"This is my brother! My youngest brother!" Percy shouted to everyone in the midst of the wildly cheering crowd, his face filled with glorious happiness.
This kind of cheering was a scene Ron could only see in his dreams, where he was never valued at home.
Just like the Mirror of Erised.
Now, it had become reality.
He snapped out of it, turned, and hugged Harry tightly.
"Harry, is this real?"
"Of course it's real." Harry replied with a smile, patting Ron on the back, softly saying, "Come on, we still have more celebrating to do!"
Ron let go of Harry and nodded vigorously.
He wasn't just happy for having achieved his dream, but genuinely glad to have such a good friend as Harry.
Among the surrounding crowd, the loudest cheers weren't from Gryffindor.
They were from Hufflepuff.
The little Badgers from Hufflepuff truly loved Harry's unassuming nature, always standing together with his friends.
It was a rare quality, and perfectly fit the values of Badger House.
So they cheered for Mr. Savior wholeheartedly, from the bottom of their hearts.
"All right, everyone!" Harry shouted, "Let's raise our glasses to the bravery and fearlessness of our friends, and celebrate together!"
"Yeah! Celebrate!" the students cheered in response.
The welcome party began in the morning and lasted until dusk, with Ron and Seamus repeatedly sharing stories from their journey, and what they'd heard from Dumbledore.
Even when it ended, everyone was still reluctant to leave.
This was the Savior and his friends having an adventure in Hogwarts, so close to them...
Cedric, while drinking Butter Beer, clearly wanted to say something to Harry several times, but he hesitated and in the end chose silence.
Harry didn't notice Cedric's discomfort; he was too busy celebrating happily with his classmates.
He was certainly happy—now, he could wield Ancient Magic, which meant the Map Secret Room had opened its doors to him.
When the party ended, he and Ron and the others headed to the Great Hall for dinner.
Hagrid had been waiting there for a while, and when he saw Harry, he came over, sat beside him, and grabbed his hand, immediately starting to sob.
"It—was—my—fault—such—a—fool!" He covered his face, crying, "I told that scoundrel how to subdue Fluffy! I told him! He knew everything, except this... and I just had to tell him! You almost died! All for a Dragon Egg! I won't drink anymore... I should be thrown out, spend my life as a Muggle!"
Harry understood the honesty of his big friend—this big friend had been the victim of Mind Reading masters; he couldn't hide any secrets in his heart. It wasn't his fault.
"Hagrid." Harry gently hugged Hagrid, speaking softly, "It wasn't your fault. That man is the most ruthless and sly Dark Wizard of this century. Even if you didn't tell him, he'd have found out somehow."
"But you almost died..." Hagrid sniffled hard, picked up a towel from the table, blew his nose forcefully, making a loud noise.
"But I'm all right now, aren't I? And his scheme was stopped." Harry said, leaning close to Hagrid's ear and whispered, "Because of that, I received a lot of gifts—not to mention my classmates, they've all celebrated for me. I really like this feeling."
"Really?" Hagrid broke into a smile through his tears, wiping his eyes, "You reminded me, I almost forgot, I've got a gift for you too—"
"Really?" Harry asked with interest.
"Of course, here." Hagrid pulled out something from his coat, looking like a book with a beautiful cover.
Harry took it and gently opened it; inside were moving wizard photographs.
His father, his mother—each page, every photo waving and smiling at him.
Hagrid said nearby, "I sent owl letters to your parents' old friends, asked them for pictures... I knew you didn't have any photos of them... Do you like it?"
"Thank you, Hagrid." Harry reached out and tenderly stroked the album, "I really love this gift, I love it so much..."
This was the first time he'd ever seen so many pictures of his parents...
Hagrid didn't disturb Harry, quietly said goodbye to him.
Harry sat there, turning through his parents' album for a long, long time, unwilling to close it.
Not until Ron reminded him that food had already been served did he finally close the album and carefully tuck it into his coat.
He planned to treasure this album well.
That night, when he returned to the Gryffindor Common Room, he carefully placed the album in the safest spot in his trunk.
"Harry, it's ten o'clock, aren't you going to bed yet?" Ron asked through a yawn; he'd just finished a game of Wizard Chess with Seamus.
Ever since he'd played as a piece himself, Seamus had become addicted to Wizard Chess too.
"I'm going for a walk, I'm not tired yet." Harry told Ron, "You go to bed first, I'll be back soon."
"You probably didn't eat enough at dinner, right? I don't remember you eating much." Ron said, lying in bed, "If you want to visit the Hogwarts kitchens, they're next to the underground Hufflepuff common room. The door handle is a pear; you have to tickle it, then the handle appears..."
"All right, Ron, got it." Harry nodded.
"I'm going to sleep then, goodnight." Ron said, turned over, and quickly slipped into dreamland.
Young people are wonderful, falling asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.
Harry tiptoed out and cast the Disillusionment Charm on himself.
Now that he had the power of the Magic Stone, he should go down to the underground Map Secret Room and have a look.
He was feeling complicated—excited and expectant, but also afraid of finding nothing in the Map Secret Room.
Even more, he dreaded getting some bad news.
He made his way to the depths of Hogwarts Castle. This time, with the blessing of the Magic Stone, he could see the Ancient Magic fluctuations in front of the Map Secret Room.
It was a swirling black-and-white mass, constantly rolling, making indescribable noises.
He walked up to the sizzling magic currents, lifted his Magic Wand, and traced the fluctuation, drawing the shape of an archway from left to right.
With the ancient magic pulling, the fluctuation obediently formed an arch, rippling like a curtain of water in its center.
Peering through this watery veil, the door blocking the Map Secret Room had vanished.
This was the wonder of Ancient Magic.
Those with the gift could see all sorts of places concealed by Ancient Magic—but those without, no matter how hard they tried, would never get any clues.
Harry stepped through the shimmering curtain, and just as he expected, the door blocking the Map Secret Room was gone.
He could enter the Map Secret Room!
Even after a hundred years, the Map Secret Room was just the same as a century ago.
Directly in front of the entrance sat Vivi's book.
He looked up toward the portraits.
From left to right, four enormous portraits were displayed.
Harry still remembered them vividly. The first on the far left was Principal Neovia Fitzgerald; second from the left was Professor Charles Lukewood; the third was Professor Percival Pockham; and the one on the far right was blank.
Yet as Harry looked at the one on the far right, he noticed there was someone in the portrait.
He stared at the painting, and the person within gazed back at him with gentle eyes.
"Harry..."
The girl saw Harry, greeted him first—a lovely smile as dazzling as her hair.
It was Vivi, Vilatia Grindelwald.
"Vivi?!"
Harry was stunned where he stood.
He'd never imagined that the girl he'd missed so much had become a portrait, hanging in the Map Secret Room.
"Long time no see." The girl said gently.