days at Hogwarts

The stars and the moon were bright, but the Hogwarts Castle was still not quiet.

The high and shrill soprano voice in front of the Gryffindor portrait hole continued for a long time. It turned out that the portrait of the Fat Lady was drunk again and was practicing a classic opera passage. She held her hands to her heart, her cheeks were flushed, and her expression was intoxicated, completely immersed in her own world.

"Just one drink."

"Just one drink."

"Just one drink!"

The little wizard standing in front of the portrait hole repeated the command loudly several times, and the last time he almost shouted it out. The fat lady came to her senses belatedly and opened the door stone while muttering something.

Loren and Hermione, who came back late from a date, went into the portrait hole, and the common room inside became even more lively.

The students chasing and playing in the corridor were junior students. Neville and Parvati, the two prefects, did not restrict their playfulness because today was Easter. The members of the Gobstone Club were sitting cross-legged on the floor playing cards and stones. The exploding cards had blown up their faces black, and the Gobstones had sprayed them with slime. Around the sofa were Ron and others who were playing chess, chatting, and telling stories...

Countless voices intertwined together, and for a moment it was impossible to tell which was noisier, indoors or outdoors.

Loren showed a clear expression of disgust on his face. He turned his head and whispered in Hermione's ear: "It's too noisy here. How about we go back to the tower, or go to the Room of Requirement?"

Hermione pursed her lips, which were slightly tingling, and a faint orange taste lingered on the tip of her tongue.

This person is the one who came up with this idea. He said that the kiss will taste like the candy you eat...

When Hermione thought of the scene in the tower just now, she immediately felt her cheeks getting hot, and she couldn't help but glance at this man.

"..."

Loren paused for a moment and fell into thought.

It seems that Hermione doesn't want to go to the tower or the Room of Requirement, so where else is suitable for a date?

Abandoned classrooms are fine, and basement kitchens are not okay either...

It is best to have a more private environment without being disturbed by others.

Hermione raised her head slightly and stared at him calmly, "I'm sleepy. I'm going to the dormitory to wash up and rest."

"Oh."

Loren sighed regretfully and walked the girl to the wooden stairs, with a glimmer of expectation in his eyes, "Good night then."

"Good night."

"..."

Hermione was silent for a moment, but still leaned over and touched it.

It's orange flavored, and it's a slightly perfunctory goodnight kiss.

After watching the girl go upstairs, Loren had no intention of staying here for long, so he turned around and walked up the stairs leading to the boys' dormitory.

Pushing the door and entering the dormitory, there were five four-poster beds quietly placed in the room with the black curtains drawn. After confirming that there was no one there, Loren went to the bathroom to wipe his face and confirmed that there was no one inside. The whole room was unusually quiet.

"Seamus is playing Exploding Cards, Ron is telling stories, Neville is watching the younger students, and as for Harry..."

Loren thought about it and confirmed that he had no impression of Harry. He hesitated for a moment, then walked to the head of Harry's bed, took a quick glance but didn't find anything. He looked in the drawer of the bedside table and confirmed that the Half-Blood Prince's "Advanced Potion Making" was missing.

Just as he was about to fall into deep thought, he glanced out the window and noticed a familiar figure on the path of the venue.

Loren watched Harry sneaking towards the school gate in quick steps, the moonlight shining on the lawn path. Before he had time to feel worried, he caught a glimpse of an old man following not far behind him, and he couldn't help laughing.

The old man walked slowly, stopping and starting. Loren shrank his body and turned into a spectacled owl, flying straight out of the window and falling into the starry night. He basically kept gliding the whole time without flapping his wings, and caught up with him in less than two minutes.

Dumbledore had discovered his whereabouts at some point and greeted him with a smile, "Good evening, Loren."

Loren untransformed and landed beside him: "Good evening, Principal. You're going out so late."

"Excellent Transfiguration."

Dumbledore showed an admiring look at the right time. After hearing his greeting, he replied helplessly: "I also want to stay in the room, change into pajamas, drink a cup of sweet and smooth hot cocoa, wait for sleepiness to come, and sleep until tomorrow morning. It doesn't matter if I don't dream. It would be even better if I have a good dream."

"Drinking before bed can cause tooth decay."

"I'm a wizard, and tooth decay can't hurt me."

"That's right. Otherwise, with your taste, your teeth would have fallen out long ago."

"I'm over a hundred years old. It doesn't matter if I lose all my teeth. It's you, Loren, who should control your diet."

"What a coincidence. I am also a wizard."

"Haha..." Hearing Loren's answer with his words, Dumbledore laughed knowingly, his wrinkles of varying depths squeezed together, his face looking kind.

The dirt path stretched out under my feet. After passing the Whomping Willow and walking a distance forward, the school gate was already in sight. Loren asked curiously, "Sir, I remember you said that it would take at least until Easter for Scrimgeour to deal with Voldemort and the Death Eaters... Did you foresee today's situation a long time ago?"

"In fact, I just followed my instinct and picked a time."

"Ok?"

"Don't you think that coming back to life sounds like a very fitting event for Easter?"

"Uh, do you really want to see someone break the boundary between life and death and come back to life?"

"A child wants to revive his mother. At least I have no reason to stop it. What do you think?"

Dumbledore spoke in an unhurried tone and with such a calm demeanor that Loren began to doubt himself.

Isn't resurrecting the dead considered a magical taboo?

Harry was almost at the school gate. Dumbledore had no intention of catching up with him. He glanced at the half-moon above his head, as if remembering something from a long time ago. With a nostalgic look in his eyes, he said gently:

"Want to hear about Professor Snape and the Potters?"

"You say and I listen."

"The story begins when Mr. Lyall Lupin approached me to help with Remus's enrollment. That was thirty years ago..."

There was nothing new in the story Dumbledore told. Loren had already heard a lot of the content. It was just that he had a different feeling when he reviewed the grievances from the perspective of the old headmaster.

When Lupin was six years old, he was framed by Greyback and contracted werewolf disease. After several years of investigation, his parents gradually accepted the reality and gave up treatment. They changed their mindset and wanted Lupin to live a normal life as much as possible, so they sent him to school and asked Dumbledore to help take care of him. The Whomping Willow in the school was planted at that time...

"Remus, Potter, Sirius and Peter were assigned to the same college. As classmates of the same age, they quickly became friends, just like you and Harry. It wasn't long before they discovered Remus' little flaw..."

Loren sighed. "It's the same old trick of growing up together. Oh, it should be called an educational philosophy. There has been no innovation in all these years."

"I occasionally call myself an educator, well... at least a conscientious and qualified principal..."

Dumbledore did not refute and chuckled, "In fact, I am very happy to see their friendship develop like that. Remus confided his secrets to his friends, and his friends accepted his little flaws and tried to soothe his pain. They began to study Animagus and spent two years successfully...

"Even though the four of them are always getting into trouble, and every week there are professors requesting detention for James and Sirius, I still have high hopes for them."

"Including Wormtail?" Loren raised an eyebrow.

"Including Wormtail." Dumbledore nodded in acknowledgement, and after a brief silence, he said in a complicated tone, "Peter Pettigrew looks inferior and cowardly, but the Sorting Hat still sorted him into Gryffindor. I believe he has courage hidden in his heart...

"He mustered up the courage to make friends with brave people. His grades were average, but he learned the complex and difficult Animagus for his friends. Most importantly, he loved his grandmother very much... I always thought that he would eventually find the courage in his heart and even become an excellent Auror."

"You are mistaken."

"Yeah, I'm just a wizard, I can also misjudge people..."

The old headmaster in a grey robe sighed and stared at the figure standing by the roadside through the school gate. "Severus is another example. He comes from a poor family, but he cannot be compassionate. He tries to find superiority and satisfaction by looking down on the weak. After entering the school, he hangs out with the Death Eaters. He has excellent talent but is addicted to the dark arts..."

Loren said he was right and he proved that Professor Snape was like that.

"But I overlooked the love hidden deep in his heart. He did not fall completely into darkness. This love made him step back into the light."

……

Under the water of the Black Lake, green candlelight flickered through the glass windows.

Draco sat back in the carved chair, staring at the snake carvings near the window sill, trying to guess the sculptor's mood at the time from the green snake pupils.

The Slytherin common room was called the Slytherin dungeon many years ago. Although the school board has allocated funds for renovation many times in recent decades and the interior decoration has changed its appearance to look like a luxurious mansion, it has been unable to completely change the layout and structure of the room.

This is a small house built of rough boulders, which is damp and cold all year round.

The main body of the lounge is dark green, with a dim tone. The stone wall bricks are carved with all kinds of strange and magical sculptures. The fireplace is exquisite, and there are gorgeous illusions when the flames rise. The gorgeous tapestry depicts the glorious deeds of Slytherin in the past. Green chains hang down from the low dome, and the walls are inlaid with skull decorations, revealing a somewhat gloomy and strange temperament. The layout is long and narrow, and carved chairs are placed in rows for students to rest.

There is no portrait guarding the Slytherin door, and the way to open the door is more direct. You only need to say the correct password to open the door. The password is changed every two weeks.

The passwords are mainly divided into two categories, one is praising Slytherin, and the other is despising other colleges.

"Glory forever."

The stone door opened and Theodore Nott, who had returned late, walked into the lounge. He immediately saw Draco in the corner and walked over.

Draco was still staring at the snake-shaped carvings on the window frame, without turning his head: "What's the matter?"

Nott sat down on a nearby chair and followed his gaze toward the window, not understanding what was so beautiful about those carvings. "Did your father ask you to monitor Dumbledore and Harry Potter and report what happened in the school at any time?"

Draco's eyes flashed with a dark light: "Where is your father?"

"He told me shortly after he was released..."

Nott changed the subject, “But, in my opinion, there is no use in passing the message to him.”

"What do you mean?"

"He is just an insignificant marginal figure in the Death Eater group. Our family's wealth and his abilities are not enough to support him to become a core Death Eater. He cannot obtain a prominent position and cannot gain the trust of the You-Know-Who at all. Therefore, it is a waste to pass the message to him..."

Nott explained casually, not thinking it was a big deal, "It's not just me, many other children from Death Eater families received the same instructions."

"What are you telling me for?"

"Be smart, Draco. We are about to graduate. We are different from your Malfoy family. The Death Eater relatives in our families are all minions. Even if they have made contributions, they will not be taken seriously."

There was an inexplicable light flashing in Theodore Nott's eyes. "In my opinion, it would be better to pass the message to your father and let him become the core figure of the Death Eaters. In the future, you can get more information from your father to help us survive the war."

"..."

Draco turned to look at him, frowning slightly, his expression serious.

"Now there is a message that you need to pass on to your father."

"what?"

"Dumbledore has left the school. Just now, when I came downstairs, I saw Dumbledore walking out of the entrance hall."

"..."

After Nott left, Draco looked at the snake-shaped carvings on the windowsill in silence, thought for a few minutes, and took out a gold Galleon of a strange shape from his pocket.

……

In an abandoned playground on the outskirts of London, there are some rusty iron frame ruins standing on the grass. Several ropes hang from the horizontal bars, which look like swing ropes. Unfortunately, the seat is made of wood and has been tattered after years of exposure to the sun and rain.

Not far from the iron frame, bushes that had not been taken care of for many years grew wildly, connecting into a piece that covered the surroundings and almost formed a small room.

The sound of air exploding suddenly broke the silence of the abandoned site. Harry stepped on the grass with his feet, his face pale. The long-distance Apparition squeezed his body and he was about to vomit.

Snape glanced at him from the corner of his eye and walked forward slowly.

Harry looked around and saw a huge chimney standing tall in the distant sky. Some vague dream images flooded into his mind. Comparing them with the slightly different scenery around him, he vaguely knew where he was.

Where Snape met his mother.

"Hurry up, hurry up, time is running out, and we still have a lot of preparation to do."

"..."

Many thoughts flashed through his mind. Harry silently watched his back and followed him.

The two gradually walked away. About half a minute later, in the shadows covered by the branches of the bushes, a phoenix flame quietly bloomed, an orange-red light flashed, and two mysterious figures suddenly appeared in the bushes.

Dumbledore stood quietly there, watching the two people's backs gradually disappear into the distance. He then looked at the shabby swing not far away and sighed with emotion.

Loren wanted to say something, but suddenly his expression changed slightly, and he reached out and took out a copper Knut from the pendant.