days at Hogwarts

Although he did not witness it with his own eyes, the Boggart and the Soul Stone did undergo indescribable and miraculous changes under Loren's witness. He observed carefully for a long time, came to his senses, and picked up the stone from the wooden box to examine it.

Loren had a preliminary guess about the whale marks on it.

Three years ago on the Hogwarts Express, the Dementor that broke into the carriage was swallowed by his Patronus. Before it disappeared and turned into the Soul Stone, the whale-shaped Patronus became its deepest fear.

And the Boggart sensed this fear...

When his fingers touched the surface of the stone, the pattern carvings felt a little rough, and the fingertips and palms felt cold, but it only stayed on the surface of the skin and did not penetrate deeper into the flesh and bones. Loren could clearly feel that the lingering chill had disappeared.

There was a crystal blue light floating in Loren's eyes. Through his magical vision, he could clearly observe that the magic power attached to the stone had changed.

The weak magic of the Soul Stone originally appeared as a dull black color, while the Boggart's magic was gray. After being fused together, the carved stone exuded a light white-gray magic that lingered on the surface of the stone and would dissipate only after being guided, like the green smoke rising from Hagrid's burning of wet firewood.

"It did not complete a new life form, but instead merged into a new kind of magic power..."

Loren felt it carefully. This magic power did not try to explore the things he feared, nor did it absorb the fresh and happy emotions. Except for the white-gray magic smoke lingering on the surface of the stone, it seemed like an ordinary stone.

"[Split into pieces]"

"[Burning flames]"

"【Copy in pairs】"

"..."

Loren shook the magic spell and threw out more than a dozen common spells in a row, but the stone did not change at all.

"It has inherited the Soul Stone's property of not being affected by conventional spells and curses..."

Loren showed a thoughtful expression and thought for a few minutes. He did not choose to continue trying more powerful spells such as Shadowless Divine Sharpness or Fierce Fire. After all, no matter how hard the material is, it has its limit. He did not have any more Soul Stones in his hand.

……

"Password?"

"A small beer."

"The password is correct."

The Fat Lady stepped aside to make way for the portrait door, muttering, "Oh, Loren, where have you been? My friends and I searched the entire castle but couldn't find you. Sir Cadogan was almost going crazy."

"You can't blame me for this. Sir Cadogan went crazy hundreds of years ago..."

After casually dealing with the Fat Lady's greetings, Loren walked into the Gryffindor common room and saw a group of people crowded in the middle of the room. Inside were students from the Apparition class, and outside were lower grade students who were watching the fun and chattering about the class that had just taken place.

Walking a few steps closer, I could hear Seamus' voice coming from the center of the crowd. He was explaining the principles of space and magic. His duck-like voice during his puberty period, coupled with his serious tone, was inexplicably funny.

There are no mistakes or omissions in the content, the logic is smooth, and the deduction steps are detailed, but it has nothing to do with Apparition.

It's obviously Hermione's style. Miss Know-It-All is always overly thorough when taking notes, especially when learning spells and looking up information. She will record any irrelevant extension content she comes across.

The faces of the little wizards watching were full of enthusiasm.

Loren shook his head and walked back to his old seat.

There was a familiar figure sitting at the round table by the window.

The standard college magic robe was slightly loose, and the tie and emblem were both in brilliant gold and red, which added a bit of liveliness to the girl. There was parchment on the table, and a white feather pen in her hand. Her fluffy head was slightly tilted, revealing her beautiful face. Perhaps she had just finished writing a sentence, and she looked up to think about the wording, and happened to see him.

"We haven't seen each other for only two classes, why do you feel so beautiful again?"

"..."

Hermione kept her face tense, trying her best to hide the corners of her mouth that were raised, and asked calmly, "Why did you come back just now? How was the experiment going?"

“It’s a bit complicated to explain…”

Loren took out the stone with the marks on it and talked about what happened in the Room of Requirement. He also talked about his speculations about Boggarts and Dementors, the speculations about the soul and the body, and the analysis of the principle of Apparition.

Hermione sat next to him, her face slightly turned, listening quietly. She didn't know when she had put down her quill. Occasionally, she lowered her head to look at the marks on the stone. When she encountered a part she didn't understand, she would ask questions. If she understood the explanation, she would nod. If she didn't understand, she would not continue to ask, but just write it down in her heart.

"…That's the thing. I haven't discovered the power of this new magic yet."

There were exclamations coming from the crowd in the middle of the room. Loren subconsciously glanced over and was stunned for a moment.

The carved stone in his hand was slightly cool, and a strange scene appeared in his eyes. The people not far away were covered with colors, the main tone was red, mixed with some other colors, both warm and cold tones, which seemed to vary from person to person.

In the center of the crowd, Simo's color was the brightest.

Loren narrowed his eyes slightly. It was slightly different from the magical vision. This feeling was more like Legilimency. Those colors seemed to be their emotions, or... souls?

Hermione noticed his expression change: "What's wrong?"

"I think I have a clue."

……

A flat and wide main road runs through the village of Hogsmeade, with various magic shops on both sides, including Honeydukes, Puddifoot's Tea House, Devis and Bans Shop, Literary House, Three Broomsticks, Zonko's Magical Joke Shop, and the Hog's Head Pub...

Behind the shops are winding alleys, which are where the villagers live. It is said that Professor McGonagall has also bought a house in the village, but no student has ever seen it. During every Hogsmeade activity week, there are so many shops on both sides of the main road that you can’t finish visiting them all, not to mention the alleys behind.

The shops on the commercial street all rely on students to take care of their business. There is basically no business on weekdays, and some have not even been open for business recently. Only the Three Broomsticks and the Hog's Head Bar usually have customers.

Honeydukes' mail-order business is as prosperous as ever. Every year, students graduate from Hogwarts, and most students still miss the taste of these candies after leaving. There are candy shops in other places and wizarding communities, but none of them taste as good as those made by the Ambrosi couple.

Whenever they see the weird-looking but cute bee wax seal on the brown paper package and smell the sweet smell coming from the package, those wizards who have graduated seem to be back in their school days...

Over the years, the candy store has accumulated a considerable number of loyal customers.

When they were doing the month-end accounting, Mr. and Mrs. Ambrosius firmly believed that a certain Gryffindor sixth-year student had the potential to become a loyal customer, so they were particularly enthusiastic and smiled brightly when paying the bill.

"Goodbye, I hope these candies can bring you good mood!"

"Goodbye, Madame Ambrosio..."

Walking out of the candy store, Loren shrank his neck at the cold wind blowing in his face. He stuffed a full bag of snacks and candies into the pendant, leaving two nut chocolates, one in his own mouth and the other in Hermione's mouth.

"Well!"

The girl objected immediately, but the chocolate blocked her mouth, and the sweet syrup melted between her lips and teeth, and she stammered and couldn't speak clearly.

"Well……"

Loren's voice was equally unclear, but Hermione could tell from his smug tone that he was happily saying, "Is it delicious? I think it's delicious too."

"..."

Hermione rolled her eyes and ignored the man.

"hey-hey!"

The two walked side by side towards the three brooms not far away.

After being together for a long time, even without verbal communication, the two can feel each other's emotions and thoughts. When exactly did this tacit understanding begin? Neither of them can remember or explain it.

Many things happen so naturally, like the breeze in early spring in February, the sweet fragrance outside a candy store, and the new buds of grass and trees.

……

At about 11 o'clock, the two of them slowly walked to the Three Broomsticks.

I walked in and took a look around. There were not too many customers in the store. Most of the people sitting at the tables were Hogwarts students. The villagers gathered around the bar, looking at this group of energetic students with a smile on their faces. They held their glasses of wine and talked to each other. Madam Rosmerta would occasionally say a few words, but there was not as much noise as usual.

Harry and the others were sitting against the wall. Four red-haired siblings were talking in low voices. Two of them were students who had not yet graduated, and the other two were twins who had come to Hogsmeade to investigate the location of a new store.

"The residents here don't like pranks..." George saw Loren and Hermione approaching from the corner of his eye, and his voice suddenly became louder, "Hey, aren't you a couple in love? How about a date in the candy store?

"A candy store is great, but it would be even better if there was a joke shop," Loren replied with a smile, sitting down next to Hermione.

"Oh, we were just talking about this. The branch plan is not going well." George sighed.

"We were planning to rent Zonko's store to open a Hogsmeade branch, but given the current situation..." Fred said dejectedly, "I heard that your event was almost cancelled. What's the use of that store?"

"Thinking from another perspective, now is a good time to buy a store."

"What do you mean?"

"When business on a whole street is slow, housing prices will drop, and prices are at their lowest at this time."

George and Fred were stunned for a moment, and their eyes gradually brightened.

Harry scratched his head and joined the conversation: "But if you can't open a store, or the business is not good, what's the point of buying a store?"

Without waiting for Loren to explain, Ron turned to look at him and said, "Why are you so stupid? Use your brain to think about why the business is not doing well now?"

"V…Voldemort?"

"Yes, once Dumbledore defeats Voldemort, won't business improve?"

"Oh……"

Ignoring the discussion over there, George and Fred told Loren about the recent development of the joke shop: "Diagon Alley has become increasingly deserted, but our business is still good. Even wizards from other countries will mail-order our products. The Ministry of Magic has placed an additional order..."

The current Weasley's Trick Shop is about to be renamed the Military Workshop. The business of prank products cannot compare to that of products for protection against the dark arts. The Ministry of Magic has placed additional orders, and some high-ranking officials and Aurors will also buy them for their families in private. The news has spread, and more and more wizards are entering the Trick Shop to purchase protective equipment.

A large order meant a large amount of Galleons. George and Fred were happy at first, but after they calmed down, they realized that this was somewhat contrary to their original intention. The business of the magic show was getting bigger and bigger, but it didn't bring more laughter.

So the two of them discussed it and decided to open a branch in Hogwarts, where the students are more pure and love pranks more.

"..."

Loren didn't have any good suggestions. He couldn't stop the business of protective equipment. He took a sip of butter beer, and the salty and sweet hops brought some comfort: "Now is a special period, it will be fine."

"lets change a topic."

George and Fred were not too depressed. George took out a small cloth bag and placed it on the table. The things inside made a crisp and pleasant jingle. "This is the profit share for this period. The design of the communication badge you gave us has been put into production. Ms. Bones signed the order directly after seeing the sample. All employees of the Ministry of Magic will be equipped with this thing."

"Not only the British Ministry of Magic, but also the Ministries of Magic in other countries have sent people to contact us. They also have the intention to purchase." Fred looked around and lowered his voice. "Mad-Eye Moody has also seen it. The Order of the Phoenix also plans to equip it with this thing."

"We have a feeling that this thing will become popular soon. It will become a must-have item for every wizard, just like a magic wand." George stared into Loren's eyes with a serious expression. "As the inventor of the communicator, you will receive the Order of Merlin, be on the Chocolate Frog card, and your name will become a highlight in the textbooks. Loren, do you really not want to make it public?"

"Uh... I don't have any plans for now."

Loren answered without much thought.

It sounds very troublesome. It's better to wait until you are enjoying your old age before making this kind of thing public.

George and Fred looked at each other with complicated expressions and a hint of shock. But then they thought again that this was Loren's style.

……

The cool breeze still blows through Hogsmeade. Be it bars, teahouses, candy stores or stationery stores, those magic shops that have been silent for a long time are once again filled with laughter.

Except for the Shrieking Shack.

Inside the abandoned Shrieking Shack, the old and broken furniture was covered in dust. Although Draco Malfoy had received the news in the letter, he was still stunned when he actually saw his father whom he had not seen for a long time.

It was no different from the figure in his memory. The robe was brand new, made of luxurious material and fine workmanship. The gilded cane and expensive tie highlighted the status of the Malfoy family.

If you look closely, you can still see the changes: the wrinkles on the pale and swollen cheeks are more distinct, the waist and back are a little hunched, the temples are gray, and the pupils are cloudy.

He seemed to actually smell the scent of old age and fatigue coming from his father.

Lucius had a lot to say. His lips moved a few times, but when they came to his mouth, he only called out a short name:

"Draco."

"Dad...dad."