Days at Hogwarts

Chapter 82 Returning to Hogwarts

In the dead of night, in the Hogwarts Headmaster's office, the portraits of past headmasters hanging on the wall had fallen asleep. Suddenly, two figures, one old and one young, appeared out of nowhere, and the warm yellow light in the office gradually brightened.

"You go back first, I'll take care of it for now." Dumbledore took off his hat, which was no longer quite the right size, and casually placed it on the table with the top facing up.

"Goodbye, Headmaster!" Loren couldn't wait to take a good shower; he had been cooped up in Albania for the past few days.

Nagini slept soundly in his hat, his head resting on the jewels. Fawkes peeked in, then immediately became wary and yelled at Dumbledore, "Squeak!"

It's as if it's talking about you, this fickle person.

As Dumbledore dodged Fawkes's pecks, he preened its feathers and chuckled soothingly, "Alright, alright..."

He gave Fawkes some snacks and spent some time calming him down. Dumbledore slowly took a somewhat old-looking white-covered book from the shelf, opened it, and saw a portrait on each page.

After turning countless pages, I stopped at a portrait of a person with a full head of silver hair and a thin physique.

Dumbledore waited a while, and the portrait gradually came to life, began to show color, and slowly, the portrait moved.

"Albus?"

"Nico."

After a brief conversation, Dumbledore recounted his experiences in Albania and asked Nico if there was any way to save the blood-cursed orc.

"I can't help you, but the Philosopher's Stone might..."

In Nico's account, the effects of the Philosopher's Stone vary from person to person.

"In my hands, I can turn lead into gold and concoct elixirs of immortality, but Loren might have other options."

"Judging from his demands, it might be biotransformation, turning snakes back into humans, and fixing werewolves in human form."

Nico's voice, amplified by magic, emanated from the book, like an old man telling an ethereal legend: "Unveiling the mysteries of life is not a smooth road..."

Magical creatures seem to have no reproductive barriers. Before this, many wizards conceived strange creatures for various purposes, leading to many disasters.

The most famous is the despicable Herpo, who bred the basilisk by using toads to hatch male eggs.

Some people are driven by curiosity, some by profit, and some by ill intentions; the content in many Defense Against the Dark Arts textbooks is artificially created by wizards.

Until 1965, when Newt Scamander's "Prohibition on the Feeding of Magical Creatures for Experimental Purposes" was passed, this ban effectively curbed the prevalence of creating new, untamable animals within Britain.

The Ministry of Magic's Aurors devoted considerable effort to investigating and prosecuting several wizards who illegally bred dangerous creatures. In the following years, other countries' Ministries of Magic also issued similar bans.

This is only transmutation on magical creatures; Loren will be involved with human bodies, and anyone who hears about such behavior will think Loren is a dark wizard.

If Loren were to embark on the path of biotransformation, even if the outside world were unaware of the Philosopher's Stone, the mere act of biotransformation itself would be enough to draw the attention of all sorts of people, from the Ministry of Magic to dark wizards.

"When he found the snake in the Albanian forest, he had already pulled it out of the abyss of despair," Nico said, referring to the prerequisites for using the Philosopher's Stone.

"Cough cough cough."

His voice sounded weak. "Perhaps we don't need to rush to destroy the Philosopher's Stone. After you finish what you need to do, let Loren try it out with my Philosopher's Stone."

Dumbledore sat in his chair, looking at the portrait in the book. "Are you ready to die?"

Upon hearing this question, Nico's aged face broke into a smile. "Albus, you already know that death is not the end, but a greater adventure."

"I still have some medicine in stock. After I take care of some things, I will return to Paris with Perené."

"In the summer, there's another performance of the opera 'Faust' in Paris. I'll leave after I see that one."

"I won't say goodbye then."

"Cough cough cough, goodbye."

Upon hearing the word "goodbye," Dumbledore's wrinkles smoothed out, and he smiled. "Goodbye, and have a pleasant journey."

After he finished speaking, Nicole's portrait gradually faded and remained motionless.

Loren carried his small suitcase and ran towards the Gryffindor common room.

Returning to Hogwarts, the dusty stone pillars, the polished armor, and the moving staircases all gave Loren a sense of familiarity and security, like coming home.

At least there won't be any dark wizards robbing people here, except for Voldemort.

In the Gryffindor common room.

The four Weasley wizards were playing chess around the table, the twins and Percy (three against Ron) and Ron (one).

The twins were able to hold off Ron's offensive, but after believing Percy's words a few times, they collapsed completely.

On the chessboard, the knight on horseback moved forward while cursing, "Are you two trolls? Why do you listen to others?"

Percy blushed slightly, looked away, and pretended not to hear.

He saw Loren coming in from outside and his eyes lit up. "Look, Loren's back!"

George and Fred also looked up, and taking advantage of Ron's inattention, overturned the chessboard, each letting out a joyful shout:

"Our savior, Loren, has returned!"

"We'll never have to play chess with Ron again!"

Finally, the two raised their hands and shouted in unison, "Long live Loren!"

It's clear that the group really suffered under Ron's torment during the days Loren was away.

The twins ran around the table to Loren, Fred took his small suitcase, and George pulled Loren to Ron and sat him down. "It's all up to you!"

Loren tried to struggle, "I haven't taken a shower yet."

"We'll wash later. We agreed that if we beat Ron tonight, he'll never ask us to play chess again."

"But I can't beat Ron at wizard chess either," Loren said.

Ron raised his chin, looking incredibly smug. "I can beat you at Gomoku too."

When Loren first taught Ron how to play Gomoku, he almost lost because he was just going through the motions. After being exposed to Go, Ron reviewed his earlier games and believed he had already surpassed Loren, becoming very confident.

So arrogant?

Loren looked at the other Weasleys. "Did you break his head while I was gone?"

George, recalling his experiences over the past few days, said, "I'd love to smash his head in."

Fred nodded in agreement. "But he really does seem pretty good."

After Loren taught Ron how to play Go, he has been playing against himself for the past few days. Ron does have a talent for Go, and he has improved a lot in both calculation ability and strategy.

Once you understand one thing, you understand everything. When playing other games, Ron naturally incorporates the thinking of Go, thinking several steps ahead for each move. He can also analyze the overall situation of the game and open up another battlefield when one stalemate occurs.

Sometimes, before a stalemate even begins, Ron can foresee the situation and plant a seed of conflict elsewhere.

Their moves were wildly unpredictable, and the twins couldn't keep up at all, so they brought in Percy, but they lost even faster.

If Ron's chess skills were previously purely based on talent, now, with Loren's help, he seems to have found a way to explore a path that can take him further.

"Let's play Connect Four then. I'm going to take a shower first." Loren didn't refuse; he wanted to see if Ron had gotten too cocky.

Loren carefully washed and groomed himself; if he could, he'd like to soak for a few hours. When he came out, Ron was playing Connect Four with three other people.

"Down here," Percy pointed to a spot.

"You're still the class monitor."

"We'll lose if we go there."

Although George and Fred had learned their lesson and stopped listening to slander, they ultimately failed.

Ron couldn't suppress a smile, but he pretended to be calm. "Let Loren do it instead."

Loren was itching to give him a little shock for his arrogant attitude.

The rules of Gomoku (Five in a Row) are not entirely complete. Formal Gomoku tournaments usually include forbidden moves to ensure both players start on equal footing. Without forbidden moves, there are multiple guaranteed winning openings.

For example, the "Flower Moon" opening move. Loren used this move to dominate elementary, middle, and high school, never encountering an opponent from childhood to adulthood. Now, it's time to teach this Ron a lesson.

In the opening moves, neither side gave much thought; one attacked, and the other blocked.

As more and more pieces appeared on the chessboard, Ron's relaxed expression gradually disappeared.

As a result, Ron couldn't gain the initiative from the very beginning. The more pieces he made, the clearer the board became.

Finally, Ron could no longer hold back and was defeated by a one-finger-four-three attack, ending the battle.

"Heh, is that all?" Loren said casually, mimicking Ron's nonchalant manner.

Ron's face turned pale upon hearing this.

The twins cheered, "Finally, we don't have to play chess with Ron anymore!"

Ron ignored the cheers of the others, his eyes wide as he stared at the chessboard, exclaiming incredulously, "How is this possible?"

He went through each move in his mind, recalling it bit by bit, and gradually realized that Loren's strategy from the very beginning was very clear.

"That kind of start..."

Ron didn't wallow in the disappointment of losing; his eyes grew brighter. His fingers moved across the board, placing pieces that mirrored Loren's opening moves.

He laid out the opening moves again and again, constantly deducing, and in a short while, Ron seemed to be about to figure out the opening pattern of Flower Moon.

Loren's mind was no longer on the chessboard. After returning from the forest and taking a bath, he felt an empty stomach.

Loren's first instinct was to go to the kitchen to find something to eat, but going to the kitchen would mean running into Wheat, and the thought of the last time made Loren uncomfortable.

Watching the playful twins, Ron engrossed in the chessboard, the fire in the fireplace illuminated Loren's eyes.

"It's the last day of the year, let's do something special."

The twins stopped and looked at Loren expectantly.

"Want to embark on a thrilling adventure?"

"How about a nighttime stroll? Let's go to the Forbidden Forest!"

Hearing this, Loren shook his head violently. "I just started the engine, and you two floored the gas pedal. If we're talking about breaking school rules, you two are the real experts."

"How about roasting the meat over the fireplace?"

George and Fred were somewhat disappointed, but they were also very interested in the roast meat, and they went to the kitchen to get the food without any trouble.

Percy hesitated for a moment, but did not stop the twins.

Soon, the twins used a levitation spell to bring various kinds of meat into the lounge. Spells were not allowed in the hallway, but since they were George and Fred, they were the ones who brought the meat.

The house-elves chopped the beef, lamb, and pork into small pieces, which the young wizards then used transmuted forks to skewer and roast in the fireplace. Their grilling skills weren't great, but the fat still emitted an enticing aroma as it sizzled in the flames.

Ron toasted the bread until it was burnt, but he forced himself to eat it and said it was delicious.

The twins were laughing so hard they wanted to bake Ron two more loaves of dark bread...

Their laughter turned into strange tunes, the lyrics of their songs changed again and again, and in the end they simply repeated "Happy New Year, Happy New Year".

Many Gryffindors who stayed in the castle for the holiday also came out of their dormitories and joined in.

This feast was far less lavish than Christmas, lacking elaborate decorations and even the food wasn't as delicious. But on the last day of 1991, the fire in the fireplace of the Gryffindor common room burned in everyone's hearts.

Many years later, they still remember that warm feeling.

The next morning, while having breakfast, Loren received a letter from Hermione.

Mr. Morgan:

I hope everything is well with you when you receive this letter. Happy New Year!

I still can't understand why you forgot to write to me. Hanhan would appear at the window on time every morning. He was such a responsible postman. You probably don't know that Hanhan's favorite food is white mice.

My whole family loves Hanhan. My father always tries to talk to owls; he somehow thinks they can talk. My mother tries to get Hanhan to crow so she can hear the owl's call in Shakespeare's Macbeth when it announces King Duncan's death, but I don't think Shakespeare wrote about a spectacled owl.

During the holidays, our family went camping in Dean Forest, and Hanhan seemed to really enjoy it. The mist, like clouds, concealed the trees and the campsite. When the campfire lit up, it looked like the sun was shining through the clouds. I really wish you could see this scene too; perhaps it would be even better in summer, as it's a bit too cold now.

……

How's Hogwarts during the Christmas holidays? Hopefully, you won't have jam on the lounge chairs.

Please give my regards to Ron, and I look forward to your reply.

Hermione Granger

It was an ordinary letter, containing a simple complaint about Loren's behavior, recounting amusing anecdotes from home, and ending with a casual greeting.

Loren sensed something extraordinary within this ordinariness.

Dear Hermione:

Greetings! Happy New Year!

When I received the letter, I fed Hanhan the cheese and bread I was eating, and it seemed to enjoy it.

The Christmas feast at Hogwarts was incredibly lavish, with hundreds of roasted turkeys, and flames leaping from the Christmas tree as you left, with candles hanging like stars on its branches…

Dumbledore and I went to the forests of Albania, where we witnessed a dazzling light. I'll tell you the details when you get back…

I think you might want to greet Lou Williams a bit more, but don't worry, everything's fine.

Sincere greetings

Loren Morgan

After writing the letter to Hermione, Loren also wrote a letter to Grandpa Bates, using the Hogwarts owl.

I greeted Grandpa Bates, asking how his New Year was and where he was on his journey. I ended by asking if I could have his roast lamb when I went back for summer vacation.

Several days later, Loren walked through Hogwarts Castle again, enjoying the atmosphere.

As I walked along the road, I received frozen fruit from the Hufflepuff wizards one after another—all sorts of frozen apples, frozen peaches…

Loren felt that if he ate all that frozen fruit by himself, he would probably get a good scolding from Mrs. Pomfrey in the school infirmary. So, for the sake of a pleasant holiday experience, he shared it with a few close friends.

In the lounge, Ron sat engrossed in his own world, surrounded by three chessboards: Wizard's Chess, Gomoku, and Go.

Loren placed the fruit beside him and sighed.

Ron is probably bored because Harry isn't here. He'll probably come out of the chessboard when Harry comes back.

At the same time, they hope that Harry's return to school will facilitate Nagini's redemption and allow him to heal Grandpa Bates as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)