Chapter 82 Return to Hogwarts

In the Hogwarts principal's office late at night, the portraits of past principals hanging on the wall have fallen asleep. Two figures, one old and one young, appeared out of thin air, and the warm yellow light in the office gradually lit up.

"You go back first, I'll take care of it first." Dumbledore took off his hat that no longer fit him well, and put it on the table with the mouth facing up.

"Goodbye, principal!" Loren couldn't wait to take a good bath. He was so pent up in Albania these days.

Nagini was sleeping in the hat with the gem as a pillow. Fox leaned over to take a look, and suddenly became alert and scolded Dumbledore: "Squeak!"

As if to say you are a guy who loves new things and hates old things.

Dumbledore avoided Fox's pecking while combing its feathers, and smiled and comforted it: "Okay, okay..."

It took some snacks and some time for Fox to calm down. Dumbledore slowly took out a white-covered book that looked a bit old from the bookshelf, opened it, and there was a portrait of a character on each page.

After turning over countless pages, he stopped at a portrait with silver hair and a thin body.

Dumbledore waited for a while, and the portrait gradually became vivid, began to show color, and slowly, the portrait moved.

"Albus?"

"Nico."

The two talked for a while, and Dumbledore told about the experience of the trip to Albania and asked Nico if there was a way to save this blood-cursed orc.

"I can't do anything, but the Philosopher's Stone may be able to..."

In Nico's narration, the role of the Philosopher's Stone in each person's hands is different.

"In my hands, it turns stones into gold and refines elixirs of immortality, but Loren may have other choices."

"From his request, it may be biological refining, turning snakes back to humans, and fixing werewolves in human form."

Nico's voice came out of the book through magic, like an old man telling a vague legend, "revealing the mystery of life, this is not a smooth road..."

It seems that there is no reproductive isolation for magical creatures. Before this, a large number of wizards bred strange creatures with various purposes, causing many disasters.

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

Some people are curious, some are for profit, and some are malicious. Many contents in the Defense Against the Dark Arts textbooks are artificially created by wizards.

Until 1965, the "Prohibition of the Feeding of Magical Creatures for Experimental Purposes" bill proposed by Newt Scamander was passed. This ban effectively curbed the prevalence of creating new untamable animals in Britain.

The Aurors of the Ministry of Magic spent a lot of energy to investigate and deal with many wizards who illegally bred dangerous creatures. In the following years, the Ministry of Magic of other countries also issued similar bans.

This is just the transmutation on magical animals. Loren will be involved in the human body. Anyone who hears about such behavior will think that Loren is a dark wizard.

If Loren is going to take the path of biological transmutation, even if the outside world does not know about the Philosopher's Stone, just the biological transmutation itself is enough to make him be watched by all kinds of people, whether it is the Ministry of Magic or the dark wizard.

"When he found the snake in the forest of Albania, he had already pulled it out of the abyss of despair." Nico talked about the prerequisites for using the Philosopher's Stone.

"Ahem."

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

Dumbledore sat on a chair and looked at the portrait in the book, "Are you ready to face death?"

Nico heard this question, and his old face smiled, "Albus, you already know that death is not the end, but a greater adventure."

"I still have some medicine in stock. When I deal with some things, I will return to Paris with Perenelle."

"In the summer, there is another "Faust" opera in Paris. I will leave after watching this one."

"I won't say goodbye to you then."

"Ahem, goodbye."

Hearing the word goodbye, Dumbledore's wrinkles stretched out and smiled, "Goodbye, I wish you a pleasant journey."

After that, Nico's portrait gradually faded and did not move.

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

Back at Hogwarts, whether it was the gray stone pillars, the polished armor, or the moving stairs, Loren felt a sense of familiarity and security at home.

At least there would be no dark wizards robbing here, except Voldemort.

In the Gryffindor common room.

The four little wizards of the Weasley family were all playing chess around the table, the twins and Percy against Ron.

The twins could still hold off Ron's attack, but after believing Percy's words for a few moves, they were defeated.

On the chessboard, the knight on horseback walked and cursed: "Are you two trolls? Why do you listen to others?"

Percy blushed a little, looked away, pretending not to hear.

When he saw Loren coming in from outside, his eyes lit up, "Look, Loren is back."

George and Fred also looked up, overturned the chessboard while Ron wasn't paying attention, and shouted in surprise:

"Our savior, Loren is back!"

"We don't have to play chess with Ron anymore!"

Finally, the two raised their hands and shouted together: "Long live Loren!"

It can be seen that in the past few days when Loren was away, the few people really suffered from Ron's torture.

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

Loren tried to struggle, "I haven't showered yet."

"I'll shower later. We agreed that if we can beat Ron tonight, he will never play chess with us again."

"But I can't beat Ron in wizard chess." Loren said.

Ron raised his chin, and his expression looked very arrogant, "I can beat you in Gobang."

When Loren first taught Ron to play Gobang, he almost overturned with a coping mentality. After being influenced by Go, Ron reviewed the original chess game and thought he had already surpassed Loren and was full of confidence.

So arrogant?

Loren looked at the other Weasleys, "Did you guys break his head when I was away?"

George thought of the past few days and said, "I wanted to break his head."

Fred nodded, "But he really seems to be good."

After Loren taught Ron how to play Go, he has been playing with himself these days. Ron is indeed talented in playing Go, and has made a lot of progress in both calculation and layout.

Once you know one, you know a hundred. When playing other chess games, Ron naturally brings in the thinking of Go, taking one step and looking at several steps ahead. He can also analyze the chess game from the overall situation, and a stalemate will open up another battlefield.

Sometimes, before the stalemate begins, Ron can foresee the stalemate and lay the groundwork in another place in advance.

The moves are so imaginative that the twins can't resist at all, so they pull Percy in, and lose even faster.

If Ron's chess was purely based on talent before, now with the help of Loren, he seems to have found a way to explore a path that can go further.

"Then let's play Gobang. I'll go take a shower first." Loren didn't refuse. He wanted to see if Ron was getting too cocky.

Loren washed himself up carefully. If possible, he would like to soak for a few hours. When he came out, Ron was playing Gobang with three people.

"Play here." Percy pointed out a point.

"You're still the class leader."

"If you play there, you'll lose."

Although George and Fred had learned their lesson and no longer believed in slander, they still lost in the end.

Ron couldn't suppress the smile on his face and pretended to be calm, "Let's change Loren."

This arrogant look made Loren's hands itch and he wanted to give him a little shock.

The rules of Gobang itself are incomplete. Regular Gobang games usually have forbidden moves to put both sides on the same starting line. In the absence of forbidden moves, there are many sure-win openings.

For example, the flower and moon pattern. Loren once relied on this move to dominate primary, middle and high school, and he had never met an opponent since he was a child. Now, it's time to teach this Ron a lesson.

Neither side thought much in the first few moves, one attacked, the other blocked.

As more and more pieces were placed on the chessboard, Ron's relaxed look gradually disappeared.

As a result, Ron could not take the initiative from the beginning. The more pieces he placed, the clearer the chessboard became.

Finally, Ron could no longer block, and the battle was ended by a finger four three.

"Oh, that's it." Loren imitated Ron's indifferent look before and said casually.

Ron's face turned pale when he heard it.

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

Ron ignored the cheers of several people, stared at the chessboard with wide eyes, and said in disbelief: "How is it possible?"

He turned over every move in his mind and recalled it bit by bit, and gradually realized that Loren had a very clear layout from the beginning.

"That kind of opening..."

Ron did not indulge in the loss of the game, his eyes became brighter and brighter. His fingers kept dropping a few pieces on the chessboard with the same opening as Loren.

After playing the first few moves over and over again, Ron continued to deduce. In a short while, it seemed that Ron would be able to come up with the pattern of Huayue.

Loren's mind was no longer on the chessboard. He had come back from the forest and felt empty after taking a shower.

His first reaction was to go to the kitchen to find something to eat, but going to the kitchen would mean meeting Xiaomai. Loren felt uncomfortable when he thought of the last scene.

Looking at the twins who were having fun, Ron who was immersed in the chessboard, and the flames 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:

"Do you want to have an exciting adventure?"

"How about a night tour to the Forbidden Forest!"

Hearing this, Loren shook his head violently. I just started the engine, and you guys stepped on the accelerator. When it comes to violating school rules, you two are still experts.

"How about grilling meat with the fire in the fireplace?"

George and Fred were a little disappointed, but they were also very interested in grilling meat, and went to the kitchen to move things with ease.

Percy hesitated a little, but did not stop the twins.

Soon, the twins used the levitation spell to bring all kinds of meat into the lounge. It was forbidden to cast spells in the corridor, because they were George and Fred.

The house elves cut beef, mutton and pork into small pieces, and the little wizards used the elongated forks of Transfiguration to pick them up and put them in the fireplace to roast. Their grilling skills were not good, but the fat still gave off a tempting aroma under the smoke of the flames.

Ron roasted the bread until it was burnt, but he insisted on eating it and said it was delicious.

The twins laughed so hard that they wanted to roast two more pieces of black bread for Ron...

Their laughter changed to a weird tune, and the words they sang changed again and again, until they simply repeated Happy New Year, Happy New Year.

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

Such a banquet is far less rich than Christmas, there are no gorgeous decorations, and even the food is not as delicious. But on the last day of 1991, the fire in the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room burned in everyone's hearts.

Many years later, they still remember this warm feeling.

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

[Mr. Morgan:

I hope everything goes well when you receive this letter, and Happy New Year!

I still can't understand why you forgot to write to me. Hanhan appears at the window on time every morning. He is such a conscientious postman. You probably don't know that Hanhan likes to eat white mice.

Our whole family loves Hanhan. My father always tried to talk to owls, and he figured out from somewhere that owls could talk. My mother tried to make Hanhan hoot, so that he could understand the owl that announced the death of King Duncan in Shakespeare's Macbeth, but I didn't think Shakespeare was writing about a spectacled owl.

Our family went camping in Dean Forest during the holidays. Hanhan seemed to like it very much. The mist was like clouds, hiding the trees and the camp. When the bonfire lights up, it's like the sun shining through the clouds. I really want you to see this scene, maybe it would be better in summer, but it's a bit too cold now.

…

How about Hogwarts over the Christmas holidays, I hope you don't get jam on the lounge seats.

Say hello to Ron for me and look forward to hearing from you.

Hermione Granger]

A very ordinary letter, an ordinary complaint about Loren's behavior, an interesting story about the family, and an ordinary greeting at the end.

Loren noticed something extraordinary from these ordinary things.

[Dear Hermione:

Goodbye, happy new year.

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

The Christmas banquet at Hogwarts is very sumptuous, with hundreds of roasted turkeys. When you leave, the Christmas tree you see is bursting with flames, and candles are hung on the tree like stars...

Dumbledore and I went to the Albanian forest and saw a bright light there. The specific situation will be discussed in detail when you come back...

I think you might want to say hello to Louie more, but don't worry, everything's fine.

sincere regards

Loren Morgan]

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

I asked Grandpa Bates how his New Year was and how the trip went. At the end, I asked if I could eat his roast lamb when I went back during the summer vacation.

After several days, Loren walked in Hogwarts Castle again, enjoying the atmosphere here.

While walking on the road, I received frozen fruits from the little Hufflepuff wizards one after another, including various frozen apples, frozen yellow peaches...

Loren felt that if he ate these frozen fruits alone, he would probably go to the school infirmary and receive a scolding from Madam Pomfrey. In order to have a pleasant holiday experience, he shared these things with a few close friends.

In the lounge, Ron had three chessboards in front of him, one for wizard chess, one for backgammon, and one for Go. He was lost in his own world.

Loren placed the fruit next to him and sighed.

Probably because Harry was away and he was too bored. When Harry came back, Ron would probably come out of the chessboard.

At the same time, he hopes that Harry's return to school will promote Nagini's redemption and allow him to cure Grandpa Bates as soon as possible.