The days of hanging out at Hogwarts

The bright magic candles glowed, dispersing the fog in the greenhouse. The magic runes engraved on the walls and domes exuded a reassuring warmth. Most of those runes contained the meaning of the sun, warmth, and nurturing life, and they were linked to each other. As a whole, it maintains the temperature and humidity in the greenhouse.

Loren stood on the edge of the bed planted with mandrakes. He covered his ears tightly with earmuffs to block out all sounds outside. The quiet environment gradually calmed down his slightly impetuous mood.

Mandrake, also known as datura and mandrake, is said to have originated in the Mediterranean region and is produced all over the world. Extremely poisonous, the sound produced by the humanoid roots is potentially fatal.

But it does not only contain destruction and violence. Mature mandrakes can prepare potions to awaken petrified people from their stupor. The magic of mandrake is not only that, its leaves have magical effects. The first step in the Animagus practice process is to hold the mandrake leaves in your mouth for a month.

There are many speculations about this in the field of transfiguration and herbalism. The mainstream view in the field of transfiguration is that mandrake has the effect of breaking through the limitations of form, breaking petrification and modifying the human form;

The mainstream view in the field of herbal medicine is that the essence of mandrake is similar to the essence of human beings. Some clues can be seen from its human-shaped roots.

Its growth process is even more difficult not to be related to the growth process of human beings, infancy, childhood, young adulthood, and old age. There may be a supreme truth hidden in this, but no one has made a breakthrough in this field so far. The philosophical community has put forward many opinions, but they have basically no practical value.

I wonder if the transition between life and death can be reflected in the withering and sprouting of mandrake. The essence of both contains incredible magic. The principle behind this may be used in the resurrection medicine, as well as the refining of the magic stone...

Loren suddenly shook his head, letting his random thoughts slowly gather together and focus on the mandrake in front of him.

During the Easter holidays, several fast-growing mandrakes have completely passed their adolescence, and the dense acne on the human-shaped roots has healed, leaving only numb freckles. They are chirping and cursing every day, and they can't wait to find a bigger shelter.

Professor Sprout needs some students who have excellent grades in herbal medicine and have completed their vacation homework in advance to help transplant and repot the mandrakes. Professor McGonagall even approached Hermione directly and asked her to collect some single leaves of Mandrake for use in the Animagus teaching class.

So Loren, Hermione, Neville and Rolf were recruited.

Bury a mandrake plant into the soil. After confirming that the soil is loose and loose, lift the kettle and pour an appropriate amount of water several times. The kettle contained diluted Professor Sprout's special nutrient solution. It smelled indescribably, like a month-old broth simmered with fermented cheese and moldy socks added at the end.

Fortunately, mandrake absorbs it quickly, so you only have to endure the half minute of watering.

Hermione walked from one end of the aisle to the other in the aisle, checking the condition of each mandrake as she walked back and forth, finding those human-shaped roots that had passed puberty, and marking them. Leave it to the people behind for transplanting.

The girl was wearing a khaki gardener's uniform. The slightly loose clothes were tied around her slender waist with a belt. She had a neat temperament and a heroic spirit. The earmuffs on her head were tightly wrapped, making her head look even smaller, and her serious little face made her look a little cute.

After finishing watering, Loren put down the kettle and noticed that he was tapped on the shoulder. He turned around and saw that Hermione was wrinkling her little nose and her eyebrows were knitted together because of the stench.

Although the smell here was overpowering, Hermione still endured it, pulled Loren over, brushed the hair around his ears, and then waved her hand in front of his eyes.

Loren stood obediently and allowed Hermione to inspect him before letting him go.

From time to time, she would pass by Loren to make sure there were no gaps in his earmuffs, to make sure he was focused and would not be bitten by the mandrake...

It had been like this ever since he came out of the principal's office that day. He followed him when eating, doing homework, and reviewing. Except for going to the toilet and sleeping, Hermione was almost always with him. Even Professor Flitwick's teaching invitation was temporarily postponed.

The little witch always suspected that Loren was bracing himself and pretending to be strong to deal with her, so he might be crying secretly behind her back.

Loren couldn't laugh or cry about this. He had explained many times that Hermione just thought he was being harsh. After repeating it several times, he let Hermione go. Anyway, the feeling of being cared about was not bad.

After confirming that all the mandrakes of appropriate age had been transplanted, Neville and Rolf left, while Loren and Hermione stayed to pick the mandrakes needed for the Animagus teaching class. blade.

The earmuffs cannot be removed, so the two of them can only communicate with each other through gestures and guesswork.

Loren pointed to the garden platform on the right, and then pointed to himself, meaning to pick up the mandrake leaves on the right.

Hermione nodded, wagging her fingers and showing 40 portions, half for each person.

With perfect understanding and no misunderstanding, the two began to take action.

At the edge of the garden bed, there is a pot of acne that has not yet healed. The mandrake that has not been repotted and transplanted lazily shakes its branches and leaves, completely unaware that the danger is coming.

Loren saw the right moment and used the scissors. A single-leaf mandrake fell into his hand, and was then put into a cloth bag hanging on his belt.

Part of the face of the humanoid root was exposed from the ground, and he looked at Loren blankly. Even though it was just a mandrake, Loren could see the aggrieved look on its face.

Mandrake's little mouth narrowed and he immediately began to scream.

But Loren had already gone to cut one without looking back.

These mandrakes are very smelly, and each of them cares about his or her hairstyle. Whether you are going through puberty or have already passed it, a fatal cry will immediately come out as soon as the scissors are cut.

"...17, 18, 19."

Loren counted and found that after walking through the garden on the right, there was still one blade missing. I raised my eyes and glanced around. The one at the beginning was tired from crying and was lying listlessly in the pit to rest.

He walked over quietly without attracting its attention. See the right moment, catch a single leaf and use scissors.

Mandrake cried harder and louder this time, but Loren, who was wearing earmuffs, was like a deaf person and couldn't hear anything.

"Work together!"

Loren nodded with satisfaction and turned to join Hermione.

They each changed into their daily clothes, briefly scrubbed, and then walked out of the greenhouse together.

Hermione's right hand held a bag of mandrake, which was more than what Professor McGonagall had given her. She left some margin. He held the greenhouse key in his left hand, intending to give it to Professor McGonagall together, so there would be no need to go to Professor Sprout to return the key.

Walking side by side on the path back to the castle, Hermione talked about what she saw at the Ministry of Magic that day, about the Time Hall in the Department of Mysteries, and about the power of time.

"Time turner?" Loren looked at Hermione curiously and took the bag containing the mandrake. Although it was hard to say who was stronger, the gentleman's demeanor still had to be reflected.

Hermione nodded: "A very delicate-looking hourglass. Principal Dumbledore said it was a prop to solve class time conflicts."

"So don't worry about choosing all the courses. The professors have already made arrangements!" Hermione smiled broadly and began to look forward to her fulfilling study life in the next school year. "The time for course selection is not over yet. Loren, you come with me." Take all the classes you want! You won’t miss any class!”

"Hiss...it sounds terrible."

Loren is very interested in the time turner, but he can only resist living in a full class. It's impossible to take all the classes you want, so just borrow Hermione's time turner to study it.

"Why should I take a full course? I'm studying ancient runes on my own, and I'm not interested in Muggle studies. Besides, is it because of time conflicts that I don't take a full course?" Loren muttered, shaking his head firmly, "Because I'm lazy."

Hermione was so angry that she slapped him, and knowing that she couldn't persuade him, Hermione then talked about Dumbledore and Mad-Eye Moody entering the Prophecy Hall.

"We separated in the Time Hall. Mr. Weasley took me to watch a court trial. Well...it was quite complicated. I couldn't explain it at the moment, but the important thing was the Prophecy Hall."

"There seems to be something related to Voldemort in there, and Dumbledore is very concerned about that thing." Hermione lowered her voice, "I think that is the main reason why Dumbledore went to the Ministry of Magic, and we infiltrated it, Wei Mr. Sly helped us conceal our identities, and Mr. Moody took us through the hoops of registering the wands."

"Is it just to help you hide your whereabouts? With Dumbledore's magical skills, he has no problem punching in directly. Even if he sneaks in, he can do it without alerting anyone."

Loren complained about the little witch, and then fell into deep memories and thoughts.

What else can be found in the prophecy hall, a prophecy ball.

Dumbledore probably learned from Snape that Voldemort only knew half of the prophecy, and speculated that Voldemort might be interested in the remaining half of the prophecy. Coupled with the mysterious escape of Peter Pettigrew, there must be someone from Voldemort within the Ministry of Magic. Dumbledore was worried that the prophecy ball had been taken away by an insider and presented to Voldemort, so he went to check the situation.

Hiding his identity was because he didn't want to alert others. It's possible that Voldemort hadn't remembered the prophecy yet. If Dumbledore leaked the news, it would have alerted Voldemort.

"The Prophecy Hall...I probably know what it is." Loren pondered for a while and glanced at Hermione hesitantly, "I don't know if I should tell you about this. It might upset Dumbledore." The layout..."

"Then don't say it!" Hermione answered simply, but after finishing speaking, she became a little hesitant, "Concealing...can't say...this feeling is so familiar."

What's going on...

Hermione quickly remembered, gritted her teeth and glared at Loren: "I remember! It's a basilisk. You know the truth about the basilisk from beginning to end!"

After a start, the rest of the memories kept popping up and became clearer and clearer.

The shame of turning into a cat came to my mind, and I recalled that this person was playing with her tail with great interest, and the more I thought about it, the more wrong I felt.

"You still watched me boil polyjuice potion, and watched me drink the potion with cat hair in it! No wonder your expression was so weird at the time, you must have known it a long time ago!" Hermione's fist hardened.

Loren started to panic: "Slander, absolutely slander!"

"Dumbledore requested that the basilisk be kept secret, so I can't talk about it. I was also surprised about the cat hair incident. How could I know about it in advance? I can't predict it?"

Loren retorted and quietly distanced herself.

"Then why are you running?" Hermione yelled and chased after him.

"If you don't chase me, you won't run away!"

"If you don't run away, I won't chase you!"

"I do not believe!"

"stop!"

…

On the Quidditch pitch, the Gryffindor team was practicing their newly prepared tactics. There was a game against Hufflepuff after the Easter break.

Their team now has three high-end broomsticks. The fastest Nimbus 2001 is determined to be used by Seeker Harry, and there are two Nimbus 2000. Wood is making various attempts to find the best distribution plan.

The more difficult thing is that Ron came up with a wild idea and gave one of the Nimbus 2000 to the goalkeeper. Wood thinks this idea is very clever, but no one in the team except the goalkeeper agrees with it.

In the audience, Ron looked at the grass beyond the greenhouse from a distance. On the path beside the grass, Hermione kept closing the pursuit distance and jumped onto Loren's back...

The scene over there was a bit horrific. Ron was silent for a moment and politely withdrew his gaze. It's not that you don't care about your roommates, it's that it doesn't work if you do.

The focus of scoring points was not on the Seeker, so Harry was able to take some time to rest after finishing the speed training, and sat in the audience with Ron to enjoy the breeze.

Harry's attention was on the court and he failed to see the tragedy behind the court. He let out a long sigh: "Your father drove away the Flying Motorcycle yesterday. Sirius took the Flying Motorcycle away when he left. The Quidditch pitch suddenly became so quiet. I'm a little uncomfortable with it."

Regarding his father's sudden arrival at school and driving away the flying car, Ron suspected that Percy had tipped him off.

The reason Percy was able to hide his family with them was because George and Fred threatened him with a secret they couldn't tell. It was probably because the twins were too shy and Percy would rather fight them to the death.

Fortunately, this time it's not his problem alone. The Weasleys are all involved, and George and Fred are the main culprits. Mom's yelling letter will probably not be sent to him.

Ron shook his head with palpitations. He didn't want to think too much about this problem that could easily cause psychological shadow. He turned around and asked curiously: "Why did Sirius leave so suddenly? When he said goodbye, he said he couldn't continue to teach us Defense Against the Dark Arts classes in the future. ”

"I don't know either." Harry shook his head. "He just said that he wanted to repay the debt he owed and find answers to some questions."

"What kind of debt? Does someone as rich as him still owe debt?" Ron opened his mouth in surprise and sighed, "What kind of debt is there that the Black family can't afford to pay off?"

"I asked about it, and he said he couldn't let me participate in those things, and just let me study hard and cherish the time with my friends."

"Sounds like Dumbledore," Ron muttered.