Chapter 530 A Relatively Peaceful Dinner

Walking on the steps leading to the basement kitchen of the Black mansion, smelling the rich aroma of stewed meat, Hermione's steps were lighter than when she came. She couldn't help but look at the storage pendant on the man's neck.

Take a look, take another look...

"If you turn your eyes again, your eyeballs will fall out, curious Miss Granger."

Loren was a little helpless, twisting her face and turning it back to the front, "It's not that I don't want to show you, it's that there is no time, they are still waiting for us downstairs..."

"I'm not Professor Moody, how can my eyes fall out..." Hermione's face was pressed, and she muttered vaguely.

"Your eyeballs keep turning, maybe they will fall out like Professor Moody. When the time comes, I will personally install fake eyes for you and give you a nickname called Magic Eye Granger..." Loren pinched her soft cheek flesh.

Hermione felt pain, angrily slapped his hand away, and stared at him with a dangerous look.

Loren quickly looked forward, his expression becoming serious: "I wonder if Mrs. Weasley and the others have finished arguing... Let's keep the matter of Kreacher and the Horcrux secret for now, and discuss whether to tell them after meeting with Headmaster Dumbledore. What do you think?"

"Poor change of subject."

Hermione poked her sore cheeks with her tongue and did not pursue his offense.

Walking through the dimly lit stone steps, they returned to the basement kitchen surrounded by rough stone walls. The fireplace and stove emitted bright flames, and the steam of broth filled the air, mixed with a little smoke from burning matches, just like gunpowder on the battlefield.

The quarrel between the long table and the stove was not over, and it happened to be in a white-hot stage.

"Although he is only fifteen years old, he has experienced no less than most people in the Order of the Phoenix! Even more than some people!" Sirius roared in a low voice, and the veins in his neck bulged because of the force when he spoke.

"No one denies what he did!" Molly faced the stove, her voice was sharp, and the long spoon in her hand was shaking slightly, "But he still-"

"He's not a child anymore!"

"But he's not an adult either!" Molly knocked the stew pot with the long spoon, "Don't treat him as James, you know what I'm saying, Sirius!"

"Thank you, I know who he is, Molly."

"Then think about his age, he's still in school, and the adults who are really responsible for him should not forget this!"

"Are you saying that I'm an irresponsible godfather?" Sirius was a little embarrassed and raised his voice.

"I didn't say that!" Molly threw the spoon into the pot, the handle of the spoon made the iron pot clang, and she suddenly turned to the other two people, "Arthur, Remus, what do you think?"

Arthur did not speak immediately, but took off his glasses and slowly wiped the lenses on his robes. Without looking at his wife, he carefully put his glasses back on before speaking: "Dumbledore knows that the situation has changed, Molly. He agrees that Harry must be told the latest news to a certain extent. After all, Harry is now living in the headquarters..."

"Yes, but that is different from encouraging him to ask questions casually!"

"Personally,..." Lupin spoke, whispering, "I think it's best for Harry to learn the truth from us, not all the facts, Molly, but a general situation, so that he doesn't fall into some confusing statements..."

"Can I say something?" Tonks raised her hand timidly and whispered, "I think it's best to allow Harry to express his own opinion on this matter."

The eyes of the little red-haired wizards present all lit up. Harry knew it, which meant that they knew it too.

Mundungus, who had been shrinking his head, looked around. As the sixth adult wizard present, he thought he should say something, but he was glared at by Molly and immediately shrank back.

"Well..." Molly turned around and looked around the room, took a deep breath, and her lower lip trembled slightly, "It seems that my opinion will be rejected. I just want to say that Dumbledore must have his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much. In addition, except for Harry..."

Before she finished the rest of her words, George and Fred immediately got up and rushed to the stove, looking like good sons who actively helped their mother with housework.

"The bread is ready, how about eating while talking?"

"Yes, the food will get cold if we talk any more."

The twins used magic to lift a large pot of stew, a large iron kettle of butter beer, a heavy bread cutting board, and a knife into the air, and staggered over here.

The first thing to arrive was the stew. The pot of stew slid across the entire tabletop and stopped right at the edge of the table, leaving a long blackened mark on the wooden tabletop. The pot of butter beer fell on the wooden table and was about to fall over. Bill hurried to steady it.

Finally, the bread knife fell from the board, and the tip of the knife stabbed into the table downwards, trembling dangerously.

"It was a bit unexpected."

"But it landed safely."

The twins smiled awkwardly and looked at their mother cautiously.

Molly's expression was complicated. Her face flushed slightly due to her injustice. Her eyes emitted a strangely bright light, which swept across Ron, Ginny, and finally fell on Hermione and Loren.

Loren nodded at her and smiled slightly.

The light in Molly's eyes dimmed, like a deflated balloon. Her shoulders bent slightly, and her voice was no longer as tough as before: "Let's eat first..."

The Weasley children were immediately delighted.

There was no talking during the first few minutes of dinner, just the clatter of plates and cutlery as everyone sat down to eat, the scraping of chairs against the stone floor, and the sound of Mundungus and Ron smacking their lips.

Tonks entertained Ginny by performing a disguise while eating. Every time she closed her eyes tightly and opened them again, her nose would suddenly swell like a beak, making her look exactly like Snape. His aquiline nose suddenly retracted and became the size of a button, with nose hairs sprouting from his nostrils.

"Can you turn into a pig's nose, Tonks?"

The little wizards' eyes were involuntarily drawn towards it, and they were so amused by the funny appearance that they fell on the table with laughter, out of breath.

Molly lowered her eyes and drank a whole glass of butterbeer, with a drunken blush on her face: "Okay, Harry...what do you want to know?"

The laughter at the dinner table suddenly stopped, and even the sound of the clinking of knives and forks became softer.

Harry was silent for a moment and asked in a deep voice: "I want to know where Voldemort is? What is he doing? I've been trying to find ways to read Muggle news, but I haven't found any clues about him. No one died mysteriously. What? It didn’t happen either.”

"That's because, so far, everything is indeed peaceful." Sirius cut the steaks on the plate expressionlessly, "No one died strangely, no Death Eaters came out to cause trouble, and everything is fine in Azkaban. We presume he didn't want to attract public attention..."

"Dumbledore was dismissed by the wizards from the Ministry of Magic as president of the International Confederation of Wizards and chief wizard of the Wizengamot because he made speeches on multiple occasions announcing that Voldemort was back..."

In the small basement kitchen of No. 12 Grimmauld Place, Harry and his godfather exchanged what had happened since the summer vacation.

In fact, there is no valuable news. Voldemort and the Death Eaters are still dormant, the Ministry of Magic is empty of corpses, and the Order of the Phoenix can only wait for the opportunity.

There may be more secret information, but only Dumbledore and Snape know it...

Loren listened silently, then broke off some buttered bread and threw it to the ginger kitten who was playing with the cork of the butterbeer bottle under the table. Crookshanks raised his persimmon face and glanced at him, then pushed the bread away with disgust and looked at him from behind. He put a piece of fried fish steak in the cat's food bowl at his feet and patted his ankles as if caressing him.

"..."

…

The Black family's mansion was spacious enough and had enough bedrooms, but it had a limited number of made-up beds.

Except for Arthur and Molly, the adult wizards each have a bedroom and bed. The young wizards live in a room in pairs, George and Fred live in a room, and Hermione and Ginny live in the same room as they should. One room.

Harry and Ron wanted to squeeze in with Loren, but he chose to separate and choose a separate bedroom.

"I'll do it myself, Mrs. Weasley."

Seeing Molly busy preparing for herself, Loren said softly, "It's been a busy day, you should go back and rest first."

"Effortless work." Molly said as she glanced back towards the corridor. "I have to go to their room to warn them later. When I went upstairs, I told each of them to go to bed immediately, but I also know that they will definitely stay up late and wait for me to hold their own meeting after I return to the room. If not, I will be a Florber caterpillar..."

"Meeting..." Loren said nothing, recalling the secret exchanges between the Weasley children while they were walking upstairs.

Harry and Ron had been persuading him to share a room with them before. Anyway, the rooms in the Black Mansion were spacious enough. It was no problem for five people to share a room at the Burrow last year. Their idea was to get together in the evening. Have a small meeting together...

I thought this could be considered a secret, but I didn’t expect that parents are parents after all, and their children know what they are going to do even if they stick their butts out...

"Anyway, I will be patrolling the corridor. If I catch them sleeping unsteadily, they will be punished by cleaning the stairs tomorrow!" Molly fiercely patted the sun-dried quilt, "You'd better be more reliable, Loren, didn't follow They were messing around together."

In fact, he also had a small meeting to hold, but it was a purely academic meeting. The main content was to carefully observe the newly acquired Horcrux with a certain little witch. The time just now was too hasty, and they also wanted to take a closer look at Slytherin's pendant. What does the box look like, and does it have any strange magic power...

Loren's expression was a little strange. Under the not-so-bright candlelight, he quickly glanced at Mrs. Weasley and whispered, "We haven't seen each other for a month. It's normal for friends to talk to each other."

Molly straightened the last corner of the quilt and raised her eyebrows: "Didn't they let them reminisce about old times at the dinner table? Aren't they going to have time to reminisce about old times in the future?"

"You're right..." Loren paused, recalling the quarrel in the kitchen, and spoke slowly, "But compared to keeping him... we are completely enclosed in a safe cage, let us fly maybe It will give us more ability to protect ourselves when we are in danger, what do you think, Mrs. Weasley?”

"I know, of course I know..." Molly stopped what she was doing and lowered her head slightly to prevent Loren from seeing her eyes, "But I can't rest assured. I always dream about you...the scene where you are dead. I dreamed about your corpses, dreamed about you lying on the cold floor, with your hands and feet cut off, and blood dripping from your mouth..."

There was a hint of sob in her voice: "I have never slept well since the night of the Goblet of Fire. I..."

"No, that's just a dream..."

Loren's comfort sounded a little pale. He couldn't tell the mother that everything would be fine and everyone would be fine.

"Anyway, just don't mess around with them. I'll tell Hermione to keep an eye on Ginny for me!" Molly clapped her hands, got up and walked out the door, "Wish you a good dream, Loren!"

"Good night, Mrs. Weasley..."

After closing the bedroom door and gently hanging the bolt, Loren stood quietly behind the door for a while before looking at the bedroom.

Perhaps this old house has been abandoned for too long, and the air is always filled with a faint smell of mold and rot, which can't be dispersed. The candles, torches, gas lamps and oil lamps throughout the house are too old, and the light is weak, which can only make the room look darker and more gloomy.

Loren stood in front of the bedroom wall, carefully observing the blank canvas in front of him.

Faded portrait oil paintings are common in old houses. Many years ago, an ancestor of the Black family might have lived here, often talking to people in the room, and instructing the Black children with profound knowledge and experienced experience...

But after years of erosion, and no one has taken care of and maintained it for a long time, the magic and ink in the oil painting faded together, and now only a blank canvas is left. Only by looking closely can some lines and outlines be distinguished, as if an invisible person lives in it and can hear the ups and downs of breathing.

This portrait is too weak, with almost no magical response, and the portrait inside can no longer speak, and cannot go to other frames.

Loren hooked his fingers slightly, and the frame turned over and knocked against the wall.

"Hermione will probably have to wait until Ginny falls asleep before coming here..."

He muttered, reached out and touched the pendant on his chest, and took out an exquisite and simple golden pendant box.

The main body is divided into two parts, the necklace and the pendant. The chain is made of dozens of tiny metal rings hooked together. The octagonal pendant is inlaid with many small and delicate emeralds on the side. Even after thousands of years, it still retains its deep brilliance. In the middle is an egg-sized round protuberance.

A snake-shaped S divides the left and right, like two small windows, and something is hidden under the small windows.