great-warnovel Chapter 72 Day 1 of Cliff Street
Chapter 72 Day 1 of Cliff Street
The enormous fluorescent light flickered from cool white to warm red, and a new day began on Godric Cliff Street.
Hermione got up early to prepare breakfast for Mrs. Lily, and then waited for her to grab a spatula and drag the three boys out of bed, where they would enjoy steaming hot rye bread with rat meat ham and cockroach milk amidst the chaos.
The Potter family was not poor; in fact, they were quite wealthy. Besides Lily's income as a Potions Master, the Potter family's own shampoo business was thriving, selling well in various settlements. Although these days, ordinary wizards and Muggles couldn't afford to wash themselves often, nobles still needed to maintain a basic level of decorum. Moreover, the shampoo formula, modified by Lily, was specifically designed to improve hair loss caused by radiation, so they never had to worry about sales.
As one of the few ancient families that did not join Malfoy Castle but instead devoted itself to rebuilding Godric's Hollow, and with Lily, the Potions Master, in charge, the Potter family enjoys a high reputation and is highly respected in Cliffside.
As the fluorescent spheres gradually brightened, the cliffside street slowly came alive, and people came out of their homes and busied themselves going up and down the tree roots.
Hermione pushed open the door, and the scene before her was completely different from the Muggle settlement she remembered from her childhood. There, people had no hope in their eyes; getting enough food to fill their stomachs for a day was more important than anything else. People dug for anything edible in the dark burrows, like wretched moles. Often, people who were so hungry that they abandoned all principles and bared their teeth at their fellow humans, but the result was that they were shot dead by the guards.
But this place is different. Although everyone lives underground, there is bright light, mature underground farmland and domesticated animals, and even taverns, places where people can relax and unwind after a long day.
She saw Muggles carrying farm tools, chatting and laughing as they headed to another level of the mushroom field, while others pulled carts full of feed to feed the hungry rats and cockroaches.
Wizards waved their wands to maintain the glowing spells and tree roots, while others helped blacksmiths raise the furnace temperature to the right range or cast spells to precisely blast the rock walls. Muggles then carved out new stone chambers, and finally used spells to reinforce and expand them.
Magic is not just for killing, but a tool for rebuilding a new life. In this respect, the magic of the borderlands seems too murderous and not as convenient as that of this world.
"Currently, what is hindering the development of Yajie is the availability of sustainable means to purify radiation."
In the potions workshop in the Potter family's basement, Mrs. Lily stood in front of the small blackboard, just like she did at school, with four little ones looking up at her.
"You have already learned how to brew anti-radiation potions this year. In fact, this most basic and most widely used magic potion, in addition to being used to deal with radiation damage to living organisms, can also be diluted and sprayed into the air and land to neutralize and reduce the concentration of radiation in the environment."
She tapped on Ron and Neville's desk: "The potions you handed in for the final exam had a lot of impurities. You need to work on improving that."
Harry gave the two of them a smug look. He and Hermione had both completed the Potions exam as individual assignments, so they both got O's. Ron, on the other hand, was forgetful, and Neville had missed the first half of the semester, so the two of them stumbled and could only be said to have passed the exam.
"Cliff Street is quite large, and it is even expanding to accommodate more residents. However, radiation from the surface and groundwater continues to seep into Cliff Street at a steady rate. Therefore, we need to continuously provide a large amount of anti-radiation potion to purify the Cliff Street area. Of course, this is also a purification method commonly used by most wizards in the world."
"But the materials for anti-radiation potions are not cheap. Neither cow blood nor seaweed can be obtained from the wild. Only large wizarding communities have the capacity to cultivate them on a large scale. In fact, only a handful of powers in the world, such as Malfoy Castle, can stably produce these two materials. Only there can potion makers find most of the materials they need."
Lily opened a large cabinet, which was filled with bottles neatly arranged by category: "These are orders from Malfoyburg. Their demand for anti-radiation potions is much greater than ours. In return, we can use the materials they provide to keep some for our own use or to sell. Of course, it's not just anti-radiation potions, but also white essence, euphoria, vitality tonics, and so on."
She put her hands on her hips and looked at the four boys: "This summer, your task is to complete this order with me. In the meantime, in addition to making two kinds of first-year potions, I will also teach you how to brew Joy Potion, Vitality Potion, and even Polyjuice Potion in advance. It depends on your progress."
The boys started complaining again about how much they had to learn, but Mrs. Lily remained unmoved. She crossed her arms and said, "If the progress satisfies me, then I'll consider taking you to Malfoy Castle for a day trip when the holiday is almost over."
The boys started cheering; their emotions were really simple and easy to manipulate.
However, even the children in the wizarding world don't seem to go to Malfoy Castle often; its prosperity and liveliness are too attractive to them.
Hermione, however, remained unmoved. She raised her hand and asked, "Professor, what if we use splendid stone magic? Like at Hogwarts, could we use splendid stone magic to control and absorb radiation energy in the environment, thus reducing the need for anti-radiation potions?"
Because of its powerful energy core, Hogwarts creates a radiation vacuum zone that lasts for several days wherever it goes. While Godric's Cliffs doesn't have the same conditions, it doesn't need to move like Hogwarts. If the wizards have a good grasp of brilliance magic, they should be able to at least keep the radiation level in the current area of the Cliffs low.
Lily smiled at Hermione: "Of course, I informed James immediately after your paper was published. They've already started organizing wizards to study it, but since we don't have many people, the results aren't very significant yet."
"And..." she paused, "the Reconstruction Committee wants to try using Radiant Stone magic to overcome the high-radiation zone on the valley's surface. If they succeed, then everyone in Cliff Street will have hope of returning to life on the surface!"
"In fact, Hermione, if you could share your insights on the Brilliant Stone magic with the wizards in your spare time, I think they would all be very grateful to you."
Hermione immediately replied, "Of course, I'd love to, but could I go to the surface with them then?"
"We want to go too!" The three boys were not about to let this opportunity pass them by.
Lily immediately turned to them: "Get to work! If you don't want to work, plenty of students will want to come work for me!"