Days at Hogwarts

Chapter 15 Conversation with Dumbledore

"Of course, I'd be happy to listen." Dumbledore looked at Professor McGonagall by the door and told her to go back and rest.

Professor McGonagall didn't pay much attention and turned to leave.

The new students often make what they consider amazing discoveries, such as moving armor in the castle or secret passages behind portraits. Even if they do make a great discovery, the headmaster tells himself that he'd love to push all the work onto him and retire as soon as possible.

Dumbledore rummaged under the table and found another box of candy, but this time it wasn't the cockroach-infested box. The headmaster didn't have much left, and he wanted to keep some for himself.

Loren first recounted what he saw at the Sorting Ceremony: the scar on Harry's forehead and the eerie shadow that appeared simultaneously on Professor Snape's arm, as well as Professor Quirrell's strange scarf.

Loren had some suspicions: Professor Snape had an indelible Dark Mark on his arm, and Harry's wound contained fragments of Voldemort's soul. However, given some unspeakable secrets, he couldn't voice these thoughts.

Dumbledore narrowed his eyes, lost in thought.

Snape's situation needs no further explanation, but Harry's predicament seems to be worse than he thought.

As for Professor Quirrell, his odor became more and more noticeable after returning from Albania, and wearing that unnecessary scarf was nothing more than a clumsy performance.

Based on this, he devised a brilliant plan, believing that the fish would soon take the bait.

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"Loren, you possess extraordinary talent, and it's not just your eyes." Dumbledore looked intently at Loren, who was putting lemon-orange candy into his mouth.

Loren opened his mouth, paused for a moment, and was somewhat puzzled. Did he have some other talents that he hadn't noticed?

Dumbledore noticed Loren's doubt: "Being willing to share unique secrets with someone you've only recently met might be because I'm the headmaster... However, being willing to entrust someone with trust is an extremely rare quality."

The headmaster then began to speak of Loren's eyes: "Magic perception is a profound skill; some students may not even learn it until graduation. You've taken a big step ahead."

"And you, Principal, can you also see those strange things?" Loren asked.

Dumbledore's lips curled into a smile, feigning modesty, "Perhaps not so clear, but you can still see some."

"Animagus too? What about Apparition?" Loren was also very curious about this seemingly random cheat.

"Hehe, it's a secret." Dumbledore said with a mysterious smile to Loren.

"Is it strange that you saw Ron Weasley's rat?" Although he was a little speechless at the old rascal, Loren still wanted to speed up the plot.

"Oh, the Weasley boy, I hadn't been paying attention to him, I didn't even know he had a pet mouse. I'm closer to his parents. Arthur and Molly..."

Dumbledore quickly interrupted, "You know, as people get older, they tend to reminisce about the past."

"Let's talk about this mouse instead."

Loren swallowed the candy: "The first time I saw that mouse, I saw something similar to the cat that Professor McGonagall transformed into."

Dumbledore's expression turned serious: "You mean, that rat is also an Animagus?"

"I think so," Loren began to add what he knew: "That rat has been with Ron's family for over ten years, and it used to be Percy's pet."

"It's not exactly a friendly gesture for a wizard to hide in someone's house," Dumbledore said, his tone unconsciously carrying a hint of authority.

"Should we arrest him?"

"No, we'd better not disturb him for now."

Dumbledore shared his thoughts, "An evil wizard has been hiding for over a decade. We can't be sure if he's done anything to the Weasleys. If he's caused Ron or anyone else any irreparable harm, that would be unacceptable to us all."

The world of magic is wondrous, teeming with bizarre curses and dark magic. A decade or so is enough time to plant a curse on the entire Weasley family, so Dumbledore's concerns are justified.

"But..." Loren was in a hurry. He knew the cause and effect, but he couldn't say it.

Dumbledore assumed that Loren simply wanted to catch the bad guys first, and he already had a plan in mind: "Now, I have a task for you."

As he spoke, Dumbledore waved his wand, and a star flew in from the window and landed in his palm. A warm, yellow glow floated in the old man's hand.

Loren noticed that Dumbledore's hands were somewhat rough, but not very wrinkled. They didn't look very old; on the contrary, they were as strong and powerful as the hands of a man in his forties, even stronger than Grandpa Bates's.

He extended his hand to Loren, who blankly handed over his right hand.

The star fell into Loren's palm, its light sinking into the child's tender hand, like the moon falling into a tranquil lake, and finally a four-pointed star pattern the size of a coin appeared in Loren's palm.

"I need you to stick this star on that mouse, in a way that no one will notice," Dumbledore winked at Loren.

Loren eventually accepted the task in a daze, but Dumbledore didn't say anything about any other plans.

It wasn't until they had walked some distance that Loren realized: Wasn't this just fooling a child? They hadn't said anything important.

"So cunning," Loren muttered to himself.

It wasn't too late yet, and candlelight still shone in the corridor.

Filch and Lady Lorris wouldn't begin their patrol for a while. Filch was the castle's caretaker, and Lady Lorris was Filch's cat.

Today's Gryffindor password is "Pig Nose". In the common room, Ron is sitting in a chair in front of the fireplace, teaching Harry to play wizard chess. Hermione is also in the common room reading a book, while other Gryffindor students are gathered in twos and threes, playing and studying.

Loren walked into the lounge. Hermione glanced up at him, then looked away and breathed a sigh of relief.

Although this person's behavior was egregious and she didn't want to forgive him yet, Hermione didn't want Loren to actually be expelled.

Harry called Loren over to play. Loren was interested in wizard chess, but he had other things to do.

"Ron, remember when you wanted to turn your rats yellow on the train?" Loren already had a plan.

"Yes, but it failed. Why are you mentioning that?"

"I also asked Professor McGonagall some questions about the Transfiguration Charm. Now we can give it a try. May I borrow your mouse?"

Ron hesitated; he quite liked his pet. However, after Loren pulled out a handful of lemon shaggy candies, Ron felt it was perfectly normal to lend his pet to a friend.

Loren pretended to take the mouse.

Banban was fast asleep, showing no reaction. It looked like an ordinary mouse, only slightly larger than Loren's palm.

Feeling the soft, warm flesh against his skin through the sparse, short hairs, Loren had a feeling that if he squeezed hard, he could squeeze the bone fragments of this rat out of its flesh.

He felt an impulse tempting him to squeeze it.

Exhaling and shaking off that inexplicable feeling, Loren made a gesture, "Daisies, sweet cream, and sunshine, turn this fat mouse yellow."

The mouse didn't react at all and continued sleeping.

Loren returned the mouse: "Looks like it's not going to work."

"If you ask me, the problem is with that spell; none of us can use it."

Ron happily popped a lemon-orange candy into his mouth and shared a few with Harry: "Let's play wizard chess instead!"

"You two can continue, I'll take a look first." Loren sat down calmly.

Looking up, the four-pointed star in my palm was gone.

(End of this chapter)