The days of hanging out at Hogwarts

Compared with the gardens that Loren had seen before, the garden of the Burrow was filled with a wild beauty. The garden was very large and overgrown with weeds. If it were not surrounded by a circle of earth walls, it would seem to be no different from the outside.

There are many tangled trees growing wildly at the base of the wall. Some ornamental plants that can repel insects sprout from each flower bed. They have probably never been pruned. There is a pond full of green silk roots in the middle. Frogs are lying on the rocks, not afraid at all. People stared at them.

Loren and Hermione were lying on the grass, watching Harry and Ron hunt down the goblins who looked like potatoes with arms and legs.

This little thing has rough skin, strong hands and feet, and can even talk. When it was caught, it kicked and stamped on people in anger and cursed angrily. But when Harry grabbed its ankles and swung his arms in large circles, these little things began to beg for mercy again.

After being knocked unconscious, as soon as Harry let go of his hand, the goblin flew twenty or thirty feet away and fell unable to find its way.

"They will dig holes under the house. If they are not cleaned regularly, the Burrow will collapse sooner or later." Harry clapped his hands with skillful movements, "It won't hurt them... but they must be stunned, otherwise they will bite Hold your thumb tight and don't let go."

"This is not your level!" Ron squinted his eyes and looked at the goblin's landing point, "I dare say that Ginny can throw it over the stump every time."

Ginny:"……"

It seems that I can’t have this brother anymore.

But when George and Fred proposed a goblin-cleaning competition, and Harry enthusiastically dragged her to find a goblin cave that Ron didn't even know about, Ginny felt that being good at cleaning up goblins wasn't a bad thing.

Charlie and Bill have passed the age of playing tricks on goblins. They move slowly and tell Loren about things here from time to time.

Ottery St. Catchpole Village is a village where Muggles and wizards live together. It is surrounded by mountains, and the dense woods on the outskirts accumulate water vapor. The temperature here is relatively low. Even in midsummer, the weather is not too hot. Living there The wizards and Muggles here cherish the bright sunshine.

The Burrow is hidden among hills and trees, and the roadside is surrounded by Muggle expulsion spells. Most Muggles have never even discovered that there is a house here. Only some elderly people know that they live in the woods south of the village. A family with red hair.

It wasn't just the Weasleys, Bill said there were also Digorys, Lovegoods and Fawcetts living nearby. Therefore, there are always many confusing and fantastical colors in the bedtime stories passed down orally by the elderly and children in the village.

Looking across the village from the Burrow, there is a beautiful hill called Stoat Hill, where Lovegood, or Luna, lives.

"Oh my God!"

Molly's shocked and angry exclamations came from the fourth floor of the Burrow, and then the window was pushed open with a "bang". An angry-looking Molly stretched out her upper body, holding a bag of toffee in her hand, and shouted sharply : "George! Fred! What the hell are these!"

George and Fred, who were chasing each other in the garden, stopped, looked at each other, and walked toward the house.

With Mrs. Weasley's stern expression and angry voice, everyone knew they were going to be scolded.

The Weasley children and Harry seemed to think this was nothing to make a fuss about; the twins were always scolded during the summer holidays, as they had been in the past.

Hermione, who was a guest at the Burrow for the first time, looked left and right, completely confused about the situation.

"It's not a big deal, maybe their prank items were discovered by mom again..." Charlie looked at the scars on Crookshanks' face without raising his head, "Mom will calm down during lunch."

Bill nodded.

Hermione looked confused.

Loren raised his head and looked at the window on the fourth floor, tilted his head, and silently wished the twins good luck.

About an hour later, the remaining gnomes in the garden realized the current situation. They stood in a thin line with their little shoulders hunched, got out of the small hole under the wall, and disappeared behind the hedge at the other end of the field.

Ron said they would be back.

It happens every time.

always like this.

…

"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?"

"Fake wand, magic candy? What is this, tell me what it is!?"

"No wonder your room keeps making explosions. I never knew you were making inventions all the time..."

Molly's face was redder than her hair with anger. She stared at the twins in front of her with bulging eyes and waved a stack of order forms in her hand.

George and Fred stood before her with defeated expressions on their faces, their heads hung low.

Loren and others, who had just returned to the house, turned their eyes to the table. There was a large package of strange things piled there, such as various strange wands, colorfully packaged candies, and wooden boxes with clowns painted on them. …

At this moment, the ghoul on the top floor started tapping on the water pipe again, making a tinkling sound.

"oh……"

Molly squeezed out an angry and frantic sigh from her throat. She closed her eyes in pain and yelled at the twins: "Go up and quiet that damn ghoul! Then throw these things out of the house. destroy!"

George and Fred turned around dejectedly, walked through the crowded foyer, and climbed up the rickety stairs.

"These two guys!" Molly muttered viciously, raised the order form in her hand to look at it, slapped it on the table impatiently, turned around and squeezed into the kitchen to start preparing lunch.

The seven people who had been eavesdropping outside then entered the door quietly, for fear of being discovered by Molly.

"I really don't know what they will become. They don't have any ambition, they just find ways to get into trouble all day long..." Molly muttered as she took out many large and small pots from the cupboard and stewed the brass. The pot was placed on the stove and lit.

This kind of murmuring continued, and it was even denser than the ding-dong-dong-dong tapping of the water pipes on the roof. Moreover, the water pipes soon became quiet, making Molly's voice clearer.

Loren, who had an unknown premonition experience, secretly lamented that the twins were unlucky. They could put the hidden things into their scales tonight, but they were exposed at this time.

He glanced at the others.

Hermione pressed her lips together, her face tense.

Ginny tugged at the hem of her clothes, feeling uneasy.

Ron and Harry scratched their heads. Today's mother was still angry for so long. The problem was more serious than they thought.

Loren asked quietly: "Are they okay?"

Bill shook his head, looked at the few people who had not graduated, and said softly: "You guys go upstairs to see George and Fred. Charlie and I stay here to help mom prepare lunch."

Ron nodded heavily, pulled Ginny and Harry and ran upstairs, with Loren and Hermione following behind.

Out of Molly's sight, Hermione finally breathed a sigh of relief and said with some fear: "An angry Mrs. Weasley is scarier than an angry Professor McGonagall."

Loren smiled without saying anything and pulled her all the way up.

On the top floor, they finally saw the legendary ghoul. It was an ugly humanoid creature with dirty mucus on its body. Its fuzzy facial features were completely unrecognizable as a human being, and it had buck teeth.

The twins were tying it to the water pipe with cloth tape, wrapping it around and around, even sealing its mouth tightly so that it could not make annoying moans and whimpers, nor could it hit the water pipe.

Ron was silent for a moment and asked tentatively: "Are you... okay?"

George made a knot on the cloth belt, clapped his hands and turned around: "Oh, dear little Ronnie, you don't think this little blow will make us cry, do you?"

"We are not children who are afraid of spiders." Fred pulled the cloth strap to test the elasticity and nodded with satisfaction.

After saying that, both of them laughed.

…

George and Fred were lying dejectedly on the bed together. It was already almost twelve o'clock in the night. Obviously at this time yesterday, they were still happily checking the order form, planning to buy storage scales from Loren. How to expand the business and how many products should be prepared to take to Hogwarts and sold in the school next semester.

They could rush out the batch of goods that their mother confiscated before the Quidditch World Cup finals, and now that they have storage scales, they don't have to worry about being discovered again.

But I still feel so uncomfortable.

My mother’s words kept ringing in my ears:

"It's not that they are not smart, but their smartness is not for the best use. Unless they cheer up quickly and change their ways, they will be in bad luck."

"..."

"More owls flew from Hogwarts to complain to them than everyone else combined!"

"If they continue like this, they will eventually be caught by the Office for the Prohibition of Abuse of Magic, and their father will be subject to scrutiny. They may lose their jobs."

"..."

"I really don't understand where we are educating people wrong."

"It's been like this for many years. One trouble comes after another, and we don't listen at all."

…

"George, Fred, are you still going to do business?"

The twins listened to the questions coming from the bed opposite, and were not surprised that Loren was not asleep at this time. He knew their business and their ambition to open a store, and was willing to give them those storage scales and was looking forward to them. A full range of products!

After only a second, George sat up from the bed and said firmly: "Loren, congratulations, we have decided to make you the most distinguished customer of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. From now on, every product we buy will be given away for free. One for you."

Fred stood up and said, "Yes, you will definitely be proud of this in the future."

Loren: "..."

I was worried for nothing, it seemed like I really wasn't hit.

"I wish your dreams will come true." Loren lifted the quilt, stepped over the sleeping Ron and got out of bed, "I'm going to use the bathroom."

George shouted in a low voice: "Remember today!"

"The day the new Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was born..." Fred drawled.

It seems that Mrs. Weasley will still have to scold her in the future...

Walking toward the bathroom in the dark under the moonlight, Loren shook his head and couldn't help but think of Mrs. Weasley's irritable, complaining, or self-blame talk that lasted all day.

From the time she found the order form to the end of dinner, Mrs. Weasley repeated these things all day long, and by the way, she dug out every mistake the twins had ever made, and every complaint letter they received from Hogwarts. Said it several times.

After Percy and Arthur got off work, the dinner table became a judgment seat for her twins. Mr. Weasley was the deputy judge. However, the deputy judge didn't think this was a mistake, and sometimes he couldn't help it. Admiring the twins' whimsical ideas intensified Mrs. Weasley's anger.

Loren had no idea about this situation. As a mother, Mrs. Weasley hoped that her son would study normally and graduate, find a serious and stable job with good income, and not live in the same embarrassment as the Burrow... Who can say that she is not? Good intentions.

George and Fred hope to achieve success in the fields they like and are good at. Although the future is unclear, there is nothing wrong with being happy and satisfied.

It's just the friction between mother and son in a normal family.

It was Hermione who seemed intimidated by such an atmosphere.

Loren came out of the bathroom and was thinking about how to comfort Hermione tomorrow. Suddenly he saw a faint light at the top of the stairs, and the sound of rustling things coming from downstairs.

With a slight thought in his mind, Loren stepped lightly and leaned over.

…

The village of Little Hangleton is located between two steep mountains. Like most old rural villages, many young people in the village have left the village to find decent jobs in big cities, and the remaining older generations are always there. Talking about old things in the tavern.

For example, fifty years ago, three members of the Riddle family were murdered.

They believed that the murderer was Frank Bryce, the gardener of the Riddle family. He was a wounded soldier who had retired from the battlefield. One of his legs was so stiff that he could not control his movements. He was also lonely and eccentric, staying away from the crowd.

He has the spare key to the Riddle House, and who could be more of a murderer than him?

At that time, there were no outsiders visiting the Riddle House, no one broke into the door, and the windows were not broken. Frank only had to sneak into the mansion while everyone was asleep...

The villagers thought so at the time.

But the police autopsy report ruled out Frank as a suspect. Doctors had never seen such a strange way of death: no one in the Riddle family was harmed by poison, force, or pistols, nor was they suffocated or strangled. Completely healthy bodies, only with the same frightened expression on their faces, as if they were scared to death at the same time.

Therefore, there was no evidence that the Riddles were murdered, and Frank was not jailed.

Some of Riddle's relatives had been here before, but they all found the house eerie and scary and did not stay there for long. Since then, the Riddle family's house has been uninhabited, fell into disrepair, and gradually deteriorated.

Only old Frank cleans it from time to time to prevent it from being completely abandoned.

On this day, Frank, who was about to celebrate his seventy-seventh birthday, came to the old house again on his stiff legs. When he opened the door with a rusty old key, he heard that this old house had been deserted for a long time. Cold voices came from the house.

…