days at Hogwarts

Chapter 144 Flamel Upgrade
In order not to disturb Grandpa Bates' dream, Loren returned to the room after dinner and began to think about how to get the unicorn horn.

The horns of unicorns have been on sale for a long time at the medicine shop in Diagon Alley, 21 Galleons each, and the supply is sufficient.

But if Loren bought it, Snape would definitely punish him for copying the potion textbook, because it was the horn of a unicorn, not a real unicorn.

In the potion class of the first grade, they used "unicorn horn" to make a very common antidote. It was then that he knew that the unicorn horns on the market were not real unicorn horns. .

As a peculiar magical animal, the unicorn has very special magic power, pure power, vigorous vitality, and a difficult curse.The blood, hair and horns of unicorns have magical properties.

There is a strong vitality in the blood, which can maintain the life of a dying person.Voldemort hunted unicorns for blood.

Hair is primarily used for wand cores.Ollivander believes that unicorn hair wands are more faithful, more likely to reflect the essence of magic, and are the most resistant to the dark arts.

There is a saying that the unicorn's hair also has some kind of life activity. When it loses its activity as the core of the wand, the wand is prone to tempering and other accidents.

The unicorn horn has extremely pure magic power, which can suppress many kinds of black magic, and has a restraining effect on Voldebat, Dementor and other creatures. Detoxification is only the most inconspicuous effect.

The new Fantastic Beasts Protection Act prohibits any harm to unicorns. Out of awe of the unicorn curse and the Ministry of Magic, almost no one will provoke this creature that is more dangerous than werewolves.

Unicorns value their horns very much, and they will not trade the corpses of their own kind with wizards.In theory, except for some unicorn hair that will flow out to the market, both blood and horns should be classified as prohibited items.

Interestingly, among the three materials, only unicorn blood is a prohibited item.The Ministry of Magic banned the sale on the grounds of preventing the spread of the curse and protecting unicorns.

In pharmacies, unicorn hair is priced at 7 Galleons a bag, and unicorn horns are priced at 21 Galleons.

The hairs are negligible and provide a constant supply.But the horns are different. Each unicorn has only one horn. If the unicorn horns on the market for 21 galleons are real, then the unicorns are already extinct.

In fact, the unicorn horn of 21 Galleons was the horn of a one-horned bison, but under certain unspoken rules, it was called the horn of a unicorn beast, and it was only used as a basic antidote, similar to bezoar.

"Hagrid can't get through here, what about the black market..." Loren raised his right hand and stretched five white fingers, allowing the lights on the roof to emerge from between his fingers.

After thinking about it for a long time, he finally gave up the idea because the risk was too great.Moreover, the Ministry of Magic is vigorously clearing up prohibited items, and no one wants to do this business at gunpoint.

Loren squinted his eyes, and the white light was pulled into bunches of blurred light. He repeated in a low voice what Dumbledore said before he left: "If you live for a long time, you will naturally know some secret things..."

Who can live longer than Nico?
He turned off the lights and entered the world of fantasy books.

The neat and bright library was empty. Loren looked around and shouted, "Flamel!"

"Da da" footsteps sounded from behind him, Loren looked back, Flamel was wearing hard-soled leather shoes, and stepped on the floor with crisp footsteps.

"Are you upgraded?" Loren showed a puzzled expression.

In the past, Flamel had obvious characteristics of magical creations. Although his upper body was solid and lifelike in color, his lower body was gradually distorted, becoming more and more blurred as he went down, and the place close to the shoes was almost transparent.

The way Flamel moves all the time is to levitate, like a ghost.

Now, Flamel in front of him is wearing a neat gown, and his every move looks like an elegant gentleman. If he was in the Middle Ages, people could tell at a glance that he was of noble origin.

Loren was used to him floating around and flying around, but now seeing him walking so solemnly, he felt a little uncomfortable.

Flamel had a smile on his face, "The highest pursuit of potions is the elixir of life, the medicine for bringing the dead back to life. Do you know what the highest pursuit of alchemy is?"

"Why are you talking about this all of a sudden?" Loren shook his head, indicating that he didn't know the answer.

Looking down at his firm legs, Flamel said softly: "Before Nicole, alchemy was chaotic, a legacy of ancient magic, and scattered knowledge was scattered in the waste paper piles all over the world. A little glimpse People with some knowledge can refine rigid items step by step according to the records in the book.

Magic items permeate every corner of the wizarding world, but no one can make the immortal Deathly Hallows for thousands of years, the mysterious Mirror of Erised... Alchemy keeps weakening, even the magic school, Hogwarts Also can't make things like the Sorting Hat, Ravenclaw's Diadem.

It's not even a science, not even divination. "

Flamel looked up and looked at Loren quietly: "Until Nicole Flamel appeared, he traveled the world, referred to the Emerald Records, integrated ancient language and runes, and stopped the continuous disappearance of alchemy."

There was not much sadness in his tone, but there was a bit of embarrassment: "People only remember that he refined the Sorcerer's Stone, lived forever, and turned stones into gold, but what made him most proud was alchemy."

He said with emotion: "600 years..."

Upon hearing the news of Nico's death, Loren had a strange feeling in his heart.

He and Nicole had only met twice, once at a small book stand and once in Devonshire. The two meetings were in a hurry. If there was no deep relationship, it was still embarrassing.

He comforted: "Don't wallow in sorrow too much."

Unexpectedly, Flamel stared at him in surprise: "Sad? I don't feel sad."

"what?"

Flamel asked rhetorically: "He has lived for more than 600 years, traveled around the world, enjoyed all the good things in the world, and has long lived enough. Death is a good decision, why should he be sad?"

Loren: ...

He was silent for a while, and decided not to mention Nico's matter again: "What is the highest pursuit of alchemy you just mentioned?"

"When Nico was three hundred years old, his pursuit was to use alchemy to create truly intelligent life, and I was the product of that time." Flamel spread his hands and showed himself to Loren.

"Because the refining of creatures is taboo, Nico starts with the soul. Unlike those magical portraits, Nico wants to refine magical life that is intelligent, independent thinking, and even creative."

"But it never worked out. There was a lack of, a—" Flammel frowned, trying to figure out how to describe what was missing with more accurate words.

"A mysterious substance. You can understand it as the vitality of the soul. Nico has observed it in ghosts, but it is not found in magic portraits."

"This mysterious substance couldn't be refined, the experiment couldn't go on, and even the me I was before was only a semi-finished product. After Nico died, he passed a part of the mysterious substance to me through our unique connection, which caused me to have something. kind of change.”

After listening quietly, Loren looked at Flamel's body. Except for the change in appearance, he didn't feel any difference from before.

After all, the former Flamel was also full of vitality, loved opera, could think, and would change his point of view.

Loren suddenly had a magical guess: "If I refine the Philosopher's Stone in the future, use the Philosopher's Stone to make a body without a soul, and put you in it, will you become a complete person?"

Flamel froze in place, and after thinking for a while, he said, "Nico has no relevant experience in his memory, so I can't deduce the answer."

"Try it when the time comes!" Loren waved his arms excitedly, "The highest pursuit of alchemy may be realized in my hands!"

Flamel glanced at Loren, he hesitated, not knowing whether to say it or not.

Finally he spoke: "That was just Nicole's pursuit when he was 60 years old, and he gave up in less than [-] years."

Loren's eyebrows were slowly knit together. After all, it was the supreme pursuit of alchemy. Would Nico be too hasty.

"So what is his pursuit behind?" Loren still asked.

"Refining the sun and creating the world," Flamel replied.

It sounded like a dream. Loren was expressionless, pretending not to hear the words: "I came to you for unicorn horns. Do you have any channels to buy real unicorn horns?"

While speaking, he walked to the table and sat down.

"No."

Sitting opposite Loren, Flamel replied bluntly, "Legal unicorn horns don't exist, and you can't get illegal ones. So I'll let you find the unicorn horn first. This is the magic of restoration." The most difficult step of the mirror."

Loren was prepared in his heart, and was not disappointed when he heard the words: "Dumbledore said that there might be clues in the Muggle Castle of Windsor. Do you know what connection Windsor Castle has with unicorns?"

"Windsor Castle is the palace of the royal family. The Queen of England once got a unicorn horn from a businessman, but later found out that it was the spiral horn of a narwhal. She was deceived."

"I thought maybe the unicorn horn they got was real and covered it up with fake news," Flamel speculated.

Loren was puzzled: "How could a Muggle hunt a unicorn?"

"Don't underestimate the power of Muggles." Flamel said something similar to Dumbledore.

He began to talk about the past history: "The law of secrecy is to protect wizards, not Muggles. Hundreds of years ago, there were professional unicorn hunters in Northern Europe.

The hunter makes the pure girl wait under the tree. When the unicorn is attracted by the girl and falls asleep with its head on the girl's lap, the hunter will take the opportunity to cut off the unicorn's head, or kill it with arrows, traps, or poison. kill them.Even if such an opportunity can only be encountered once in ten years, it can always be encountered. "

Loren couldn't figure it out, unicorns were stronger than werewolves in combat, and Muggle hunters must kill more Muggles when they hunted unicorns.

"What use is it for ordinary people to get unicorn horns?"

Flamel smiled softly: "Don't forget, there is a unicorn representing Scotland on the royal coat of arms, and the symbolic meaning is also very important."

Loren began to discuss with Flamel how to steal the unicorn horn from the heavily guarded Windsor Castle.

Flamel, who has Nico's hundreds of years of memory, has rich experience. He proposed that the freezing spell can stop the sirens of Muggles, and the disillusionment spell passed their sight.

"It's safer to do it after you learn to Apparate," Flamel suggested.

……

"Loren, get up!"

"Breakfast is ready!" Grandpa Bates said happily from downstairs.

"Hmm~"

Loren's answer came with a protracted nasal voice. He turned over and moved around, his breathing became even again, and he fell asleep again.

"Loren! It's breakfast!" Grandpa Bates' voice was powerful and powerful, passing through the stairs, the door still echoed in Loren's ears.

Loren held the quilt with both hands and pulled it up over his head, and buried himself in the quilt.

Boom!
dong dong!

The knock on the door was followed by Grandpa Bates' joyful voice: "Get up quickly, don't sleep late, Hermione will be here waiting for you in a while."

On the bed, a hand stretched out from under the quilt, picked up the alarm clock at the bedside, and moved it to the gap in the quilt.

Loren struggled to see the alarm clock clearly. The hour and minute hands coincided, around 6:35.

"I can't go on with this day." A dull and painful moan came from under the quilt.

He was too excited to prepare the theft plan last night. He didn't know how late he slept, but he definitely didn't sleep enough now.

A few minutes later, Loren dragged his stiff body downstairs with a numb expression, and washed up.It wasn't until the warm milk was put into his mouth that his brain slowly turned on.

Put the fried luncheon meat and bacon on the bread slice, then fold it in half, put it in your mouth and bite it off.Carbohydrates, fats and proteins bring blissful satisfaction and infuse energy and vitality into a stiff body.

"Come back to life!" Loren exclaimed.

There was a smile on the corner of Bates' mouth. He had already eaten, but watching Loren eat, he could also feel a kind of happiness and satisfaction.

"Is the principal of the magic school busy? I left in such a hurry that I didn't have time to thank him." Bates woke up on the sofa in the morning and took some time to think clearly about what happened last night.

"Maybe I'm busy recently." Loren replied, "I will thank Principal Dumbledore for you."

He finished one slice of bread and started rolling the second, asking, "How did you feel after the ceremony?"

"Relaxed, happy, almost ten years younger." Bates' answer was full of air.

Loren just smiled: "Magic is not that magical, it's a psychological effect on you."

"A burden that has been carried for decades and finally thrown away."

Bates felt more joy. He didn't want to talk about the heavy past. He looked at the watch on the table and said, "You treat Hermione well at home. I have to go to the bank to handle some business."

Loren complained: "I go to do business every day, are the procedures of this house so complicated?"

"It's not just this house."

Bates thought for a while, and thought he could tell Loren, "The company that rented the farm signed a long-term agreement with me. I sold the proceeds to the bank and got a lot of money directly. There is still a lot left after buying this house. Go to Banks are for fund procedures.”

Can an old man who lives alone in a remote area and has been isolated from the world for decades be able to engage in finance as soon as he leaves society?
Loren was stunned, forgetting to chew the luncheon meat in his mouth.

(End of this chapter)