days at Hogwarts

"Time is playing tricks on us again. It's time to go back to bed, kids..."

"Good night, Professor."

"Good night."

"..."

After watching the two outstanding students leave, he could hear them whispering behind the door. Harry was asking for more information about the Horcruxes, while Loren was pretending to be confused and making jokes, which made Harry grit his teeth in anger.

The sound of laughter came through the oak door, slightly distorted.

"It's a nostalgic age..."

Dumbledore's mouth curled up in delight, and he inadvertently glanced at the black gem on the table. Then his smile gradually faded and he fell silent.

The white-haired old man sat quietly in the chair. After an unknown amount of time, Dumbledore came to his senses and caught a glimpse of the stars and the moon in the deep blue sky outside the window.

The moonlight was cold, the starlight was scattered, and the light that came in through the window was even scarcer, with only a faint cold color.

It's not very bright.

Behind the half-moon-shaped lenses, the slightly narrowed azure eyes were in a trance for a few seconds, and his gaze unconsciously fell back on the table. The exquisitely crafted silver ornaments were eclipsed at this moment, and the cracked black gem exuded a mysterious attraction.

Dumbledore was silent for a moment, then reached out and touched the black gem.

The dim light of the stars and the moon separated into tiny bits of light, which quietly gathered together and turned into a transparent and vast figure.

"Ariana..."

Murmurs of confession echoed in the room.

……

In October, the weather turns cooler.

The ginger kitten began to become reluctant to move and curled up on the sofa cushion for a long time, even though it looked like a cushion.

"It will be easy once the exams are over" is a common lie told by teachers all over the world.

As the sixth grade teaching got on track, the students officially entered a stage of unbearable suffering. Just as those prospective graduates joked, the sixth grade homework was even heavier than the fifth grade exam preparation. The professors of the advanced classes wished they could use magic to pry open the students' heads and pour the advanced knowledge into their brains.

There is no way to relax and rest during the spare time. Everyone is buried in endless observation reports, analysis of magic principles and divination calculations. Most of the weekends have to be spent completing the large amount of homework assigned by the teacher.

In just one month, the new feather pen I bought at the beginning of the school year has become worn out.

Now all courses require them to use silent spells, including Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms and Transfiguration. If someone is heard chanting a spell, the professor will immediately give them a serious stare, as if it was shameful for wizards to chant spells.

When chatting in the common room or the hall, it is common to see sixth grade students practicing silent spellcasting, their faces flushed and their hands trembling as they hold their wands.

Seamus once again became famous for blowing up tableware many times, and the junior students were vying to spread the name of Finnigan. Suddenly, Gryffindor seemed to have returned to the time when freshmen entered school, which was six years ago.

The courses in the advanced classes are generally more difficult, and those obscure words and sentences are difficult to read, let alone understand their definitions.

The principle of transformation that Professor McGonagall explained was like a tongue twister, with a large number of clauses piled up together, and often some ridiculous situations occurred. For example, when a pronoun appeared in the text, students had to flip through the textbook several pages to find the thing the pronoun referred to.

Most students can only understand half of it, and a small number can't understand any of it.

A certain know-it-all lady raised her hand more frequently, not to answer questions, but to ask the professor to slow down the lecture or even repeat what had been said before.

In order to explain the connection between the spells, Professor Flitwick had to spend more time looking for simple and easy-to-understand examples. The textbooks were piled on the desk, almost completely drowning the half-goblin professor.

Some people started using sticky notes to make annotations, and only a month had passed, but the brand new textbooks were already bulging with colorful sticky notes.

Professor Slughorn began to become popular because most of the content of Potions was practical operations. There was no need to keep silent when following the steps in the book, and there would be no big mistakes. There was no need to worry about being punished if the potion was not qualified.

If there is any place where I can completely relax my mind, it is probably Professor Sprout's greenhouse.

Although the plants they dealt with in the Herbology class became more dangerous, when poisonous tentacles and knotty vines caught them off guard, they could at least chant spells loudly to fight back.

Saturday afternoon, a rare leisure time.

Hermione finished her investigation and returned from the basement kitchen.

It was unclear whether it was Professor Bubbage's or Loren's advice, but she restrained her previous tough attitude and followed her Hufflepuff classmates' example of getting along with the house-elves in a normal manner, and they had a pretty happy chat.

At least she was happy.

Under Winky's guidance, Hermione made a small portion of chiffon cake independently. After it came out of the pan, she reluctantly left half of it for the elves, and used a levitation spell to transport the remaining half to the end of the courtyard path in an emergency.

"Try it, I made it!"

Hermione stood in front of Loren. Even in the October weather, sweat was slightly on her forehead. Her beautiful eyes were staring at him, shining.

The disc-shaped cake has been cut into six pointed fan-shaped pieces, pieced together into half. It is not large in size, and the surface is light yellow-brown, like a cake base just out of the oven. The shape and color are both ordinary. It trembles slightly when shaken, and looks very elastic.

"Do you know the difference between chiffon cake and ordinary cake?"

“It’s whipped with egg white!”

"The bubbles are dense and therefore very elastic..."

"Try it, try it!"

The girl chattered happily.

Loren met those sparkling eyes and couldn't help but laugh.

I have always fed her myself, but now it's the other way around.

Loren didn't respond to her question and answer. He picked up a portion and put it in his mouth. He didn't need to bite it. It melted with a light sip.

The texture is fluffy and full of pores. It is softer than pudding, not dry and not sticky. The filling is almost in a runny state, with just the right moisture content. The taste is moist, tender and refreshing, with a light sweetness and is very refreshing.

He has a sweet taste, and looking at the girl's expectant eyes without blinking, he feels that there is no need to add extra sugar or honey.

"Ugh……"

Loren sighed sadly, causing the girl to stare at him nervously: "Such a delicious cake, why only give me half? Or the remaining half, it's so sad..."

Hermione immediately laughed, her beautiful eyebrows narrowed together, her teeth showing but her eyes not.

"hey-hey……"

The girl took Loren's hand and took a piece to taste. "The other half is for the elves. They taught me how to make cake."

"Didn't they do it for you?"

"You don't believe me!"

“The main reason is that the cake is so delicious, it doesn’t look like it could have been made the first time.”

"Is this a compliment?"

“It’s a statement of fact.”

"..."

A hint of sweetness drifted in the October breeze.