"Good that you know." Irene nodded, then curiously asked how Adrian had resisted the Eye of Detection.
"Occlumency. I found it in the school's Restricted Section." Adrian thought for a while, didn't hide it, and said it directly.
He had to thank Dumbledore for this. He'd used Legilimency several times, which had helped improve Adrian's Occlumency proficiency. It was precisely because of this practice that Adrian could react so quickly.
"Good work. It seems you've learned many useful things there. You know, I only dared to sneak into the Restricted Section in second year."
Irene looked at Adrian with admiration. She didn't mean to scold him for violating school rules at all. She just reminded him to keep some knowledge records in mind and not to try things lightly without full confidence.
Adrian's reaction was entirely within his expectations. In his memory, Irene didn't care much about rules, but her behavior of encouraging him to go to the Restricted Section really made Adrian feel awkward.
Next, considering Adrian had just been frightened, Irene told Adrian about some interesting things that had happened when she was at school. For example, she'd almost been caught by Filch when she went to the Restricted Section for the first time.
Later, she'd worked hard to get revenge and hid Filch's cat, which caused Filch to search for several days.
Or she'd occasionally use the Mortificus Curse to tease ghosts and young wizards of the same year.
As Adrian listened, his gaze at Irene became more and more strange. He suddenly remembered that when school had just started, the Sorting Hat seemed to have told him someone had used pranks with fear magic, which had caused Dumbledore headaches.
He hadn't expected it was talking about his mother, Irene.
Adrian echoed along, then remembered the question he hadn't asked before.
"By the way, why didn't we just use Floo Powder directly into the fireplace at home?"
"The fireplace at home was magically set by me. I remember telling you that..." Irene looked at Adrian suspiciously for a while.
"When was that? How could I remember everything?" Adrian shrugged and hurriedly searched for related memories in his mind.
Although Adrian had sorted through his memories using Occlumency, it was still a person's life experience of ten years. He couldn't remember everything clearly.
Sometimes he still had to think about it for a while.
It would be too wrong to say more. Adrian then shut up for the rest of the journey, only watching the surroundings with his eyes.
If Diagon Alley was a bustling city street, Knockturn Alley was somewhat similar to a slum, perhaps even more dangerous.
Because this was also a gathering place for dark wizards, and the Second Wizarding War had ended just ten years ago, there were many Death Eaters who'd escaped punishment hiding here. The rules of the Ministry of Magic could hardly be said to have much effect in Knockturn Alley.
Just coming all this way, Adrian felt several malicious gazes, both open and hidden. But probably because Irene was by his side, the owners of these gazes quickly looked away.
After about seven or eight minutes, Adrian finally saw the appearance of the house in his memory. It was also a dark magic shop. Perhaps because it was relatively remote and land prices were relatively cheap, it looked very large and spacious.
Looking through the glass window, he could vaguely see many magical items on the shelves.
Different from the dark and terrifying Borgin and Burkes, Adrian found they were mostly small things like bracelets, necklaces, cards, etc. They looked like ordinary things, but Adrian understood through memory that most of these items were blessed with trigger-type hexes.
The whole shop was divided into upper and lower floors. The first floor was where magical items were sold, the second floor was the living area, and there was a basement where Irene made or researched magical items. Adrian hadn't been down there before.
"You take a rest. I'll cook." Irene led Adrian in and walked confidently into the kitchen.
After Irene left, Adrian finally relaxed now that he had some time alone. Searching for memories and chatting with Irene along the way with trepidation had left him somewhat physically and mentally exhausted.
Thinking that next he'd have to get along like this all summer vacation, Adrian got a headache.
The clanging sounds in the kitchen sounded like a restaurant back kitchen, attracting Adrian's attention.
When Adrian looked through the window, he found Irene was standing in the middle of the kitchen gently waving her wand. A turkey that had been cleaned without feathers consciously jumped onto the cutting board.
The knife hanging on one side floated slowly. When passing by, it cut a steak on the table neatly into several large pieces, then began to process the turkey. The various jars filled with seasonings weren't idle either. Cooking wine poured straight down and soaked the turkey in a basin. The steak was sprinkled with unknown seasoning and then sent to the magical oven.
Adrian even saw that when the turkey was being oiled, it actively turned its body over and raised its wings so the brush could apply more oil to the underside of the wings, making it more fragrant when roasted.
Seeing this scene, Adrian's expression was very strange. He searched through his memory and found it had been transformed into a magical kitchen by Irene. The cooking process was basically the same as an assembly line.
The things made were all similar in appearance and very fast. With Irene barely moving, a luxurious turkey meal was soon ready.
Adrian wanted to say dishes made this way were soulless!
It's just that when Irene brought the plate to the table, Adrian couldn't help but swallow, because it seemed very fragrant.
However, Adrian was a little surprised why dinner today was so rich. Even with the magical kitchen, Irene rarely bought so many ingredients on regular days.
"This was originally for Christmas..." Irene's dark green eyes stared directly at him, her gaze somewhat resentful.
"Um... next semester, I'll definitely be back next semester." Adrian said stammeringly, because he had stood Irene up on Christmas, and he hadn't even sent a letter back.
Adrian could imagine how Irene had prepared everything alone, then waited for him at the station.
He hadn't expected she'd even kept the ingredients.
'Wait... Christmas? That was a few months ago, right?'
Adrian, who'd been eating the turkey meal, was stunned.
So how long had the turkey been kept?
"The turkey hasn't expired, right?" Adrian asked, turning his head to look at Irene.