Lin Ze took out his communication badge and sent a message to Mia.
"Tomorrow at two o'clock in the afternoon, King's Cross Station will meet. Call Sirius."
After sending the message, he put the badge in his pocket and drank what was left in the cup.
When they got up, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick had already left, leaving two Silver Sickle and a neatly folded napkin on their table.
Lin Ze went out of Three Broomsticks, instead of going directly to Hogsmeade Station, he went around to the side door on the west side of the castle.
The night breeze came from the direction of Black Lake, carrying the smell of water vapor and rosin.
The windows on the outer wall of the castle were lit one by one, like broken gold scattered on the stone wall.
The shadows of the trees on the edge of Forbidden Forest are connected in the moonlight. Occasionally, Thestral passes over the tree crown, and the sound of flapping wings is mostly covered by the sound of wind.
Loch Ness East Coast.
Tintagel.
Newgrange Tomb.
Three places, three legends are all related to "another world".
He suddenly remembered the comment in Mia's great-grandmother's notes.
"Those who cross this line must become this line."
What does it mean?
Whoever crosses that line must become the line itself?
Become the boundary between life and death?
Become Veil?
Lin Ze stood next to Black Lake, feeling that the more he thought about it, the more mysterious he became. He simply shook his head, turned around and walked towards the station.
It was almost ten o'clock when we arrived at Grimmauld Place.
Sirius was sitting in front of the fireplace in the living room, staring at a game of chess in a daze. All the chess pieces on the chessboard had been moved. The black king was huddled alone in the corner, and the white queen stood proudly in the center of the chessboard.
"Hey, Lin, want a plate?" Sirius put his feet down from the coffee table.
"No, let's set off at two o'clock tomorrow afternoon." Lin Ze dragged out the chair opposite Sirius and sat down, then straightened the black king on the chessboard.
"Okay." Sirius put the chessboard into the box with a bang.
"Kreacher, make tea."
There was an indistinct muttering from the shadows in the corner, and then the rustle of bare feet on the wooden floor.
Lin Ze leaned back on the chair and looked at the flames dancing in the fireplace, Madam Hooch's sentence "I may not know less than Dumbledore" was still playing in his mind.
"Sirius."
"Huh?"
"How many years has Madam Hooch been with Hogwarts?"
Sirius thought for a while, "She was there when I went to school, but I heard from James that she was there when his father went to school. It must have been more than forty or fifty years ago. As for what he taught before, I don't know. Anyway, she was teaching Flying Class at that time."
Forty or fifty years.
Lin Ze was thinking in his mind.
Why did she say that today?
Is it just a casual mention, or does she really know something?
If it was the latter, why did she choose to tell him?
Kreacher came out of the corner carrying a tray with two chipped teacups and a pot of steaming black tea on it.
He put the tray on the coffee table without looking at Lin Ze, turned around and ducked back into the shadows.
Sirius poured two cups of tea and pushed one cup towards Lin Ze.
"Are you thinking about Hooch?"
"Hmm."
"She is a powerful character." Sirius picked up the cup and blew on the hot air.
Lin Ze picked up the missing cup of black tea and took a sip.
The temperature is just right, not scalding your mouth, and the tea flavor is strong, with a light caramel aroma.
"She said something to me today." Lin Ze put the cup back on the saucer.
"She said that she may not know any less about things in the castle than Dumbledore."
Sirius's hand holding the teacup paused for a moment, then continued to take a sip.
"Madam Hooch always speaks in a measured manner. If she specifically said such a thing to you, it would definitely not be a casual chat."
"I thought so too."
"But why would she choose you to remind you?" Sirius leaned back and put his two long legs on the corner of the coffee table.
"You and she are neither relatives nor friends. Did you have any special contact when you were in school?"
"No, except for Flying Class, I don't have much contact with her."
"In this case... unless she thinks that what you are checking happens to coincide with something she knows." Sirius tapped his fingers on the armrest twice.
"And she doesn't want Dumbledore to get involved in that matter."
Lin Ze didn't answer, looking down at the tea stems floating in the cup.
"Okay, don't think about it." Sirius stood up and put the empty cup on the tray.
"Let's think about Tintagel tomorrow."
Lin Ze finished the cup of black tea and put the cup back on the tray with a soft sound.
He stood up and stretched his waist, his bones cracked twice.
"Okay, see you tomorrow then."
"See you tomorrow."
At noon the next day, when Lin Ze arrived at King's Cross Station, Mia was already waiting next to the coffee stall in the square in front of the station.
Today she changed into Muggle outdoor attire, a dark gray jacket, black pants, a pair of hiking shoes with thick soles, her hair tied into a ponytail, and her backpack slung over her shoulders.
Sirius came later than Lin Ze.
He was wearing an old leather jacket with frayed cuffs, jeans, and a pair of Dragon Hide boots that were obviously wizard style. The uppers of the boots were stained with the kind of dust found in the Grimmauld Place corridor that couldn't be wiped off.
Mia glanced at him and said nothing.
"Take the train?" Sirius asked.
"Well, Muggle train." Lin Ze took out three tickets from his pocket and divided them between the two of them.
"Anyway, we are not in a hurry, so we can just relax while traveling."
Sirius put the ticket in his pocket, moved the corner of his mouth, and said no more.
The train leaves on time.
The three of them occupied a four-seater, Lin Ze sat by the window, Mia sat next to him, and Sirius sat opposite.
There were not many people in the carriage. There was a middle-aged man in the next seat who had been flipping through a novel that was thick enough to crack walnuts. The sound of turning pages was like tearing paper.
After the train left London, the scenery outside the window changed from gray buildings to large fields and bushes. Occasionally, a few cows could be seen standing on the slope, munching grass slowly.
Sirius stared out the window for a long time and suddenly spoke.
"You know, when I was a kid, I always thought that Tintagel was a place made up by Muggle."
"Why?"
"Black family has an old atlas, which has a lot of Pure-blood families's industries and spheres of influence marked on it. Tintagel is not in it, but my grandfather's generation mentioned it when chatting, saying that place was 'unsafe'."
"What does it mean to be unsafe?"
"I don't know, I was only seven or eight years old at the time, and I didn't listen carefully to what adults said." Sirius took out a piece of Chocolate Frog from his pocket, tore open the package and took a bite.
"Later, when I went there to play with James, I forgot about it."
Mia took out a thin booklet from his backpack, opened a page and handed it to Lin Ze.
"I checked last night, Muggle's record about Tintagel."
Lin Ze took it and glanced at it twice.
There is a black-and-white photo printed on the booklet, which shows the cliff where the castle ruins are located. Below the cliff are layers of rocks, with white waves splashing up from the waves.
There is a text next to the photo, to the effect that Tintagel was the residence of Cornwall Earl in the 12th century, but was later abandoned. It has been known as the legend of "King Arthur's birthplace" since the Middle Ages, but there is no archaeological evidence to confirm this.