Harry Potter’s Morning Light - Chapter 2655 column of hell

   Chapter 2655 The Column of Hell

  Albus once joked that he had a complete map of the London Underground on his lap, but he had never seen it, so no one knew if he was telling the truth.

  The earliest London Underground was completed in 1863. At that time, there were railway stations in the south, south, north and west of London, but the situation in the city was getting worse. First there was typhoid and cholera raging in London, and then there was the Great London Stink of 1858, a year when the Thames stinks in unusual weather. And a mist-like gas was formed, which could not be dispersed for a long time, so that the entire Westminster had to take measures to evacuate.

   "Efficiency" comes when MPs' lives are inconvenienced and their lives threatened, and London's biggest building frenzy begins. The first is to excavate the sewage system. The railway accelerates the population flow and tests the city's sewage capacity. At least the urban planning after the London fire is no longer suitable for the largest city in the world by population.

  Many residences were converted to banks and commercial offices, with buses and carriages carrying commuters between Bank Station, London Bridge and Blackfarm, causing serious road congestion. So someone built a railway under London, connecting Paddington, Euston, King's Cross and the City. But no one had built an underground railway before, so a man named John Fuller used the cut-and-cover technique, which means first digging a huge trench on the new road and then capping it with bricks , and finally backfill.

  The purpose of this project is to solve the traffic chaos. The area involved in the project has caused traffic chaos for ten years. Because the subway does not pass through the original train terminal, the above-ground line cannot be connected with the underground line. Passengers must go from the ground to the underground to transfer.

   In addition, the households and residents who built the road section must be demolished. The railway company recklessly acted with the slogan of "clearing the slums", relying on the support of parliamentarians. The Building Act of 1774 allowed landowners to lease land to developers of townhouses, who then rented out these apartments through intermediaries or other channels to recover the cost. The leases between developers and landowners were often Long-term, and some can even reach 99 years.

  The railway company will use the money to manage the landowners, claiming that no households have been relocated, thus skipping a declaration process. And the people who live there often have to move out within a few days, and to make matters worse, they have to fight for a place with thousands of railroad construction workers who happen to be building the railroad that left them homeless. Prime culprit.

   The charitable Earl of Shaftesbury asked the railway company to demarcate the area involved in demolition before building the line, and to study the possible impact on the poor. He thought the railway company would at least be ashamed.

   But as has often happened in London history, money is much more useful than shame. If the Queen is going to Windsor, she will take the bus from Paddington Station, and they have built a luxury suite for the Queen to wait, and those homeless people who are cash-strapped can only go to a nearby yard or apartment and others Crowded in one room.

In any case, after the start of the railway frenzy, the transportation network on the ground in London was basically completed, and the first underground railway was also opened. As for the passengers getting out of the car, they were covered in soot.

Since then, there has been a frenzy to build the subway in London, but the parliament soon found that it would take a lot of land resources and move a lot of people. When the traffic and sewage problems in London were solved, the development fell into a virtuous cycle. The improvement in the market has led to a boom in the construction industry, the prices of houses and rents are rising, and the railway company can no longer send out the tenants with the relationship of a guinea and a member of the parliament as in the past.

During this period, the Universal Exposition was held in Hyde Park, an industrial exposition held in France by Prince Albert in 1844. The exhibits included advanced technology and handicrafts from the British mainland and other countries in the world, as well as the largest pearl discovered at that time, But the Queen was more interested in India's "Mountain of Light" diamond, which she saw 42 times herself. In addition, the pavilion "Crystal Palace" is like a large greenhouse. It was held so successfully that after the exposition, royal families and nobles from all over the world followed suit and built greenhouses, and the surrounding area of ​​Hyde Park also prospered.

  Prince Albert plans to build a museum precinct near Kensington, including the Albert Hall, the Craft and Design Museum, the Geology Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum.

   There is Piccadia Square there, and in the center of the square stands a statue of Prince Albert in memory of him. However, this sculpture caused a lot of controversy, because it is a sculpture of an angel of fraternity.

All in all, that area is located on the north side of Buckingham Palace, and Westminster is located on the south side of Buckingham Palace. There are also many Victorian and Georgian buildings here, with a variety of styles of design. Walking through it makes people feel excited and dazzled, as if London brings together everything in the world, shining like a jewel box.

In addition to the Gothic church, the cemetery of Westminster Abbey is buried with famous people including Newton, and there is no vulgar language, swearing, boos, screams, and children crying. Voices, dirty boys, women with numb eyes, men addicted to alcohol, those people belong to the East End of London.

   Few tourists go to places like Whitechapel unless they are interested in Jack the Ripper, and entertainment in London is plentiful from top to bottom.

   Keats once described it this way: If a person is trapped in a city for a long time, he is happy, and he can see a clear and open sky.

There is also such a description in Oliver Twist: Five or six houses share a swaying wooden corridor behind the house. Through the holes in the wooden board, you can see the mud below. The room is small and dirty, and the interior is airtight. Full of stench, too dirty to hold dirt.

  People with different world views will cause them to have different perceptions, different views and experiences of one thing, which will cause them to behave differently. Simply put, they live in different worlds.

   When Pomona returned to Hogwarts from London, it was already dark, she went back to her conservatory quarters, and sat on a stool in a daze.

   "Did the trip go well?"

  Pomona turned around and found that Albus had arrived at an unknown time, and Phoenix Fox was standing on the shelf behind him.

   "Do you want to hear the good ones, or the real ones?"

  Albus smiled and walked to her side from the next door.

   "The truth is a beautiful and scary thing, and time does not slow down when something unpleasant awaits."

   "You're saying inexplicable things again," she complained.

   "Please say what you want to say." Albus said calmly.

   "I saw Remus." She whispered, "Because he drank the wolf-binding juice, he is still conscious, and he can choose whether to drink the wolf's poison potion or not."

  Albus did not answer, and Pomona continued.

"He drank it without hesitation... Then he lay on the ground, as quiet as death, I almost thought he was dead, and it was more painful to suffer so alive than to die." She said in a trance, like that scene Reappeared in front of my eyes.

  Maybe other potion masters also understand, so many people didn't show up the next day. The Quidditch World Cup scene was much more interesting than it looked, and it didn't ruin their mood.

   "Do you want to hear the real or the unreal?" Albus asked.

  Pomona looked at him.

  Albus placed a letter in front of Pomona.

   "This is an invitation letter from the Alchemy Center in Cairo to Severus. I hope he can be a visiting scholar next semester. You can decide whether to give it to him or not."

"why…"

   "He once knelt down and begged me not to kill him." Albus said, "And he also made a deal with me. As long as I help him protect Lily, he can do anything for me."

   Pomona's eyes widened.

"He loves a woman and is willing to protect her son for her. If the Dark Lord is really resurrected as he wants, we need strength for future wars." Albus took his hand away from the envelope." When the war is over, we still need to rebuild, and the missions you have to undertake are different."

   She looked at Dumbledore in horror.

   "He told me not to tell anyone, and I also asked you to keep my secret. You're a real Hufflepuff, remember the academy rules?"

   "If someone asks you to keep a secret..."

   "No." Albus shook his head at her. "It's about promises."

   "Yes, Headmaster." Pomona whispered. "I won't tell anyone."

  Albus smiled. "Learn to love, Pomona, I told you that love is a poison."

   "I know," Pomona said almost eagerly.

   "I just want you to be happy," Albus said softly, "and don't get lost."

   She thought it was very strange, why did Albus have such a perception of "love"?

   "Have you ever loved anyone?" Pomona asked him.

  Albus didn't answer.

   "Don't make promises lightly." He stroked her hair "You'll find that binds you."

   "Like your blood oath with Grindelwald?" Pomona asked "Why did you swear?"

  Albus's eyes flickered behind the half-moon glasses.

   "Because of what?" Pomona continued to ask.

   "In order to avoid hurting each other." Albus said with a sigh, "Otherwise, we will only hurt each other."

   Pomona remembered that famous duel, how could the duel not hurt each other?

   "I don't want you to get hurt." Albus said in pain, "I'd rather be hurt by me."

   She felt that she couldn't bear it, but when she and Albus looked at each other, she felt that he was looking at others through her.

   Being alone at this time, she stood up and hugged Dumbledore.

   He patted her on the back kindly, like a father.

   "I hope you are happy." Albus whispered in her ear, "Do you want to go to the dance like this?"

   She didn't say anything.

   "Let me think of something," he said softly.

  Pomona hoped he wasn't a promise, because Albus had promised a lot of things that didn't come true.

   Such as protecting Lily, and not hurting Grindelwald.

  So, she should take it as his joke.

   (end of this chapter)