days at Hogwarts

The express train gradually accelerated, winding through the mountains and fields. Looking at the scenery outside through the glass, it seemed as if a special filter was added, making it more verdant and clear.

For most of the journey, Harry and Ron were playing wizard chess. One scratched his head and chose to give up struggling. He didn't care about the situation on the board and just made random moves. He talked about next year's Quidditch team. From time to time, one let out a meaningless low laugh, and the chess pieces shouted impolite words.

Ginny leaned against Harry, flipping through the test questions in The Quibbler.

Loren accompanied Hermione to read the Daily Prophet. The articles in the newspaper were all about how to resist Dementors, how to detect Polyjuice Potion and determine whether relatives and friends around you have been replaced by others, and the typical symptoms of being under the Imperius Curse...

The second half is a work report of the Ministry of Magic, describing what measures the Aurors have recently taken to deal with dark wizards, how many Dementors have been arrested and detained, and a recruitment notice for werewolves. The readers' letters section contains some hysterical paragraphs. An old witch living alone in Cornwall claimed that she saw Voldemort walking past her house one morning.

"There is almost no useful information..." Hermione sighed depressedly and leaned her head on Loren's shoulder, "but all signs indicate that the war is about to begin."

"It hasn't really started yet." Loren closed the newspaper for her.

"The Ministry of Magic is running out of time."

"..."

The two chatted in low voices, and the journey was spent in such casual chats.

At lunchtime, they bought a bunch of pot cakes and pumpkin pies, and the sweet aroma filled the entire cubicle.

The exquisite sweets made them fall into a deep sleep. When they woke up, the shadow of the town appeared outside the window. A few hours later, the train began to slow down. When it approached King's Cross Station, the whistle on the top of the carriage spewed out smoke, and the train stopped completely.

The temperature in London is slightly higher than that in Hogwarts, about one or two degrees, but the air here is a little turbid, and the interior of the station is filled with all kinds of indescribable smells.

Loren put his wand into his sleeve, stuffed Crookshanks into Hermione's arms and asked her to hold him. He snatched the box from Hermione's hand and walked towards the magical wall between the two platforms with an empty box in each hand.

Hermione scratched the ginger kitten's chin and smiled a little.

The pick-up line on the other side of the wall was unexpectedly large.

The most conspicuous person in the crowd was Mad-Eye Moody. The brim of his bowler hat was pulled down low, covering his spinning magic eyes. His thick bony hands were holding a long cane, and he was wrapped in a wide traveling cloak. He looked like a terrorist, and passers-by would cast a look at him.

Sirius was wearing a well-fitting work jacket and had stubble all over his chin, looking like a convenience store porter.

Standing behind him was Tonks, chewing gum expressionlessly. The sunlight shone through the dirty glass on the ceiling of the station, making her bright pink hair sparkle. She was wearing a bright purple T-shirt with the logo of the Weird Sisters printed on it and a pair of starched cyan jeans that were pudding-like, giving her the temperament of a rock youth.

The ones dressed most like Muggles were the Weasleys, in brown coats and inconspicuous black casual pants. It would be better if Arthur could stop looking around.

Molly was whispering to Bates. She saw them from the corner of her eye and immediately hurried forward to hug the children one by one.

"Ginny! And my dear children, are you all right?"

"Very good." Harry replied somewhat touchedly.

"Very well," Loren and Hermione replied politely.

"Very good!" George repeated in a pinched voice, and the meaning of this sentence suddenly changed. Fred said sarcastically, "After all, you only remember your daughter Ginny and forgot the names of other children..."

"What are you talking about!" Molly slapped the two of them in an angry tone.

The slightly heavy atmosphere suddenly became relaxed. After hearing Arthur say that he would give Harry a ride and have a good talk with his uncle and aunt, Loren and Hermione did not stay for too long. After greeting each acquaintance in turn, they said goodbye and walked towards the parking lot with Grandpa Bates.

"Well, I'm a gentleman this time, right? I carried both boxes!"

Loren said to the old man proudly.

Hermione stood beside him holding the fat cat, looking at the old man with a smile on her face, her eyebrows curved, and she said with a smile: "Grandpa Bates, long time no see, how is your family recently?"

"Long time no see, Hermione!" Grandpa Bates responded happily, smiling with wrinkles on his face, "Everything is fine at home. Your parents went to the beach for Easter vacation. I'm sorry to trouble you to take care of this bad boy at school."

"I didn't do anything either."

"This guy didn't bully you, did he? Tell me, and I'll teach him a lesson when I get home."

"No, Loren is very nice, he even helped me carry my luggage."

"It's just an empty box. There's nothing to praise about it."

"..."

Loren silently watched the two people walk towards the car and chat happily, and he felt like an outsider.

Start the ignition, shift gears, and drive home.

As the sun set, the car drove into Hampstead Gardens. Hermione ran ahead in two steps and quickly opened the door of the Granger family's house: "Mom! Dad! I'm back!"

Loren followed him into the house and took a deep breath. The tempting aroma lingered in his mouth and nose. Mr. and Mrs. Granger were sitting at the dining table waiting for them, with bright smiles and happy faces.

"It's always like this. Mom puts herself before Dad. Can't she look for me first when she gets home?" Wendell sighed and pretended to blame.

"Ignore him." Monica hugged her daughter affectionately. Seeing Loren coming in from behind, she greeted him enthusiastically, "Loren, come here and tell us if Hermione is well behaved in school. You have important exams this semester, so she must have stayed up late often, right?"

"Mom!" Hermione buried her head in her arms and spoke in a long tone.

Loren revealed mercilessly: "Yes, this person often stays up late..."

"You should teach her a lesson next time..."

Perhaps because they had been back once during the Christmas holiday and the time they had been apart was not very long, Loren did not notice any obvious changes in their faces.

There was a lot of noise and laughter, and it was another warm dinner.

……

When dinner was over, the sky had completely darkened.

Everyone sat around the TV, listening to the news and chatting.

The year is already halfway through, and television news is doing a mid-year review, taking stock of the major news that occurred in the first half of the year and analyzing and interpreting them.

Hermione snuggled in her mother's arms and talked in a low voice. She would stop to read when she heard some news that interested her. Most of the time, it was the men who listened and occasionally made a few comments. Wendell's views were basically from a medical perspective, Bates focused more on economic policies, and Loren was more casual and spent most of the time listening.

"Barings Bank collapsed last year and its bankruptcy liquidation is coming to an end..."

"From February 2 to 10, the human-computer chess competition was held in Philadelphia, USA. The world chess champion Kasparov played against the Deep Blue computer and won two games ahead of the computer, winning a prize of 17 US dollars..."

"On March 3, the British government admitted for the first time that eating mad beef may lead to a terminal disease called brain failure. So far, 20 cases of this disease have occurred in the UK, of which 10 people have died. The news caused panic around the world. Many chain restaurants stopped using British beef. More than 8 countries including the EU, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan and South Africa have successively announced bans on the import of British beef..."

“Once again reminding the general public…”

"This epidemic is quite serious..." Grandpa Bates said with emotion. "The bank manager told me that the cattle on many ranches have been destroyed. We have lost about 5 million pounds of export foreign exchange, and we have to spend 35 billion to import beef. The trade deficit this year is very serious."

Wendell leaned back on the sofa and looked at Loren who was not far away. "Mad cow disease mainly manifests itself in neurological and systemic symptoms... The onset of the disease is not fast. Do wizards have any magic to treat this disease?"

Loren shook his head. "I don't know either. This is within the realm of healing magic. Common human diseases and injuries are not a problem for wizards, but dealing with diseases caused by this virus... Anyway, the wizard community has been unable to deal with dragon pox for a long time. There was also the Black Death a few centuries ago, which we often call the plague. Wizards can only protect themselves from infection."

"It turns out that magic is not omnipotent."

Wendell shook his head and sighed, but the news review on TV continued.

"On April 4, the G20 Nuclear Security Summit was held in Moscow. The meeting was first proposed by Russian President Yeltsin. The main results of the meeting were the adoption of four documents, namely, a declaration on strengthening nuclear security cooperation, a program against illegal trade in nuclear materials, a statement on the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, and a statement on the Ukrainian issue..."

Hermione, who was whispering with her mother, suddenly sat up, listened carefully to the news report, and frowned with some worry.

"On June 6, a major explosion occurred in Manchester. The explosion was a terrorist attack launched by the Irish Republican Army in the city center. During the incident, a bomb was placed in a van. About 15 minutes before the bomb exploded, the relevant departments received a telephone warning, which saved at least 90 people who evacuated. Because the bomb disposal team failed to remove the bomb in time, 7.5 people were still injured..."

Loren and Hermione glanced at the time it happened, their eyebrows knitting together slightly.

Bates noticed something was wrong with the two people, and recalled the conversation with Arthur at the station. He asked incredulously: "This terrorist attack, could it be related to wizards?"

Loren thought for a moment and shook his head: "Probably not..."

The timing of the bombing coincided with the time when Voldemort launched the riot, but there were many clues connecting the incident. The terrorist organization gave advance warnings and later announced its responsibility. In addition, many people were injured but no one died. It should have been a simple terrorist attack.

Several parents looked at each other, with the same uneasiness flashing in their eyes, but no one said much.

……

Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.

This house had been vacant for several years and no one lived in it. Fortunately, the decoration was simple and the furniture was neatly arranged. The dust on the ground and the spider webs in the corners could not withstand the power of the whirlwind and were quickly cleaned up with the help of many wizards.

Sirius spent some time shopping for ingredients, and Molly waved her wand and prepared a delicious dinner without much effort.

"You're just like Ron!" Molly sat next to Harry and served him a bowl of onion soup. "You two look like you've been under a growth spell. I dare say you've grown several inches since the Christmas holidays. Harry, eat more..."

"Okay." Harry took a sip of the soup from the bowl.

"How was your semester? Have you adapted to the two new professors?" Molly spread jam on the bread and handed it to him. "Horace Slughorn was at Hogwarts many years ago and taught me and Arthur. I think he entered the school at about the same time as Dumbledore. Do you like him?"

Harry's eyes lit up, and he swallowed the hot soup in his mouth and asked quickly, "Do you know this professor, Mrs. Weasley? I have something to ask him."

"That shouldn't be the case..." Molly felt a little strange. "For a student like you, he should be very happy to talk to you. He is always willing to tutor students and value ambitious students. Oh, he was never willing to spend more time on Arthur back then..."

Harry listened quietly to Molly's story. He knew that Mr. Weasley had been promoted and was now in charge of several newly established departments with more than a dozen people under him.

Dinner is over.

Moody, Arthur and Sirius went to the Dursleys' house next door to discuss Harry's summer accommodation. Harry was a little worried and tried his best to resist the temptation of the game console and wanted to go with them, but was rejected.

Harry could only sit in front of the TV and absentmindedly play fighting games with Ron, and he could beat him with one hand.

George and Fred were curious about everything here. They followed Arthur and kept opening and closing the refrigerator door, waiting for the coffee machine to discharge the brown liquid with a strong aroma. They couldn't wait to take a big gulp. Their faces twisted instantly, and they swallowed the coffee grimly, forcing a forced smile and recommending this new Muggle drink to the people around them.

But no one was fooled.

"Oh, George, I think this could go in our joke shop offerings!"

"Yes, Fred, in the weird beans."

Listening to the two people's conversation, Harry smiled, but turned his head and noticed Tonks next to him. She looked a little haggard, and her smile was a little forced. Although her hair was still pink, it looked a little dull without the sunlight during the day.

"What's wrong with you, Tonks?"

Tonks pursed her lips: "I'm worried about Remus."

"What's up with him?"

Harry was a little surprised. He originally thought that Professor Lupin did not show up because he stayed at the Black house, or was performing some other Order of the Phoenix mission. Now it sounded like he was doing something very dangerous.

"He returned to the werewolf pack," Tonks whispered. "Just two weeks ago..."