News of the Comet

As Loren led her out of the Great Hall, Hermione turned to look back. There were no ruthless axemen standing at the entrance; the Castle remained as quiet and peaceful as ever.

Stepping out of the Entrance Hall and through the Castle's front gate onto the path, the warm sunlight bathed them, and Hermione realized that he truly intended to go home.

"Loren, why are we leaving? Do you really believe Professor Trelawney's Prophecy?"

Hermione's common sense and reason told her that the Prophecy sounded ridiculous.

It's illogical that the first person to stand up during a meal of thirteen will be the first to die. Professor McGonagall's sharp rebuttal suggests that it's not exactly magical either.

But Loren seemed to believe the Prophecy, appearing quite frightened, and insisted on taking her away even before finishing her meal. She wanted to hear Loren's reasons.

Loren sensed the area enveloped by the anti -Apparition magic and knew he needed to walk a bit further before he could teleport. Hearing Hermione's question, he hesitated for a moment. "Well, although Professor Trelawney seems unreliable, her Prophecy aren't all nonsense."

"She once Prophecy that Harry would defeat Voldemort, Prophecy Dumbledore go to Albania and find Voldemort's trail. Thirteen people eating together, the first person to stand up will be the first to die, that's definitely not believable. But when Professor Trelawney said it there, it was like a magic spell being cast, and I thought it was better not to take the risk."

Hermione let Loren lead her forward, tilting her head slightly. "But she only said the first person to stand up would die first, without saying when or what the cause of death would be. It's not very polite to say that, but Dumbledore is already 112 years old—"

Hermione slowed her pace and muttered, "Normally, he would be the first of us to die."

Loren's pace slowed down, and finally he came to a stop.

He turned around and looked at the little Witch with a strange expression. "What you said seems to make sense..."

Influenced by the original plot, he subconsciously felt that the Prophecy was ominous. He didn't consider that, given Dumbledore's disregard for life and death, if he were still alive after completely defeating Voldemort, he would most likely choose to retire, travel the world for a few years, and then embark on that great adventure.

If we calculate it that way, Dumbledore should indeed be the first of everyone to die.

Loren fell into deep thought, "In that case, shall we go back and continue eating?"

"The professors will think you're an idiot." Hermione rolled her eyes at him, took his hand and walked forward. "So this Prophecy is just correct nonsense. I can continue with the Prophecy: Professor Kettleburn should be the second to die. He looks very old and in poor health."

Loren was taken aback.

Wow, what a realistic Prophecy! I feel like it will most likely come true.

"But, but—" Loren's own beliefs were challenged.

"I don't like Professor Trelawney right now, but we'll have to wait until next semester when I take Divination Class to see how things go." Hermione exclaimed suddenly as she walked, "I forgot to ask you about Neville's parents' treatment! Tell me quickly, was the treatment successful?"

"It should have been successful. After they regained consciousness, they hugged each other and cried. I was afraid that Dumbledore cry with them, so I left first."

"That's great." Hermione ignored his ramblings about the old headmaster and walked briskly forward.

We followed the path along the Black Lake until we reached the Edge of the Forbidden Forest before stopping.

With a loud explosion, the two disappeared from the spot one after the other.

Hampstead Garden, on the outskirts of the city.

The space in front of the door distorted for a moment, and Loren's figure broke through space and appeared in the doorway. The next moment, Hermione appeared beside him.

"?"

Loren asked, bewildered, "Why aren't you going home? What are you doing at my house?"

Hermione tilted her head slightly and said matter-of-factly, "My parents are at the clinic, and no one's home. Besides, you're the one who made me miss lunch, shouldn't I be looking for you?"

The reasons were valid and sufficient, and Loren had no choice but to accept them.

"Grandpa Bates, I'm back!"

Loren pushed open the door. The house was spotless, but it was quiet and deserted; no one answered. Even though it was lunchtime, there was no smell of food.

"Mr. Bates doesn't seem to be here either," Hermione said quietly as she followed her inside.

"They probably went out to play."

Loren opened the refrigerator and found that there were no other ingredients inside besides drinks, which suggested that Grandpa Bates didn't usually cook at home.

On the other side, Hermione also ventured into the Kitchen. There were some rust marks on the bottom of the iron pot on the gas stove. A small, light reddish-brown patch was left by the oxidation of water residue from washing the pot.

Hermione reached out and poked at the rust, the reddish-brown rust staining her fair fingertips. She then poked Loren's arm with the same finger. "Let's go to my house first, there should be some food in my fridge."

Loren nodded helplessly.

Two gas explosions later, they appeared in front of Granger house's refrigerator.

Loren skillfully opened the Granger house's refrigerator, then stared into thought as he looked at the Sheep Milk ricotta cheese inside.

The Sheep Milk cheese has a lemony aroma.

This is what he taught Grandpa Bates on the mountain.

Loren took a bottle of Coke from the refrigerator, grabbed the bottle opener hanging on the side of the refrigerator, opened the cap, inserted a straw, and handed it to Hermione: "I think I know why the pots in the house are rusty."

"Grandpa Bates ate at my house." Hermione took a sip of her cola and smiled, her eyes crinkling.

Although Loren's expression was helpless, his heart was filled with gratitude. Fortunately, he had met Hermione, and fortunately, Grandpa Bates had met the kind Mr. and Mrs. Granger; otherwise, while he was at school, the orphaned Bates would have been left alone and miserable at home.

He breathed a sigh of relief, "Would fried egg noodles be okay? You only have eggs and pasta at home, so you don't need any other jams."

Hermione obediently stepped back to the Kitchen doorway, giving him space and indicating that he was free to do as he pleased.

Fry the eggs in hot oil until crispy, then add water, cover, and simmer for a while until the water turns a thick, white color, like a broth. Add the noodles. Once cooked, remove the noodles and rinse them in cold water. Season with salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce.

In less than ten minutes, two steaming bowls of fried egg noodles were ready.

"Eat faster, pasta doesn't taste good if it's soaked for too long." Loren said, turning his fork into two thin sticks and deftly picking up the pasta to eat.

Hermione twirled the noodles with her fork and put them in her mouth, taking small sips of the broth.

Wow, how come this simple fried egg noodle dish tastes so good?

Hermione watched with a mixture of admiration and envy as Loren slurped his noodles with two small wooden sticks, feeling that he seemed to enjoy his food more.

After finishing their meal, both of them became lazy and didn't want to clear the table, so they sprawled on the sofa watching TV. They didn't care what the TV program was about; they simply enjoyed the comfort of lounging around after a satisfying meal.

When you're with the right people, the afternoon becomes incredibly peaceful and relaxing.

As he grew sleepy, Loren listened carefully and noticed an Astronomy news report on television.

BBC News: Two months ago, United States Astronomy Eugene and Carrow Shoemaker, along with Astronomy astronomer David Levy, discovered a comet at the Palomar Observatory in California United States which was named Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.

During its orbit around the Sun, it was captured by Jupiter's powerful gravity, becoming a short-period comet orbiting Jupiter. Due to Jupiter's strong tidal forces, it was torn into 21 fragments. Even after becoming fragments, this comet will continue to orbit Jupiter for a very long time...

As they listened, their eyes gradually lost focus, and they eventually closed their eyes and fell asleep.

Loren had a dream, a blurry world where day and night were indistinguishable, and there were no living beings.

In the boundless, hazy yellow dust, bright white clouds were swept up by a white, oval-shaped anticyclonic storm, expanding into an even larger tornado. The turbulent storm swept across the vast world at high speed, and scorching fire rain fell like meteors, igniting the entire sky, a sea of fire boiling and burning...

After an unknown amount of time, Loren woke up to find the television off. He leaned back on the sofa, Hermione resting her head on his shoulder, the aroma of stewed beef filling the air.

"Mr. Bates, wake the two little ones up for dinner!" Monica's gentle voice came from the Kitchen.

He heard Grandpa Bates' steady footsteps approaching, and a warm, large hand gently ruffled his hair. "Kid, you're awake, aren't you getting up!"

Loren slowly came to his senses and saw that the sky outside had been dyed a brilliant orange by the setting sun, and the halo of the sunset looked like a burning flame.

In a daze, he recalled the scene he had just seen in his dream.

Hearing the noise, Hermione groggily woke up and mumbled in a slurred voice, "Long time no see, Grandpa Bates."

Bates replied with a warm smile, "Long time no see, Hermione!"

The two realized the situation at almost the same time, and both blushed, but fortunately, the light and shadow of the setting sun obscured their faces.

The two of them actually slept on the sofa all afternoon, and were even seen by their parents.

"Dinner's ready!" Monica called out again.

He scrambled to his feet in a panic, ran to the dining table, and sat down. Wendell was already seated, holding an evening paper with the most eye-catching headline: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, the Sword of Damocles that nearly destroyed the Earth.

Upon seeing the news about the comet again, Loren's gaze lingered for a moment.

"You said you'd be back today in your letter, but we thought it would be tonight, since the Hogwarts Express takes a whole day to run." Wendell put down his newspaper and handed them his forks.

Bates sat down next to him. "I was home at eleven o'clock, and when you guys still hadn't returned by lunchtime, I became even more certain. I didn't expect you guys to actually come back at lunchtime, sigh!"

"You must be exhausted, you slept all afternoon!" Monica came out of the Kitchen, looking at the two children with affection.

During dinner, the table was filled with greetings between relatives. To outsiders, it might sound like long-winded ramblings and nonsense, but to those present, it brought only warmth and peace of mind.

"Grandpa Bates, when did you start eating at the Granger house's? It seems like our Kitchen hasn't been used in a long time," Loren asked inquiringly.

"During the Christmas holidays," Bates sighed, feigning sadness, "Two cold-hearted people would rather spend Christmas at school than come home and spend time with us old folks."

Hermione quickly straightened up and explained, "It's all Loren's fault! He and..."

The little Witch began to recount what had happened at Hogwarts that year: a wicked man had colluded with the mysterious headmaster to manipulate the Basilisk, causing panic throughout the Castle. In order to maintain the peace of Hogwarts, she was forced to stay and investigate.

Finally, Hermione concluded, "It's all Loren's fault. He even kept it from me. That's outrageous!"

"That's right! Loren went too far!" Bates chimed in.

Although he didn't quite understand what the little girl had just said, how could Hermione be wrong? It must all be Loren's fault.

Wendell and Monica did not participate, but watched with smiles on their faces.

Although they didn't know what Voldemort, the Basilisk, or the Ministry of Magic were, or what the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor did, they understood that all the risks had been under the old headmaster's control from the beginning. Knowing that the two children were safe, they were no longer worried.

Loren tried to defend himself for a while, but he couldn't win against these two unreasonable people. In the end, he was forced to admit his guilt and was sentenced to a week of housework.

The conversation flowed back and forth, from amusing anecdotes at magic school to strange patients at the dentist's office, and then to the financial products Bates had recently purchased...

The Granger house hadn't been this lively in a long time; the laughter never stopped.

In the midst of their lively conversation, Wendell glanced at the evening paper he hadn't finished reading and suddenly had an interesting question, "Did you see what the paper said? If it weren't for Jupiter, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 would have crashed into Earth, wiping out humanity just like it did the dinosaurs hundreds of millions of years ago."

"Suppose—and I mean suppose—when our missiles and rockets fail to stop this comet, will the wizards have a solution to this global catastrophe?"

Wendell practically jumped for joy. "Is this how Stonehenge and crop circles were formed?"

Hermione's eyes lit up at the intriguing idea, and she began to seriously consider the question, "Slowing Charm, Levitation Charm... many spells seem to work. But a comet is too big; perhaps no wizard has such powerful Magic Power... I wonder if Headmaster Dumbledore could do it?"

This was the third time he had heard about Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, and Loren had a strange feeling, like... some kind of omen.

Loren's eyes flickered. The feeling was subtle. He had only heard about the comet, but a mysterious intuition reminded him that the comet was related to him.

This reminded Loren of a conversation he had with Flamel after a bright Mars night, when he asked Flamel when he would next open the Book of Abraham.

Flamel replied, "When the time comes, you will know for yourself..."

"Speaking of comets, I'm reminded of the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. One of their mysterious rooms is said to be the Planet Room." Hermione sighed regretfully. "But I didn't get to see what the Planet Room looked like last time. I wonder if I'll ever have the chance? Loren, what do you think about us working for the Ministry of Magic after we graduate?"

"Ah! Ah?"

Loren snapped out of his thoughts about the comet. "You just focus on your work. I'm not interested."

Bates was so angry that he slapped him, saying, "What nonsense is this kid talking about?"