The Shopkeeper of All Worlds in the British Wizarding World

Chapter 504 The Soul-stealing Curse

Braving the snow and wind, they arrived at the back door of Weasley's Joke Shop located at the entrance of the village. After opening the door with the key, a gust of snow and wind rushed into the room with Ryan and the others, blowing away some of the warm air in the room. Fortunately, after Ryan turned around and closed the door, the small magic on the door successfully isolated the damp and cold air outside the door.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting for a while." Ryan said a little embarrassedly as he looked at Lupin who came to greet him. It took a little longer to persuade Harry, so they set out five or six minutes later than expected. In addition, the weather today made the road difficult to walk, so when they arrived at the store, they were already about ten minutes later than the agreed time.

"It's okay." Lupin smiled. "The weather is worse in the south. We waited a long time for the fireplace in London after we arrived. We only arrived at the store two minutes ago."

After complaining about the weather to each other as the British people did, they went to the alchemy laboratory hidden in the secret room of the underground warehouse to start working. The two werewolves were already waiting inside.

When Ryan entered the lab, he found that the new werewolves were in much better spirits than before. Although they were still dressed simply, they were no longer as shabby as before. It seemed that they were much more energetic after finding a job.

After mastering the basic skills of treatment, this kind of treatment has become a skilled job. For example, the first time we tried Lupin, it took four or five hours because we were not skilled enough. Later, it only took more than an hour to complete. Today, the time required was even shorter. It only took two people 100 minutes to complete the treatment of Ryan.

"How about that?" Ryan asked the two werewolves who had just been treated. The two werewolves immediately jumped off the treatment table and began to try to grasp the new changes that had just occurred in their bodies in the narrow space, while Lupin guided them on the side.

"It seems that you are becoming more and more proficient." Hermione walked to Ryan and said. The fact that the treatment was completed so quickly was directly related to the sufficient help provided by Hermione as an assistant.

"Of course this is all thanks to your help." Ryan held Hermione's hand and looked at her. "By the way, where are we going later?"

"I remember there is a lounge upstairs. Let's go up and have some hot drinks. I really don't want to go out in this weather." After thinking it over, Hermione finally succumbed to the cold weather outside and decided to spend her free time on the sofa in front of the fireplace like her roommate's cat.

"Okay, as long as you feel good." Ryan nodded. "I remember I brought a large bottle of top-notch cocoa powder from a certain world last time. We can sit by the fireplace and drink some hot cocoa. It's much more comfortable than being outside in the cold wind."

After saying goodbye to Lupin and the two werewolves who had now transformed into giant wolves, the two of them came to a lounge built in the corner of the attic through a special staff staircase. After making hot cocoa, they were finally able to rest for a while. Even if they were skilled at the treatment just now, it was still not an easy job. After completing a treatment, the whole body and mind were still very tired.

It felt really nice to sit by the fireplace, drink hot cocoa, watch the snow outside the window, and chat with your lover while sitting back to back on a thick wool carpet. As they chatted, Ryan opened up and talked about some things he had never said before.

"In fact, when I graduated from primary school, I had already made plans for the rest of my life. First, I wanted to get into a good middle school, then go to a good university, and finally try to make enough money to last a lifetime before I turned 40. Of course, I also wanted to have a warm family. At that time, I thought that was the ultimate goal of my life. But now what I have obtained has far exceeded what I prayed for back then, but why do I still feel less and less satisfied?"

"You were thinking long-term, unlike me." Hermione chuckled and said, "My goal at that time was just to get into a good university, and then - and then get a first-class scholarship every year in college. As for you feeling unsatisfied, that's normal. As time changes and people change, our ideals will naturally change. For example, I am now thinking about changing the world and making it a better place. If it were five or six years ago, my idea would have been absolutely arrogant."

Well, this is a top student. Ryan suddenly felt that his previous goal was a bit vulgar. However, Hermione thought that Ryan's ideas were much more mature than hers, and she felt that she was still naive. Just as the two were discussing their childhood dreams and enjoying the warm time now, they suddenly heard a vague quarrel in the wind. At first they didn't want to care about it, but as the quarrel became louder, they had to put down their cups, stand up, and walk to the window to see what was going on.

It turned out that Katie Bell and her friend were standing on the road arguing, and the place where they were arguing was just below the window of the lounge where Ryan and his friends were. After opening the window, along with the snowflakes, the sound of the two girls arguing became clear.

"Oh, dear Katie, you just came out of the toilet of the Three Broomsticks and have been holding this bag. Then you walked straight out of the bar without even calling me. Are you cursed?" The girl named Lini said anxiously. "And the thing in your hand is unknown, how could you bring it to the castle?"

"Don't worry about it." Katie pushed her friend Lini and said, "This has nothing to do with you, Lini! I'm going to take it to the castle to give it to a very important person."

Hearing the conversation between the two, Ryan suddenly thought of Malfoy's first terrorist attack on Hogwarts in the original text. He immediately said to Hermione, "I think the girl may have been cursed by the Imperius Curse and ran downstairs." Hermione was stunned for a moment and followed him downstairs.

When the two of them arrived at the lounge window, Ryan saw the two girls trying to fight for a small package. He immediately released the left and right separation to separate the two girls, and then released the disarming spell at Katie.

The package flew straight up from Katie's hand to a height of five or six feet, and then fell to the ground with a thud. Because the package was made of paper, it broke immediately after it touched the muddy ground, revealing a green-looking object inside. Katie screamed and tried to pick it up, but Hermione quickly fired a quick-action lock to fix her.

"You, why did you attack us?" Lini reacted at this time, staring at Ryan and Hermione who were holding their wands and looking at her friends vigilantly, and asked in a trembling voice.

"We heard your quarrel in Weasley's Joke Shop just now. Ryan thought your friend's condition was very similar to the reaction to the Imperius Curse described in the booklet written by the Ministry of Magic, so we came down to check it out. When we found you two struggling with each other, we used magic because we were worried that something might happen to you two." Hermione explained to Linnie who seemed overly nervous.

"Oh, no, oh, no, she must have been under the Imperius Curse, I didn't realize it at the time! I should have thought of it in the Three Broomsticks--" After listening to Hermione's explanation, Linnie reacted all of a sudden, bent down, covered her mouth with her hands and sobbed.

After handing Katie, who was temporarily unable to move, to Lini, Ryan walked to the broken package. It turned out that the package contained a gorgeous opal necklace. He quickly took out a gilded lead box with a sealing array from the space bag, and then used magic to float the necklace and put it into the box.

Because Lupin had taken the two werewolves away while Ryan and the others were resting, Ryan and the others could only go to the castle for help. After a little tidying up, the four of them headed towards the castle, but Katie was carried away by magic.

Before setting off, Ryan summoned his crab patronus to pass a message to Professor McGonagall. When they reached the wrought iron gate of the school, they found that Professor McGonagall was already standing there waiting for them in the sleet and rain.

(End of this chapter)