Chapter 178: The Water Pipe

"Laura, I might not be in the lab for most of this year. Please take care of this place for me."

Murphy said, as two lightning crows emerged from behind him and landed on his arm. He placed them on a nearby perch. "This one is called Ogagua, you can call her Miss Sharp Branch, and this one is called Guagua Gu, Mr. Bottle Cap. They can contact me at any time. If there's anything, you can send me messages through them. I'll come back immediately."

Laura petted the two crows, "Okay."

Then she looked at Murphy, "Your health…"

"It's okay, I can hold on. This time, I'm just looking for a cure."

"Don't push yourself."

"Right. I appreciate your help during the next period."

...

Murphy teleported to London, then took out a piece of paper to confirm Hermione Granger's address before suddenly turning into a bolt of lightning and leaping into the sky.

In a low-density residential area of North London, Willesden, a wisp of black smoke fell rapidly from the clouds, transforming into a young man in a black robe on the ground.

Murphy glanced at the single-family apartment and the nearby garage, compared the door number, and then rang the doorbell.

A young woman with long brown hair opened the door, looked at Murphy, "May I help you?"

"Mrs. Granger? I'm a professor from Hogwarts, my name is Murphy Duckworth, I'm here to pick up Miss Hermione Granger. Deputy Headmistress McGonagall should have sent a letter."

"Oh! Of course!" Mrs. Granger covered her mouth with both hands, emitting a cute sound of surprise, "Sorry, you are so young! My goodness! You look like you're eighteen! Please come in…"

"No need, we still have to pick up another student. Is Miss Granger's luggage ready?"

"Yes, yes, of course. Hermione has been so excited that she didn't sleep well last night, checking her luggage hundreds of times…"

"Mom! Is Professor McGonagall here?!" A little girl peeked out from behind Mrs. Granger, surprised to see Murphy, then retracted her head.

"Hermione, this is Professor Murphy who is responsible for picking you up." Mrs. Granger couldn't help but take a few more glances at Murphy's extraordinarily handsome face, "My goodness, Hogwarts truly is an amazing school!"

"Hello, Professor." The little girl finally came out from behind her mother, greeting him a bit awkwardly.

"Hello, Miss Granger. Since your luggage is ready, let's set off. We have another student to pick up."

"Of course, we'll bring the luggage out now. Do you need David to drive you?"

"No, we'll teleport there."

"But, my luggage is a bit much…" Although not quite understanding what teleportation was, Hermione guessed it probably didn't have a trunk like a car.

"Bring it out first."

Soon, Mr. Granger brought Hermione's two large suitcases to the door, "I still think I should drive you, these two suitcases are a bit heavy."

"No need."

Murphy extended his right hand, aimed a silver ring on his middle finger at the luggage, and suddenly, the luggage began to float and shrink until it became as small as grains of rice, approaching the ring, then disappearing into a small hole opened on the ring.

"How magical!" The Granger couple was stunned, "Is this magic?"

After experiencing two issues with the Undetectable Extension Charm, Murphy had grown extremely dissatisfied with inconvenient storage boxes. To solve this problem, he specially made this Undetectable Extension Ring.

The ring's main body was a hollow cube of titanium alloy, inside which a large amount of the Undetectable Extension Charm had been cast. However, due to the very small volume, it could only hold up to 4 cubic meters of items, and when storing or retrieving items, they had to be shrunk with a shrinking spell.

But as a version 1.0 storage ring, it basically met daily needs.

Like now, giving Muggles a little magic shock was no problem at all.

"Alright, Miss Granger, it's time to go," Murphy said, extending a hand, "Hold onto my arm."

Hermione Granger cautiously extended a hand, grabbed Murphy's sleeve, then turned to say goodbye to her parents. Soon after, she felt a whirlwind sensation, and when she reappeared, she was in front of an orphanage.

"Ugh…"

The feeling of being in a tumble dryer was too much for the girl, who immediately ran to the side, leaning against the wall to dry heave.

Meanwhile, Murphy had already rung the doorbell.

...

"Dear Mr. Brightson: We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts. Given your special circumstances, the school will assign Professor Murphy Duckworth to assist you with some preparatory work before school starts. He will arrive at your location before September 1st."

Tom looked at the letter delivered by an owl two days ago, feeling very heavy-hearted.

He seemed to not doubt the authenticity of this letter at all.

But why? Why doesn't he doubt such preposterous things as magic at all? Could it be that he has seen it before? In those memories he can't recall? He opened the notebook again, looking at the latest entry.

"September 1st, 9 a.m. I met the person who changed my fate."

According to the Hogwarts admission letter, this person should be the professor coming to help him with preparatory work.

Murphy Duckworth?

Why would he be the person who changes my fate? What is my fate? Suddenly, the diary updated with new text.

"I met Murphy Duckworth. I didn't believe he could change my fate, so I spat at him."

"Professor Murphy got angry, left me behind, and I went to Diagon Alley alone."

"It was a bright and sunny morning, I took a wrong turn, entering a dark alley. 'Your head shape is nice, perfect for a water pipe.' I heard someone say."

"I died."

"Before dying, I shed tears of regret. If I hadn't made Professor Murphy angry, I wouldn't have gone to Diagon Alley alone, wouldn't have taken the wrong turn, and wouldn't have been turned into a water pipe…"

"If only time could be redone…"

Uh…

Tom was dumbfounded.

Why would I spit at someone?

Suddenly, the text in the diary disappeared, and new content was updated.

"September 1st, 9 a.m. I met the person who changed my fate."

"I met Murphy Duckworth. I didn't believe he could change my fate, so I threw my smelly sock at him."

"Professor Murphy got angry… 'Your head shape is nice, perfect for a water pipe.' …"

"I died, if only time could be redone…"

Is this the issue?

Not spitting, but throwing smelly socks, right?

Does this guy in the diary have some serious illness? "September 1st, 9 a.m. I met the person who changed my fate."

"I met Murphy Duckworth. I didn't believe he could change my fate, and I did nothing."

"But Professor Murphy still got angry, he left me behind… water pipe…"

What? I do nothing and you still get angry?

What's up with this Murphy?

Too hot-headed, right? "September 1st, 9 a.m. I met the person who changed my fate."

"I met Murphy Duckworth. He got angry, water pipe…"

You…

No need for preliminary steps, just directly angry from the void, right? Tom gave up.

Alright, so, just don't make him angry, right? But how?

As he was pondering, the diary updated again.

"September 1st, 9 a.m. I met the person who changed my fate."

"I met Murphy Duckworth. I didn't believe he could change my fate, but I didn't want to make him angry, so I put on a smile and said, 'Thank you for coming in person, thank you.'"

"Professor Murphy was very happy, he thought I was a sensible good child."

"I smoothly went to Diagon Alley, my fate of certain death was changed."

"Murphy Duckworth, really is the person who changed my fate!"

Damn! Tom couldn't take it anymore, it's all your monologue, okay?! How does this change my fate?! He felt like the diary was making fun of him.

But at that moment, there was a knock on the door.

"Lucas, a Professor Murphy is here to pick you up."

___________________

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