the possibility that one day, Mommy is like Aunt Amelia... I don't want you to be unprepared for that day and break down like Tallus and escape from reality - I'm worried what if that day does come and the situation doesn't allow you time to break down? So I made sure to sit down with you and talk about this before you leave, no matter how... cruel it sounds."

"If you don't want me to collapse, then live desperately." I stared at the slowly melting ice and said, "I will go crazy, I will definitely go crazy..."

"I really hope that all the sadness ends here, and we don't have to bear any more goodbyes, and we don't have to lose any close people." She held my hand tightly, her eyes glowing under the dim light of the Leaky Cauldron The light of the water, but this does not affect the firmness in her eyes, just like a cluster of flames that will never go out in the cold winter, "Alice, mom is here today to make a promise to you, the corresponding - since this is A dialogue between two adults, I hope you can give me the same promise."

"I, Lily Snape, promise to my daughter Alice Snape," she said slowly, taking a deep breath, "No matter what happens in the future, no matter what kind of blows I suffer, I will hold on to everything Hope to live, if my family is still alive, I will try my best to get back to them, if... my family is unlucky... one step ahead... leave this world, I will still try my best to live without guilt And painfully looking forward... to start a new life."

"Why don't you let Dad swear this first?" I took a sip of the wine and felt a burning pain in my throat. Even the strong alcohol couldn't suppress the choked up in my throat.

"Because I know he can't," Mom said softly, "but I hope you can."

"I can't do it either." I felt my hands trembling, "Why do you ask me to do things that my father can't do?"

"You're only 16, Liz." Mom reached out and brushed my long hair. "I sometimes think how lucky I am to have a daughter like you. If I could turn back time, I wish I could Be more competent...spend a little more time watching you grow up instead of just giving you a belated goodnight kiss after you're asleep. I wish too...it would be easier to find you earlier because me and your dad I feel uneasy about those little quarrels. Mom is very happy, my dear. Mom has obtained enough happiness because of having you and your dad. This kind of satisfaction allows mom to fight without hesitation to protect the happiness of more people... To sacrifice. Mom hopes that you can also feel this kind of happiness. Whether it comes from love, family or career, it is waiting for you in your future. Mom doesn't want you to lose it because of yourself or dad. Qualifications."

"Actually, from the day people meet, whether it's a mother and daughter, a husband and wife, or a close friend, meeting means that the countdown to farewell has entered, but some hourglasses flow very slowly, and some hourglasses flow faster than imagined. Some, right?" Mom lowered her head and took a sip of sparkling water, "We keep moving forward like this, saying goodbye to some people, and meeting new people, this is life."

I lowered my head to sip the wine in the glass little by little, and soon there was only a little taste left in my mouth that the ice cubes had melted and diluted the alcohol at the bottom of the glass.Mom didn't speak anymore, she quietly fiddled with her hair and looked out the window at the hurrying Muggles and the endless traffic. down.

"I, Alice Snape, promise to my mother, Lily Snape." I looked at the empty glass and said with difficulty, "No matter what happens in the future, no matter who I...lose, my friend... Dear ones, I will hold on to all hope to live. I will try my best to live on... Back to the surviving relatives and friends, I will try my best... I will not feel pain because I am alive, and I will try my best...Look forward, start A new life, no matter how difficult it is."

"Thank you, dear." Mom stretched out her arms and wrapped me in her warm embrace, her voice trembling slightly, "Thank you."

Both my mother and I fulfilled this vow, which was extremely difficult to make at the time, although I cried all my tears in my husband's arms when my mother closed her eyes and left this world.She left peacefully, even telling me at dinner that the new lilies in the yard seemed to be blooming.Her father had exhausted his whole life to brew all kinds of potions for her to relieve her pain, but her life had been consumed too much in the half a year of torment.She resolutely rejected my request to stay by her side to take care of her, and let me go to the United States to start a new life of my own—looking forward, this is the sentence she said the most after the war. This belief allowed her to drag her gradually weakened body to witness my wedding, handing over my hand to my husband with my father; Wrinkles can't hide her beautiful smile when she calls her grandma in a milky voice; this belief makes her not forget to hold my hand gently before she dies, telling me that she entrusted her father to I'm sorry, she will wait on the other side for the day when we meet again here.

The magic is that the night of her funeral my husband and I found out we were expecting our third child in our little family and we almost immediately decided it was going to be a daughter and she was indeed born in my father's yard It is the season when the lilies in the garden are in full bloom, and has the same long dark red hair as my mother.She is like an angel who came to comfort my father's withered heart. Only her crisp calls and lively laughter can make my father walk from his smoky and dimly lit room into the sunshine, whenever she hugs my mother When the old rag dolls were humming and jumping around in the middle of the watered lawn, I could see my gray-haired father showing a little smile, dazed for a while in the bright sunshine, and happy for a while.

At that time, I could fully understand what my mother said, "satisfied because I have obtained enough happiness", and I also understood why she insisted on making me set a "towards the goal" at that time. Look ahead" oath.Especially when I watched the daughter who bears her name grow up day by day, and people began to mention my mother's dazzling and moving demeanor because of her, I felt a kind of resilience and strength that belonged to life-people who waved goodbye would still It exists in the memory of those who survived, and the best way to commemorate them is to look forward with this memory and live well.