days at Hogwarts

Chapter 726 Peaceful Summer Vacation

The last day of June, Monday.

Grandpa Bates was in the backyard, wearing an old vest he used when he herded sheep. It was torn in several places and there was a rip on his trouser leg, revealing a lot of threads. It was not known whether it was intentional or accidental, but he managed to make the ranch farmer's clothes look trendy. This fashionable old man was watering his trees in the backyard with a hose nozzle.

In summer, the temperature is high and the water vapor of trees evaporates quickly, so they need to be watered regularly. Watering is a very particular job. Some places need to be watered thoroughly, while some delicate trees cannot be watered too much, as the roots are prone to rot.

The old man was very patient and watered the plants meticulously.

I don’t know how many trees died in exchange for this experience.

"Tsk..."

Loren smacked his lips after watching the water flowing from the showerhead for more than ten minutes. He felt a little thirsty, so he turned and went into the house, opened the refrigerator, took out a bottle of Coke, and when he closed the refrigerator door and was about to leave, he noticed a sticky note stuck on it.

That was the summer vacation plan he made when he just got off school. It listed Loren's daily schedule: study with Hermione in the morning and complete the summer homework on time every day; take time to study space shifting in the afternoon and explore magic different from Apparition; read the fantasy book before going to bed at night and discuss the characteristics of the strange Soul Stone with Flamel...

"emmm..."

It has been two weeks since the holiday, but it seems that I have not accomplished anything, and I have also overdue a lot of homework that should have been completed.

Loren paused for a moment, thought for a moment, opened the refrigerator and took out another bottle of Coke.

Hermione should have finished her Charms homework. I'll borrow her paper for reference. This bottle of Coke is just a thank you gift.

……

The Grangers.

Today is a weekday, and the Grangers went to work at the dental clinic early in the morning.

Hermione washed the dishes, walked out of the kitchen, and wiped the water droplets off her hands, feeling a little subtle.

After returning from vacation, perhaps inspired by Loren, her parents somehow noticed that she was not good at housework and began to let her take over some housework within her ability. In the past, she occasionally participated in cleaning the oven, tidying up the utility room and cleaning the whole house, but she was basically a supporting role, and her parents were the main force. Now she has become the main force. Washing dishes in the morning, helping to prepare ingredients for dinner...

Before I knew it, I was taking on a lot of housework.

Sometimes Hermione wanted to use magic to slack off, but her mother told her to do it herself, saying that she was almost an adult and should get some practice.

The air made a slight explosion, and after a slight surge of airflow, a figure carrying two bottles of Coke appeared in the living room.

Hermione put down her handkerchief and turned slowly, her head tilted slightly and a puzzled look appeared in her eyes.

Loren handed over the opened Coke in his hand: "Hermione, let's do our homework."

"?"

Hermione gave him a strange look but followed him to the study.

The soft light illuminated the room, and on the desk were beige and gray parchment and reference books. Both of their homework were here, sorted according to the course sequence, but some were still at the beginning of the book, while others had already finished Transfiguration and Charms.

Take your seats and start studying!
The quill pen dipped in ink left smooth marks on the paper.

While pausing to dip her pen in ink, Hermione looked up and saw that this man was drawing on her Charms paper. In his words, he was taking the bad parts from it, removing the valuable essence, and reducing the length and word count by half so that it could pass the professor's review without being noticed.

"..."

Hermione thought about it for a moment, but decided not to interrupt him.

It's already great that she can sit down and do her homework with peace of mind. If it were a few days ago, I would have dragged her to watch fantasy movies to find inspiration.

But every time I was convinced by his weird reasons.

Ten minutes later.

Loren dusted off the parchment, feeling quite pleased with himself. He already had a draft of the paper, and all that remained was a mindless process of collecting examples, tidying up the wording, and finalizing the copy.

Just have some hands!

Loren thought for a moment, put down his quill, and looked up at the outstanding students: "Hermione, Hermione, I have exceeded today's task, and I plan to reward myself and have a good meal at noon. Do you want to eat anything?"

Without waiting for the girl to answer, he immediately added: "How about stewed beef brisket with potatoes? The beef your mother bought is good, but unfortunately we didn't have enough time that day to make the stew."

"..."

Hermione was a little helpless, and even more helpless was the saliva secreted between her lips and tongue: "Can't you just finish writing the paper first?"

"I promise to finish the paper today!" Loren promised solemnly, and then changed the subject, "But the ingredients are freshest in the morning. If we don't go shopping now, they will wilt in the afternoon, and the quality of the meat will also deteriorate. We can stew the meat after purchasing it, and we can copy the paper while waiting for the stewing time. What do you think?"

“Are you sure you can finish the paper?”

"You still don't trust my speed in completing the homework?"

"I don't trust your attitude."

"Um……"

Loren hesitated for a moment and said, "Your suspicion is reasonable, but I really want to stew beef brisket now. I advise you to cooperate a little and save time."

"..."

Hermione wanted to say something in rebuttal, but the man had already come over, snatched the quill from her hand and threw it into the ink bottle, then pulled her hand and walked out, turning off the lights and closing the door, and came to the living room. When he came to his senses, he had even put on his shoes.

He sighed silently in his heart and let the man drag him to the fresh food supermarket.

……

"Stir-fry the beef in a pan before stewing it, it will taste better."

Loren held the spatula and turned the chopped beef brisket inside. The spices and hot oil stimulated a strange aroma. "Sometimes I think the potatoes inside are more delicious than the meat, but the best thing is the gravy. I used to mix rice with broth, but now I've learned bad habits from you and use broth to soak bread. You know what, the bread absorbs the gravy better and it tastes pretty good."

"Why do we need to dry the bloody meat? Won't we add water later?"

"You have to stir-fry before stewing, and there can't be water when stir-frying."

"Why can't the potatoes be put into the pot at the same time as the meat?"

"Potatoes cook easily and will melt if you stew them for a long time."

"I see……"

Hermione stood by and watched, silently memorizing the recipe in her heart, her face glowing rosy under the fire, and there was a gleam in her eyes, both because of the delicious food she was about to taste and because of the person in front of her.

"All right."

Loren finished all the preparatory steps, covered the pot, washed his hands and dried them: "Now wait for it to slowly cook and become fragrant..."

Hermione took off his apron while sorting out the recipe in her mind, nodded gently, and looked him in the eyes: "So are you going to write the paper now?"

"Of course!"

Loren turned and was about to walk towards the study, but suddenly stopped, frowned, and looked serious: "The kitchen is stewing meat, the fire is so strong, and I am going to my room to write my paper now. What if something unexpected happens? Burning the pot is just a small matter, what if there is a gas leak?"

"I have finished my thesis, I can stay in the living room." Loren was startled, frowned, and thought about how to refute: "Then let me ask you, then let me ask you... How do you know when the meat is cooked?"

"You tell me a time, and I'll call you when the time comes, or I'll call you every fifteen minutes."

"I'm still worried. Forget it. I'll wait in the living room."

"Then I'll continue doing my homework."

"No, I'll feel uneasy if you do your homework alone. Watch TV with me."

"I knew it."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, she was used to it.

It had been like this for the past two weeks. He could always find various reasons to interrupt his own study plan, and at the same time interrupt hers, watching movies, chatting, and playing video games. She could only finish her Transfiguration and Charms homework after dinner, but she did not reject this feeling of being together, and even secretly enjoyed it.

The TV made a very subtle sound of electricity when it was turned on, and the light and sound made the room lively. Loren put his arm around her shoulders, soft and warm, and the two of them sank into the sofa.

Hermione leaned naturally on his shoulder, moving her head slightly, finding the familiar pillow position.

……

The progress of revising the first draft is a little slower than expected.

On July 3, Loren went to his neighbor's house again, knocked on the door of the study of an outstanding student, and spent nearly an hour looking for examples. He deleted and modified them and copied them down. The Charms paper was completed, but Hermione had not finished the next Defense Against the Dark Arts paper. It was probably because she was striving for excellence and perfection, so it took more time.

Today's study quota has been used up, and Loren doesn't want to start a new paper right away, not to mention that he doesn't have Professor Granger's sample paper to refer to.

I glanced at the time on the wall clock. It was just ten o'clock in the morning and there were still two hours until lunch.

Today's lunch menu was decided last night, and Hermione also thoughtfully prepared the ingredients, including very convenient pasta and salad, so there is no need to start preparing two hours in advance.

Loren couldn't find a reason, so he had to open his notebook to look at the assignment assigned by Professor Bagshot: read the recommended books (see Appendix 17 of the textbook for the list of books), and try to analyze the magical animals that may appear in the swamp jungle environment, and how to deal with them.

Also read the recommended books, no wonder Hermione hasn't finished writing yet.

Open the book list again, and you will see a series of books whose names sound boring.

Loren sighed, rubbed his brows, and began to read the literature.

Hermione raised her eyes and glanced at his movements, with a smile on her lips. As long as the preliminary preparations were sufficient, he would not find an excuse to interrupt his study plan.

"Hermione, it's been two weeks since the holiday. Do you think there's any result from the visit of Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Snape?"

"I don't know." Hermione had a complicated expression.

"excuse me, may I ask."

Loren took out his communicator and, considering that Professor Snape had arrived at Ilvermorny earlier, sent him a message first.

Loren: "Professor, how is the snake tree? Have you found the living Horcrux?"

After waiting for half a minute, there was no reply.

Loren was not discouraged and immediately sent an identical message to Dumbledore.

While waiting for a reply, Loren included copy-paste and long-press forwarding in the communicator improvement plan, intending to cooperate with Weasley's Wheezes to upgrade it in two batches, with a year between each upgrade.

Of course, as a conscientious merchant, the price remains unchanged.

Just as we were preparing a grand business blueprint, the principal's reply came.

Dumbledore: "We have confirmed that the snake tree is not a Horcrux, and there are no traces of soul fragments. However, the snake tree has a problem of shrinking vitality. The new buds sprouting this year are sparser than in previous years, and the leaves are also sparser. Before autumn, the leaves have turned yellow and fallen. Newt and Pomona are trying to treat it."

Loren: "Is it related to Voldemort?"

Dumbledore: "It is not ruled out, but no trace of dark magic has been found so far."

Dumbledore: "Also, the Magical Congress of the United States has discovered traces of the Death Eaters, and the Aurors are hunting them down. I'll let you know if there are any other clues."

Loren: “Oh, that’s it.”

He gently stroked the communicator, with many questions in his heart, but as they were separated by the Atlantic Ocean, he could not get any detailed information through text communication alone, so he had to say goodbye to the principal.

"What's going on?" Hermione, who was sitting opposite, looked up.

"..."

After listening to Loren's retelling, the little witch showed a thoughtful expression. She was a little surprised that Professor Sprout also went to Ilvermorny, but then she thought it was normal, after all, she was the professor of Herbology.

"Let me ask Harry again." Loren pressed the communicator.

Loren: "Harry, how are you doing?"

Loren: "How's your Legilimency training going?"

Loren: "Any news about living Horcruxes?"

This is the embodiment of how to deal with people. When facing friends you haven't contacted for a long time, first convey warm summer greetings to give the other party a little buffer, and then get into the topic after fully warming up the atmosphere. Sincere roommate friendship makes the topic less awkward and the other party will be more receptive.

Perhaps sensing his friendship, Harry's reply was quick and urgent.

Harry: "Finally you remembered me!"

Harry: "Before the holiday, we agreed to exchange letters, but half a month has passed and only Ginny has written to me!"

Harry: You guys!

Harry: "If it weren't for Voldemort and the Horcruxes, you would have to go back to school to remember me!"

I didn't expect that I underestimated Harry's resentment. The opening remarks should be longer to make the roommates' friendship more sincere. Loren showed a thoughtful expression and pressed the copper Knut carefully.

Loren: "So did Legilimency find any clues to the Horcruxes?"

This time I waited several minutes before receiving a response.

Harry: "hjdoiuwehiuWith the help of Hagrid and Grawp, the Legilimency training went smoothly. I have basically mastered it. Trying to use the Mirror of Erised to perform Legilimency on myself is not going well. The reflections of my family always remind me of the memories of my time with them, and I can't guide anything else."

Loren: "The Mirror of Erised doesn't always reflect your desires. Remember, Dumbledore once hid the Philosopher's Stone in the mirror. You can try to use the mirror in other ways. Also, what do the letters in front mean?"

Harry: "Nothing, there are too many curse words to you guys, I can't delete them all, so I just posted it like this."

Loren shook his head and would not have asked if he had known.

Then he put the communicator back into the pendant, conveyed the content of the conversation to Hermione, glanced at the wall clock, it was almost lunch time, packed up the paper and pen, got up and walked to the kitchen. The meat sauce of pasta also has its own requirements.

Hermione looked at his back, a gleam in her eyes.

(End of this chapter)