Hogwarts: Becoming the White Lord from Breathing

Chapter 178 Sunny Days and Rainy Days
July 7.29th is Damon's birthday.

It's only two days before Harry's birthday.

This is both the birthday of this body and the birthday of Damon, and of his past life.

However, he is not a person who values ​​rituals. Birthdays have no meaning for him. In his previous life, before they broke up, his ex-girlfriend would remind him and send him flowers. After coming to this world, he often forgets about it unless the dean reminds him.

But now, he clearly has more people who value him.

This summer, Damon stayed at the orphanage. With the injection of new funds, Sacred Heart Care underwent another round of renovations, and the director specially prepared a room for Damon, in his preferred style, on the top floor of the fifth floor, with a minimalist design.

After Damon moved in, he used several Transformation Charms on the existing hard furnishings, and now the room has the style of a 22nd-century villa, with three sides of bright, panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows, except for the west side which is covered by a large bookshelf.

But from the outside, everything looks normal.

Aside from occasionally venturing out to look for clues about Voldemort—like going to Diagon Alley for a drink and ice cream, or to Knockturn Alley to buy some magical items—Damon spent the rest of his time at home, teaching himself alchemy.

He used a transformation spell to expand the entire wall of books, and each book was automatically categorized and arranged by topic:

It covers everything from basic theories and the history of alchemy to advanced runes, magic conversion, and elemental reconstruction.

Alchemy was far more complex than he had imagined.

Unlike Potions, which relies on recipes, or Spells, which depend on memory and gestures, Alchemy is a fusion of magic and logic, intuition and mathematics—a blend of reason and emotion, with a crucial element of spirituality.

While taking notes with a quill pen, he used levitation to keep the experimental equipment suspended in the air, attempting to complete a simple material transformation exercise—transforming crystallized sand into simple magic glass.

It's a bit like conducting an experiment, except with the addition of magical elements.

Although this can also be done with the modified Transfiguration spell, it requires hundreds of times more magic power.

Alchemy, not to say that you can do a lot with a little money, but that you can get a certain return on your investment, is a kind of analogy for Damon.

"Kacha——"

With a cracking sound as the material broke under the strain, it shattered into many pieces.

Damon let out a soft sigh, not taking it to heart.

He had lost count of how many times he had failed.

This slow, stagnant feeling in his learning was like a long-awaited reunion for him—he rarely felt this sluggishness in spells and transfiguration, especially when he first started learning, where he could gain new insights with almost every repetition.

Damon opened the system, but there was still no information about alchemy entered.

Perhaps we'll have to wait until we succeed on the first try.

"Dong dong dong."

A crisp knocking sound suddenly rang out.

Is that the dean?

Before he could turn the doorknob, Damon heard a suppressed cheer.

Um--?
"Happy birthday!"

A large group of people stood outside the door, led by Harry and Ron.

Behind them were the Weasley twins: Ginny, Neville, and Hermione.

Ginny held a bouquet of flowers in her hands, her cheeks flushed as she looked at him—ever since the Quidditch Cup ended at Hogwarts, the witches at Hogwarts had lost their last reason for disliking Damon White.

"Birthday? I'd completely forgotten about it."

Damon opened the door and welcomed everyone in. He casually used his Transfiguration to create a sofa and coffee table, and then instructed the kitchen chef to prepare some food.

"Is this your room? It really suits your style."

"What beautiful glass windows."

Harry and Ron looked around the room with great interest—they were at an age where they were curious about everything, especially since this was their first time in Damon's room. Hermione and Ginny sat quietly on the sofa, occasionally glancing around.

"Not bad, but a bit too simple," Hermione commented softly, her tone like that of a picky hostess.

"I think it's good, but it lacks a bit of personal touch."

Ginny leaned close to her and whispered something.

"Personal elements? Such a large bookcase, and these glass instruments that you would only see in Snape's office, isn't that personal enough?"

Ron sat on the sofa to the side and picked up where Ginny left off, but judging from Ginny's coquettish expression, she didn't want Ron to chime in at this moment—it would amplify her opinion.

She had no bad opinions about the Duel Prince.

"Weren't we here to celebrate Damon's birthday? You've missed the point."

Neville interrupted them, still clutching the nine-inch, two-tiered blue buttercream cake in his arms, his expression serious.

"Neville, looks like you had a good summer?"

Damon leaned against Ron, affectionately putting his arm around his shoulder, and looked at Neville on his left.

"Hmm—Grandma took me to see my parents. She said I was very brave this time, so she doesn't need to use magic on me anymore—what do you think she means by that?"

Harry and the others looked at him strangely. Damon smiled and said, "Maybe it's some kind of love magic, something that will give you more courage."

"Is this cake for me?"

"Oh—yes, happy birthday, Damon."

"You're welcome. Speaking of which, Harry's birthday is still two days away, isn't it?"

Yes—you remember.

"Sure, buddy, how was your summer?"

Damon snapped his finger, and the cake in Neville's arms flew up on its own, the ribbon binding it untied, and the cake landed in the center of the coffee table, where a clean oval plate was already in place.

“Not bad—I mean, very good! I really don’t know how you managed to get them to cooperate. Now the Dursleys are extremely polite to me, even a little friendly, you know? I have an aunt named Maggie who is quite awful and always says I’m a worthless, useless, lazy beggar.”

She also has a big dog, that awful dog that she used to let chase me all the time when I was little, it was so annoying.”

Harry keenly noticed the somewhat somber atmosphere; Hermione and Ginny were both looking at him with pity. He quickly changed his tune:

"Oh well, she didn't even have a chance to say anything nasty before she was stopped. I saw Uncle Vernon whisper something in her ear, and her face lit up like a bright old chrysanthemum. She even shamelessly hoped I could introduce you to her."

Their enthusiasm made me feel a little overwhelmed, so I left after staying for two weeks.

"Hmm—it seems what I did wasn't superfluous."

Damon nodded, pleased with Harry's situation, and then picked up a cake knife to start cutting the cake. Harry stood up and helped him with a small plate.

The others followed suit and gathered around Damon.

They shared cake and chatted about their summer vacation. Then, someone mentioned, "I feel like I'm always missing something when I practice the Disarming Spell," and the group started discussing magic.

In the end, it became a situation where Damon was the only one talking, and everyone else was listening.

Even Harry, who was most gifted with the Disarming Charm, listened attentively, but soon his mind wandered uncontrollably.

He glanced discreetly at the eloquent Damon, then at Ron Neville and Hermione Ginny. The sunlight streaming through the huge French windows bathed everyone in a warm, golden glow.

Harry sniffed and suddenly felt that this moment was incredibly beautiful.

It would be even better if Voldemort's fragmented soul didn't lurk within him.

(End of this chapter)