Days at Hogwarts

Chapter 115 Shared Book Corner

click!

Loren closed the suitcase lid, which was filled with a large number of books that Hermione intended to lend out.

All of these are teaching-related contents, including classic examples, key points for practicing basic spells, and so on.

This is only a portion of the useful books Hermione cleared out. There are also some wizarding theoretical manuscripts, notes, and more unusual texts that were not included.

Moving books is hard work, Loren sighed with relief, and asked, "How do you plan to lend them out? You can't just take books out of the boxes in front of them, can you?"

The Seamless Stretching Spell is against the law, so it's not appropriate to use it openly. Also, it's not good to pile up so many of them.

Hermione had already made plans. "I plan to discuss with Professor McGonagall and Mrs. Pines about adding a new shelf in the library where books can be taken out. We can borrow them out like regular books."

"How do you explain the book's origin?"

After all, there were quite a few books; it wasn't a collection that two young wizards from Muggle families could produce. It also wasn't appropriate to directly reveal the existence of the Room of Requirement.

"Just say the source is confidential, and explain it to Professor McGonagall properly. She'll agree because it's for the sake of the studious young wizard." Hermione was very confident about this; Professor McGonagall was a professor who genuinely cared about her students.

"Tonight, I'll secretly put the books from the box into the library tonight." Loren lifted the box in his hand and weighed it in his hand, quite satisfied with its weight.

"Okay, let's go to the library first." Hermione then picked out a few notebooks from the pile of books, planning to spend her vacation practicing the spells in them.

"What spells are you planning to learn during the holidays?" Loren asked, carrying his suitcase as he and Hermione left the Room of Requirement and headed towards the library.

Compared to when they first received their acceptance letter and had only a vague understanding of the magical world, they are no longer so worried about accidentally slipping up while chanting spells and having a bison trample them.

That kind of situation only happens once every ten years or so, and every time it does, it makes it into textbooks.

The professors repeatedly mentioned that it was to take care of the newly enrolled young wizards, fearing that they would practice spells haphazardly and cause trouble.

"Mainly the spells that you'll learn in the second year: the Inflation Charm, the Freeze Charm, and the Universal Breaking Charm."

Hermione paused, then smiled sweetly, "I'm going camping with my mom and dad, so I probably won't have time for anything else."

She glanced at Loren stealthily. "Remember? My mother invited you to our house. When are you coming?"

Loren began calculating his vacation plans.

I probably won't be able to go back immediately after the holiday. I need to try using the magic stone to see if I can turn Nagini back. Although I have no clue, I've already obtained the physical magic stone, so I have to give it a try. Maybe I should ask Flamel.

He'll probably be heading home on the Dumbledore Express afterward. But speaking of going home, Grandpa Bates is still on his journey. He wrote in his last letter that he revisited some old haunts and met some old friends, but it seems he hasn't gone home yet. I guess the ranch cabin is empty.

What do you mean by "left-behind children"? He's probably going back to roast lamb all by himself.

"Who knows, I'll give you a surprise later." That was all Loren could say.

"If you're lying to me..." Hermione clenched her little fist, raised it and shook it a few times, making a threatening whimper.

Loren secretly made up his mind to put Apparition training on his agenda. Overthrowing the heretical rule of close combat, learning teleportation was of utmost urgency.

Loren accompanied Hermione to the library, which was completely empty; there was no one there at all.

Exams are over, no classes, no homework, and no little wizard would think the library is a good place for relaxation and entertainment.

Young Ravenclaw wizards also prefer to borrow books from the library and find a quiet place to read alone.

"Looks like I can empty the books right now," Loren said, looking at the empty library.

Hermione gently tugged at his sleeve, gesturing for him to look to the side.

Loren looked in the direction they were looking. Then he spotted Mrs. Pince sitting in front of the first row of bookshelves, staring at them with sharp eyes.

Her gaze was fixed on them, or more precisely, on him, following him all the way from the library entrance to the window seat.

Loren withdrew his gaze from Mrs. Pins. He felt that Mrs. Pins, who had been staring at them intently since they entered, looked rather forlorn. It must have been quite pitiful for her to be alone in an empty library.

Hermione decided to stay in the library and read. She was much happier reading than watching those idiotic boys bathe with squid tentacles by the lake.

Loren, needing to pursue his secret business, left the box in the library and departed.

……

Linen is woven from flax yarn and is one of the strongest textiles. Unlike synthetic fibers and cotton, its surface is not smooth and has a vivid texture. Painters often utilize the subtle and interesting beauty of linen.

But painters always painted on flat linen, rather than turning a bag inside out and drawing on the wrinkled inside.

Looking at the white-glowing runes and magic circles on the small pouch in front of him, Loren twisted his neck to relieve the soreness from the absence of his consciousness.

Thanks to yesterday's practice, the rest went much more smoothly.

He used a levitation spell to lift the virtual practice materials, walked to the black boiler in the center of the alchemy laboratory, threw the materials in, and burned them into a red glow without ash.

After finishing, Loren clapped his hands and looked at Flamel lying above the boiler. "Flammel, I've got the Philosopher's Stone. How do I now understand the structure of the human body?"

Flamel, propping his head up with one hand while lying on his side, yawned upon hearing this. With a wave of his hand, the alchemy lab transformed into a brightly lit library.

The spot where he was lying on his side was replaced by a bookshelf instead of a boiler.

"Human transmutation is a taboo subject, even more taboo than black magic. Wizards who secretly study it dare not spread the contents of their notes. Nico didn't collect them either."

Flamel patted the bookshelf beneath him. "These are the only contents; most of them are books from the Muggle world."

Loren flipped through these rough-looking notes and diagrams, which were clearly quite old. Most of them were written by an author named Andrei Vesalius.

"In Paris in 1534, Nicolas met a whimsical Muggle medical student who was very interested in skeletal research. Two years later, Nicolas met him again in Venice, where he was dissecting corpses and carefully studying the function of each part. Nicolas considered this creative work and gave him some financial assistance. They corresponded for a long time afterward, and these manuscripts are the result of Vesalius's work."

Six Anatomical Atlases, Human Anatomy...

It looked like a very old anatomy book; Loren flipped through a few pages and then put it down.

Modern anatomy is far more complete. If Flamel only had this much knowledge, perhaps he should have gone to a Muggle medical school instead of trying to figure it out on his own with outdated anatomy books.

Flamel continued, "Nicole believed that deciphering the mysteries of wizarding magic should also follow this path. But the wizarding world is smaller and more narrow-minded than Muggle society; even if he were a master alchemist, making such statements would be seen as being an evil dark wizard. So he didn't pursue the matter further."

"You'll have to walk this path from now on, have you really thought it through?" Flamel said this with a strange look in his eyes, as if he really wanted to get some answers from him.

The magical world is like the Renaissance, a society before the liberation of thought, but they also possess extremely high productivity, so they lack the conditions for any reform.

But Loren didn't care about this ignorance at all.

"Of course." Loren grinned.

Dinner time, at the Gryffindor long table.

Harry Potter, the savior of Hufflepuff, seemed to have lost his soul, mechanically stuffing food into his mouth.

Today, Dumbledore suddenly found him and the two had a conversation. The headmaster cruelly shattered his dream of living with Sirius.

But this time Dumbledore didn't try to fool him with the riddle; instead, he kindly explained it to him.

"Your mother left you a protective charm with love, and only blood ties can sustain its power..."

The amulet's power could protect him from Voldemort, and he had to live with the Dursleys.

Thinking of Dumbledore's words, and then thinking back to when he faced Quirrell, he realized that he wouldn't have been able to escape if it weren't for the power his mother left him.

Harry wasn't angry at all, just annoyed. He even lost all anticipation for tomorrow's year-end party.

Loren and Hermione were sitting next to him.

During the meal, Loren suddenly asked, "What's your favorite color?"

Hermione instinctively answered, "Light purple."

"oh."

Hermione didn't think much of it; her mind was on the books, and she wasn't paying attention to the food in front of her. She would take a bite and then glance at Professor McGonagall at the head table.

"Does Professor McGonagall look appetizing?" Loren wondered.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him slightly. "I'll go find Professor McGonagall and Mrs. Pins later. You go to the library and empty the books out of the box as soon as possible."

Loren nodded.

I know the library well, right?

……

Summer nights are always quieter, perhaps because the crickets and other unknown insects chirp so loudly that the castle is even quieter.

Loren pushed open the library door, and the creaking sound of loose pages was even more noticeable in the dark library.

He deftly picked up an oil lamp from the shelf and lit it. The box was placed in a spot by the window during the day, easily visible.

Loren picked up the box and dumped all the books out.

"Splash!"

"Splash!"

A messy pile of dirty books formed a small mountain on the table.

Loren frowned when he saw the mountain of books. He wasn't satisfied. "Mrs. Pince will definitely yell at us when she comes in and sees this."

He recalled Professor Flitwick's test question about making pineapples dance, and that gave him an idea.

The magic wand, like a conductor's baton in a symphony, was constantly waving, tracing beautiful paths.

The books, piled up haphazardly, seemed to come alive, standing up, moving their four corners, and jumping around, as if they were stretching their limbs.

Then several books of different sizes stepped out and lay down side by side. The remaining books hopped and skipped over to the ones that were already lying down, and lay down on top of them according to their respective sizes. Occasionally, they would bend over to align themselves.

When the thick stack of books has been built up to the point where it's impossible to lie down on top of them, the remaining books take a running start, then jump to build themselves up.

Soon, the messy books were transformed into neat stacks after some direction.

Loren smiled, quite pleased with his control over his magic.

After the Quirrell incident, his magical power experienced a significant surge, occasionally resulting in spells becoming excessively powerful.

Thanks to repeatedly drawing the magic runes, this meticulous operation made him more adept at controlling magic.

"...Books...will definitely be helpful to some students..." Hermione's soft voice came from outside the door.

"Crunch"

"Loren has already moved the books inside."

The sound of the door being pushed open rang out simultaneously with Hermione's clear voice.

Professor McGonagall and Mrs. Pines, who entered one after the other, immediately saw Loren carrying an oil lamp.

"Good evening, Professor McGonagall, Mrs. Pince," Loren greeted with a smile.

Mrs. Pince's face darkened as she looked at the dust on the ground. She quickly walked to the neatly stacked pile of books and began to read.

Professor McGonagall looked at Loren, but Loren just smiled at her, and she couldn't tell what was going on. Professor McGonagall then turned her attention to the pile of books.

Mrs. Pince's gloomy expression softened as she turned the pages of each book. She flipped through a few pages of each book before putting it down, quickly categorizing them in her mind.

"I still want to know the origin of these books," Professor McGonagall said slowly.

Hermione was getting anxious. "Professor McGonagall, we agreed to keep it a secret."

"If it were just a dozen or so books, I could ignore their origins, but this is too many." Professor McGonagall paused, noticing Hermione's anxious expression, and explained, "The Board of Governors might use this to investigate Hogwarts' finances."

She seized upon old Crabbe's weakness and pressured the Board of Governors to implement a series of measures for Hogwarts' self-governance. Now was the time to wrestle with the Board of Governors; she couldn't let them seize the opportunity to retaliate.

Every donation from alumni must have a provenance and be documented. Otherwise, the board of trustees could use the opportunity of auditing the finances to postpone these matters to the next academic year, or even indefinitely.

"These books...we..." Hermione couldn't speak; she couldn't explain clearly, and her eyes reddened with anxiety.

Seeing that Hermione was getting more and more anxious, Loren stepped forward and put his hand on Hermione's back to calm the little girl down.

He said, "Don't worry, Professor McGonagall, Headmaster Dumbledore knows the source of these books, and he will provide a legitimate origin."

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, her gaze falling on the worn-out books, and finally nodded in agreement.

Mrs. Pince then said with exasperation, "Your method of organizing books is completely wrong! Is all you can see the size of the books?"

Her expression had turned to joy.

Mrs. Pince twirled her wand in her hand, and several planks of wood flew out from the depths of the library and assembled into a bookshelf.

The neatly stacked books began to open in half, their pages fluttering like wings, flying towards the bookshelf. They then stopped at different shelves according to their subject categories.

Soon a new bookshelf appeared in front of them.

Professor McGonagall looked at the bookshelf with a gentle expression. "I will have the prefects inform the students who wish to borrow the books that they can come to the library to register in the next couple of days."

"You need to explain things to Dumbledore as soon as possible."

(End of this chapter)