noveltune Chapter 136 Lily Evans' Dream
Chapter 136 Lily Evans' Dream
Chapter 136 Lily Evans' Dream
The surrounding shops gradually became less glamorous, and pedestrians became fewer and fewer.
Some shops display even older, and sometimes eerie, items in their windows: crystal balls that glow with an ominous green light, withered herb specimens, and old scrolls inscribed with runes.
The hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley gradually faded away.
"Uncle Lynch," Harry couldn't help but ask, taking a step back to catch up with Lynch and whispering, "Where are we going?"
Lin Qi didn't stop walking; he just smiled and glanced at him.
"It's just ahead," his voice sounded exceptionally clear in the environment, "almost there."
Not long after he finished speaking, the two turned into a narrower and quieter alley.
After walking through the alley and turning a corner, Lin Qi finally stopped.
Before them was a dilapidated shop with its doors tightly shut.
It is sandwiched between two slightly taller buildings, making it appear low and inconspicuous.
The windows were covered with a thick layer of dust and grime, making it almost impossible to see anything inside.
The paint on the door was peeling and chipped, revealing the dark gray wood underneath. A heavy-looking, old-fashioned lock, also covered in rust, hung on the doorknob.
There was no sign outside the shop, only an empty wooden frame, suggesting that this place may have once had a name.
Lin Qi quietly looked up, gazing at the dilapidated shop with a complex expression.
A fleeting, almost imperceptible look of emotion and nostalgia flashed across his eyes, so quickly that Harry wondered if he had seen it wrong.
The morning sunlight here appears thin and cool.
In the midst of the silence, Lynch suddenly spoke, asking a question that Harry never expected:
"How's your potions training going?"
Harry blinked sharply, pulled back to reality from his observation of his surroundings.
Potions? Why are you suddenly asking this? What does it have to do with this dilapidated shop in front of us?
He recalled Snape's greasy hair, disdainful eyes, and utterly sarcastic remarks, and his tone became hesitant and lacking in confidence:
"It's...it's alright," he replied somewhat uncertainly, adding in his mind: If the comparison were with Neville, then I'd probably be considered excellent.
Upon hearing Harry's answer, Lynch didn't speak again, only giving a barely audible "hmm," as if he had just asked casually.
Then, he stepped forward.
With a flick of his fingers, as if by magic, an old-fashioned but impeccably clean brass key appeared between his slender fingers.
The key reflected a faint light in the dim sunlight.
He precisely inserted the key into the seemingly rusted lock on the mottled wooden door.
Surprisingly, the lock cylinder did not make the expected stiff sound, but instead made a crisp "click".
Lin Qi gently rotated his wrist half a turn, then pushed hard against the seemingly heavy wooden door.
"Squeak"
A long, hoarse soft sound broke the silence as the door was pushed open.
A few wisps of dust, accumulated over countless years, fell silently from the door frame, but before they reached Lin Qi's shoulders, they were blocked by an invisible barrier and slid to the ground without a sound.
Inside the door was a near-solid darkness, carrying with it an old, musty smell mixed with dust, dried herbs, and some indescribable, slightly sweet and astringent aroma.
"Come in," Lin Qi's voice rang out in the dimly lit doorway.
He was the first to step inside.
Harry took a deep breath, suppressing his doubts and a strange tension, and, holding his new broom, stepped across the threshold.
As they were fully inside, Lynch snapped his fingers.
"Snapped!"
The crisp sound echoed in the empty room.
Then, several old-fashioned oil lamps on the wall and torches stuck in the corner lit up one after another, and the warm and flickering light gradually dispelled the darkness, barely illuminating the scene inside the shop.
Harry instinctively held his breath, widened his eyes, and curiously surveyed the place.
This is a place that looks like it used to be a shop.
The space wasn't large, with several empty, dusty wooden shelves standing against the wall. In the corner, there was a pile of scattered, unrecognizable odds and ends, covered with a thick layer of white dust.
Tiny dust particles floated in the air, dancing in the flickering firelight.
At the very back was a long table that looked like a counter, but the tabletop was also empty except for a layer of dust.
The whole place exudes an aura that has been forgotten by the long passage of time.
Lin Qi sighed, "In just over ten years, it has fallen into such a state of ruin..."
"Where is this?" Harry couldn't help but ask, his voice a little loud in the silence, creating a faint echo.
Lynch did not answer immediately.
He waved his hand gracefully, and a gentle breeze appeared out of nowhere, sweeping away all the dust from the old armchair beside him.
The chair was Victorian in style, with a high back and curved wooden legs; though old, it still looked sturdy.
He calmly sat down in the chair, leaning back slightly, his gaze slowly sweeping across the dilapidated house before finally settling on Harry's puzzled face.
The firelight danced in his eyes, making those usually unfathomable eyes appear exceptionally deep. He remained silent for a few seconds, as if organizing his thoughts, or perhaps recalling something from a long time ago.
Then he spoke, his voice calm, yet like a pebble thrown into a still lake, it stirred up huge waves in Harry's heart:
"Here?" Lynch paused, then said clearly, "This is the dream of my friend, your mother—Lily Evans."
Lynch's words fell softly in the dusty air, yet they were like a boulder thrown into the deep pool of Harry's heart.
He tightened his grip on the flying broom, his emerald eyes staring blankly at Lin Qi.
"My—my mother's?" Harry's voice was dry and trembling slightly. "A dream?"
"Yes." Lynch's gaze became distant. He turned his head and looked around the dilapidated, empty, forgotten corner once again.
"When your mother was still in Hogwarts, she was the best student in Potions class. The Potions professor at the time praised her talent in this field more than once and predicted that she would become a world-renowned Potions Master."
"If you don't love something, you can't do it well."
"Naturally, Lily has a deep love for potions... Owning her own potions workshop is a dream she has had since her student days."
At this point, Lynch smiled and looked at Harry: "As far as I know, James used this shop to propose to Lily."