cycle

In the dungeon, I can't perceive the change of day and night. Although Mr. Fusco enthusiastically taught me how to judge the time by counting the sound of water drops, I basically fell asleep when I counted to three hundred—in such a humid and dark place. It is not a good thing to fall into a long sleep in the place (not that we are worried that the Death Eaters will come to trouble us, they have not been here for a long time), and Mr. Let me stand up and walk around this dungeon a few times, jumping, he said that once he woke up after a coma and found that his neck could no longer turn, at that moment he thought it was because the death scythe had been stuck on the back of his neck.

It's easy to lose hope in this endless darkness, and the three of us had to dissipate that feeling by talking non-stop, exchanging everything we could think of.However, Mr. Ollivander's esoteric knowledge of wand science is too obscure. From their expressions, I feel that the potion formula I am talking about does not seem to be a good topic for all ages. It's just another weird story by Mr. Fusco that didn't make it into History of Magic. In his words, "There is always a part of real history that is even more absurd than fictional stories."

However, there will always be a day when the story is told. Even if there is little light in the dungeon, I can feel that the health and spirit of the two of them are disappearing like running water, and I probably only rely on a little youth. Capital can still maintain a little more vitality.

When I don't know how many days passed, our dungeon was opened by Death Eaters, and two people were rudely pushed to the ground on their backs, the light of the torches in the corridor outside the door was already too dazzling in my eyes.

"Alice?" I heard a young male voice calling my name hesitantly, "Alice Snape?"

"Thomas?" I blinked, and it took a while for the blue and black under my eyes to gradually disappear. I struggled to make out Dean Thomas' face full of scars and blood stasis, "How did you get arrested?" come here?"

"Do you know each other?" It was a goblin resting against the wall. Mr. Fusco hesitated for a while, but gave him his place.

The footsteps of the Death Eaters outside the door had disappeared, and Dean and the goblin were still slowly looking around the dungeon. I turned around and introduced to Fusco and Ollivander: "This is me, Gran. A classmate from Findor College, Dean Thomas."

"Why are you here again?" Mr. Fusco took out some of the food we hadn't eaten yesterday and handed it to the two people who looked hungry.

"The other person who fled with us seems to have something to do with the Order of the Phoenix." Dean said after drinking several sips of water. "So those people think we have something to do with the Order of the Phoenix."

"Of course, as long as you say that, those searchers will get more bounties. If it weren't for the people who lied about catching Potter and Longbottom before being killed by the angry mysterious people, I guess they would also hang out for money." The brain made us into two of them." Although the goblin grunted in pain when it moved, there was no shortage of sarcasm in its mouth.

"Who?" I asked nervously, "He was not caught here, did he escape?"

"Uh, Ted, Ted Tonks." Dean looked a little nervous, "I'm not sure if he and the others escaped smoothly. Running around in the woods, uh...and getting caught."

"It's not so good. Before I passed out, I saw him being hit by a powerful spell. He resisted very hard and knocked out several search team members. Those people may have murderous intentions." The goblin said hoarsely, " But I hope he can escape, we goblins rarely recognize a wizard, he is one in my heart."

"Are you Muggle-born?" Fusco asked Dean, "So you didn't go to Hogwarts to continue your schooling?"

"I don't really know." Dean ate some of the cake that had been frozen hard, and he regained his energy. I handed him a few rags that had been dried before to bandage the wound on his forehead, "My mother is numb. Melon is right, she raised me alone, my dad left when I was very young and left nothing to the family, so I can't find any evidence that he was a wizard."

"So, that rumor is true." He took the things in my hand and looked at my face (I subconsciously used my hair to cover the wound on my cheek), "The mysterious man took you, so s Professor Nepe had to do things for him."

"Do you have any news about my father?" I grabbed his other hand in excitement, and he released him in a hurry after making a painful sound.

"Hiss—I probably dislocated my arm when I was running away." Dean's face was pale, and he continued after trembling, "Strange rumors are flying all over the place. Then anonymously retorted that they not only met Neville and the others, but also had dinner together - I wandered in the wilderness most of the time, so I don't know much, it seems that many measures issued by Snape since the beginning of this year as the headmaster Let them think that he has fallen to the You-Know-Who, and some people say that he has long been a Death Eater, and may have participated in the death of Professor Dumbledore-don't get excited, and many people feel that he has been threatened, because you Didn't go to Hogwarts either."

"Then why did you flee with these Muggle-born wizards? I remember that most of the goblins supported the idea of ​​You-Know-Who in the past." Mr. Fusco asked the goblin, "I remember you should be in the ancient ring The one who works in the cabinet is named—uh—”

"Griphook." The goblin replied in English with a strong accent, "You are totally wrong if you think so, we don't want to participate in the wizard's war at all, so where is the bias?"

"Then there should be no need to flee, right?" Fusco said while moving the sleeping Mr. Ollivander considerately, so that the sound of our conversation would not directly disturb him.

"I choose to reject those people's excessive demands to control Gringotts, and I can predict that my life will not be easy." Griphook said in a contemptuous tone, "They treat us like house elves, A real goblin would make these wizards pay for their arrogance."

"He lied." Seeing my blank expression, Dean explained, "Well, I've heard him say it once, the sword of Gryffindor - it's been hanging in the headmaster's office before , and then Ginny and the others sneaked in one day trying to steal it, but they were discovered. Snape gave them a heavy punishment, but Lucius Malfoy still made a big fuss about it, Notified the mysterious person that the sword was not safe in the headmaster's office, and after obtaining permission, it was transported to the Gringotts vault for safekeeping."

"Is this something funny?" After hearing the piercing laughter from the goblin in the corner, I tried not to sound so mean, "I can't hear anything funny."

"That sword, it's a counterfeit," said Griphook sharply. "Of course, I didn't bother to remind them of it, but the Gryffindor sword could be anywhere now, but certainly not in the Gringotts vault." .”

"This is impossible!" I said decisively, "Gryffindor's sword has been kept by Dumbledore since it appeared in front of Neville a few years ago. Basilisk, how could it be fake?"

"Then do you think your ability to identify imitations is better than mine, little girl?" The goblin showed a hypocritical smile at me, "Even if this dungeon is so dark that I can barely see your shadow clearly, I can immediately Recognize—ahem, ahem—that barrette you're wearing in your hair is a work of art made by goblins. Wizards can make excellent imitations, we have to admit, but things made by goblins, whether Weapons or accessories, both have characteristics that only fairies can distinguish—it’s not just as simple as being free from dust as mentioned in your textbook.”

"Griphook is not a bad person, that's how goblins talk." After a while, Dean, whose arm was connected by Fusco, sat next to me, probably seeing my depression, "They are naturally wary and hostile to wizards. , but we helped each other when we fled together.”

I forced a smile from the corners of my mouth, and I couldn’t open my heart to tell him the real reason for my frustration: According to my previous guess, the mysterious man must have something to do with the four relics left by the founder of Hogwarts. Find them and say It might be possible to defeat him.But as Griphook said, the Gryffindor sword that Dumbledore wanted to leave to Neville turned out to be a fake—did Dumbledore also be kept in the dark?

"Do you have any other news?" I whispered to Dean. "Anything."

"Ted told me most of the things I know. He hasn't been wandering for too long." Dean sniffed, "I hope he's okay. Ginny and the others are okay. I believe it when I see you here." Professor Snape will definitely do his best to protect the students, although I was really sad when Ginny dumped me last year, I still hope that nothing happens to her. I guess they are like us in fifth year now, don't know Did the DA go on, hey, [-]th grade sucks in retrospect, but the DA was good, what you and Harry taught was really useful, especially on the run, those jinxes and counter-jinxes... save Hit me so many times."

"Now the "Daily Prophet" has been completely controlled by the mysterious person, but the bad thing is that most of its opinions seem to be neutral and rational at the beginning, only throwing out a few seemingly reasonable questions from time to time, and then Gradually reveal the purpose, lead those readers to think in the direction they expected, and draw completely wrong conclusions. Many people have begun to believe the so-called revelations of the "savior", but fortunately no one knows about Neville and the others Where are the people?" Dean said to me, snapping his fingers, "Although the things they wrote can fool people, there are still many people who firmly believe that Neville is the real savior—for example, we, now we only read The Quibbler is out."

"Cough cough cough, I'm sorry." Mr. Fusco, who was quietly listening to our whispered conversation, choked, "The Quibbler? Is it the Quibbler I know?"

"Yes, The Quibbler edited by Xenophilius Lovegood." Dean nodded. "We'll take the risk of stealing a copy or two, and it's written with more serious stuff than you can imagine, sir." , Ted said that "The Quibbler" is now publishing everything that the "Daily Prophet" is trying to suppress and whitewash, and each issue will remind all wizards on the front page that "If you want to bring down You-Know-Who, you must help Neville Longbottom and his friends'."

"The changes in the world are really too fast." Fusco sighed, "But it is too dangerous to release such content publicly at this time. May Merlin and Lovegood be together."

This year, it seems that all the wishes about beauty and light failed to be blessed by Merlin. Before the scars on the faces of Griphook and Dean healed, the Death Eaters captured Luna, and she was pushed into the dungeon He even wore robes with the Ravenclaw emblem embroidered on him.

"Oh, I thought they brought me here after they found out who painted 'DA is still recruiting new members' on the walls." Contrary to the reactions of other bruised people who had just arrived here, Luna looked When it came to me, he even showed a happy smile, "I just thought about it, so Malfoy and the others secretly locked Miss Snape in a room in Hogwarts to keep us from knowing."

"Luna, we are not in Hogwarts now." I held her cold hand, and carefully looked at her roughly cut blonde hair and the wound on her neck. "This is the dungeon at Malfoy Manor."

"I know there aren't that many harassments in Hogwarts." She stared wide-eyed at the empty ceiling above her head, "There are everywhere here. They found Neville's old writing from my luggage." The letter to me also took me to the mysterious man."

"Did he torture you?" I frightened and wiped the blood on her neck with a cloth.

"He wanted to put East Asian Myelinus in my mind." Luna looked around at us who were bewildered, and explained to us in that singing voice, "East Asian Myelinus is the descendant of South African Myelinus. Mutants can crawl into people's brains and suck people's memories through their eyes, and they are very dangerous animals."

"Um, are you saying he wants to Legilimency you?" Mr. Fox tried to understand what she was saying.

"East Asian myeloid sucker is terrible, but as long as you know the technique to get rid of it, you won't get hurt." Luna didn't seem to hear Fox's question, she continued, shaking her head, "The trick is to hold your breath for tens of seconds, Then exhale long for four seconds, then inhale for six seconds..."

"Poor child." Fusco looked at Luna with deep love and sympathy. I decided not to explain to him that Luna was not tortured by Voldemort like this. She wanted to find it every holiday. Horned Snork - I even suspect that Voldemort might have really failed to get Legilimency on her, since she wasn't in a coma for days like I was then.The first few days she came, she was in good spirits, singing Christmas carols to Mr. Ollivander, helping Griphook fix a broken branch, and churning out a small bowl of messy mixture that made me smear my cheeks and make my cheeks red and swollen again. On the scar, I knocked on the wall for a while, and found a big rusty iron nail from a broken brick.

"It can be cured." She nodded at me resolutely after discovering my scar for the first time, "I told Neville before that the saliva of the crooked snorkel can be cured. I will catch it with my dad next summer vacation." When I see a horned snoring beast, I will make a potion and send it to you."

Christmas is just around the corner, and here's Luna's festive message for those of us stuck in the dungeon, though this year's Christmas isn't going to be anything but savory puddings, sparkling trees, and piles of presents, Even when all of us don't know if we'll ever be able to reunite with loved ones, there's a magic about holidays that even just chanting them silently in our hearts brings a tinge of joy.

Since the number of people in the dungeon has increased, Senna has not reappeared, but sometimes I wake up and find that I have more food and ointment for treating cold in my pocket.Although they are all served for one person, we still try our best to use them sparingly, and we have basically maintained the health of everyone here.

In order to cheer us all up, Mr. Fusco proposed to spend Christmas even if we were stuck here.Although Griphook sneered at the wizarding festival from the beginning, he still said that he could provide us with some help within his ability, after all, "you wizards' fingers are really unimaginably stiff and dull."However, the day after we weaved a Christmas wreath with dry straw, the Death Eaters came to the dungeon. They planned to transfer some of the people imprisoned in Malfoy Manor to Azkaban before the Ministry of Magic holiday. His eyes flicked across the faces of me, Mr. Ollivander, and Luna, and looked at Dean, who was shivering in the corner and dared not make a sound.

"Have you found out that he's just a Mudblood?" a bearded Death Eater asked his companion. "It just so happens that there is one more person locked up in this dungeon, and that's him."

"Let me go." Mr. Fusco suddenly interrupted their argument, and said in a very relaxed tone, "I'm just an old man who sells ice cream in Diagon Alley."

From time to time, there will be some people who question the names engraved on the war memorial of the Ministry of Magic, and whether they have the qualifications to be engraved on it to be remembered by future generations. The most common sentence they say is "It seems that these names are not suitable for the last To what extent did they contribute to the victory, many of these people appeared to have died ordinary, and there is no record of fighting the Death Eaters."

I think by the standards of these people, Florin Fusco is not eligible to be engraved in the third row of the monument, the fifth position from the left, but this never prevents me and my husband from bringing my children every year They dedicated a bouquet of flowers to him.His optimism, knowledge and kindness not only helped me trapped in the dungeon, but also saved my mother who was tortured to death in Azkaban at that time - he brought my news to her.Many people who were imprisoned in Azkaban wrote to thank my mother for giving hope to everyone around her in that desperate situation, but my mother mentioned it to me more than once before she was alive, if it wasn’t for Mr. Fusco Retelling to her over and over again how I am still waiting for the day when I will meet her again, she has many moments wondering whether it is a better relief not to hold on anymore.

On the day Mr. Fusco left the dungeon of Malfoy Manor, he told us that he would provide us with free unlimited Christmas ice cream every Christmas holiday in the future, paired with his exclusive secret waffles.He finally died in a corner of Azkaban's prison due to rheumatism and typhoid fever. After being dragged out, he and other unfortunate people were directly turned into bones and thrown into the sea. "Breakthrough of Azkaban" has only the last three days left.Azkaban was permanently abandoned by the Ministry of Magic after the war, and finally became the current memorial. I think many people should still remember the speech of Kingsley Shaker, the acting Minister of Magic at the time: "We should not use a A place of sorrow, grievance, and resentment to punish evil."

There were more than one ice cream shop in Diagon Alley later, but for our generation, the sweet taste of the bright sun shining in the memory and the benches exuding a faint wood fragrance complement each other, just like our hastily ended Youth is also gone forever, can no longer be found, can not be copied.