A magical journey that begins in Azkaban

Lisa was bored and stayed in the store, watching the wizards passing by from time to time. Her eyes followed a witch in a cloak and fell on a little wizard who hurried by holding a flying broom.

The magical atmosphere on Glass Street was still strong, and there were more and more customers, but it did not change the desertedness of the Flash Golem House.

"Is Granny Jonker still in San Francisco?" Roger's voice suddenly came from upstairs, and Lisa was so scared that she covered her heart and screamed.

She turned and looked at the stairs, only to see Roger standing there with an innocent face.

"Junior, you almost scared my soul away." Lisa scolded, with a charming roll of her eyes.

"Can you give me a little warning next time? For example, give me a flower." She gently shook her wavy hair and walked upstairs with an elegant cat step. Every step she took seemed to be stepping on an invisible melody, light and rhythmic.

At this time, a childish voice came from the house: "Mr. Roger, is this the Flash Golem House?"

Barron's eyes were full of curiosity and excitement. He wandered around the house and exclaimed from time to time when he saw magical products: "Wow, is this the magic camera? It's so small."

Lisa glanced at Barron, and the expression on her face changed from naughty to serious, and her voice became serious: "Granny Jonker is still in the Spark Hotel."

"Then let's go." Roger waved to Barron who was running around in the corridor. When going downstairs, he secretly took a picture of Lisa.

Lisa's eyes lit up, bit her thin lips with her pearly teeth, and immediately followed Roger's footsteps.

"I didn't expect that you really found Barron, junior brother." She led the way and whispered, "I remember he was captured by the Death Eaters. Did you find him from the British magic world?"

"In the Death Eater laboratory on the East Coast." Roger looked at the shops on Glass Street. Most of them have reopened, and there are Christmas decorations everywhere.

He asked curiously: "Lisa, how is the business this year?"

"It's terrible." Lisa sighed, with helplessness and complaints in her tone, "The reward you said, in the end, is only 200 Galleons."

"This is the turnover in half a year? This is too..." He didn't know how to phrase it halfway through his words.

"It's already a lot." Lisa smiled bitterly, "It was even worse in the first half of the year, and I only sold one roll of photo paper. Can you imagine? One roll! If it weren't for the fact that salary has nothing to do with sales, I would have considered selling pumpkin juice."

The three of them walked and talked, and unknowingly came to an inconspicuous white building. Lisa stopped and pointed to a small nameplate on the wall and said: "This is the Spark Hotel."

Rogge looked at the building carefully and sighed softly: "If you don't say it, it's easy to overlook it. This design effect is not inferior to the Muggle Repelling Charm."

The first floor of the Spark Hotel is low, and half of the entrance is hidden under the road surface. The protruding columnar walls on both sides are like guards, complementing the small flowerbed covered with snow, and cleverly hiding the single wooden door of the hotel.

Barron looked at the hotel door so close, and his excitement was like a boiling crucible, which was hard to suppress. He jumped down the steps in two steps and pushed the door of the hotel open impatiently.

Behind the door was a narrow entrance, and a dummy in the shape of a servant appeared on the wall, which scared Barron.

Lisa smiled and explained: "Don't be afraid, this is the door attendant, who specializes in keeping the guests' clothes." She skillfully handed the coat and scarf to it for safekeeping.

After walking a few steps forward and turning around a semi-columnar display cabinet, the view suddenly opened up.

The wooden hall was square, and the Christmas tree in the corner was hung with golden balls and silver bells, and there were colorful gift boxes piled below.

There were four rows of dining tables on the right, and magic candles were lit on each table, and the warm light danced in the air.

One row of tables was next to a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside the window was a snowy park covered in silver, like a dreamlike magic painting.

"Outside is a real park." Lisa took Rogge's arm and introduced softly, "The Spark Hotel is not simple. It has five floors and thousands of guest rooms. It can be called the largest hotel in the American magic world."

Rogge raised his eyebrows in surprise: "Thousands of guest rooms? Space magic must have been used."

"That's right." Lisa smiled, then turned to Barron, "I'll go to the front desk to ask if Grandma Jonker is in the room."

Barron looked at Lisa's back and couldn't help but get nervous. He couldn't help but wonder if Grandma had just left.

Compared to the deserted Flash Golem House, the Spark Hotel was bustling and business was booming.

Dishes of various shapes and fragrance flew from the kitchen. They flexibly bypassed the obstacles of the crowd and landed accurately and steadily on the designated dining table.

"Look at that!" Barron pointed excitedly at a plate of flaming ice cream hovering in the air, "How can it catch fire and not melt?"

"Maybe it's the water of life that's added." Roger explained with a smile, "A 'profound' cooking technique."

In just a few minutes, Roger saw the mouth-watering lotus chicken, fresh sashimi, fragrant curry beef, exquisite smoked fish...almost all the cuisines in the world can be found here.

"Wow, it's a food paradise." Barron exclaimed.

Lisa came back with a smile and announced, "Good news! Grandma Jonker hasn't left yet, she's in room 0106."

"0106?" Roger's eyes flashed with a hint of doubt, "She lives on the first floor? Isn't this a restaurant?"

"No, it's not the first floor, it's the basement." Lisa shook her head and explained quickly: "The first floor of the Spark Hotel is the restaurant, and the number at the beginning is 1."

Rogge nodded thoughtfully, and his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the code on the table next to him: 1003.

In other words, every table in the restaurant is equivalent to every room on other floors.

Baron asked curiously: "The basement? Is it very dark and scary there?"

Lisa blinked playfully: "Oh, little Baron, you have to be prepared. The basement... is the scariest place in this hotel."

"Ah!?" Baron screamed, his eyes wide open.

She led the two to the angle between the spiral staircase and the ground, pushed open an inconspicuous small door, and revealed a winding stone staircase.

The dim light emanated from the magic candlesticks on the wall, casting swaying shadows on the stone wall.

"Be careful, it's a bit steep here." Lisa turned back to remind him, "The steps here are much higher than outside."

Barron swallowed his saliva and noticed that the height of each step was almost as long as his calf. He carefully supported the rough stone wall and slowly moved his feet.

"Although the Spark Hotel is safe and comfortable, the fee is not cheap. At the beginning of the year, Grandma Jonker still lived on the second floor. The guest room there, if I remember correctly, is 1 Galleon per day."

"What about the basement?"

"Only one-tenth of the price of the second floor, but the living environment, um..." Lisa paused and thought about how to describe it, "It's a bit like a pigeon cage."

Hearing this metaphor, Barron couldn't help but feel a little nervous. His attention was distracted, and he accidentally stepped on the air. Fortunately, Rogge reacted quickly and grabbed the back of his collar, otherwise little Barron would have rolled on the stone steps.

"Wow!" Barron exclaimed, his heartbeat quickened, "Thank you, Mr. Roger."

"Don't panic, take your time." Roger smiled and comforted him, "Although the air here is stuffy, at least there is no smell of rot and mold. This shows that the management of the basement is not bad."

Lisa nodded in agreement: "That's right. Although the guest room is a little small, there is no problem in other aspects. Even the cheapest room of the Spark Hotel guarantees basic safety and hygiene."

She nimbly jumped down the last two stone steps and stretched out her hand to Barron, "Come on, be careful. The houses here are exactly the same, and it's easy to get lost."

Barron shook Lisa's hand gratefully and stepped onto the ground carefully. He looked around curiously, and saw rows of identical rooms extending into the distance, with no end in sight.

Lisa pointed to the light spot on the stone slab under her feet and explained: "See this? There is a map engraved on each floor. This green dot is our current location to prevent guests from getting lost."

"For 106, it's in the third row."

The three of them walked along the narrow corridor, and the houses around them seemed to have been copied and pasted countless times. Each room has an iron door and two small windows. The exterior is a smooth stone surface without any decoration, just like a giant matchbox neatly arranged.

They are arranged in a 50×20 matrix, and the foot of the stone steps just lands on the first row, erasing a room.

"If there are 999 rooms here, what about upstairs?" Roger asked curiously, "There should be fewer than here."

Lisa nodded, "As far as I know, there are 500 on the second floor and 100 on the third floor. I don't know about the upper floors."

"If my junior brother raises my salary a little, maybe I can help you find out more details." She looked at the identical buildings around her and couldn't help trembling in her heart, "This place is too depressing, like a maze."

Fortunately, Grandma Jonker's room was not in the last row, and they soon came to Room 106.

This door was as plain as the other doors, but Barron felt an inexplicable excitement and nervousness. He looked at the oval nameplate above, took a deep breath, mustered up his courage, and knocked hard on the door with his trembling little hands.

"Room fee?" An old but slightly gentle voice came from the room, "I'm going to check out tomorrow."

Barron's heartbeat accelerated when he heard the familiar voice, and he shouted excitedly: "Grandma, it's me, Xiaoba."

The room suddenly fell into a dead silence, as if time had frozen. In this brief silence, there seemed to be some indescribable strong emotions accumulated. Then, a series of hurried footsteps broke the silence, from far to near, faster and faster.

The iron door was pulled open suddenly, making a harsh friction sound. A short, kind-faced old woman appeared at the door. Her silver hair was scattered on her shoulders, her eyes widened with surprise, and the wrinkles on her face trembled with excitement.

"Xiaoba, my Xiaoba." Grandma Jonker's eyes were filled with tears and her voice was choked. She rushed forward desperately and hugged her grandson tightly with her old but strong arms.

The grandparents and grandchildren hugged and cried, too excited to say a word. Barron buried his face in his grandmother's arms, and finally found an outlet for his longing and grievances for many days. Grandma Jonker gently stroked her grandson's back, as if to confirm that all this was true.

Lisa stood aside, watching this warm and touching reunion scene, and tears welled up in her eyes. She turned her head away quickly, not wanting Roger to see her vulnerable side, and was also worried that her eyeliner would be smudged.

She quietly wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with her fingers, but a smile appeared unconsciously at the corners of her mouth.

Roger stood quietly, with a relieved expression on his face.

The iron stove in the room whirred, emitting warm heat, as if welcoming new guests. The blackened cast iron kettle made a harsh sizzling sound on the stove, and streams of hot steam bubbled out, pushing the lid of the kettle to the brink of collapse.

Grandma Jonker slowly loosened her arms and looked at her grandson with tears in her eyes: "Let me take a good look at you, Xiaoba. You have grown taller and thinner."

She gently stroked her grandson's cheek, her eyes full of love and heartache.

Barron wiped his tears and tried to squeeze out a smile: "Grandma, I miss you very much."

Grandma Jonker took his hand, looked up and said: "Please come in, Miss Lisa, and this kind gentleman."

"My name is Roger, old lady." Roger bowed slightly and gently closed the door.

The interior of the room is extremely simple, with a single bed, a small table, an iron stove and a few wooden stools. A painting of the ocean hung on the wall, adding a touch of freshness to the house.

Although Granny Jonker and Barron were small, the four of them standing in this small space still made the room look a bit crowded.

She looked at her grandson again, then turned and walked to the head of the bed, where a seemingly ordinary leather bag was hanging.

"This traceless expansion bag contains our family's notes and tools for making wands, as well as some precious materials passed down from generation to generation." She grabbed Rogge's wrist and solemnly stuffed the leather bag into his hand.

"Thank you, Roger." Grandma Jonker smiled sincerely, with no reluctance in her eyes, only deep gratitude. "If it weren't for you, I'm afraid I would never see Barron in my life. This is our family heritage, and now it's yours."

"You're too polite, old lady." Roger did not refuse, but accepted it frankly: "But please rest assured, I don't plan to make wands for wizards. In the future, the Jonker family can still continue to run the wand shop."

"Ah?" Grandma Jonker's face suddenly showed a surprised and puzzled expression, "Are you serious?"

Lisa also showed a surprised look, obviously not expecting Roger to make such a decision.

He nodded heavily and said with a smile: "Let's go to the restaurant to talk. There are some things I need to ask you."

Grandma Jonker smiled knowingly. The cramped and small guest room was indeed not suitable for long talks. She lovingly pulled Barron up, and the four of them walked upstairs together.

Just as they left, the door of the next room 0105 suddenly opened a crack. A pair of vigilant eyes peeked through the crack of the door, staring at the package in Roger's hand.

The eyes were full of greed. However, when Roger noticed something strange and turned around, the door had been closed quietly, as if nothing had happened.

"It's really weird." Roger touched his arm and felt an inexplicable chill, "The basement is really not a place for people to live."

"Huh, the air here is much fresher." Roger returned to the restaurant and breathed a sigh of relief.

The vast, white snow park outside the floor-to-ceiling window was like a clear spring, washing everyone's eyes and soul.

Mother-in-law Jonker was about to speak, but Roger gently interrupted her: "Don't worry, eat and talk."

He walked straight to the dining table next to the floor-to-ceiling window and turned back and said: "Today is Christmas, don't be unhappy."

He waved to the waiter for the menu, and after a quick glance, he selected a few light dishes and handed the menu to others.

"Look, what else do you want to add?"

"Junior, I'm going to make a big profit from you this time. Take my bonus back." Lisa had a sly smile on her face, and she turned the menu to the back without hesitation, and selected the last 6 dishes.

"And this." Her eyes suddenly lit up, and she pointed to a name on the wine list and said, "Rhone Valley wine from 1320."

The waiter was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and he couldn't help but look at Rogge. As a frequent customer of the restaurant, he knew the female manager of the Flash Golem House.

Lisa's monthly salary is about several thousand galleons, but she basically spends it on enjoying life. Rhone Valley wine worth 100,000 galleons is an astronomical figure for her.

"Another bottle of Zweigert." Rogge glanced at the waiter, and the other party quickly wrote it down.

"Don't be polite to me." He said.

Grandma Jonkel smiled and nodded, and handed the menu to her grandson. Barron's eyes quickly scanned the menu, trying to suppress the saliva at the corners of his mouth. Finally, he chose a few desserts that he had always wanted to eat.

The waiter looked at the densely packed list in his hand and was secretly shocked: "In three minutes, the man spent 180,000 gold galleons." This number is extremely rare even in this high-end hotel.

Lisa supported her head with her arm and said with a smile: "Is it because the Rhone Valley is too expensive that you ordered Zweigert?"

Rogge smiled indifferently, with a glimmer of confidence in his eyes: "Hehe, although you sold 200 galleons of things in half a year, I will not be stingy with a bottle of wine. Don't regret it later."

"Regret what?" She looked at Rogge, her eyes full of confusion.

"French red wine pays attention to the delicate taste and complex aroma, and it tastes..." He deliberately dragged out the tone, "It's not suitable for my taste."

Rogge leaned forward slightly, faintly oppressing Lisa, and there was a hint of something else in his tone, "Sometimes expensive doesn't mean suitable."

Lisa snorted and turned her head to look out the window. The snow scene outside the window is picturesque, but the people who see it have very complicated hearts.

She reached furtively for the medicine bottle in her arms, gritting her teeth as if she had made some kind of resolution.

There was a smile hidden in the wrinkles on Granny Jonker's face. This old wizard, who was over a hundred years old, seemed to know what the young people in front of her were talking about.