Undercurrents Stirring

Hermione looked at the little Dolphin, then at Loren, her face full of grievance, as if the two of Dolphin were ganging up on her.

Loren knew he'd get a beating if he kept laughing, so he quickly stopped and said seriously, "Maybe it's because I fed the baby Dolphin first, and it's familiar with my scent."

Before Hermione could carefully consider this flawed consolation, Loren stepped forward to stand beside Hermione, took her hand, and scooped up a shovelful of ice to feed the Dolphin.

The baby Dolphin swallowed it whole, exhaling satisfied steam from its blowhole, and bobbed its tail up and down on the surface of the water.

Loren looked at the little Dolphin and felt a sense of familiarity and warmth, as if he could sense the Dolphin's emotions. He took Hermione's hand, slowly moved closer to the Dolphin's kiss, and then gently rubbed against it.

The moist and cool sensation traveled from her palms to her heart. Hermione's eyes widened, and her limbs stiffened, afraid to exert any force.

The little Dolphin nuzzled Hermione's hand again, making a joyful "ya-ya" sound, ethereal and melodious. Wondrous life, the pure hearts of these sea creatures conveyed beautiful emotions to each other.

"It, it... me!" Hermione couldn't contain her excitement, her finger trembling as she pointed at the little Dolphin.

The two children and the Dolphin started playing together. The little Dolphin followed their hands, spinning around and splashing water as it flipped over. Laughter rang out in waves, drawing envy from other children and parents.

The Mr. and Mrs. Granger and Bates stood a short distance away, watching their two children play with the Dolphin, and felt genuinely happy.

The zookeeper was a gentle woman with blonde hair tied in a ponytail and wearing an Aquarium hat.

She praised, "Few children can get this close to Dolphin, even more so than our keepers. Both children have pure hearts."

"Thank you for your compliment," the Mr. and Mrs. Granger said politely.

"Oh! You work at the Aquarium!" Bates suddenly exclaimed excitedly. "We wanted to ask if you have any suggestions about yachts; we're thinking of taking a trip at sea."

"If we're going to go to sea..."

The zookeeper led them to the audience seats, and the group began to share their experiences of going to sea.

In their blind spot, the little Dolphin suddenly spat a jet of water at Loren and Hermione's faces.

The two were dumbfounded and stood there stunned.

Loren sensed the Dolphin's emotions, watching it excitedly wriggle its body and wag its tail, as if inviting them to play. Hesitantly, he said:

"It seems to think this is a game?"

Another jet of water Accio, drenching Loren's face. Although it came from Dolphin's mouth, was clean, and had no odor, Loren felt it was clearly an insult.

Unable to bear it any longer, Loren cupped his hands together like a spoon and suddenly splashed a wave of water onto the little Dolphin, which only excited the Dolphin more.

Loren and the Dolphin had a water fight, and Hermione quickly joined in, the splashing water making a louder noise than their laughter.

Hermione tilted her head to the side, facing backward to avoid the splashing water and prevent it from getting into her eyes. One hand in front of her kept stirring the water, sending water flying in all directions.

Loren felt the waves lapping against his face. He looked at the little Dolphin, then at Hermione, who was swimming excitedly with her head down. He found it hard to believe that Hermione wasn't taking revenge on him.

Hermione's smile didn't fade until she left the Aquarium.

Hermione questioned, "Why is my Patronus Dolphin, but you seem to be closer to Dolphin?"

Loren looked around at the street scene and casually said, "Could it be that you're seeing things wrong, and your Patronus is actually the Beluga Whale?"

"Only an idiot like you would admit his mistake!"

"Rebound."

Hermione:???

Loren said with a serious expression, "Idiot, rebound, so you're the idiot."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Childish."

"Rebound."

The adults followed behind, talking about adult topics:

"Won't anyone notice that their clothes dried so quickly?"

"It's summer, so it's not strange."

"No one will notice the two children."

"Magic is so convenient."

No. 5, Privet Drive, Little Whinging.

Harry held a crystal ball in his hands, his brows furrowed, his eyes fixed on it.

The crystal ball was about the same size as his head, and a grayish-green mist was gradually filling the entire crystal ball, making it appear somewhat gloomy.

"That's enough for today." Sirius Black handed her a chocolate bar.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, took the chocolate, skillfully tore open the wrapper, put it in his mouth, and mumbled a complaint, "Is this the only way to practice Occlumency? It's so boring."

Black avoided Harry's gaze, glancing to the side, and said guiltily, "The color of the crystal ball reflects your emotions. Once you block the crystal ball's connection, it will prove that you have mastered Occlumency."

However, when he was learning Occlumency, someone would use Legilimency techniques to make him feel like his mind was being spied on. When you can perceive changes in your brain, your learning speed will be much faster.

However, he didn't Legilimency, so Harry could only practice in front of the crystal ball by himself, while he explained some theoretical knowledge and occasionally gave demonstrations.

Harry swallowed the melted chocolate, feeling a little better. "I've been staring at the crystal ball all day for a month now, and I don't feel like it's helping at all."

Every day during practice, I watched as the crystal ball gradually changed from orange-red, representing positive emotions, to peaceful blue, and finally to negative gray-green.

In a little while, it will turn crimson, representing anger, which means Harry is ready to smash the crystal ball. After a month, he has become familiar with the whole process.

"Occlumency is a very advanced form of magic, and it's a very slow process to learn," Black said seriously.

Harry pretended not to hear this. He rested his chin on his hand, examined the crystal ball which had returned to its clear and transparent state, and casually asked, "Why do you think Headmaster Dumbledore insisted that I learn Occlumency?"

Black fiddled with the coffee machine on the counter. The television footage said that chocolate could calm the mind and make people happy, and that it was caffeine that was at work.

Caffeine makes people happy, and coffee contains a lot of caffeine. Black concluded that coffee is Muggle Elixir of Joy without the side effects of Elixir of Joy.

Encouraged by TV shopping, Black quickly bought a coffee machine and tried to make a Muggle Elixir of Joy.

Harry tried to dissuade him several times, but found that Black was too engrossed in his work to listen, so he eventually gave up. He felt that Sirius Black was clearly playing with the machine, not trying to make coffee.

Such incidents occurred many times over the course of a month, including attempts to modify lawnmowers so they could fly and remove people's hair, and modifications to chainsaws so they could fly and chase people.

Compared to all these things, the ten-year-old Flying Motorcycle parked in the warehouse is actually the most normal thing.

"Of course, it's to protect you. Occlumency can resist Legilimency, preventing others from spying on your thoughts and emotions, and it also has a defensive effect against Imperius Curse and Veritaserum. These are common methods used by Death Eater," Black replied.

Harry glanced at it and looked away. "But didn't you object to me learning Occlumency before?"

"I just think this kind of magic is risky," Black pressed the valve. "Many Pure-blood Families wizards are taught Occlumency before they even graduate. Like the Malfoy family boy, he will definitely have to learn it before he graduates."

Harry imagined Malfoy holding the crystal ball, lost in thought. Harry nodded, thinking that Malfoy would definitely break many crystal balls.

"Occlumency makes people hide their inner selves and shut themselves off. If young wizards don't handle it well, they will cut off their connection with others, become withdrawn and paranoid. It's like Dark Arts that makes people lose their way."

"I have a cousin who is exceptionally gifted. She learned Legilimency shortly after learning Occlumency. And then there's my brother Regulus. They both ended up becoming Death Eater."

The brownish coffee liquid flowed slowly from the spout and fell into the cup below, the gurgling sound uneventful, and Black's words were devoid of any emotion.

But when a highly emotional person displays this state, it precisely proves that he cares a lot about this matter.

Harry lowered his voice. "So, do I still need to learn?"

"Dumbledore made you learn this specifically for a reason; he never does anything unnecessary." Black picked up his coffee, took a sip, and the bitterness contorted his face.

"Yay!" He slammed the cup down on the table, his face contorted in a grimace, and asked, "Is this Muggle Elixir of Joy?"

Harry felt this was the Sirius Black he knew, and he pointed to the game controller in front of the TV: "That's the Elixir of Joy."

The two looked at each other and laughed.

"George! Fred!"

Mrs. Weasley's loud shouts echoed from the first floor all the way up to the Third Floor, reaching George and Fred's bedroom. "If you don't come down and help, someone's going to be in trouble!"

Thump thump thump, thump thump thump!

A hurried sound came downstairs, and George and Fred rushed into the Kitchen to start preparing potatoes, slicing bread, and helping Molly make breakfast for the family.

Ron and Ginny were too young to help in the Kitchen, so they waited quietly outside.

After busying himself for half an hour, a sumptuous breakfast was laid out on the table, and Percy slowly came down from the bedroom.

While his mother was still finishing up in the Kitchen, Fred called out, "Oh, look who's finally decided to come downstairs?"

"Guess what the Prefect is doing in the room?" George nudged Fred on the shoulder.

The two shouted together, "Clean the Prefect Badge!"

Then the two of them laughed together, Ginny and Ron also had faint smiles on their faces. Percy glanced at the Twins out of the corner of his eye, not caring at all, and it was clear that he was in a good mood.

Dad wasn't home yet, and Mom was still in the Kitchen. The siblings started whispering to each other.

Ron complained, "I've written Harry several letters, but I haven't received a single reply. Is something wrong with Errol?"

Errol was their family's owl, and he was very old. He had collapsed from exhaustion while delivering mail in the past, Ron suspected that Errol was too old to deliver mail anymore and had become senile.

He turned to Percy: "Percy, can I borrow your Hermes?"

"I need it myself, I can't lend it to you." Percy shook his head and refused, then stared blankly at the bread on the table, his eyes unfocused, staring at it blankly, motionless like a doll.

"Percy must be hiding something from us," the Twins exchanged a suspicious glance.

"I have to invite Harry over. This won't do; Harry will think I've stood him up," Ron grumbled.

"But last time we wrote to Lee Jordan using Errol, we received a reply very quickly."

"Errol isn't senile yet," the Twins said, one after the other.

Ron's eyes widened. "Then something's wrong with Harry! Could he be locked up by his aunt and uncle?"

The Twins got excited:

"We have to go save him."

"Save the Chosen One!"

Before Ron could respond, Molly came out of the Kitchen. The two brothers exchanged a glance, quieted down, and wisely shut their mouths.

Molly put the mashed potatoes on the table and asked, "Hasn't your father come back yet?"

The brothers shook their heads together.

Just then, the door slammed shut.

"He's back!" George said. "Dad's back."

Mr. Weasley hung his hat and coat on the hook to the right of the entrance, then sat down at the head of the long table, panting heavily.

Mrs. Weasley quickly poured him a cup of tea at the right temperature.

Arthur took a big gulp of tea and sighed, "Today I went to Knockturn Alley to check some shops. I was supposed to be back early today, but something unexpected happened."

"What happened?" Fred asked anxiously.

The children craned their necks, eager to hear the story that would unfold that night.

"The Crabbe family kid, I think his name is Vincent Crabbe, and he's in the same year as Ron. He was captured by Werewolf and taken to Knockturn Alley. It took a lot of Aurors to rescue him. We happened to be there when we were investigating."

"Werewolf!" Ginny exclaimed, her mouth agape, her expression slightly panicked.

"Werewolf!" Except for Percy, the other brothers screamed, their voices filled with excitement.

"Was Crabbe bitten?"

"Is he going to turn into Werewolf too?"

"The Slytherin Werewolf wizard!"

"That's so cool!"

Hearing this string of words, Molly slammed her hand on the table in anger. "Outrageous! How can you talk about your classmate like that? Even if he's from Slytherin, you shouldn't say such things! If Professor McGonagall or Headmaster Dumbledore were here, they would be ashamed of students like you."

Seeing that she seemed inclined to continue educating the child, Arthur blinked and interrupted, "What's interesting is that the kid didn't have a single scratch on him. Moody even suspects that he provoked the Werewolf on his own."

"Oh!" The siblings opened their mouths in surprise, but due to Molly's imposing manner, they didn't say anything more.

"This, he's only in first grade, and his parents—" Molly sighed. Old Crabbe was one of the notorious Death Eater back in the day, and she didn't want to talk about these things in front of the child.

"The Ministry of Magic will handle this. Let's eat."

The family began to enjoy breakfast, and before long, the Weasley family returned to its the Burrow bustling atmosphere.