The late August sun hung like a grayish-white fireball in the middle of the grayish-white sky, looking somewhat listless.
The sultry and humid air carried a salty sweetness, and the sticky wind blew the sound of arguments from the house across the street into the garden, where Harry lay with his hands behind his head, smiling contentedly at the sky.
For Harry, the latter half of the summer holiday was especially fulfilling—
After spending his fourteenth birthday with Sirius, Harry began a ... bustling time.
Living in a house with a main course professor, a subject "teaching assistant," and a miscellaneous person, Harry's study life was explosively fulfilling, so the original plan of spending an evening, a pen, a miracle was ultimately ended.
Every day, he had to write assignments for a whole morning with a Niffler, and then get pummeled for the rest of the afternoon ...
After dinner, Harry's favorite thing was to stay in the garden, listening to the arguments from the Dursley family nearby—yes, Dudley's dieting plan continued, but without Harry as the control group, the little chubby boy's mood worsened day by day—
More importantly, Harry would often wander around the Dursley house with various snacks from Lupin's research. He often spotted a pair of bright green eyes glaring at him from a second-floor window with resentment and longing, making Harry even more excited!
Vernon Dursley obviously knew about this too, but he dared not speak out—for those wizards lived right across from them.
Vernon wanted to call the police but feared the British Police wouldn't handle it, and Aunt Petunia told him quite a few wizard stories she heard from Lily, which only made the already wizard-fearing Vernon afraid to leave the house. If it weren't for needing to work to provide for the family, Harry suspected Vernon would have sealed all the exits of their home.
And now, the argument happening in the Dursley household stemmed from Sirius who "accidentally" followed Uncle Vernon for a morning and "accidentally" took evidence of the latter secretly snacking outside, which an "accidentally" took evidence of the latter secretly snacking outside, which an "accidentally" placed by Hedwig on Dudley's windowsill after dinner—
Listening to the faint sound of argument beside him, Harry squinted joyfully.
"Beep beep—"
But then, a somewhat familiar sound came from not far away. Harry instinctively looked up to find a brightly colored double-decker bus had at some point stopped in front of him, and a boy with striking ear walked down the steps—
"... I didn't call for a ride, Stan?"
Harry blinked and sat up on the grass behind him, remembering the name—Stan Shunpike, the Knight Bus conductor.
"But this is the destination, Harry—Mr. Potter."
Shunpike blinked excitedly at seeing the Savior again, took a deep breath, just as he was about to say more, a group of people with red hair squeezed out from the bus door, bumping into the unexpecting conductor who staggered and had to grab the fence to avoid tumbling into the garden flower bed.
Luckily he didn't tumble in, Harry couldn't help thinking, as William had planted Poisonous Tentacles, Devil's Snares, and Chomping Cabbage under those shrubs.
But soon, Harry stopped focusing on these, seeing a large group of familiar faces gathering in front of him, the boy was somewhat excited, "You've arrived—earlier than we previously said?" He glanced at the watch on his wrist, a birthday gift from William.
"Because, ugh—"
Ron wore a somewhat collapsing smile, unable to hold back from retching beside the mailbox even before finishing his explanation.
"Because the bus was much faster than we imagined, and the driver didn't seem to want to live anymore—"
Hermione finished the explanation, her face a bit pale, leaning weakly on Ginny's shoulder, her ginger-colored cat perched on her head looking quite unusual, seeing Crookshanks's behind and the tail on Hermione's face, Harry pursed his lips.
For some reason, he felt Hermione seemed a bit off after a month apart?
"Hello, Harry!"
Not giving Harry time to continue thinking, another red-haired man squeezed over, Harry blinked, he hadn't seen this man before, but ... when he shook hands with him, the many calluses and blisters already revealed the answer—this must be Charlie, who researched Fire Dragons in Romania.
Then, Harry looked at another unfamiliar man, guessing this must be Bill, the latter's long red hair was tied into a ponytail, revealing an ear with a large earring, looking like a non-mainstream fashionista.
This surprised Harry, who had envisioned him as a Percy PlusMax version.
Speaking of Percy ...
Harry craned his neck to look, and amidst the crowd squeezing off the bus, Percy was missing.
"Percy didn't come, he was caught by the Ministry of Magic!"
Though Ron hadn't vomited anything out, he habitually wiped his mouth corner, noticing Harry seemed to be looking for someone, he opened in a melancholy voice.
"!"
Harry widened his eyes; in this whole family, the "most honest" one was the first to be caught?! Not catching the dragon breeder, the rock musician, nor the one secretly researching flying cars, but catching a scholar with twelve excellent graduation certificates?
"Don't listen to Ron's nonsense; Percy is working overtime. He hasn't been home for three days!"
Ginny's voice was small, yet it reached Harry's ears, and Fred, who had just moved their luggage off the car, chimed in, "Yeah, for his great cause... Hey, George, what was that cause again?" "For the great cause of importing cauldrons—"
As George's sarcastic voice rang out, a pair of righteous iron fists landed on their heads—
"Stop talking nonsense and help move things—"
Mrs. Weasley retracted her hand in frustration, then quickly walked over to Harry, enveloping the boy slightly plumper from Lupin's care over a month in her arms, "Oh, long time no see, Harry, dear. Let me see, you've lost weight again—"
Have I lost weight?
Harry was dumbfounded, feeling a bit puzzled about Mrs. Weasley's bare-faced lying.
"Alright, let's continue inside; after all, this is a Muggle community—"
Mr. Weasley, carrying a bundle of packages on his back, was the last to come down. He excitedly eyed the house before him, which was no different from other Muggle residences, and hurriedly entered.
"Oh, you guys have arrived."
Lupin, wearing an apron "full of domestic vibes," poked his head out of the kitchen, looking at everyone entering from the room's doorway and greeting Mrs. Weasley—recently, the two had often exchanged letters on culinary skills, and the recipes recommended by William in the UK seemed to be overwhelming hits.
"Here? Find a place to sit yourself—"
William, adjusting the controller, paused the game on the TV. Nearby, Sirius, only one light punch away from KOing William, momentarily zoned out, then just as he was about to say something, he seemed to recall some "pleasant memories" and shivered involuntarily.
Better not say anything, lest "The King of Fighters 93" turns into "Mortal Kombat."
Putting down the controller, William stood up with a smile, flawlessly casting a spell with his wand, and instantly, the living room and entryway, crowded with eight or nine more people, expanded three to four times, becoming spacious again. The original square table transformed into a round one with a glass turntable placed on top—
A pink begonia emerged from the vase at the center of the table.
The Weasleys exhibited their family traits, with no one being polite; everyone quickly found their comfort zone—
Mrs. Weasley dove into the kitchen to prepare dinner with Lupin; Mr. Weasley began examining the television, obviously intrigued by moving images that didn't require magic; Sirius and the Weasley Twins hit it off instantly, whispering among themselves, with the Twins clearly finding a kindred spirit in the "renowned" predecessor; Ginny and Bill watched Muggle shows on TV on the couch; Charlie, seeing Norbert, Lina, and Kakarong queued up at the kitchen door (yes, the Hungarian Horntail that had attacked William's cart was finally tamed), stood frozen in bewilderment—
Charlie felt his worldview was challenged. What did he just see?!
Those are fire dragons!
How come they're not even as big as dogs—surely that Ukrainian Ironbelly is an adult!
Then next, he saw Hermione passing with Crookshanks atop her head, reaching out to pet one of the fire dragon's heads; it intimately sneezed, black smoke puffing out from its nostrils—Charlie couldn't help but widen his eyes.
I must be dreaming!
The man instinctively closed his eyes, starting to hypnotize himself.
...
"Senior..."
William turned around and then saw a yellow cat's backside, Crookshanks turning around, its flattened face expressionless, "Meow~" It swayed its tail. William knew it was being charming, so he picked it off Hermione's head.
Gee, what has this cat been eating over the summer? Why is it so heavy?
Then, he looked down at the girl, momentarily stunned; what's she...
"How do I look?"
Hermione rubbed her slightly aching neck, tidying her now significantly smoother brown hair after using two cans of softener, and couldn't help but trace a smile, her once protruding teeth now obediently tucked inside her mouth.
...You've gotten prettier.
William blinked, thinking instinctively.