Chapter 233: Letters from Hubert and Florin
After Dylan led Harry and the others back to Hogwarts, he went to read some books. Before he left the Gryffindor common room to go to the library, the mood among the trio of Harry, Ron, and Hermione was very low. This, however, had nothing to do with Dylan, and he went about his day as usual.
The afternoon passed in a blur. Dylan spent some time researching the properties of his charms, hoping to find some information about them in the magical books. He did find a few records, but they were very sparse, just a few lines with no detailed descriptions. Although these records didn't provide a one-to-one explanation of his charms' properties, they at least mentioned some of their effects. This surprised Dylan. He hadn't expected that someone had already come up with such ideas. But an idea is one thing; turning it into reality is another.
If he hadn't had the system, even with his max-level charms, it would have been difficult to extend their properties to have more effects.
Sitting at a long table in the Hogwarts library, Dylan finished the book he was reading and began to pack up his things. He gently closed the book and put it in his backpack. He sorted out the books that needed to be returned and put away his quill, ink bottle, and parchment notes one by one.
Just as he fastened the metal clasp of his backpack, an owl suddenly flew in through the window. "Luna?"
The snowy owl flapped its wings and landed on the table, clutching a letter sealed with red wax in its claws. Dylan saw that it was about to hoot and immediately took a piece of meat from his system panel, tossing it into its mouth. "Okay, okay, don't make a sound. This is the library. Have your snack."
Luna obediently opened her beak and took the meat strip. Dylan then reached out and took the letter from Luna.
"A letter from Mr. Hubert? Why are these two finally writing to me?" Dylan's lips curled into a slight smile.
He opened the letter. His father's scrawled handwriting jumped out at him.
"Following your instructions this time, I made another profit. I used some of it to buy your mother a gemstone at an auction. She looks beautiful wearing it, but I won't send you a picture—I'm keeping all of them for myself. You can see them when you come home."
"As for the rest of the pounds, besides what's needed for the company's normal operations, I'll send it with an owl for Christmas—my goodness, wizards are so expensive. I suspect those big companies are all working for wizards—am I right?"
"Remember not to spend all the money on candy from Honeydukes—but you can buy your mother some more. She's obsessed with those candies and won't even look at the regular ones I buy her anymore."
"Everything is well on my end, and you don't have to worry about your mother. I'll take good care of her. You take care of yourself over there, too, and write to your mother more often. We haven't received a letter from you in a while."
"Love, your father."
The edges of the letter still smelled faintly of ink, mixed with the cold, frosty scent of the snowy owl's feathers. Dylan's smile grew wider. His fingers stroked the letter. The paper wasn't parchment but ordinary paper used by Muggles, and it felt a little rough. Although his bargain-deal parents occasionally forgot about him, their son, it was obvious that they still loved him.
The owl suddenly tilted its head and pecked at his finger. Dylan turned and saw that Luna had finished her meat strip and was looking at him with eager eyes.
"You're such a little glutton, just like Coal Ball and the others." He folded the letter and put it in his inner pocket, then tossed Luna another piece of meat. After that, he slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed for the door.
The soles of his boots made a rhythmic "tap-tap" sound on the stone floor. Luna swallowed the meat strip in one go, then flapped her wings and flew alongside him.
"Go on back. You don't need to bring the pounds for me. You might get crushed by accident." Dylan waved to Luna.
After he left the library, Luna hooted once and flew off. Dylan looked at the darkening sky.
"Another sum of pounds has been deposited. I can expand my pet space again." The amount was significant enough for his father to write a special letter about it, and although Hubert didn't specify the exact number, it was clearly a lot. Unfortunately, the size of the space was measured in Galleons, and after converting those pounds into Galleons, the amount would be considerably reduced. Millions of pounds might only turn into hundreds of thousands of Galleons.
While pondering, Dylan walked toward the Great Hall. It was time for dinner, and his stomach was rumbling.
As soon as he walked in, Dylan saw Harry with a crestfallen expression, mechanically scooping up cream of mushroom soup with a spoon and putting it into his mouth. Ron and Hermione also looked constipated. He had no idea what had happened between them. Dylan raised an eyebrow but didn't greet them, instead sitting down next to Neville.
Neville's eyes were locked on Dylan the whole time he was walking over, and even after Dylan sat down, Neville looked as if he had something to say. Dylan pulled a sizzling, oily steak in front of him. It was a fatty steak, and the smell alone was wonderful. Dylan loved this kind of steak.
"What's wrong? Why do you look like Harry and the others?" Dylan asked casually as he elegantly cut into his steak with a knife.
At his question, Neville, who had been struggling to ask, couldn't hold it in anymore. He carefully glanced at Harry and the others, then leaned close to Dylan and whispered, "Dylan, what's wrong with Harry and the others? I was thinking of going to the Three Broomsticks to find you all today, but they weren't letting minors in! So I hung out with Seamus for a while. When I came back this afternoon, I saw Ron and Harry just sitting in the dormitory."
Neville paused here, his voice even lower. "My goodness, you don't know, but at first I thought they had a fight!"
Dylan looked at the distant Harry and shrugged. "If only it were just a fight."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Neville was confused. Something more serious than a fight? Did that mean—Harry and Ron both liked the same girl?
Pfft! After hearing Neville's whispered question, Dylan almost choked on the cauliflower he was chewing.
"What makes you think that?" Dylan asked, looking at Neville in astonishment.
Neville, seeing that Dylan's reaction was a little different from what he had expected, scratched his head awkwardly. "Er, well, you said that it would be better if what they went through was just a fight~"
Dylan laughed, tapping the table lightly with his finger. "It would, but I'm afraid I have to disappoint you. They don't like the same girl. Of course, I can't tell you the specifics without Harry's permission, but I can say this—" Dylan also lowered his voice.
Neville's face was full of curiosity as he leaned closer to Dylan, cocking his ear to listen. "What?"
"The truth is far more dramatic than that!"
Neville's eyes widened. He recoiled slightly. "More dramatic than liking the same girl?!"
Oh my! That was the most dramatic thing he could imagine! What could be more dramatic than that? What in the world had happened at school while they were away? Neville was dying of curiosity, but he knew better than to pry into other people's private matters. He finished his meal while still feeling restless.
Just as Dylan finished his dinner and got up to leave the Great Hall, another owl flew toward him. Dylan looked closely. It was his snowy owl, Luna, again! He raised his arm, letting Luna land on it. Dylan looked at the letter in the little creature's claws with some curiosity. "Another letter for me?"
Dylan didn't give Luna a meat strip this time. Luna wasn't a fire-breathing dragon or a demon shadow. Eating so much meat at night would be bad for her digestion. "Okay, you're not getting any meat from me—you just finished your evening ration, didn't you?" Dylan let Luna rub against his head, remaining unmoved.
Finally, after realizing that her owner was a heartless person, Luna tossed her head and flew away. Dylan shook his head. "Such a little ingrate."
He looked at the letter in his hand. "Hmm? Is this from Uncle Florin?"
This letter was from Florin, the ice cream shop owner in Diagon Alley. This was a bit unexpected for Dylan. "Why would Uncle write to me?"
He opened the letter and quickly scanned it. It began with greetings for the upcoming holiday. The middle was a complaint about why Dylan hadn't come to Diagon Alley for ice cream recently. What was mentioned at the end made Dylan's eyebrows twitch.
"Vera got hurt while she was chasing Carthasis and was injured by a Death Eater?" What level of Death Eater could injure a brilliant graduate from Hogwarts?
Dylan looked down, scanning the end of the letter again.
"Oh! How could she go after those bad people alone? She's too arrogant! I've always told her not to underestimate any wizard! Even a snot-nosed kid could use a terrible curse to defeat you! How could she be so careless? Well, she finally learned her lesson, but luckily she's alright."
"But I have to find that Death Eater. How dare he lay a hand on my daughter? She's so cute, so kind, so righteous!"
"Hmm—I think I'm being a bit too long-winded, but my boy, I really have no one else to complain to, so if you've read this far, I want to thank you."
"Lastly, please do me a favour and write a letter to Vera for me. I just said a few things to her, and she got mad at me again and won't come to see me. I don't think she's even reading the letters I send her."
"Please tell her for me to take good care of herself while she's recovering. Also—Merry Christmas to her, and to you, too."
"Florin."
After reading the letter, Dylan's mouth twitched. He looked at the letter. It was a good half-meter long. Who could stand so much nagging? If it weren't for politeness, he wouldn't have read a single word of such a long letter! He felt sorry for Vera, having to deal with a father like this.
But complaints aside, Dylan could understand Florin. A middle-aged man, managing an ice cream shop that looked like it could go out of business at any moment. He had no contact with his family. His daughter was in her rebellious phase, constantly fighting with him and not listening to anything he said. And she wasn't even around most of the time. The stack of troubles was high. How could he not become a nagger?
"The most important thing is, if you want me to write a letter, at least give me a specific address, right? Am I supposed to guess?"
Dylan had met Vera when she was investigating at Hogwarts. Since they had both been taught by Professor Flitwick, they had exchanged contact information—which was their owl post addresses. However, Florin had said his daughter wasn't talking to him right now and that she had been injured while chasing Carthasis. How would he know whether Vera was recovering at the Ministry or somewhere else?
Also...
"She got hurt chasing someone who is basically impossible to catch." Dylan sighed. Carthasis hadn't shown up for a while, and the Ministry was still so focused on him. What gives? Were they not going to catch the escaped Sirius Black? Did they have enough resources to deal with him?
Dylan pursed his lips. He decided to find Professor Flitwick later and ask if it was okay to just send a letter to Vera at the address they had exchanged before.
Dylan was about to leave after reading the letter when a voice suddenly spoke behind him.
"Dylan." It was Harry's voice.
Dylan turned around, looking at the nervous and somewhat dejected Harry, and tilted his head. "What is it, Harry?"
"There's something that's about to make my brain explode."
Dylan blinked. "What could have placed a Blasting Curse in your brain?"
"No, it's not that..." Harry furtively looked left and right. "It's about what Professor McGonagall and the others were talking about this morning!"
Dylan nodded knowingly. "And?"
"I don't know if you'll believe me, but I feel like you're the only one I can ask about this," Harry hesitated. "It's about that map you gave me." Harry twisted his hands together. "Why don't we go somewhere more private to talk?"
Dylan took a breath. "Alright, alright."
Harry pulled him to a secluded corner of the corridor. Now it was Dylan's turn to look around. "Isn't this a little too private?"
"Huh?" Harry glanced around. "I think it's a good spot."
Dylan's eyelashes fluttered twice. This private of a spot felt like a place where teenagers looking for a thrill would hang out. Would they run into some young wizards having a passionate dance-off? Even if they didn't, if someone saw him and Harry, two guys, in such a secluded spot, who knows what rumors would start. After all, what decent person would be in a corner looking so shifty?
"Harry, what is it? Can you talk now?"
Harry nodded. "Dylan, didn't you say that the Marauder's Map would show the names of everyone at Hogwarts?"
"I did." As soon as Harry said that, Dylan knew what he was going to ask.
.....
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