Chapter 259 After the Early Summer Rain

boom!

Bang!

Thunder roared and rain poured down.

Torrential rain poured down on the ancient outer wall of Hogwarts Castle. Large streams of water flowed down the cracks in the stone. The heavy water droplets hit the leaves of the Whomping Willow, making dense and loud pops. Click sound.

The moist water vapor traveled freely through the corridors of the castle, forming a cool breeze that made the parchment pages rustle.

The little wizards of Gryffindor were unwilling to close the windows and let the noisy rain echo. Everyone had to talk at the top of their lungs. They cheered and shouted loudly, as freely as the wind and rain tonight.

"Crackling exploding cards! Is anyone coming from Three Missing One!?"

"Count me in!"

"Where are my slippers! Someone kicked my slippers away!"

"Stop wearing them, go barefoot!"

"General!"

"Wait a minute, I regret my move!"

…

There was a commotion in the lounge, which was so noisy that it hurt my ears. But no one left, they roared and added their own words to the deafening noise.

"Reach out and get beaten!"

Loren shouted cheerfully to Hermione.

They were playing a very childish game. One person put his hand in front of his face and the other person slapped it with his hand. If you get hit, you lose, keep getting beaten. If you shrink your hand and dodge, you will win, and the person opposite will start to get beaten.

It should be noted that the hit in the center is a fake hit, and it is useless to dodge it. You can only win if you dodge the hit that passes the center line.

As soon as Hermione reached out her hand, she was slapped hard by Loren.

"ah--"

Hermione screamed, angry and laughing, unable to hold back the smile on her lips.

They were huddled cross-legged on a single sofa, their knees touching their knees, and they could feel each other's body temperature.

The little witch's shoulder-length hair is messily draped behind her back. She laughs so hard that her body trembles from time to time. She doesn't look like a know-it-all lady at all.

"Keep getting beaten!" Loren urged.

Hermione pressed the tears of laughter at the corner of her eyes and slowly stretched out her hand. She predicted that the man was about to attack again and suddenly retracted it.

The plan failed, Loren's hand remained motionless in its place.

She could only reach out her hand again, and this time Loren pounced.

Snapped!

"You're going too far, you're sneaking up on me -" Hermione tried her best to sound aggrieved, but she couldn't hold back the laughter in her words.

"Stop pretending to be pitiful and reach out for a beating!"

Loren was merciless, and after taking so many beatings from this girl, it was finally time for the offense and defense to reverse.

Hermione curled her lips in dissatisfaction. According to her analysis, her enhanced body reaction speed was faster than this person's. In this kind of game that tests reaction ability, she must have an advantage.

Unexpectedly, this is not a game that tests reaction ability at all, but a psychological game. The key is to guess when the opponent will really fight and when he will pretend to fight.

A slight advantage in reflexes is useless, but the cunning Loren can always guess her thoughts.

Snapped!

The palm received another slap, and the hand as white as snow was already red.

"Hahahaha, you're still going to get beaten!" Loren laughed wildly, "Hurry up and stretch it out."

My hand only hurt a little, but the humiliation was too much to bear. Hermione buried her head, put her hands behind her back, and said in a low voice: "You are too cunning, I won't play with you anymore!"

"Hehehehe——" Loren couldn't help laughing. The two of them were crowded on a single sofa, facing each other with their heads buried. It was useless for the girl to deceive herself.

"If you don't want to play, don't play. Just be good and be beaten." Loren also lowered his head, pressed his forehead against Hermione's, and reached out to grab her hand.

Hermione laughed and put her hands under her arms, trying to push him away with her head.

Loren opened her arms, and Hermione hid her hands in the hollows of her legs to prevent him from succeeding.

At this moment, a soaked and embarrassed figure came in from outside the lounge.

Her hair was soaked with rain and clung to her scalp, and her clothes were wrinkled and even dripping onto the floor.

Neville's appearance shocked the little wizards in the lounge, and the deafening noise stopped for a moment.

Hermione couldn't hold her head back for a moment, and fell into Loren's arms. She quickly sat up with a red face, looked around to make sure no one noticed her embarrassment, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

Several members of the Animagus teaching class, headed by Percy, gathered around and asked impatiently: "Did it succeed? Did it succeed?"

"Neville what is your animagus?"

"Can you change it for us to see?"

This was the long-awaited stormy night, and they all knew the next steps of Professor McGonagall taking Neville to perform the Animagus ritual. Although the chances of success were low, they had a glimmer of hope.

Neville took two steps back and stammered in reply: "It failed. Professor McGonagall said I still need to gain experience."

"I, I'm going to change clothes!" Neville went upstairs in a panic.

Several young wizards in the teaching class looked at each other and did not ask any more questions. At this time, it was better to leave Neville alone and calmly.

After a while of silence, the crackling exploding cards continued to explode in the lounge, and the noisy frolics started again.

Hermione looked away and asked worriedly, "Is Neville going to be okay?"

"It's okay, Neville is stronger than most people." Loren saw the opportunity and slapped the back of her hand, feeling relieved.

Hermione gritted her teeth in anger, got up and pushed him down on the sofa...

In the bedroom upstairs, Neville, who had changed his clothes, stared in the mirror for a while and started to pack his suitcase for home.

He had a lot to take home, so it was best to start packing in advance so that the remaining days could be used to think about what he had forgotten.

Animagus is a bold attempt, just like when Uncle Argyle grabbed him by the ankles and hung him from the roof window when he was 8 years old, it was just an attempt.

For Neville, in the past ten years, failure has always been throughout his life, and success has been only a minority. He was used to such failures.

It's like falling from the roof of a building.

Unscathed and resilient.

…

Strong winds and showers come and go as quickly as they come.

The next morning, when Loren opened his eyes, the sound of wind and rain that had been ringing all night had stopped.

I got out of bed and opened the window with my bare feet. The sky covered by thick clouds was already clear.

The cool wind blew against my face, and I took a deep breath of fresh air with moist water vapor. The bright sky made me feel refreshed, as if all the dust accumulated in my lungs had been spit out.

Wash up, change clothes, and go out.

I met the prefect Percy in the corridor of the dormitory. The two walked out together and chatted for a while.

Loren asked: "Have you signed up for Professor McGonagall's internship? Or do you insist on pursuing a career in the Ministry of Magic after graduation and are not interested in the potion business?"

"I signed up for a two-week internship, and I will travel to Egypt with my family for the rest of the time." Percy chewed his teeth, feeling that something was not right in the atmosphere he was talking to. Loren seemed like his elder.

He paused for a moment and decided to turn his head around: "You are about to enter the third grade. During the holidays, review the basic knowledge learned in the first two years. It will be of great help later. If you have ideas about prefects, you should start preparing... …”

Loren responded repeatedly, and the two of them walked out of the corridor and followed the railings and handrails to go down the stairs.

"Besides," Percy's tone suddenly became brighter and he winked at him, "Confirm your relationship as soon as possible. When you are busy as a senior, you always feel like you don't have enough time to fall in love."

"Huh? Did the topic change so suddenly?"

Loren followed Percy's eyes and looked down, and saw a beautiful figure sitting quietly on the sofa, holding a book in her hand. The title of the book was unknown. The girl was looking up at him with bright eyes. smile.

Classes have been suspended, and the little wizards no longer wear magic robes uniformly. Many of them have changed into clothes they wear at home.

Hermione wore a dark green half-sleeved top, like the leaves of those evergreen trees in the Forbidden Forest, with a lotus collar pattern, and a small section of her white wrists was exposed. Below is a pair of black wide-leg pants, and the girl's body is full of vigorous vitality.

Ignoring Percy, Loren walked briskly downstairs and came to the girl: "Tell me good morning!"

"Good morning." Hermione put the book into the whale pendant around her neck.

"Well, good morning too Hermione."

Loren nodded with satisfaction, "What are your plans for today? Are you going to practice illusions? Do you want to go to the Forbidden Forest?"

"Yeah." Hermione smiled mischievously, "It's vacation soon, so I have to hurry up and make progress, otherwise I won't be able to learn to apparate, and it won't be convenient for me to beat you at home."

No more pretending!

Loren's eyes widened: "What words! What are you talking about?"

The two chattered towards the auditorium and had breakfast.

They arrived too early, and there were very few people in the auditorium. There were less than ten young wizards sitting scatteredly on the long tables of the four colleges. There were quite a few professors at the guest of honor table. The deans of the four colleges and Dumbledore were all there, occasionally greeting the little wizards passing by.

Seeing Professor Flitwick finish breakfast and leave the auditorium, Hermione bit off the sandwich in her hand and pushed the plate with two fried eggs left in front of Loren: "Leave it to you, don't waste food. "

Hermione took out a tissue to wipe her mouth and left in a hurry.

It was already ten minutes after breakfast. Loren got up and walked slowly to the foyer, preparing to go fishing in the Black Lake.

Idle time is also idle. Of course, the most important thing is that the rising water makes fishing easier.

Passing by the corridor next to the courtyard, the plants in the courtyard look even more lush and green after the rain, which is eye-catching.

The snail with a negative shell is attached to the back shell of another snail and slowly moves forward along the branches and leaves of the shrub. Inadvertently water droplets fell on the snail shell, which frightened the two snails into retracting into their shells at the same time. It took a long time to calm down, stick their heads out and continue crawling forward.

Loren couldn't help but squat down and take a closer look. From time to time, he put leaves in front of the snails to create roadblocks for them, or attracted a puddle of water to force the snails to change direction. For a while, I got excited about playing and became fascinated.

"The scenery full of vitality is more moving, isn't it, Loren?" Dumbledore appeared next to him at some point, looking at him with soft eyes.

Loren raised his head helplessly and sighed, "Principal Dumbledore, I have a grudge against Sirius Black, not you."

A smile appeared on Dumbledore's lips.

"Even if you are a capitalist reformist wizard who advocates equality for all and opposes the forces of dark wizards, you have not tried to change the privileged status of pure-blood nobles in a practical sense, change wizards' discriminatory concepts against Muggles, and have never fought against the darkness. The breeding ground for power, such as Knockturn Alley, the Ministry of Magic, and the Hogwarts School Board interest groups.

But considering your psychological shadow, I still understand your approach to maintaining stability. So, Principal Dumbledore, if you have something to say, you can say it directly. There is no need to find a topic in a roundabout way. We are not outsiders. "

Dumbledore was stunned, stunned for a moment, and then laughed easily. He laughed for a while before stopping to stroke his messy beard.

Although Loren was complaining about him, speaking these words bluntly meant that he still trusted his old principal and was willing to get close to him.

If he became respectful, modest, and prudent, Dumbledore would feel uneasy.

"Never fighting for power and putting it into practice is already my greatest contribution to the world." Dumbledore shook his head, "These are exactly what I hope you can do in the future."

He began to get down to business: "About the treatment plan for the Longbottoms, I have communicated with some therapists and scholars who have studied the soul.

The Longbottoms' souls were disrupted by the Unforgivable Curse, and their consciousness and memory were all in disarray. Sorting through their consciousness was like finding threads from a whole room of yarn. It's difficult and dangerous. "

Loren looked at the headless snail trapped in the waterline: "Professor, I recommend you to read some books on Muggle psychology. Although I don't understand the soul, I know that human consciousness is very wonderful. Something even more magical than magic. The Longbottoms' confused consciousness is not caused by the Unforgivable Curse, but rather by their consciousness blurring their perception and sanity in order to resist the unbearable pain."

"Their souls are not dilapidated and collapsed buildings, but lush jungles that grow twisted and twisted. We don't need to rebuild brick by brick, we just need to raise a beam of light in the darkness to guide the direction."

"What a novel knowledge." Dumbledore praised, "Can you be more specific?"

"I can use Bloody Mary's hand mirror to open a path to the depths of their consciousness, let Neville go deep into the bottom of their consciousness, use family affection to resist the pain of memory, and awaken their sanity from the inside out."

Loren crossed his fingers and disconnected the water line in front of the snail: "Of course, this is very dangerous and there is no guarantee that it will work."

"It will definitely succeed." Dumbledore's eyes became brighter, "Love, the greatest magic..."

The two snails swayed their tentacles and walked forward along the sudden road, slowly but surely.

…

A week later, the lively end-of-year banquet brought the school year to an end.

The banquet is arranged before the results of the final exam are released, so that the little wizard can enjoy the banquet in peace and contentment.

Except for a few such as Hermione, most young wizards thought this arrangement was very reasonable.

The Great Hall was decorated in red and gold to represent Gryffindor, celebrating their second consecutive House Cup win. On the wall behind the guest of honor seat, there was a huge banner with the Gryffindor Lion painted on it, majestic.