Understanding Death

The lights were still on in the Common Room, but it was already very late. The once bustling common room was now quiet, and most of the young wizards had gone to sleep.

The soft, cool moonlight and lamplight intertwined, serving as the candlelight for Hermione's reading. The girl's hair was loose and very fluffy, looking messy, and her soft, blue striped pajamas made Hermione feel sleepy.

Ah~

Hermione yawned, her eyes glazed over. Her usually bright eyes became dull as she lazily glanced toward the door, but there was still no movement. That wretched Loren hadn't returned yet.

Hermione turned a page of the book that was spread out on her lap, her attention drawn back to the book, and continued her wait.

When Loren crawled in through the hole, he saw this scene: a lazy girl sitting cross-legged on the sofa. She was very sleepy and her reactions were a little slow, so Loren could see the light slowly blooming in her eyes when she noticed his return.

The bright moonlight was beautiful, and the scattered lights were beautiful, but neither could compare to the girl's sleepy gaze.

"Go to sleep if you're tired, don't wait for me."

Loren walked over to Hermione and plopped down on the sofa. The sudden weight caused the sofa to sag, making Hermione a little unsteady. She grabbed Loren's shoulder in slight panic and then playfully slapped him.

"Who's waiting for you!" Hermione's voice was sweet and soft, with the gentle quality unique to someone who has just woken up and whose mind is still foggy.

Thinking of Professor Snape and Lily, once best friends who became strangers and ultimately separated by death. This world is full of regrets, but fortunately, at least we have people to cherish now.

A surge of emotion rose within Loren. He reached out and pulled Hermione into his arms, whispering against the girl's fair neck, "Hermione, thank you."

The boy's clumsy actions instantly dispelled Hermione's drowsiness. The warm breath blowing against her neck brought an overwhelming wave of shyness, making Hermione afraid to look up.

How could this person be like this!

Finally, Hermione couldn't take it anymore. With a soft moan, she hurriedly squeezed out of the embrace, turned around, and staggered up the stairs.

Only when the railing blocked his view did Loren hear a very soft whisper, "I'm telling you that Hagrid wants us to go see him tomorrow."

What message? Can't Harry Ron, who shares the same dorm room, pass it on?

Loren was in a great mood, even feeling an urge to sing and shout. He wasn't sleepy at all, and felt like he had inexhaustible energy in his hands and feet.

Humming softly in response to Neville's snoring, I pulled the covers over myself and entered the Fantasy Book.

Flamel had just finished organizing and archiving the medical books. There were so many books in the Muggle Library, hundreds of thousands of volumes, that it would take half a year just to read out the titles. Moreover, some of the book titles were very difficult to pronounce and did not conform to normal human grammar.

The purpose of organizing and archiving was to help Loren, but he would occasionally get engrossed in books on drama analysis and aesthetic appreciation, and time would just slip away like that.

Fortunately, virtual Library are not affected by gravity, and you can organize bookshelves by waving your fingers, so the progress is not slow.

Flamel was reading an article comparing Faust and the Divine Comedy, looking very serious, and occasionally nodding in agreement when he came across a brilliant argument.

A luminous consciousness materialized in the Library, and Loren's figure appeared before Flamel.

"Flamel, can the Sorcerer's Stone be used to make Resurrection Potion? I mean, the idea of replacing death with a characteristic!" As soon as Loren appeared, he rushed in front of Flamel and asked excitedly.

Upon hearing this question, Flamel's expression turned serious. He gently pushed the book aside, letting it float to the side.

"To be honest, the approach is correct."

Um?

Loren blinked, somewhat stunned. Nicol hadn't been able to concoct Resurrection Potion for so many years; he'd thought Snape's efforts were ultimately futile. And now you're telling me this line of thinking was correct?

Flamel brought over two chairs and had Loren sit in front of him. "While the idea is correct, it's almost impossible to implement."

"Almost impossible?" Loren noticed the wording, rejecting it, yet not completely rejecting it.

Flamel created a projection of a body in the air, referencing the diagrams he had been compiling in medical books over the past few days. The projection depicted the texture of muscles, the functioning of internal organs, and the flow of blood.

He pointed to the heart and explained to Loren, "Death is a general concept; it's not a real characteristic and is difficult to categorize or label. The death of a wizard is even more complicated. Is it the heart stopping beating, the brain losing consciousness, or the soul fading away?"

Loren stared at the projection, lost in thought.

Concepts like cells ceasing life activities and bodily metabolism stopping exist, but wizards are different from Muggle; the concept of wizards contains idealistic elements.

For example, if a wizard's bones were removed one by one, he could drink a bottle of Skele-Gro and have them grow back overnight, without even considering issues like muscles, nerves, or blood vessels.

For any Muggle doctor to witness such an event would be as impactful as being hit by a fully insured, fully loaded semi-trailer truck while walking down the street; decades of preconceived notions would be shattered.

This difference is not due to physiology, but rather to a difference in perception. The wizard's understanding of the human body is very superficial; bones are bones, and muscles are muscles, and the two are separate.

With a concept, a wizard can cast spells based on that concept.

Guided by cognition, wizards have forged a strange path in medicine through magic, developing Potions such as Skele-Gro and Wit-Sharpening Potion.

Flamel points out the difference between the two ideas, clarifying that death is not a clearly defined concept, and then rewinds to the 14th century. "When Nicol was concocting the Elixir to Induce Euphoria, Europe was in the midst of the Black Death..."

The Black Death indiscriminately claimed lives regardless of gender, age, wealth, status, or slavery.

The child who could climb tree branches to pick fruit yesterday started to develop black spots on his body the next day, with large areas of skin necrosis and blood constantly seeping out.

"It took as little as two hours, and at most a week, people died very quickly. From Constantinople to Egypt, Jerusalem, Paris, Spain, Florence, Venice, the entire continent was shrouded in plague. Villages became deserted, and cities were filled with corpses. It was in that environment that Nicol witnessed the deaths of thousands upon thousands."

"Countless entities of death accumulated in Nicol's mind, forming an indescribable yet real cognition. Based on this, he concocted Elixir to Induce Euphoria. Each time death came, it was replaced by some animal."

"Nicol also tried to create Resurrection Potion, but the line between death before it arrives and death after it has arrived is clear and unshakeable. His conclusion was that his understanding of death was not comprehensive enough..."

Flamel's eyes held a sense of remembrance as he recalled the people and events he had encountered over the centuries, and mourned the devastating plague of six hundred years ago.

Disease brings rampant death, the Muggle divine authority passed down for thousands of years is overturned by the fear of death, panic breeds riots, massacres are everywhere, and famine is accompanied by plunder.

At that time, the entire Europe continent was on the verge of collapse, and it was in that environment that Nicol came to understand death and achieved redemption.

"In short, the process of Nicol's creation was full of coincidences that cannot be replicated."

Headmaster's office.

After hearing Snape's idea about the Resurrection Potion and his desperate plea that abandoned all dignity, Dumbledore solemn, neither rushing to agree nor refusing.

After a moment of deliberation, he slowly spoke, "Severus, I once hoped to reverse death. But as I grew older, the distance between me and death shrank, and the closer I got to death, the more I understood its power."

"Death is the most equal law for all life; all who attempt to conquer death will ultimately lose their way..."

Snape stood before the desk, silent. After Dumbledore finished his grand pronouncements and the dangers of resurrection, he spoke calmly, "Look at me, a rat struggling in a quagmire, trying to grab onto anything that can keep me afloat."

He replied in a calm tone, "But what if I put you here?"

Dumbledore fell silent. He didn't want to think about the question, but the thought kept popping into his mind: if he had the chance to hear Ariana's laughter again, what would he be willing to give up?

This idea startled Dumbledore.

"Oliver! Your genius is just beginning!"

Early in the morning, the roommates were awakened by Harry's screams.

Loren and the others watched helplessly as Harry was dragged off the bed by Wood, like a child trafficker putting a sack over a child, and put into a red team robe before being taken out of the dormitory for training.

The people in the dormitory looked at each other, their eyes glazed over, some still half asleep.

Before they could react, Harry turned back and, just like Wood had treated him, stuffed Ron into a sack and dragged him away, saying as he did so, "This is to prepare you for next year's Quidditch selections."

Ron let out an even louder scream, "I suddenly don't want to join the Quidditch team anymore!"

In the end, he was dragged out.

Harry had been caught in the rain before, so he knew how to tear someone else's umbrella apart... Loren vaguely felt his way back to bed and went back to sleep.

Oliver Wood, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, has led the team—no, since he entered Hogwarts — Gryffindor has never won a Quidditch championship.

Gryffindor, with its wealthy ancestors and glorious history, finds it hard to accept this reality. Wood's desire for the Quidditch championship is even stronger than Professor McGonagall's.

Wood was already in sixth grade, and time was running out for him. The sense of urgency prompted Wood to spend the entire summer vacation thinking about new tactics, and he planned to sneak in before the other teams started training.

But their simple plan failed to materialize. On their way to the Quidditch Pitch, they encountered the Slytherin Quidditch Team, who, under the pretext of training a new Seeker, tried to take over the pitch from Wood.

Malfoy brought out seven brand-new Nimbus 2001, all gleaming and dazzling, almost shattering Gryffindor 'Wood championship dream.

The Gryffindor Quidditch Team, apart from Harry using Nimbus 2000, uses the much older Cleansweep Five. On the field, they probably wouldn't even be able to withstand Slytherin's exhaust fumes.

The specifics are unclear, but Harry only remembers Marcus mocking Ron, the only non-player on the field, before Ron pulls out his wand and casts a curse at Marcus. Marcus's bracelet flashes, the green light reflecting back and striking Ron in the stomach.

After breakfast, Loren and Hermione strolled leisurely to their appointment, enjoying the morning breeze and the sweet atmosphere between them. As they entered Hagrid's Hut, this was the scene that greeted them:

Ron sat in the corner, occasionally spitting a slug into the metal bucket. Harry and Hagrid sat beside him, sighing helplessly. In the center of the room, Ginny and Luna paced back and forth, curiously examining the hut.

"Good morning!" Hagrid was busy preparing teacups and toffee syrup for the two new guests.

"Loren, Hermione!" Luna greeted them warmly. "Come and see, Ron has become a snotty mom."

Upon hearing this title, Ron, who was in the corner, whimpered twice to show his disapproval.

"What happened?" Hermione curiously, craning her neck to see the shiny, large slug and its slippery slime, before shrinking back.

Harry sighed deeply and began to recount the events that had occurred at the Quidditch Pitch for the third time, "... Oliver took the players back to come up with a plan, and I thought Hagrid might have a solution, so I brought him to the Hunting Lodge."

Judging from this situation, Hagrid probably doesn't know how to deal with this new type of creature, the slug mother.

"Ginny and Luna were just wandering around and ran into us at the Edge of the Forbidden Forest."

Wandering around and looking Edge of the Forbidden Forest, Loren glanced at Ginny's red hair and acknowledged her Weasley family bloodline.

"Why don't you go to see Madam Pomfrey?" Loren asked.

Harry sighed again, "The punishment for hitting the Whomping Willow with his car hasn't come down yet, and if Ron gets caught fighting again, he's worried he'll be expelled."

Ron, with a slug stuck in his mouth, whimpered twice in agreement.

"They'll be fine once they've vomited it all out." Hagrid took the washed cups, poured hot tea, and handed them to Loren and Hermione. He also gave them two pieces of sticky toffee syrup.

Luna and Ginny finally finished touring the cabin and sat down. Luna curiously observed the slugs as they came back up from her stomach, passed through her esophagus and mouth, and finally fell into the bucket, without showing any fear or disgust.

"My dad does some research on animals, and I also know some about them." Luna's ethereal voice, after observing for a while, caught the attention of the others.

Ron looked at her expectantly, hoping that this clever Ravenclaw woman could come up with a solution.

Luna looked at the slug and Ron with an innocent face and a pleasant tone. "Eat a frog, frogs eat slugs."

Upon hearing this, the others looked at Luna's innocent face and fell into a strange reflection.

Only Hagrid seriously considered the idea, and he asked with interest, "What about the frog? What about the frog inside the belly?"

"Eat another snake, and the snake will eat the frog."

"What about the snake?"