The days of hanging out at Hogwarts

It was getting dark when they were almost home. In June, the trees in Hampstead Gardens, a suburb of London, were lush and unnamed flowers were blooming vigorously. Loren saw that some ornamental fruit trees were already bearing fruit. They were small, The skin is dirty.

Everything is as it was when they left.

After letting Loren and Hermione get off at the front door, Grandpa Bates drove the car straight into the Granger's garage. Judging from his skillful movements, it was obvious that he had parked his car here often in the past six months.

As if they heard the sound of a car, before Loren and Hermione could reach the door, the door opened from the inside.

Monica's figure appeared in front of them, with a gentle smile. She knelt down and hugged Loren and Hermione into her arms, rubbing her forehead against theirs:

"my dear……"

"Mother……"

Hermione rubbed it back stickyly, and in an instant she shed her shell of being the number one in grade and the know-it-all lady.

Loren also let Monica rub her.

Wendell walked over from the back room and said, "Come in quickly, the baked pie is almost cold."

Monica glanced at Wendel complainingly, let go of the two of them and went inside to wash hands and get ready to eat. She took Wendel with her to set the table.

Turning on the faucet, Hermione scrubbed her hands carefully first, then squeezed on the hand sanitizer and started the second time.

Loren flushed his hands, rubbed them casually a few times, then reached out and wiped Hermione's clothes with a natural expression, as if he was not aware of his bad behavior at all:

"No prizes for guessing, is there any fish caught by your father on the table?"

Hermione didn't answer his question. She turned around and grabbed his hand with a hand soaked in hand sanitizer foam and scrubbed it vigorously. She even patiently warned: "The environment in the train station is chaotic. There may be bacteria and dirt on your hands. They must be washed." .”

Hermione's hands were soft and tender, lathered and smooth, and felt good.

But no matter how good the hand felt, she couldn't resist twirling her fingers and scrubbing hard. The pain made Loren grimace. By the time the hand sanitizer foam was washed away, his hands were already red from rubbing.

Loren raised his hands in front of his eyes and twitched the corners of his mouth twice: "Isn't it just that I wiped my hands on you? How about retaliating like this?"

Hermione snorted: "I was trying to help you wash your hands, how could this be retaliation?"

While wiping her hands with a towel, Hermione grabbed his hands and rubbed them again, almost breaking the skin.

When they left the bathroom and returned to the dining room, Grandpa Bates also parked the car and came back, with two empty suitcases placed against the wall.

A sumptuous dinner has been laid out on the table. The sweet smell of apple pie lingers on the tip of the nose, the red cabbage stew is attractive in color, the potato casserole and salad are abundant, the Windsor Lamb Vanilla Pie and the Strawberry Meringue Pie are stacked on top of each other on the plate. The top is filled with crispy shells, and the fried steak is filled with juice...

There are no expensive dishes, and the preparations are not complicated, but it has a warm feeling.

"Loren, I have everything you want to eat in your letter. The egg tarts are still in the oven and the ice cream should be left for after the meal." Monica smiled and took out a can of Coke from the refrigerator. "The ones in the drink are Caramel and carbonic acid are harmful to teeth... However, seeing as you just had a holiday, I made an exception today."

呲——

When the pull ring is opened, the sound of carbon dioxide gas being ejected is somewhat pleasant.

The bottle of Coke was placed next to Loren's dinner plate. Hermione watched eagerly, her eyes following the Coke, looking up at her mother, blinking, her crystal eyes seemed to be speaking,

"Do you want a Coke too, Hermione?" Monica's tone contained a smile that couldn't be concealed, and she obviously knew the answer to the question.

Loren quickly turned his head, eyes wide open, with a gloating smile on his face.

Wendell looked over curiously, and Scout Bates looked intently at the salad in front of him.

Hermione quickly sorted out her thoughts in her mind -

Grandpa Bates is not a dentist and will not control what kind of drinks Loren drinks, so Loren will not specifically mention that he wants to drink Coke in the letter. With his mother's wisdom, it is easy to see who wants to drink Coke...

It's Hermione Granger!

Now that it's over, her parents will definitely think that she is a bad child who likes to drink carbonated drinks that are harmful to teeth and is not honest!

Facing the gazes of the three people, Hermione nodded with difficulty and said sadly: "Yes..."

Monica casually added a can of Coke to her, and as if nothing happened, she asked Wendell to bring out the steamed halibut, and the family sat down to eat.

Hermione turned her grief and anger into appetite, consuming the strawberry meringue pie with large gulps, and drinking carbonated drinks in large gulps. Occasionally, when she met Loren's strange eyes, she would stare back fiercely.

The little witch didn't know that her secret behavior was in the eyes of her parents. Wendell smiled and secretly gave his wife a few looks, but Monica refused to accept it.

Wendell cut a piece of halibut and put it in his mouth to taste it, his expression was comfortable and leisurely.

The child is indeed much more lively than before. It seems that it is normal for her to play with Loren more. When she was a child, Hermione was very sensible, so sensible that it made people feel distressed. The couple only briefly mentioned that sugary drinks were harmful to teeth, and Hermione consciously avoided those things.

But there is no child who doesn’t love snacks. At first, the couple were proud of their daughter’s intelligence and self-discipline, but they realized it later when they saw some customers bringing their children to see the dentist. Although they cried and screamed during the filling and extraction, But Hermione had never experienced the joy of eating sweets.

By the time the two of them came to their senses, it was no longer easy to take the initiative to bring up these things with Hermione. It was impossible for the two dentists to come up with ideas to damage their daughter's teeth.

Fortunately, it's not too late now, Loren helped them make up for this shortcoming.

Wendell cut another piece of flounder and exclaimed: "This fish tastes so good! You know, flounder is rich in protein, vitamin A and vitamin D, calcium, phosphorus, potassium and other nutrients, especially vitamin B6, and Low fat content…”

He muttered a lot of words that no one else could understand, and then looked at Loren expectantly, with the same look as Hermione when she wanted to drink Coke.

Monica showed a helpless look, while Bates ate his salad silently.

Hermione paused while taking a big mouthful of food, looked at her father, and then at Loren, with a complicated expression.

Loren stopped his knife and fork, remained silent for a moment, and asked tentatively: "So, where did such a good flounder come from?"

A look of relief flowed across Wendel's face, as if he had drank a few bottles of ice water in the hot desert: "I caught it in the sea! The wind was very strong that day, and a group of people from our club went fishing. I was The first to catch the fish!”

"Club?" Hermione repeated, looking at her mother doubtfully.

Monica nodded helplessly: "After you returned to school for Christmas, he joined a fishing club."

Wendell pointed to the steamed halibut on the table: "That's it. I heard that you are going home today, and I specially participated in the sea fishing activity just to catch you fresh fish."

Monica coldly exposed him: "You charter a boat to go out to sea, prepare fishing bait, and the money you spend to buy new fishing gear is enough to buy dozens of fresh flounder."

Wendell turned his head away from looking at her and muttered again, "Flounder is also rich in docosahexaenoic acid, which helps brain development" and "unsaturated fatty acids are easily absorbed by the body and help lower blood cholesterol." words.

The atmosphere suddenly became cheerful.

After dinner, Monica, with the help of Loren and Hermione, took only a minute to tidy up the kitchen.

The five people sat lazily on the sofa chatting. Monica made tea, and the adults enjoyed the freshly baked egg tarts with the tea. Loren and Hermione dug into the same cup of ice cream with plastic spoons.

The suspense drama "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" was playing on TV, and Bates watched it most carefully.

Wendell took a bite of the egg tart and drank a sip of black tea. Feeling the aroma of tea and sweetness lingering between his lips and teeth, he smacked his lips and couldn't help but fall into deep thought - can he add eggs to the bait?

After the two children finished a cup of ice cream, Monica put the things away and urged them to rinse their mouths and hands.

When Loren and Hermione came out of the bathroom, this episode of the TV series was over. Bates took a sip of black tea: "Loren, Hermione, you will be in fourth grade next year, right?"

Loren looked up at him, wondering why he asked.

"You graduate from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in seven years, and then you leave the school and start your own lives..."

Bates spoke very slowly, as if he was thinking as he spoke: "Outstanding graduates like you can go to Gringotts, the wizarding bank, and enter the wizarding government's Ministry of Magic...Hermione has said before that she wants to go to magic. Ministry job, right?”

Hermione nodded, her eyes blank, and she didn't know why Grandpa Bates asked this.

"I heard Mr. Weasley say that wizards like you who are ordinary people are different from pure-blood wizards. They seem to suffer invisible discrimination."

Bates paused and continued: "It's more serious discrimination than we previously thought."

Wendell and Monica heard worry in their eyes.

"Don't worry..." Loren comforted, "The magic world has begun to change. Maybe by the time we graduate, the workplace environment will have improved... and we can live well without relying on the magic world, so don't worry. .”

The three adults were stunned for a moment. Thinking of their current deposit amount, they all put down their worries.

After all, it was an investment made at Loren's suggestion.

Hermione took the opportunity to say: "This holiday, Loren and I plan to go to the United States, where the International Federation of Wizards is held. We can take this opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the political ecology of the wizarding world."

"International Federation of Wizards, what is that?" Wendell asked.

"It is equivalent to the United Nations General Assembly of wizards, and the ministries of magic from many countries will participate."

"Oh..." Bates became interested and asked curiously, "What countries have the Ministry of Magic in other countries?"

"England, France, India..."

Listening to their questions and answers, Loren picked up the egg tart, leisurely.

In fact, he hadn't finished speaking yet. After the Wizarding War was over, the old headmaster and Voldemort cleaned up the Ministry of Magic, breaking the bones of the pure-blood family, leaving only a wizarding world that was waiting to be revitalized.

That's not leaving Hermione to show off her talents.

As the night progressed, Loren and Bates said goodbye and took a plate of egg tarts and a plate of pies back to the next door.

After taking a shower, Hermione changed into her pajamas at home. Before going to bed, she held on to her mother and refused to let go, insisting on whispering something between mother and daughter.

"Mom, when did you see through the Coke thing?"

Hermione lay flat on the bed, resting on Monica's arm, not daring to look into her mother's eyes with a guilty look in her eyes.

"Little clever ghost..."

Monica smiled and pinched the tip of her nose, "There is always Coke in the refrigerator at Loren's house, why would you write a letter specifically asking for this?"

Hermione twisted the hand on her nose and muttered dissatisfied: "So he expected this when he wrote the letter and deliberately teased me! Damn Loren..."

"What about you?" Monica pinched the tip of her daughter's nose again, "Isn't it disgusting for you to force others to write letters?"

When talking about this, Hermione became angry: "He charges a polishing fee, and there is no mental damage fee!"

Monica was surprised: "What is that?"

"Oops~"

Hermione turned away shyly, not wanting to face her mother.

A smile appeared on Monica's lips, she grabbed her daughter's shoulders and twisted her back, asking endlessly: "Tell me, what is the retouching fee and what is the mental damage fee?"

Hermione put her face in her hands and let out a shy whimper, avoiding answering.

Then Monica grabbed the itchy flesh around her waist and tortured her to extract a confession.

…

Loren put the egg tarts and pies in the refrigerator for breakfast tomorrow morning, and then followed Grandpa Bates into the bedroom.

The sheets, quilts, etc. had been packed away before he came home. Bates opened the closet and told him about the new clothes he had bought in the past six months so that he could remember to wear them. This had happened before. Bates had bought them. Loren bought new clothes, but she forgot to wear them and took them to school. They stayed in the closet for more than half a year, and when she came back, they no longer fit her.

Before leaving, Bates warned her earnestly: "Loren, if Hermione wants to do something, you have to help her, be smart, and don't act like a fool."

"Just say it, why are you attacking her personally..." Loren couldn't help but retort, "She's Hermione, of course I will help her."

"And you said that!" Bates hit him on the head, "When you left the station today, I saw you giving little Hermione two suitcases to hold."

"The suitcase is empty and doesn't weigh anything!"

"That's not OK!"

"..."

When Loren sent away the nagging Grandpa Bates and put on brand new pajamas after taking a bath, the bright crescent moon was already hanging on the treetops outside the window.

Loren looked at the moon for a while and decided to continue practicing the Patronus Charm technique during the day.

Taking out the fantasy book, he hesitated for a second between the duel room and library icons, and decisively chose the library.

Silver light flashed.

Consciousness appeared in the bright library. Loren had just stood still when he heard an unexpected voice coming from behind the bookshelf.

"Mr. Flamel, why can't my Patronus shrink?" Hermione asked bluntly.

Flamel replied in a gentle voice that Loren had never heard before: "This requires a little skill. It has been written in your notes. While paying attention to the magic output, you must also pay attention to the control of the spirit and memory. …”

Loren slowed down and touched it quietly.