The Bard at Hogwarts

The silent winter has quietly arrived.

The river surface, which was once silver and rippled, is now covered with ice and snow.

…

In a sheltered tree hole on the river bank.

A small sea otter crawled under the wings of the black swan.

This solid velvet, soft and warm, made the sea otter half-close his eyes.

For a long time.

"Ino, I don't want to go back!" Hermione said.

Her current life makes her feel very happy, peaceful, tranquil, and away from all the noise.

Although there are also people in the forest that she hates, such as the cunning fox or the noisy ducks, it doesn't affect anything.

Hugging each other, Ino also felt Hermione's emotions, but he could do nothing.

"No one can stay in the story! The story is over... we have to leave."

"But what about the future?" Hermione asked reluctantly.

"Let's leave it to the future. I don't know a lot of things..."

Ino said calmly. Compared with Hermione's reluctance, he cared more about the answer of Teacher Hans.

It's been almost a year, and the ugly duckling has undergone earth-shaking changes. When the other party becomes a white swan, all the problems should be resolved.

As Ino's voice fell, Hermione stopped asking.

After more than a year of solitude, she also knew a lot of things, and she knew that Ino sometimes couldn't make the decision, and often just passively accepted it.

The chat came to an end, and the small tree hole fell into silence.

Only the cold wind with sound outside the tree hole became the only main theme.

...

Someone once said that the arrival of winter actually means that spring is not far away.

When the snow melts and the grass sprouts new buds, it indicates that the new year is about to begin.

The forest with flowers blooming in spring is as beautiful as ever.

In the clear blue sky.

One black and one white, two swans walk side by side.

But the magical thing is that on the back of the black swan, there is a one-and-a-half-foot sea otter.

On the back of the sea otter, there is a suitcase tied with two ropes. From a distance, it looks like a child carrying a schoolbag.

"Odette, go back! You don't have to send us off! The world ahead doesn't belong to you."

In the sky, Hermione turned her head and said to the white swan beside her.

"Will we meet again in the future?" Odette, the former ugly duckling and now the white swan, asked sadly.

"I don't know! But I will never forget you."

Hermione's tone was also a little sad.

In the sky, Ino did not make a sound, but just flew quietly, as if he had turned into the best coachman.

In fact, he didn't know what to say. Regarding the training of the ugly duckling, Hermione has always been doing her best for a year and a half.

From feeding and accompanying in childhood to teaching as it grows up, even every time the ugly duckling is bullied, Hermione always waves the sea otter's little paws to fight back.

It can be said that the ugly duckling was really raised by Hermione.

At the same time.

The flying white swan seemed to be really obedient. Under Hermione's persuasion, she no longer followed.

Before leaving, it plucked a feather from its long rose-colored beak and gave it to Hermione, then turned and flew towards the dream forest behind it.

...

Just like when it came, it also left in the early morning.

Facing the rising sun, Ino carried Hermione in the sky.

And in the evening, the two came to the fishing village on the seaside again.

It was still the same beach, the same bitter gourd tree, and the same person was sitting under the tree. Middle-aged Hans seemed to be waiting for something.

Ino slowly lowered the altitude. The moment he touched the ground, the black swan and the sea otter disappeared, replaced by two figures of almost the same height.

Eighteen months later, Hermione had long since shed the immaturity and immaturity of her school days, and now she looked like the former Beauxbatons warrior Furong.

With a tall figure and three-dimensional facial features, she was completely an adult woman.

"I'll wait for you here!" Hermione said, shaking her head slightly.

She knew very well that there were some things she could participate in, and some things she shouldn't participate in.

Just like now, Ino's meeting with middle-aged Hans, she didn't plan to participate, although she also understood everything in the past 18 months.

As Hermione finished speaking, Ino nodded slightly and walked towards the bitter man tree alone.

...

Under the tree.

After a year and a half, middle-aged Hans still didn't change much, but his expression became more and more melancholy.

Ino sat quietly beside him, and didn't ask anything first, just like entering the fantasy world for the first time.

"This is an accident!"

As Ino sat down, middle-aged Hans slowly said:

"Everything comes from accidents... Once, I just wanted to make my story more interesting..."

As he spoke, middle-aged Hans took out a book with a simple binding from his cloth pocket.

"Take a look! The answers you want are all in it..."

Hearing this, Ino probably had some guesses in his heart, but he still took the book.

...

The paper of the book is a bit rough, it seems to be made of palm leaves.

As the book is opened, the contents written in red and blue ink on one side can be clearly seen.

Familiar name, familiar story, this... is probably the earliest "Hans Story"

As he flipped through the pages, Ino also discovered many differences. The red ink was like an outline, always appearing at the turning point, while the remaining 95% of the story content was written in blue ink.

Take "The Ugly Duckling" as an example. There are only three places with red ink. The swan egg accidentally appears in the duck's nest at the beginning, the ugly duckling is bullied in the middle, and the ugly duck turns into a white swan at the end.

There is not much content in the book, there are dozens of short and long stories, and it is coming to an end in less than an hour.

However, when flipping through the second half of the page, Ino saw what he had guessed:

A little boy accidentally opened the bathroom door and came to a magical world...

To be honest, he wasn't surprised when he saw this.

But as I flipped through the books, a feeling of surprise came over me.

This is a long story with a good beginning. It is about a little boy escaping from an orphanage and his various fantastic experiences afterwards.

To be honest, Ino felt normal after seeing this, but what surprised him was what was next in the book.

After the story of old John the shoemaker.

There are large blanks in all the stories, either snowflake-like symbols, complicated and bright inscriptions, or even various mysterious characters that appear in Greek mythology...

And as Ino turned to the last page, the red text that had not appeared for a long time reappeared, and for the first time on the page, three places appeared:

'The little boy grew up and returned to his original place again. ’

After this sentence, the blue text describes the war in Hogsmeade and Hermione's death.

As if seeing the casualties appear, the red text reappeared: 'The little boy saved his friend with a golden apple. ’

Ino also saw the following content, including his experience with Hermione during this period.

As the eyes moved, at the end of the page, the last red text appeared again: 'Hans' story ends here! ’

…

After closing the book in his hand and handing it back to Mr. Hans, Ino also fell into deep thought.

There is no doubt that his miracles are due to Hans.

And he should have continued to travel through various fairy tales, but an accident happened.

From the moment I left Old John's town before the start of the first school year, the story no longer echoed the previous one...

Although his memory was long-lasting, Eno still clearly remembered that after entering Hogwarts, the first story was Narnia, followed by The Lord of the Rings, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Greek Mythology...

Such a turn seemed to have only changed since entering Hogwarts, and he couldn't help but think of magic.

At this time, middle-aged Hans’s voice sounded again:

"I'm sorry! This was all an accident..."

"I saw your fear and longing in the orphanage, and I also wanted to bring a little change to my story, so I invited you on my own initiative."

"But then, everything is as you see! After you entered the castle, unknown changes occurred, and the story became uncontrollable."

Speaking of this, middle-aged Hans's voice became more helpless.

"I can't pry into the stories you went through, but in order to avoid accidents, I plan to call you back!"

"In fact, the accident happened!" Ino took over.

"Yes!" Middle-aged Hans nodded in agreement. He took a breath and continued:

"Fortunately, the ending is not bad! While I still have the ability, I revised the story..."

…

On the sidelines, Ino listened to these words and suddenly felt a feeling almost like that of a bard who had finished telling a story and was about to take a curtain call.

"teacher……"

"Listen to me!" Middle-aged Hans interrupted: "Do you remember what I told you when you first came here?"

Due to the tacit understanding between master and disciple, Ino thought for a moment and then blurted out:

"As time goes by, decay only affects the skin; if enthusiasm is abandoned, decadence will affect the soul."

"Yes! I'm not afraid of time!" Middle-aged Hans nodded slightly and looked at the magnificent sea.

"It's just that I no longer have the original enthusiasm. Maybe the moment I invite you in, my story is destined to end."

Somehow, Ino noticed that the teacher Hans in front of him suddenly became much older. This wasn't visual aging, after all, his appearance was still the same as before. What he felt was a kind of aging in appearance.

If we really want to find a metaphor, it would be Gandalf after destroying the Lord of the Rings, as if he was tired and old after completing his mission.

"Miss Sea Otter!" middle-aged Hans called.

The voice was very soft, but with the help of the sea breeze, it reached Hermione's ears clearly.

"Mr. Hans!" Hermione walked slowly to the foot of the bitter tree.

"I'm sorry that you experienced death because of me!" Middle-aged Hans raised his eyes, a trace of apology flashed in his blue pupils.

"To be honest, I have nothing to compensate you! After all, I am just a poor bard."

Middle-aged Hans chuckled, and under the gazes of Ino and Hermione, he slowly tore open the book.

And the torn page happened to be the one the little boy pushed open in the bathroom.

"As a bard, I can only give you stories... and of course, a pen for stories."

Middle-aged Hans took out another item from his pocket, which was a chestnut tree trunk about nine inches long and sharpened at one end.

"As for you, my student!" Middle-aged Hans looked at Ino again. He gently patted the wing-shaped harp on his waist and said in a relaxed tone:

"This harp is left to you! Don't think I don't know that you have secretly played it many times..."

...

In an instant, Ino had an ominous premonition.

But before he could speak, the figure of teacher Hans in front of him emitted a soft starlight.

The glowing body, connected to the other half of the torn book, slowly floated into the sky.

Thirty feet above the ground, the glowing body suddenly turned into countless light spots.

They were like fireflies in spring, like the starry sky on a midsummer night, like oil lamps in the cold winter...

Flying into the night sky with the light spots.

At this moment.

Whether it was a fantasy forest, a majestic city, a wild mountain village, a continuous snow-capped mountain, or an endless sea...

Animals, humans, elves, mermaids, and even hidden old witches and demons, all raised their heads involuntarily.

The night sky in summer is really beautiful, with stars dotted and shining.

…

On the beach.

The waves are still beating, and the gentle sea breeze is still there.

I don’t know how much time has passed, Hermione was the first to speak and break the silence:

“Is this the end of the story you said? At the cost of Mr. Hans’ death.”

Unconsciously, Hermione did not call Mr. Hans, but changed to the title of teacher.

“The story of Mr. Hans is over!” Ino raised his head and looked up at the stars.

“But our story has just begun! Besides, Mr. Hans is not dead!”

He knew very well that for the existence of Mr. Hans, life and death could no longer be measured.

It’s probably like a bard who has finished telling a story, finds a simple hotel, and has a good sleep.

When the sun rises the next day, he will be ready to go to the distance to continue spreading the story.

“That’s good! To be honest, I don’t hate him at all.” Hermione gently stroked the book and chestnut pen in her hand.

In fact, the moment she took these things, she sensed a mysterious space in her mind.

It was an icy path, with red maple trees full of stories planted on both sides, a swaying ice flower, and even a 70-foot-long ice anaconda.

It was amazing that Hermione felt that she could control this space at will.

She tried to drive the anaconda forward, because at the end of the path, there was a valley with flowers and rainbow rivers.

But unfortunately, she could only see the valley, but could not interfere with it at all.

…

At the same time.

Ino also bent down and picked up the wing-shaped accordion.

Gently stroking the strings, the pleasant sound sounded, and it seemed very soft with the accompaniment of the sea breeze.

"Let's go back! It's been eighteen months! Maybe we have been forgotten."

"That's right! I miss my parents too." Hermione nodded in agreement, and then took Ino's hand.

As the sea breeze blew, the two disappeared on the coast.

The story of Mr. Hans came to an end, and the story of Ino was about to begin. Of course, there were also the Grimm brothers and other interesting stories...