days at Hogwarts

Chapter 727 Harry: Loren still cares about me

Hogwarts.

The bluestones used to build the outer walls were blunted by wind and sand, and took on a deep dark green color after being exposed to the sun and rain. The morning mist that had not yet dissipated floated in the corners of the walls, and dewdrops were condensed on a few blades of grass. However, the top floor of the tower was bathed in the summer sun, and the bricks and stones were stained with a faint golden light. The light and dark contrast made this magic school even more dreamy.

Harry sat on the marble steps at the front of the hall, staring at the copper Knut in his hand.

Unfortunately, Copper Nat remained silent. After a few minutes, no new messages were received. If nothing unexpected happened, no new messages would be received in the short term.

The expectation in Harry's eyes slowly died down, and he sighed deeply, like an old widower left alone in his hometown.

Based on his understanding of this friend, this guy has most likely put away the communicator. If there is no valuable information, the next time he thinks of communicating with his roommate who stays on campus will probably be on his seventeenth birthday at the end of the month.

This heartless guy is reliable at critical moments and his advice is very useful, but he is only patient with Hermione. As for other people, his attitude is to be perfunctory as long as they are not right in front of him.

But this guy is quick-witted. No matter how bad the other person's attitude is through the communicator and the letter paper, he always finds a way to eliminate the other person's anger the next time they meet, making people lose their temper at all.

"..."

Harry muttered to himself that he would question him harshly next time they met and make him feel ashamed.

A breeze blew through the castle, through the empty corridors and hallways, blowing along the walls to disperse the fog that was trapped in the school, making a slight sound.

"Huh, huh..."

The branches and leaves of flowers and plants swayed gently, and dewdrops fell, as if everything in this ancient building was responding to his thoughts. The castle came alive and therefore seemed quiet.

Harry let out a long breath. His butt felt a little cold after sitting on the stone for so long. He stood up, patted his back twice, and then walked towards the Forbidden Forest.

Hagrid should be back soon. He and Grawp have to patrol the Forbidden Forest once in the morning and once in the evening. The time is not fixed, but they always walk twice a day, both to prevent people from sneaking into the school during the holidays and to prevent forest fires. Of course, the main purpose is to collect food for the giant brothers.

The unicorn seemed to know that school was on vacation and would occasionally go out to the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest.

There are also the centaurs. On the night of the last waning moon, Firenze took a few ponies to the field to do divination, lighting a bonfire made of strange hay, which was filled with smoke.

I don't know what future this portends, but it does have a pretty good mosquito repellent effect.

Summer vacation life at Hogwarts was not boring, sometimes it was quite lively. He was not the only one in the castle. In addition to the house-elves who were unwilling to take a vacation, there was also Professor McGonagall.

It was said that Professor McGonagall stayed at school specifically for him, but Harry was not sure about the details.

The main job of the house-elves at present is to clean the castle, including the residences of the four colleges, those long-term classrooms, and various remote towers. The Hogwarts kitchen no longer supplies three meals in bulk. If you don’t go to Hagrid, you have to eat with Professor McGonagall every day, which feels weird.

We had to report to the office before lights out every night, which felt like dormitory inspections in a Muggle boarding school.

After walking for about ten minutes, we arrived at the Forbidden Forest Lodge.

Now it has become a small courtyard covering a large area. The nearby trees have been cut down and cleared, part of them have been made into firewood for the winter, and part of them have been made into fences.

The vegetable plot was divided into several plots by earthen ridges. The largest plot was planted with pumpkins, and the others were planted with purple cabbage, radishes, cauliflowers...

There was also a small piece of empty land with nothing planted on it. It was Aragog's grave, but the weeds on it were quite lush.

The yard was quiet, the doors and windows were closed, and there was a pile of dried wood on the open ground, which looked like they were ready to be chopped for firewood. The water tank in front of the door was empty, with only half of the water left.

It looked like Hagrid and Grawp hadn't come back yet.

There was a small iron lock on the door. It was crudely made and had a fragile lock post. It was obviously unable to stop the Unlocking Charm. Hagrid probably wouldn't mind... but Harry didn't open the door and go in.

He couldn't explain why.

Somewhat influenced by Loren.

Harry glanced at the firewood and the water tank, thought carefully for a moment, and decided to lean on the fence to look at the slugs on the pumpkin head and wait for Hagrid to come back next to the vegetable patch.

These tasks were slow and tiring for him to do, so he might as well wait here for Hagrid and Grawp to come back.

There are good reasons, and this is also influenced by Loren.

The two slugs were about to cross the vines lying in the middle and complete their destined encounter. At this moment, a loud barking sound finally sounded from the path behind the house.

Harry withdrew his unsatisfied gaze, stood up and walked towards the back, ready to tell Hagrid that it was time to deworm his vegetable garden.

Fang was as enthusiastic as ever. When he got closer, he started spinning around his trouser legs, sticking out his tongue and humming softly, as if he was introducing him to what he had seen along the way. Hagrid stayed behind and kept an eye on Grawp, trying to prevent him from being attracted by some birds or butterflies and running into the forest and getting lost. There had been precedents for this before.

"Hagrid, Grawp!"

"Hah... Harry..."

"It's Harry! Why don't you go inside and wait?" Hagrid threw the hunted rabbit on the ground and wiped his hands on his moleskin coat. "I was delayed for a while by Bain on the way, so I came back late. Please help me keep an eye on Grawp, I'll go prepare lunch."

"Oh!"

Harry sometimes felt like he was a professor, staying at school to help Hagrid look after the children.

I wonder if Professor McGonagall felt the same way about him, worried that he would be attracted by some butterflies or birds and leave the school, doing something stupid and making some noise so that he could only be found.

It feels a little subtle.

Harry had already mastered the knack of getting along with Grawp. He walked up to the pure-blooded, stunted giant and pulled out a box from his storage scales. He opened the box and found an oval grey ball tied inside.

Bludger!
Harry specifically asked Professor McGonagall for this equipment, which was about to be eliminated from the school. It had passed its expiration date, and the Bludger seemed to have gone insane, flying all over the place, but its speed had increased, making it completely unusable for competitions.

It would be a perfect toy for Grawp.

As soon as the rope was untied, the thing rushed out, drawing a straight line to hit the water tank in the yard, but was caught by Grawp's big hand, and then changed direction and slipped out from between his fingers, and was caught by another giant hand and slipped out from between his fingers again...

This went on and on, and both the pure-blooded giant and the Bludger had a lot of fun.

With the help of the old Bludger's charm, Harry temporarily made Grawp sit down on the ground. Although his arms were waving, his legs and head were stable, so that he would not accidentally hurt Harry, and it would not interfere with his Legilimency practice.

Isn’t the head of a pure-blooded giant more hollow than your own?
At least enough space for a young Hippogriff.

Harry, who was standing on the ground but not yet as tall as the giant's ankles, smiled, stepped back a little, and looked up at the struggling giant.

The fog in the forest had not completely dissipated, and the sun was slanting down, and the light seemed to have a shape. The giant's head was covered with curly, thick fern-colored hair, and his skin was rough and thick. From a distance, he looked like a moss-covered rock. His face was incredibly large, and his facial features seemed to have been roughly hewn out of a boulder. His short, thick nose was almost shapeless, and his mouth was crooked, covered with strangely shaped yellow teeth half the size of a brick...

Most importantly, those huge brown-green eyes were piercing. Harry silently chanted in his heart: "Legitimate Mindfulness"

……

"When can we convince Hagrid to give up the rock pie?"

Harry hummed incoherently, his steps brisk.

It was already sunset, and the golden afterglow was scattered on the open and wide field, so bright that it was a little dazzling. The castle in front was also covered with a layer of golden shirt. Harry was planning the next practice schedule, and before he knew it, the entrance hall was in sight in the distance.

Harry entered the castle and caught a glimpse of a familiar figure from the corner of his eye. The short and thin elf was standing at the entrance of the hall. He immediately walked over.
"Dobby, are you back from vacation?"

"Dobby went too far. The wizards there couldn't understand what he said, so they could only communicate with gestures. Everything was very expensive, so Dobby came back after spending all his savings." The house-elf looked excited and didn't feel sorry for the money at all.

"I can't understand you, where have you been?"

"Dobby doesn't know either."

"Forget it, as long as I get back safely, I'll be staying in school during the summer vacation anyway, so we can still be companions. Those elves in the kitchen are afraid to talk to me, and every time I think I'm a bad guy, it's weird."

"Harry is a good man!"

Dobby shouted loudly, and seemed to remember something. He lowered his head quietly, not daring to look Harry in the eye, and whispered, "But Dobby can't accompany Harry. Dobby has to go to work and save money so that he can go further next time."

Harry was stunned for a moment, but when he thought that this was a house-elf and this was Dobby, he didn't find it strange anymore.

Thinking of the dining problem that had troubled him recently, Harry's eyes lit up: "How about I hire you to work for me?"

Dobby stared at him with wide eyes, a little angry: "Dobby should have worked for you. Dobby is an employee of Hogwarts and has received Mr. Dumbledore's salary. How can he take another salary from you? Do you think Dobby is some greedy elf?"

"What a mess..."

Harry looked at the stubborn little guy and felt a little headache. He said tentatively: "If it was during normal school hours, you should indeed provide services, but now it is summer vacation and you are on vacation. You are not obligated to continue to provide services."

"Dobby and Harry are friends. Dobby is willing to serve Harry, even without pay!"

"I know, I know..." Harry thought for a moment, assuming what he should do if it was Loren. "What I provide you is not a salary, but an additional allowance, or compensation."

"?"

"I hired you not to cook and wash clothes, but to practice a kind of magic, Legilimency, you know, this kind of magic may invade your privacy, so I should compensate you."

"My privacy?" Dobby frowned and thought seriously. He seemed to have heard Xiaomai mention this.

That guy had read a lot of difficult books. The house elves in the kitchen said that he was confused and didn't want to listen to him. But Dobby thought some of his words made sense. Some of his words were not understandable but left a deep impression, such as privacy, human rights, respect...

Anyway, it is what slaves deserve. After getting it, they are freed from their slave status and become equal to their employers.

Dobby was a free elf, so it seemed reasonable for him to receive this allowance.

Dobby blinked his eyes and planned to ask about it in the kitchen in the evening, but now he agreed: "Okay, I can practice this... this..." with you.

"Legilimency."

"Let's not talk about allowances and compensation for now. I'll go back and make inquiries and give you an answer tomorrow."

"Ok."

Harry smiled, turned and went upstairs to sign in with the dormitory manager.

……

I was the only one in the dormitory and couldn't find anything to do.

Harry finished washing up and walked out of the bathroom. The sky outside the window was not completely dark yet. When he took out the communicator again, he found that Loren had replied again. It was some practice techniques on Legilimency. There were several long paragraphs. Just reading through them made him dizzy.

Such a long text will take a long time to type.

Harry was secretly touched. Loren was so busy during the summer vacation, but he still took time out to help him. This showed that he still cared about their roommate friendship. He would not question him harshly next time they met.

Reading these words carefully, Harry felt that his Legilimency skills had improved greatly and was ready to try it tonight.

Harry opened the curtain, stood in front of the Mirror of Erised, took off his glasses, and stared at the reflection in the mirror.

Some kind of invisible and intangible magic penetrated along the equally illusory gaze, and Harry's perception touched a layer of cold barrier, like the ice on the lake after the first snow, thin and brittle, which could be penetrated with a little effort and into another vast underwater area.

Block out memories of family reunions.

Eliminate those memories that have nothing to do with Voldemort.

Harry gave himself a hint in his heart, but this vague and broad conceptual description was of little use. Instead, as he thought about which were the memories of family reunions and which were the memories not related to Voldemort, many irregular memories surfaced and appeared before Harry's eyes one by one.

In the memory of the Dursleys, Aunt Petunia's face is the clearest. Uncle Vernon and Cousin Dudley's faces are unclear, but their body shapes are very distinctive.

“It should be reduced now…”

Harry shook the thought off and turned to the next memory.

The process was like fishing aimlessly at the bottom of a lake; there was no way of predicting what memories would be fished up next. Perhaps they would be about the Dursleys, like discarded, useless stones, or they might be about Quidditch, like useless shells whose patterns could make people happy.

The process of Legilimency is like a Pensieve projection, but it is different. You scroll through the images from a third-person perspective, experiencing your own emotions as a witness at the time, and as a bystander you will also have new emotions in real time.

There is always an indescribable feeling, weird and wonderful.

Harry savored the feeling as the memory bubbles drifted by, until the image of the first-year sorting ceremony emerged.

Looking at the young Harry Potter sitting at the Gryffindor table for the first time, he looked around with curiosity, and his sight happened to meet Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell at the guest of honor seat——

"hiss……"

Harry felt the long-lost pain in his scar.

(End of this chapter)