The Return to Hogwarts

Remus was startled when Sirius and Percy suddenly appeared in his field of vision. After glancing at the lunchbox in Sirius's hand, Remus subconsciously glanced at the pretty girl with a slightly flushed face behind another desk in the office, a complicated smile appearing on his lips.

"Sorry, I need some personal time. Can we talk about this later?"

Remus said this to the wizard reporting to him, and the man agreed and hurriedly left Remus's office, thoughtfully closing the door behind him.

"Tell me, if I wrote to Amosta and told her that you've been bringing Amelia dinner every day, what do you think Amosta would do?"

Remus emerged from behind his desk and spoke to the grinning Sirius.

“I think you must have misunderstood something, Remus—”

Sirius walked to Remus's desk, took a dinner from his lunchbox, and casually placed it in front of Remus.

"I'm just worried that my old friend is too busy with work and forgets to eat dinner—"

As he spoke, Sirius carefully carried the remaining food to Amelia, who was pretending to be calm, but whose fair neck was already flushed.

"Here, I also brought you a copy. Amelia Amostella asked Remus and me to take good care of you, but Remus probably won't have time to look after you here, so I had to come instead—"

Even Percy could see the 'malicious intent' hidden in Sirius's smile. He curiously glanced at Amelia a few times. Based on their conversation, this beautiful girl seemed to have some kind of relationship with Professor Blaine, but they weren't lovers.

"Percy, how did you end up with Sirius?"

Remus's curious call snapped Percy out of his reverie.

"Oh, we met them in Diagon Alley—"

Percy spoke somewhat reservedly, explaining that what he had seen and heard on his way from the workshop entrance to this office had instilled in him a deep respect for the former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He handed the file folder to Remus.

"Well, I went to Hogwarts for some departmental business, and Professor Blaine asked me to bring this to you on my way back. Oh, and Professor Blaine also asked me to tell you that the people inside have no objections."

Chapter 999 The Flower of Youth

2024-06-26

"Ah, this is it, thank you so much, Percy!"

Remus blinked, then immediately understood and beamed with delight, eagerly beginning to unseal the document bag.

Not only was Percy curious about the file folder, but even Sirius, who was chatting enthusiastically with Amelia, craned his neck and asked curiously.

"What is that, Remus?"

"Oh, you know how short-staffed I am here, Sirius—"

Remus untied the seal, laboriously pulling out a thick stack of parchment as he spoke.

"We not only lack skilled workers, but we also lack high-end talent—research and development personnel skilled in alchemy, and business personnel skilled in communication and negotiation."

But as you know, most of Hogwarts' best graduates are absorbed by the Ministry of Magic, making it difficult to find enough talent within Britain.

I've tried hiring from other workshops with high salaries, but it's been equally difficult. Most of them are direct descendants of wizarding families, and they won't leave for money. I selected them from thousands of resumes. These are the best talents, who, after training, can take on more important responsibilities, such as developing markets, handling business matters, and dealing with the Ministries of Magic in various countries.

Amelia, I'm afraid you'll need to send this young man an offer letter next, and ask them to do it within three days. Oh, damn it, Amosta pressed too hard—"

With a whoosh, the parchment in the file folder was flung everywhere by Remus. Percy, who was listening intently to Remus's rambling, was startled by the flying parchment and took a step back. He subconsciously grabbed a piece of parchment with a strange trajectory, as if it was deliberately 'thrown' at his face.

"Oh, this is terrible—"

Remus blinked his tired eyes, drew his wand, and waved it at the parchments that were fluttering everywhere. The resumes that had been scattered around returned to his hand like weary birds returning to their nests, leaving only one in Percy's hand.

"Thank you, Percy--"

Remus casually remarked, reaching out to grab the parchment Percy was holding up in front of his eyes, but he couldn't budge it—

"Percy?"

Remus asked, puzzled, and tried to pull it out, but still couldn't budge it.

The parchment obscured Percy's face, preventing Remus from seeing his expression. He turned his head away from the parchment, and upon seeing it, Remus was stunned by the sight of his tear-streaked face.

Holburn, London.

Pushing open the window, a gentle breeze, dispelling the heat, rushed into the room, ruffling a few strands of chestnut curls that draped over her fair, alabaster-colored collarbone.

Fortunately, the rental area, far from the commercial center, was not polluted by the city's neon lights. At night, the neat little buildings were also pitch black, which allowed the faint starlight to break through the blockade and fall into the girl's bright eyes.

A soft sigh mingled with the breeze, and a slightly melancholy gaze fell upon a pot of blooming cherry blossoms swaying gently on the windowsill.

Coming to London for work encountered significant resistance because everyone in my family preferred that I stay in Gloucestershire to help manage the family farm and date the dim-witted son of a farmer who owned a much larger plot of land next to our farm.

Normally, she should have been the one to give in, but a job posting in the Daily Prophet saved her from a suffocating life.

A very respectable job, along with a salary and generous benefits that would make even her stubborn family hesitate, gave her the opportunity to return to London.

After lengthy negotiations, she finally obtained her family's consent to try her luck at the workshop for an interview. However, if she was not accepted, she would have to return to Gloucestershire immediately and spend the rest of her life on that desolate farm.

A week has passed since the interview, and the confidence she gained from the interviewer's satisfied smile when she left has become increasingly waning. Now, every hour she spends is an unbearable ordeal.

Should we write a letter to Professor Lu Ping?

The girl gently bit her lower lip, her gaze falling on the letter paper spread out on the desk beside her and the quill pen filled with ink.

This idea didn't just pop into her head; for the past three days, she had been hesitating about whether to write a letter to Professor Lu Ping.

The shock of her former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor becoming the head of a renowned workshop had already subsided by the time she saw the workshop's job posting in the Daily Prophet and hesitated about whether to submit her resume. Now, she was hesitant about whether to "pull strings" to get in.

During the interview, the stern-faced interviewer emphasized that their workshop placed great importance on 'fairness,' and that if he were to work there, he would need to be mindful of this as well.

The intention he was struggling with was clearly not related to fairness.

After a long silence, the girl left the windowsill and sat down at the desk.

There was already a line of text on the unfolded letter. The girl stared at the line of text for a long time, then finally crumpled the letter into a ball and threw it into the trash can at her feet. Afterward, she took out a brand new sheet of letter paper from the drawer.

The moon quietly climbed high into the sky and then set on the other side. A gentle breeze blew through the small but cozy room, and before we knew it, it had become the last of all the lights in the house.

The words on the letter had not yet gone beyond the first line, while the wastebasket at the girl's feet was already overflowing with crumpled pieces of paper.

Whoops!

A strong gust of wind swept in, causing the pale blue cotton curtains to rustle. At the same time, the sounds of screeching brakes and farewells reached our ears.

Why are there still people here so late?

The girl's hazy eyes left the letter, and she looked out the window with a slightly blank expression. She found that her potted cherry blossom plant had been blown over by the strong wind and was now wedged between two iron bars of the security window, teetering on the verge of collapse.

"Oh--"

The girl let out a short gasp, jumped up from her seat, and rushed to the windowsill. She managed to save the delicate cherry blossom plant before it fell to the ground. Before she could even sigh with relief, a glimpse of a rapidly departing taillight made her expression change.

"The Knight Bus?"

She quickly peered downstairs, but the guy who got off the departing Knight bus had already gone into the building, and she couldn't see who it was.

Is there a wizard here?

The girl frowned slightly as she hugged the potted cherry blossom plant tightly.

Although she had always lived in the countryside, through letters between classmates and the Daily Prophet, she knew that the situation in the British wizarding world was tense recently. She had heard about the terrifying thing that Professor Dumbledore had been telling people about Hogwarts, which was one of the most important reasons why her mother did not want her to leave the countryside.

Thump, thump, thump—

The girl ran to the coat rack in her slippers, somewhat clumsily pulled her wand from the pocket of the wizard's robe hanging on the rack, and then slowly retreated to the window, waving the wand at the extinguished lamp, watching the door warily.

The room fell into a heavy silence. The girl could only hear her own heavy breathing and the hurried footsteps approaching in the hallway.

It was aimed at me, but how could it be?!

The building is full of Muggles renting short-term rooms, and she's the only wizard there. She's here for me. But how could this be?!

In a short time, the girl's forehead was covered in sweat. She stared in horror at the closed door, her mind a complete blank.

What should I do? What if we encounter an attack later?!

Professor Blaine seemed to have imparted some experience, but I've almost forgotten all of that knowledge. If...

Boom, boom, boom!

The knocking on the door struck the girl's heart like a series of heavy blows, making her feel as if she had fallen into hell, but the sound that followed pulled her back to the world of the living.

"Is that you, Penelope? Are you inside? Are you asleep? I just saw the light on!"

Clap!

The sound of someone entering through the door made Penelope tremble, and the flowerpot in her hand fell to the ground with a thud.

"What's going on? What's that sound?!"

The cracking sound made Percy outside the door tense, and he raised his voice to question him.

Penelope opened her mouth, but found that she could no longer make a sound; only two lines of cold emotion flowed down her face.

boom!

A piercing crash echoed through the building late at night, eliciting a few curses.

"I thought--"

Percy burst through the door and nervously looked at the girl by the window. He saw the broken flowerpot at her feet and the heartbreaking tears on her face.

A cool breeze lingers in the room, protecting that youthful naiveté.

Suddenly, the door closed, and the two people inside ran towards each other, embracing tightly and kissing passionately, tearing at each other's clothes.

The broken primrose on the ground still looked vibrant.