days at Hogwarts

Chapter 195 Windsor Castle Fire

"Not only transfiguration, the lower layer of the stone shell is also engraved with a seal and a protective alchemy circle. From this point of view, there are only two ways to open the stone ball and take out the resurrection stone in its entirety. One is that Dumbledore unlocks the seal himself, One is that he surpasses Dumbledore in magic and alchemy."

"Of course, this is not absolute. Using Fiendfire or Gryffindor's sword can also open the violent stone ball, but it will be destroyed together with the resurrection stone hidden inside."

Loren held the black stone ball in front of his eyes, his eyes penetrated the appearance of the stone shell, and he saw the complex alchemy circle inside, analyzing the alchemy inside.

After the trip to Gaunt's old house, Loren did not follow Dumbledore back to Hogwarts Castle.He had already left school anyway, so he simply took advantage of the weekend to go home and enjoy the rare vacation.

There was Lockhart's Oblivion Charm teaching on Saturday night, and he could stay until tomorrow afternoon before returning to school.

"Loren, it's time for dinner." Bates' voice came from the dining table, full of air.

Bates set out wooden bowls and spoons full of wheat porridge boiled in goat's milk on the table, savory smoked lamb, and a plate of small wild berries in various colors.

He raised his eyebrows proudly: "Wendel and I picked these wild berries when we were fishing by the river. All my catches today were used to exchange these wild berries with him."

It didn't take much thinking to guess that Wendell must have taken the fish to show off in front of Monica, bragging that the catch of the two was his alone.

Anglers are like that.

Loren grabbed a handful of small wild berries and threw them into his mouth. He shuddered and frowned tightly, "Yeah, don't pick them anymore. The berries here are sour."

"You're a picky eater. How could it be sour? Wendell and I picked it after tasting it."

Bates snorted, grabbed a handful with his big hands, and threw them all into his mouth. His expression became ferocious in an instant, and he trembled with soreness.The physalis juice bursting from his mouth irritated the veins in his neck to swell.

"Not sour," Bates swallowed with difficulty, trying to speak nonsense, "not sour at all..."

"Come on, you're so sour that you're turning into a werewolf."

"Stinky boy, how do you talk... It's strange, it was obviously not sour at the time..."

……

After the meal, Bates took the remaining berries to the next door to share. In his words: These are also the fruits of Wendell's labor, and he cannot monopolize them.

Loren lay back on the sofa, unfolding a copy of the "Evening Standard" to pass the time leisurely, and an urgent report caught his attention:

On November 1992, 11, a fire broke out at Windsor Castle.

The fire started in a small chapel in the northeast of the castle and spread rapidly, and the smoke of the fire could be seen rising five miles away.

More than 200 firefighters Wen Xun rushed to the scene to put out the fire...The queen's second son, Prince Andrew, who was in the castle when the fire broke out, also joined the "human chain" of rescuing precious cultural relics...The world's largest single carpet in the Victorian era was also taken away by people rescued.Prince Andrew was interviewed by reporters at the scene, and he highly praised people's brave, rapid and effective fire fighting operations.

The Brunsvik Tower in the castle, the church's private prayer room, St. George's State Banquet Hall, Crimson's Studio, Chester Tower and other buildings have been severely burned, and the roof of St. George's State Banquet Hall has collapsed. Another 6 famous paintings were burned.Losses amounted to tens of millions of pounds.

"There are no deaths in this fire." Loren read the last line softly.

The timing of the fire was too coincidental. According to calculations, he and Dumbledore had just left Windsor Castle, and the castle immediately caught fire.

He didn't know how many fire-fighting facilities there were in the castle, which invested a huge amount of money every year to maintain it, whether there was sufficient protection against fires, and how likely it was that there were no other factors to cause a fire.

He didn't know a lot of things, he had no clues, he didn't have any evidence, but it happened that he didn't have to think about it, and he could think that the fire had something to do with the house-elf.

He had taken the horn of the only unicorn in the castle that had anything to do with the wizarding world, and he was sure the house-elves had no reason to set the castle on fire.But it seems that there is no need for any reason. For the magical house elf, this may just be a snap of his fingers.

It's like a long time ago, when he went up the mountain to graze sheep, he trampled to death the grasshoppers on the roadside, without any reason.

The pictures of the firefighting scene in the newspaper were in color, rubbing the printed ink marks on them, Loren felt very complicated in his heart.

To the world of ordinary people, an inconspicuous house-elf is like a natural disaster. People have no choice but to bear the disaster brought by magic.

For magical creatures, Muggles are grasshoppers that can be easily crushed by the roadside.

For the magic world, human society is like lambs waiting to be slaughtered...

Loren couldn't arrest a house-elf who set fire to justice, and Muggles didn't have a court of justice for house-elves.No matter how many thoughts and thoughts are woken up, they are completely left behind.

The next day, Loren, carrying a hoe and a shovel taller than him, helped Bates dig holes and fill them in the backyard, and planted a few low sycamore trees.

Doesn't use magic at all, just like a normal Muggle.

Loren squatted next to the last sycamore tree that had just been filled with soil, watching Betsy running the water pipe and pouring water on the roots of the tree.

"Are you sure you watered it like this? We are transplanting trees, not planting wheat. You won't drown them?" Loren asked.

Bates didn't even look at him, and replied in a low voice: "On Arbor Day two weeks ago, the Mayor of London went to Hyde Park to plant trees. Wendell took me to see them. That's how they watered."

Loren muttered, "Politician's show job? Can you believe this? The tree planted by the mayor can come back to life even if it dies..."

The autumn is crisp and clear, the soil in the backyard is beaten wet, and there is cold water vapor in the air, but the leaves of these sycamore trees are still green.Squatting under the tree and looking up, the green leaves against the blue sky are like forget-me-nots. The blue is so deep that people can immerse themselves in it.

……

After dinner, Loren returned to Hogwarts with a package full of sweets, and easily found the plotting trio in Myrtle's bathroom.

"So you have confirmed the monster in the secret room?" Loren threw chocolates into his mouth one after another, without any surprised expression on his face.

"Yes," "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" was spread out in front of Harry, on which was the page recording the basilisk: "After Mrs. Norris was attacked, Hermione concluded that petrification and snakes Clues, lead us to find monsters based on these two clues. It’s just that she will focus on brewing potions later, and we will leave this work to the two of us.”

"I met Rolf in the library. I thought that's what their family does, so I asked, and he pointed out the basilisk to us right away." Ron smiled and unfolded the picture of him carrying Mrs. Pince behind his back. Torn pages.

Hermione also had a smile on her face: "We have already met Dumbledore, and he said that after the Christmas holidays, when most of the students go home, they will search the castle thoroughly."

Loren has a strange expression on his face, are you sure Dumbledore isn't delaying time by saying that...

He weighed his words carefully: "But Harry, there is still a month until Christmas. According to you, it's enough for Malfoy, no, it's enough for Basilisk to send half of the Muggle wizards to the school hospital."

He pointed them to a passage introducing the basilisk's abilities, "Only when the victim's eyes meet the basilisk's gaze indirectly, such as through reflection, do they merely petrify, most of the time anyone If you keep your eyes on it, you will die instantly."

"Does this mean that Mrs. Norris and Colin were just lucky, and other people who encountered the basilisk probably didn't just go to the school hospital." Loren put pressure on the three of them crazily, laughing wildly in his heart.

The joy on the faces of the three little ones froze.

Loren suppressed the smile on the corner of his mouth, and continued: "There is one more thing, what if a comprehensive search can't find it? Think about it, the basilisk only comes out when committing crimes, and usually hides in the secret room. And for thousands of years , no one has found any traces of the secret room, so will we be able to find the secret room after a thorough search?"

Harry and Ron looked at each other, got up, and ran towards the headmaster's office. They were going to tell Dumbledore about it.

Hermione stood up with her hands, walked to the cauldron where the fire was extinguished, and continued to boil the Polyjuice Potion without saying a word.

Loren got up and followed, stuffing snacks into her mouth non-stop, and by the way, feeding Hermione when she couldn't spare her hands.

"Hey, where have you been all day and a half?" Hermione had a whole piece of chocolate wrapped in her mouth, and she had to be careful not to let the chocolate fall into the cauldron when she spoke.

"Dumbledore took me to visit a senior. Then I took advantage of the weekend and went home for a day."

Loren felt that there was nothing wrong with what he said. Tom Riddle introduced himself as a senior, a real senior.

Hermione swallowed the chocolate, and her tone was coquettish because of envy: "I want to go home and wait until Christmas, but the school may search for basilisks during the Christmas holidays, and I also want to stay in school to see the basilisks."

"Go home, the basilisk is not as important as going home." Loren fed another biscuit.

"But, maybe the basilisk can only see this once." Hermione sighed faintly. For her who was very curious, this was a dilemma.

"Maybe we can find the basilisk before the Christmas holiday?"

Loren looked at the color of the lacewings in the crucible, and estimated the progress: "Oh, it doesn't seem to work. The fire has been stopped for too long, and it will take double the time to make up."

"Ah - you are so annoying!"

……

Hallway at night.

Loren walked on the way to Lockhart's office, the footsteps echoed in the silent corridor, so quiet, as if he was the only one in the corridor.

But it's just as if.

He was unprepared before, so he didn't notice it. After being reminded by Dumbledore outside Windsor Castle, Loren began to pay attention to the sight of the house elf.

Sure enough, when he came out of the auditorium after eating, he felt a special gaze following him.He wanted to ask the house elf why he set fire to Windsor Castle after the matter was over.

But you can't act rashly, Dumbledore wants to keep the people behind the scenes as Harry's sharpening stone.

Hidden in the shadows around corners, hidden behind stairs, hidden in hollow armor, the housewizard's mobility in the castle is very convenient.Compared to yesterday, the house elf, who lacked a little finger on his right hand, pulled the distance closer and tracked him more closely.

"The missing finger is my master's punishment for my incompetence. Yes, I should be punished." The house-elf whispered something only he could hear, in a low, high-pitched voice.

He felt the pain from his fingers, and his tone turned into a bitter one: "I hope this damn little Muggle wizard won't leave the castle again. If I lose him again, my head will definitely be used to hatch snake eggs..."

Arriving at the door of Lockhart's office, Loren knocked on the door, then pushed the door open, "Good evening, Professor Lockhart."

The office is still filled with portraits and photos of Lockhart, each with a delicate smile and a radiant glow.

Lockhart was standing in front of the mirror to sort out his appearance. He was wearing a conspicuous fuchsia gorgeous robe, holding a wand in his hand, and he was posing in handsome duel poses in different ways. He also kept adjusting his eyes to strive for the best viewing effect.

"Hey, Loren, you're here at the right time! Come and help me see, which kind of duel posture do you think is better for holding a wand?"

Look better?Shouldn't the duel posture be based on the convenience of casting spells?Loren fell silent.

Lockhart, who didn't get an answer, didn't care. He kept switching actions in front of the mirror: "You should have seen the notice posted in the common room. Tomorrow at [-] o'clock in the evening, I will start the first session of the Dueling Club in the auditorium. An event."

Loren hasn't visited the common room since he returned to the castle, so he doesn't know about the Dueling Club.He remembered Lockhart's other club: "Professor, is your professional club still in operation?"

"Oh... um..." Lockhart hesitated for a while.

He later found out that when the time was right, the dean of the college would find the little wizard for one-on-one career counseling.In contrast, his lectures were all self-proclaimed and false content. The young wizards were willing to listen to the whole lecture because of his good storytelling and the temptation of recommendation letters.

Lockhart made amends for himself: "I gave all the content of the professional club to the four deans, and you will know it when you are in the fifth grade."

He convinced himself in an instant, and his tone became warm: "Yes, I will not be teaching at Hogwarts for too long. You know, I am an adventurer after all. Like an unruly wind, a People with an adventurous spirit don’t stay in the same place for long. So I handed over the professional club to four directors, and I believe they will pass on my beliefs.”

"But don't worry, I will teach you the Oblivion Curse." Lockhart patted Loren's shoulder affectionately, and began tonight's teaching...

(End of this chapter)