Chapter 74: The Letter
Mrs. Weasley hoped that her youngest daughter, Ginny, would be sorted into Ravenclaw after entering Hogwarts. Compared to before, she now admired scholars and learned people even more.
Today, Mrs. Weasley handled the housework with unusual seriousness. Unlike before, she now needed to make the chores more efficient and simple. To make things easier in the evenings, she planned to turn her daily household tasks into properly written notes for her manuscript.
Just then, she saw an owl flying toward the door. The box it was carrying dropped to the ground.
"It's a letter from Hogwarts," Mr. Weasley said as he picked up the box from the floor and carefully brushed the dust off it.
Harry and Ron each received a letter written on yellow parchment, with green ink on the envelope. Fred slowly came over as well—he had one too.
Harry focused on reading the letter in his hands. It informed him that he should return to Hogwarts on September 1st by taking the train from the old King's Cross Station. The letter also listed the books required for the new school year.
Besides The Standard Book of Spells for second-year students, there were also many autobiographical books written by Gilderoy Lockhart, describing his adventures with various monsters.
After reading his own book list, Fred glanced at Harry's.
"The book lists are almost the same," he said. "They're all written by Gilderoy Lockhart. I guess the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a big fan of his—probably a witch."
Seeing his mother staring at him, Fred quickly lowered his head and continued eating.
"These books aren't cheap," Ron said. He still remembered the price his mother had paid for Lockhart's books.
"That's not a problem," Mrs. Weasley said. "Your father has been earning quite a bit of money recently. Mr. Soros says that if my book gets published, it will definitely sell well."
Mrs. Weasley controlled the family finances and knew exactly how to manage money.
"And Ginny is going to school this year as well. We'll have to buy her some things."
"Oh, you're going to Hogwarts this year?" Harry asked Ginny in surprise.
Every time he had seen her before, she seemed small and shy. He had assumed she was less than ten years old. It turned out she was only one year younger than him.
Ginny nodded slightly. Under Harry's gaze, even her ears turned red. Her elbow almost knocked over the seasoning bottle beside her.
At that moment, Ron's other brother Percy walked into the room. He was neatly dressed, as if he were going to work, with his Prefect badge pinned proudly to his chest.
"Good morning. The weather is wonderful today," he said casually, looking refreshed.
He had just sat down on the last chair when he suddenly jumped up again and pulled a feather duster from beneath him.
"Errol!" Ron shouted as he jumped up.
He took the sickly old owl from Percy's hands as if dusting it off. Then he noticed a letter tied to its leg.
"It's from Hermione. I wrote back telling her we were going to rescue you from the Dursleys' house."
Ron carried Errol to the rack by the back door and tried to place him there, but the owl seemed unable to keep its balance and kept falling over.
Ron had to set it on a wooden board instead.
"Next time remember to ask Hermione to leave a phone number," he muttered. "Errol can't deliver letters anymore."
Then he opened the letter and read it aloud.
Dear Ron and Harry,
I hope everything is going well and that Harry is safe. I hope you didn't break any laws when you went to rescue him, because that might cause Harry trouble.
If Harry is safe, please tell me immediately. Also, you'd better buy another owl—I think this one might die on the way next time.
Recently I've been busy doing my homework and meditating. I've discovered that meditation helps a lot with my studies.
Next Wednesday I'll be going to London to buy school supplies. We could meet in Diagon Alley.
Please write back as soon as possible and tell me how things are going.
Your faithful friend,Hermione
"Then we'll go shopping that day as well," Mrs. Weasley said, immediately deciding on the date.
Suddenly Harry felt as if he had been sucked into a giant vacuum cleaner. His body spun uncontrollably inside it, while a piercing whistling wind roared in his ears.
He couldn't open his eyes. All he could vaguely sense was that he was surrounded by swirling green flames.
Suddenly his arm struck something hard. He quickly pulled his arms in tightly, protecting his head and curling into a ball. His training told him that doing this would reduce the area that could be injured.
He continued spinning until his hands finally touched cold ground.
After a moment, he slowly stood up. Squinting his eyes, he looked around. He still felt dizzy, and even the sky seemed to be spinning. The eggs and sandwiches he had eaten that morning felt as if they were rising from his stomach.
He stood perfectly still, breathing slowly and carefully, trying to steady himself.
After a while, he finally opened his eyes.
He was alone.
He was standing in front of a stone fireplace inside a spacious but dim wizarding shop. The place was completely unfamiliar, and there was no one else around.
What exactly had happened?
Harry carefully tried to recall the events.
Today was Wednesday—the day he had arranged to meet Hermione in Diagon Alley.
Early that morning, Mrs. Weasley had woken everyone up. They hurried through breakfast, put on new clothes, and prepared to meet their friends.
Mrs. Weasley took a small flowerpot down from the kitchen mantel.
"Arthur, the Floo powder is almost gone. When we go to Diagon Alley today, remind me to buy some more."
Then she handed the pot to Harry.
"Harry, you go first. You're our guest."
Harry was caught completely off guard and looked at everyone in confusion.
"What should I do?"
"Oh—you've never used Floo Powder before!" Ron suddenly realized. "Sorry, Harry. I forgot you've never used it."
"You've never used it?" Mr. Weasley asked curiously. "Then how did you get to Diagon Alley last year?"
"I took the subway," Harry said quietly. He still had no idea what Floo Powder was.
"Fascinating!" Mr. Weasley said excitedly, clearly interested in Muggle transportation. "Was it like an elevator? How exactly does it work—"
"Arthur, now isn't the time for that," Mrs. Weasley interrupted.
"It's much faster to travel to Diagon Alley using Floo Powder. But Harry has never used it before…"
She looked a little worried.
"It's fine, Mum. It's easy," Fred said calmly. "Harry, just watch how we do it first."
Fred grabbed a small handful of sparkling powder from the pot, walked over to the fireplace, and threw all the powder into the flames.
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