The Bard at Hogwarts

The night is quiet.

This time the sweet dream did not come as promised.

But even so, this did not affect everyone in the castle from having a good sleep.

…

After nightfall, Ino returned to the valley again, taking with him the magic stone he obtained during the day.

The time in the valley is synchronized with the outside world.

The bright moon is as bright and transparent as a crystal ball, the stars are dotted with various gems, and the breeze of early autumn blows by. It seems that the open-mindedness and freedom of being in the wilderness are born spontaneously.

At night, all the dolls have fallen asleep, and the oak trees and flowers have closed their eyes. Only the tavern not far away still shines with warm orange light.

"Ha, is this still a tavern? Those who didn't know thought I came to the old witch's house!"

Outside the tavern, Ino teased with a smile.

The once tidy bar was now filled with all kinds of bottles, cans, and strange materials. Even several tables had cauldrons emitting smoke.

"Old witch?" Hermione frowned subconsciously upon hearing this title.

But soon, she realized that Ino was talking about the old witch in the fairy tale, not the disgusting dark wizards in Knockturn Alley.

After figuring it out, Hermione chose to cooperate and chuckled:

"So? The young warrior has come in! Aren't you afraid of being eaten by the old witch?"

"Eat?" Hearing this, Ino had a strange expression.

In fact, in the English definition, the word "eat" does not have much ambiguity, but this cannot hold back Su Huizhong's memory.

You must know that in a certain big country in the East, a girl said she wanted to eat a certain boy. If you break it down and tell it, the prelude, middle stage, details... it would take almost an hour or two to finish.

Behind the bar, after noticing that there was no sound, Hermione stopped looking at the potion on the table and raised her head.

However, what he saw was an inexplicable expression on Ino's face.

There may be differences in regional culture, but girls' sixth sense is always the same.

"What are you thinking about! I have to work today! These potions are at a critical stage, you can't..."

Hermione's cheeks were slightly red and she gave someone an angry look.

But just such a look made Ino feel a little dazed.

The youthfulness of a girl and the plumpness of maturity are intertwined with each other. To be honest, Hermione was indeed beautiful at this moment.

Perhaps, a girl's growth will be defined differently by different people, such as age, body, or something else...

In fact, Ino also had his own definition of this. Hermione grew up just overnight.

The transformation after one night is like a fragile cocoon being torn apart and a beautiful butterfly flying out.

…

"Why aren't you talking? I really have something to do tonight!"

Seeing Ino's silence, Hermione put on another expression and said pitifully.

"Ah? I didn't think about this. I was just thinking about other things." Ino explained.

Then he turned his eyes to the side, as if to prove that he really didn't care.

But this subtle and indifferent behavior made Hermione a little angry.

"Are you tired of this? Ha!"

"Then don't think about these potions tonight." After saying that, Ino strode towards the bar.

"Yeah!" Seeing that the joke was getting too big, Hermione exclaimed and quickly closed the bar on the bar.

…

But a joke is a joke after all.

Ino knew the weight of these potions very well.

Not only are they helpful to all werewolves, this potion is also Hermione's hard work.

At this point, he won't do anything outrageous.

After a brief exchange, the tavern returned to silence.

The first floor of the tavern covers an area of ​​more than 100 square meters. Although there are six tables compactly placed, these tables were occupied by Hermione's cauldron early in the morning.

In this regard, Ino could only use transformation to temporarily add a set of single tables and chairs.

There is a simple bronze oil lamp placed on the table, and under the lamp is a bright red gem.

I got the magic stone during the day, and although I thought about using it as a seed and burying it in the valley, I had to check it out first when faced with the treasure of alchemy.

Looking at the entire history of magic, it seems that there has never been a second magic stone in known history.

…

Under the oil lamp, Ino looked carefully at the magic stone on the table through a magnifying glass. From a distance, his seriousness looked like a master of gem processing for many years.

And his actions had successfully attracted Hermione's attention.

However, due to the critical moment of the potion, although Hermione was surprised, she did not show excessive curiosity, let alone ask questions.

Time always passes quietly.

In the quiet tavern, both of them focused on the present.

…

a long time.

Ino slowly put down the magnifying glass in his hand and leaned back gently on the chair to think.

Through the bronze oil lamp, he saw the essence of the Philosopher's Stone.

I thought that the Philosopher's Stone would be like the Goblet of Fire or the Time Turner, with complicated alchemical formulas and inscriptions.

However, the inner essence of the Philosopher's Stone was very simple, so simple that he was surprised.

A standard ancient rune, a simple alphabet, and it was also the early alphabet taught by Professor Babuling in the third period of the elective course.

Sting, surprise, protective triangle, hidden energy.

Seeing the ancient runic letters, Ino recalled its meaning.

In fact, th is an early letter, and any third-grade wizard who has taken elective courses can easily burn it.

But such a simple letter allowed Nico and his wife to live for nearly seven hundred years. If this were said, it would probably become the most absurd joke in the history of magic, no doubt about it.

However, compared to the absurdity, Ino still believed the truth he saw.

With the help of the bronze oil lamp, he was probably the first person in history to see the essence of the Philosopher's Stone.

On this point, perhaps even Nico didn't know.

This was not an unfounded guess. Ino thought of the communication when he visited Nico, and the other party said that the Philosopher's Stone was incomplete.

At the same time, he also read the manuscript that Nico had once made public.

The cumbersome alchemical formulas and complex refining methods in the manuscript are comparable to the gems in the night sky of the valley. The dazzling knowledge is simply an excellent prop for hypnosis.

However, such a complicated and profound refining ultimately formed only an ancient rune representing th.

"Almost the essence..."

Suddenly, Ino thought of the most reasonable, but slightly absurd answer.

The Philosopher's Stone seems to be the embodiment of the ancient rune th, and its birth itself represents uniqueness.

This probably explains why, after Nico made public the production method, for nearly seven hundred years, all kinds of brilliant alchemists worked together, but no one could make a second Philosopher's Stone.

Because there are only 25 ancient runes, 24 letters plus the "empty" representing fate, this number seems to be eternal.

Nico made the Philosopher's Stone representing th, so there will never be a second th in the world, nor a second Philosopher's Stone.

Unless Nico's Philosopher's Stone is destroyed, it will be possible to make a second one in the future. Otherwise, no matter how long it has been, the Philosopher's Stone will always be unique.