Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, the night was just as deep in the suburbs of London.
A detached house covered in ivy stands quietly at the end of a path, surrounded by a large, neatly manicured lawn, and further out, a ring of tall oak trees, separating the house from the outside world.
The nearest neighbors were a quarter mile away, and further away lay a field of farmland bathed in moonlight.
The villa isn't very big, but it's quiet and secluded, with plenty of space in the front and back, so no one can see you doing anything in the yard.
Allen stood in front of the living room's floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the lawn outside that was bathed in moonlight and shone silvery white, and nodded in satisfaction.
"This place is really nice." He took a sip of cocoa and sighed contentedly.
"It's much better than that apartment on Baker Street; at least the air here is much fresher than in the city."
He took the Jianmu magic wand out of his pocket, twirled it between his fingers, and the silvery-white light inside the wand shimmered slightly in the moonlight, as if responding to his good mood.
"System," he said, "Are you sure there's nothing wrong with this house? No one's going to suddenly show up at the door?"
A blue light curtain appeared in front of him.
[Confirmed. The host's current location has been bound to the spatial anchor point of "Home". The subspace entrance will automatically follow the host's perception of "Home" for location.]
[The current villa is located at "the end of Woodford Lane " in the Muggle cadastral register. The nearest Muggle settlement is 0.25 miles away, and the nearest wizard settlement is 12 miles away.]
The automatic submission function for articles from Baker Street has been migrated to the current address. The payment collection process will remain open.
Allen took another sip of cocoa and nodded in satisfaction.
"So as long as I consider this place home, the subspace portal will open here, and my royalties will be delivered here. That's convenient."
When he chose this villa, he was drawn to the fact that there were few people around.
Few people means no one will notice, and no one will notice what he does.
In addition, the surrounding environment is also good, with trees, grass and sky, which is much better than that shabby apartment on Baker Street.
He leaned against the balcony railing, looked up at the moon in the sky, and suddenly thought of something.
"System, will the royalties from Baker Street be automatically transferred here from now on?"
[Confirmed.]
"So I won't have to go back to that apartment anymore?"
[The host can decide whether to continue using 13 Baker Street as a contact point. However, all system-related financial transactions will be automatically transferred to the current "home" address.]
"Great." Allen finished the last sip of cocoa and placed the cup on the balcony railing.
"Then I'll live here from now on. It's quiet, spacious, and no one will bother me."
He stretched, turned around, and went back inside.
He had already furnished the villa simply; there wasn't much furniture, but it was enough.
The living room contained a brand-new sofa and an oak coffee table. On the bookshelf in the corner were stacks of magic books he had recently bought, as well as some novels and reference books he had picked up from Muggle bookstore.
His bedroom was on the second floor, and it had a super soft, king-size bed that he had specially chosen. It was so comfortable that he could sink into it, and it was far superior to the bed in his previous apartment on Baker Street.
However, the refrigerator in the kitchen was empty, so he planned to go to a nearby town to do some shopping tomorrow.
Allen sat down on the sofa, placed the Jianmu wand on the coffee table, and casually picked up the newspaper he had bought that morning and flipped through it.
The trailer for " The Chamber of Secrets (Part 2)" was still printed in the culture section, a small piece, but it looked particularly pleasing to him.
"November 15th," he read the date aloud, then tossed the newspaper aside.
"The second part is out, the third part will be coming soon. The third part is about Azkaban, Sirius will appear in that part..."
He paused for a moment, then, as if remembering something amusing, a slight smile curved his lips, " The Ministry of Magic will probably have to hold a meeting then."
The moonlight streamed in obliquely through the French windows, spreading a patch of silvery-white light across the floor and casting a soft outline over everything in the living room.
Allen leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes.
From the Battle of Hogwarts to the Auror hunt in London, from the basement on Baker Street to this suburban villa, so much has happened lately that sometimes it feels unreal.
But every time he placed his hand on the Jianmu wand and felt the slight warmth emanating from it, he knew it was real.
"Never mind." He opened his eyes, stood up from the sofa, and walked towards the bedroom on the second floor.
Why think so much? We still need to go to town to buy things tomorrow.
His footsteps creaked softly on the wooden stairs, then the bedroom door closed gently, and the entire villa fell silent once more.
Only the moonlight remained on the living room floor, illuminating the Jianmu magic wand lying quietly on the coffee table, its silvery-white light shimmering gently in the night.
In the Hogwarts girls' dormitory late at night, moonlight slanted in through the windows, casting patches of silvery light on the floor.
The night breeze slipped in through the half-open window, carrying the scent of grass and earth from the edge of the Forbidden Forest, gently brushing against the curtains of each four-poster bed.
Ginny was fast asleep, her breathing even and deep, one hand still resting on the edge of the pillow, her fingertips only inches away from the diary.
The wind swirled through the dormitory, rustling the scattered parchment sheets on the table.
The cover of the diary was slightly lifted by the wind, but was then weighed down by the pillow.
The wind picked up again, this time a little stronger, and a corner of the cover was flipped up, revealing a page inside.
The moonlight fell perfectly on that page.
On the paper, the silver lettering from the daytime was still clearly visible:
"This is amazing..."
(What joy this fair moment brings...)
The moonlight lingered on the paper, like a thin layer of silver gauze.
Then the letters on the paper begin to move.
The silver letters seemed to be gently moved by some unseen force; first, a few letters changed positions, and then more letters began to move.
The letters in "What joy this fair moment brings" separate one by one and then recombine.
A few seconds later, the original sentence on the paper had been completely changed.
Instead, a brand new line of silver text appeared, the handwriting exactly the same as before. As a few more letters quietly emerged, it finally formed a complete sentence:
"Darkness lurks beneath happiness..."
(Morbid thing waits by our joy's frame...)
----Evil Dividing Line----
I've been meaning to forget to add the titles to this list of books. Does anyone have any good recommendations?