Chapter 90 . The Magic
608 Queen Street, Lisbon, Northern Ireland.
Lynn stood in front of a very dilapidated two-story building, double-checking the address to make sure he hadn't gone to the wrong place.
It was located in the most secluded corner of the street.
The house had clearly been uninhabited for a long time; the iron fence around the yard was covered in rust, the front yard was overgrown with weeds, and the chain on one side of the swing was broken, half of the iron plate buried in the weeds, making it look as desolate as a haunted house.
Lynn hadn't come here alone; he had Kira with him.
Before learning Apparition, a house-elf was undoubtedly the best tool. Although Kira had never been here before, it could take Lynn to a nearby city first, and then he could take a train or bus here, greatly saving time.
Moreover, bringing Kira along had another purpose—to use magic in his place.
Lynn hadn't forgotten that before leaving school, he had signed a Ministry of Magic agreement prohibiting underage wizards from using magic outside of Hogwarts.
According to Snape's explanation, this agreement was a magical contract; signing it meant agreeing to the contract, and magical threads would naturally form on the young wizard.
Violating the contract would be like Harry Potter being brought to trial in the original books.
Lynn had used magic before at Abrose, but that was in an emergency, and he was surrounded by more than one wizard, so the threads couldn't accurately pinpoint who cast the spell, and it didn't cause any problems.
But now that he was alone, he didn't dare test the Ministry of Magic's enforcement capabilities.
Having Kira use magic for him was undoubtedly the safest option.
Even if the Ministry of Magic got confused and mistakenly thought he had cast the spell, Kira wouldn't run away like Dobby; she would testify for Lynn.
With a swift unlocking spell, Kira opened the gate for Lynn.
House-elves' magic is actually quite interesting. They can use magic without wands from birth, though the power and effect are slightly weaker. But because it differs from wizarding magic, many restrictions are ineffective against them.
For example, the forbidden Apparition spell at Hogwarts.
The rusty hinge made a long, deep creak.
Lynn walked through the weeds in the front yard, and Kira opened the living room door for him, then went off to find a corner to enjoy himself.
Professor Fawkes probably hadn't returned here since his release from Azkaban two years ago.
The furniture in the living room was covered in dust. Lynn ignored the other odds and ends, but something on the living room cabinet immediately caught his eye.
It was a black and white magical photograph: a little girl happily swinging on a swing, with her parents standing behind her, their faces beaming with gentle smiles.
The family seemed very happy.
Lynn gently brushed the dust off the photograph, looked at it silently for a long time, and finally put it in his pocket.
Without wasting time in the other rooms, he went straight to the study on the second floor.
Unlike the other rooms, it was locked, but without a keyhole.
Following Professor Fox's instructions, Lynn gently knocked on the door and said,
"My brain is hungry."
The door clicked open by itself.
Inside was a small study with only two simple rows of bookshelves, not even fully filled.
Unlike the outside, it wasn't dirty or messy; special magic protected the room, allowing it to temporarily withstand the ravages of time.
"Is there anything you need, sir?"
a voice suddenly came from above, from an old-fashioned chandelier.
"I need to pack up the study and take it with me." These were the exact words the professor had taught him.
"As you wish."
Suddenly, the bookshelves on either side of the wall began to tremble, causing Lynn to instinctively take two steps back.
The bookshelves shrank, eventually becoming the size of a schoolchild's backpack.
They hopped and skipped from either side to the desk in the middle, finally merging together to form a black suitcase.
The ceiling chandelier then descended on its own, landing lightly on the suitcase and transforming into a metal clasp.
Lynn found this whole scene extremely interesting.
He picked up the suitcase, closed and locked the doors again, and summoned Kira, using Apparition to take him back to London.
Back home, carrying the suitcase, Lynn went to the empty room he had prepared beforehand. He placed the suitcase on the floor and said softly,
"I need a study."
The metal clasp jumped up first, soaring high into the air before transforming into an English chandelier.
The two halves of the suitcase also began to separate, finding their way to the wall and expanding against it until they were the same size as before.
And so, Professor Fox's study was perfectly transferred to Lynn's house.
Besides the rare dark magic materials, the two rows of bookshelves and the chandelier were naturally also very valuable magical items, all of which the professor had given to Lynn.
Their functions, of course, didn't stop there.
Lynn sat down at the desk, and a cup of black tea appeared out of thin air in front of him—prepared by Kira.
"I need materials on the research of dark magic diffusion,"
he said to the empty study.
As if responding to his call, five or six books flew out from the bookshelves with a "whoosh" and landed lightly in front of Lynn.
These books had no covers; they looked more like notebooks than books.
Lynn casually flipped through the notebooks; the content was somewhat complex and wouldn't be understood in a short time.
He had expected this; if it were truly easy to learn, Professor Fox wouldn't have called himself an expert in dark magic research.
He wasn't in a hurry. He placed the notebooks beside the desk, took a sip of tea, thought for a moment, and then spoke to the study again.
"I want an interesting book."
The bookshelf swayed for a long time before finally choosing one, which floated down to Lynn.
It was a book with a predominantly green cover and a lifelike white ghost printed in the center.
Unlike the notebooks, this book had its own title—"Exorcism: Soul Capture."
Lynn was immediately drawn to it. He opened the book and began reading from the first page.
An afternoon passed quickly. Lynn closed the book, frowning. He wasn't troubled by the spells recorded in the book, but rather by the inspiration it had given him. He suddenly had a plan.
A somewhat daring plan, but one with a possibility of success!
To provide evidence for the feasibility of his plan, Lynn immediately wrote a letter to Professor Fawkes.
Only after finishing the letter did he realize that he was no longer at Hogwarts, and there were no public owls for him to borrow.
Lynn poked his head out expressionlessly and glanced at Umaru, who was sitting happily on the sofa, munching on a meat pie made by Kira while watching TV.
So what's the point of keeping a lazy, good-for-nothing hamster?
Looks like it's time to get a new pet.
I have some things to do today, so I'll try to post the next chapter before midnight. Also, please vote!
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