days at Hogwarts

Chapter 745: Mrs. Aikmo

After the meeting was disbanded and Voldemort left, the depressing and heavy atmosphere in the room suddenly eased and the sound of breathing became clearer.

"Harry Potter..."

Hearing the name again, Lucius' expression was a little complicated. He could sense that Rookwood and several other Death Eaters sitting next to him also had complicated emotions.

The Death Eaters were still discussing the name in low voices, discussing the failure that night sixteen years ago, the failure of storming the Department of Mysteries and seizing the prophecy, and the failure that night on Easter Sunday a year ago...

The power of the Dark Lord was unquestionable, and the Death Eaters did not dare to have any offensive thoughts. However, after experiencing several setbacks, their original ideas began to waver, and some doubts arose in their hearts: perhaps Harry Potter was really the nemesis of the Dark Lord.

Occupying the Magical Congress and Ilvermorny and counterattacking the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts were just excuses to deal with the Dark Lord, and the smart Death Eaters had no hope for this.

After a brief silence, Rookwood suddenly stood up and said, "An employee of the Magic Congress has made an appointment to meet with me... maybe there will be information about Harry Potter. I'm leaving first."

"I'll go with you." Rodolphus stood up immediately. "What department does the clerk belong to?"

"I haven't found out yet, it seems to be a clerical job." Rookwood's expression was a little stiff, but he still walked out of the room with him side by side. "He and I just met by chance, and our friendship is very shallow. Maybe he won't come to the appointment tonight, and he is very greedy..."

"It's okay. Lucius just gave me the key to the underground vault. I have enough funds."

"..."

The two men gradually walked away, and several Death Eaters were still discussing Harry Potter in low voices. After hearing the word "vault key", their discussion paused for a moment, and their eyes focused on Lucius. Old Nott seemed to want to say something, but stopped in time due to some concerns.

Lucius gradually came back to his senses. He ignored Old Nott's gaze, came to Old Crabbe, and patted him on the shoulder: "We should also collect some intelligence. I heard that you came here that year. Do you have any useful information?"

Old Crabbe stared at Lucius in a daze. After a long while, he nodded hesitantly and muttered, "That was a few years ago. I can hardly remember it."

"Just say whatever you remember. Come on, let's go have a drink and talk while we drink."

……

"boom!"

The collision of wine glasses made a crisp sound, and the swaying wine gave off a rich aroma.

Old Crabbe gulped down the strong liquor, but his mood was still difficult to calm down.

I had indeed been here a few years ago, with the help and advice of many old friends and pure-blood families. In order to exonerate Vincent Crabbe, I bribed the judge of the Wizengamot, changed the charge to one that would not require him to serve a sentence, paid a sum of money to get my son out of prison, changed his name and left the country in a low-key manner, and transferred to Ilvermorny...

Until now, he had not heard from the only son of the Crabbe family for several years.

"I know you're confused." Lucius, who was sitting opposite, said softly, "You stay in your room drinking all day, don't want to see anyone, and don't even bother to pay attention to that Rodolphus. If the Dark Lord hadn't summoned you, you would rather soak in whiskey."

The wine storage room was tightly sealed, with dim lights hanging from the ceiling and thick walls. There were only neatly arranged display shelves in sight. There was no terrifying Dark Lord, no Death Eaters with their own thoughts. Sitting in front of him was Lucius, whom he had known for many years.

This environment made old Crabbe feel at ease.

"When did it start?" Lucius paused. "Let me think. Was it after we moved here, or after Vincent disappeared?"

Old Crabbe stared at his old friend in front of him with a dimmed look in his eyes. He felt that he had turned into the Malfoy who was stirring up conspiracy again.

"【Close your ears and listen】"

Lucius raised his wand and pointed it in the air. He looked at the burly Death Eater in front of him and smiled slightly: "What if I tell you that I know where Vincent is?"

Old Crabbe's glass fell to the ground.

……

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and the reason for your visit."

As the mechanical gears inside the dial drove the external number back to its original position, a calm and indifferent female voice sounded in the phone booth.

The voice was clear and loud. It did not come from the microphone in Professor McGonagall's hand, but rather from an invisible woman standing in the phone booth.

Harry looked around the booth with a thoughtful expression.

Professor McGonagall, who was standing next to her, held the microphone to her ear and replied calmly, "Minerva McGonagall, Professor at Hogwarts, accompanying Harry Potter to complete the exit formalities."

"Thank you for your cooperation. Please wait."

With the sound of jingling, two silver badges slid out of the metal chute for withdrawing coins, and the cold female voice sounded again: "Welcome, please take the pass badge and pin it on your chest, and go to the security checkpoint at the end of the main hall to register your wand."

Harry had just put on the badge engraved with "Harry Potter: Departure Processing" when the floor of the telephone booth suddenly began to tremble and gradually sank into the ground. Then there was a monotonous and harsh friction sound and a thin flash of golden light. When they came to their senses, they were already standing in the elevator in the corridor outside the main hall of the Ministry of Magic.

Following Professor McGonagall's steps, Harry observed as he walked.

After being destroyed and rebuilt several times, there are some changes here. The dome is no longer so magnificent, and the original solid wood walls and floors have been replaced with cold and hard stone slabs. They look very strong and will not be crushed by the basilisk that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, nor will they be shattered by the powerful disarming spells of some students.

The thin gold layer on the surface of the teleportation fireplace was removed and a partition was added to prevent malicious wizards from rashly entering.

The pure gold statue in the middle of the foyer was gone, leaving only a bare circular pool of water. All the silver Sickles and copper Knuts in it had been scooped out. It was unclear whether it was because the Death Eaters had done so many evil things that they would not let go of any trophies, or whether it was because the Ministry of Magic was short of funds for post-disaster reconstruction.

Perhaps because it was a rest day, there were few staff members and visitors. The wizards in uniform were holding stacks of parchment in their arms, some were carrying tightly packed briefcases, and others were holding a roll of newspaper in their hands. After entering the elevator and standing firmly, they began to read.

The elevator was still the same elevator, but the exquisite golden fence was replaced with copper with alchemical patterns painted on it.

Professor McGonagall pressed the button for the sixth floor underground. The gate closed with a clatter, and the elevator slowly rose, with the chain clattering.

"Sixth floor, Department of Magical Transportation..."

Stepping out of the elevator and leaving the indifferent voice of the announcement behind, Harry followed Professor McGonagall to a straight corridor with doors on both sides of the corridor, and the nameplates on them stated their responsibilities.

"Floo Network Administration" "Broomstick Management and Control Bureau"

「Apparition Testing Center」

"Portkey Office"

Arriving at the office at the end of the corridor, they knocked on the door and found that it was not a warehouse where door keys were stored, but a clean and tidy office with bright lighting and elegant decoration. Anyone who saw it would think that the owner of the office was very stylish.

She was a witch who was dressed very elegantly. She was wearing a classic wizard robe of the season from Tufan Clothing Store. The main color was black, and the collar and cuffs were embroidered with dark green wavy patterns. The style perfectly modified the curve of her upper body, and her lower body was hidden by the hem of the skirt. It was exquisite but not gaudy.

Two strands of hair were tied up in a bun at the back of her head, and the rest of her blonde hair fell naturally on her shoulders. She was no longer young, but still beautiful.

The witch behind the desk looked up, a bright smile on her face, "Professor McGonagall, I thought you were going to be here a little later."

Professor McGonagall nodded and said, "Mrs. Edgemer, I'm sorry to bother you."

Ikemo?
Harry remembered that there was a girl in Ravenclaw whose last name was Edgemer, a friend of Qiu Zhang. She didn't have a very good reputation. What was her name?

"It's what we should do, and Marietta always tells me about you. She always regrets that she wasn't sorted into Gryffindor, or that you weren't made Head of Ravenclaw."

Mrs. Edgemore stood up and poured tea for the two of them. When she handed it to Harry, her eyes quickly swept across the scar on his forehead. "You must be Mr. Harry Potter. After receiving your application, every employee in our department wanted to receive you. It almost caused a duel."

"Thank you."

Harry remained polite. He was used to this kind of annoyance, but for some reason, he always felt a little uncomfortable facing the beautiful and gentle Mrs. Edgemore.

Mrs. Aikmo sat back down and took out two pieces of parchment from the drawer. "I have already processed your exit documents. Just fill in these details."

The two of them lowered their heads to fill out the documents, which were all common information, such as name, gender, age, occupation, purpose of leaving the country, etc. When they were unsure about something, Mrs. Aikmo would take the initiative to offer guidance. Her voice was gentle, and she was patient and careful. It was hard to believe that this was Marietta's mother.

Half of the information had been filled out. Mrs. Aikmer held the teacup in her hand and asked casually, "By the way, what kind of door key do you want to choose? Here are a broken bucket, a smelly leather boot, and a ballpoint pen without ink..."

"We'll go there by Muggle plane." Professor McGonagall replied in a deep voice and handed over the filled parchment.

Harry handed over his share as well. He inadvertently saw a flash of surprise in Mrs. Edgemore's eyes, which quickly turned into a gentle smile, as if it had never appeared, so that Harry suspected he was having an illusion.

After bidding farewell to this beautiful and gentle woman, the two men turned and left, walking out of the door key management office. The corridor outside was still quiet, and only when they got close to a few doors could they hear the noises coming from inside.

"Professor, why do I have to go through all these formalities, but Loren and Hermione don't?"

"Because they've already been to New York."

“I don’t think they’ve done this before.”

Just as Harry was muttering to himself, a loud explosion of air suddenly came from the Apparition Testing Center, which made his ears hurt even through the door and walls. Even if someone said that it was a fire dragon apparating inside, Harry would still think it was possible.

With a slight creaking sound, the door suddenly opened and an employee from the Ministry of Magical Transportation walked out.

"Mr. Tycross?"

"Oh, it's you. Wait a moment, let me take my time..."

Tycross leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. His originally pale face now had some color, but he looked even weaker. It took him half a minute to recover and he forced a smile at the two of them: "I'm sorry, Professor McGonagall, Mr. Potter, I made you worry."

"Are you doing any dangerous work?" Professor McGonagall frowned slightly, and Harry looked at him curiously.

"No, I'm just practicing Loren's theory."

This made the two even more curious, but Tycross just smiled apologetically and sighed: "It's still in the experimental stage, so I can't show you around, but I can give you a brief introduction."

Professor McGonagall was silent for a moment. She did not want to ask too much about something that needed to be kept secret. Harry was interested, though. Tekros explained as he walked, and the three of them walked towards the elevator together.

"Loren proposed the principle of spatial displacement through Apparition, which is based on the concept of soul and body. The soul without a physical body breaks through the limitations of material space, and then relies on the close connection between the soul and the body to move the body...

"This method of spatial transfer exerts a strong pressure on the body, which is also the reason for the split. When the distance crossed is too long, or the body mass exceeds the standard, this strong pressure will cause damage to the wizard who casts the spell...

"In response to the shortcomings of the Apparition method mentioned above, some scholars have proposed to achieve spatial displacement from other angles, such as placing the body in front of the soul to move, or moving both together. Our research group has made some progress and is trying to improve it."

……

It was already dark in the mountains.

Today the clouds are too thick and the mountain fog is too dense, so there is no brilliant and magnificent sunset. However, the process of the sky gradually darkening is also a kind of scenery.

On the third day in Ilvermorny, I finally had time to visit this magic school.

For most people in the world, a few hundred years is a long enough time span. Ilvermorny, which was established in the 17th century, has a history that is not short, but it is not as long as that of Hogwarts. The flower beds in the courtyard are filled with outstanding wizards from the past few hundred years. The magic portraits on both sides of the corridor are humorous and knowledgeable. The most interesting thing is that they have communicated with many famous Muggles, and those anecdotes are really interesting.

Benjamin Franklin always encountered thunderstorms when studying lightning because his neighbor was a wizard who was good at weather spells.

Nikola Tesla, another master of lightning, also had a close relationship with wizards...

Loren held Hermione's hand, not wanting to let go, and looked at each painting.

Led by Pickley and Nancy, they visited the main castle teaching building, the towers of several nearby colleges, and the specially built school history exhibition hall. In this respect, Ilvermorny was slightly ahead of Hogwarts.

Loren and Hermione followed the local customs and pinned a Gordian knot on their chests, looking like excellent students of Ilvermorny.

When we came out of the school history exhibition hall, it was already completely dark.

A Pukki waiter trotted over in the corridor and called them to the side hall for dinner. The principal and professors were already waiting at the table. They had been trying to separate the living Horcrux from the snake tree, but from the perspective of alchemy, the results were not very good...

(End of this chapter)