Ron left them angrily, “Ron -” Harry reached out for his back, not knowing what to say.
While unpacking his daily things on the first night they arrived at school, he saw the dress Mrs. Weasley had prepared for Ron. To his eye, it looked more like a long, velvet dress in a saucy purple colour, with a neckline trimmed with what looked like mouldy lace and matching lace on the sleeves.
Harry would not be brave enough to wear them out, from the look on Ron’s face at the time, he knows that Ron too could not wait to keep this dress in the bottom of the box, and never use it once in his life.
After ten seconds, Ron shot out of the door.
Harry and Hermione caught him, Ron sat on the ground, his face looked pale, he said in a low voice: “I’ve had enough of poor days. Harry, can you lend me some money, I promise to pay you back!”
Harry hesitated for two seconds, he knew what Ron planned to do – buy an Ageing Potion, “No problem.” He said.
“Ron! You shouldn’t- Dumbledore would not have considered less than-” Hermione advised.
“Don’t concern yourself with it.” Ron buried his head, “I thought you had a way to get an invitation card, otherwise, you won’t be talking big, no?”
Hermione stared at him incredulously, but Ron only showed her the back of his head, Hermione gave him a condescending look and stomped heavily up to the steps.
Her figure disappeared in front of the black hovering gate, and after only ten seconds or so, the black mist fluctuated violently.
Ron looked incredulously at the black monolith, a golden name appeared robotically – Hermione Granger. The black door opened soundlessly, a wave of rolling air poured out from inside, and a golden fire faded behind her.
…
Eight o’clock in the evening.
Felix took Justin Finch-Fletchley using Apparition and appeared in a London alley, then they got into a cab and went to the villa area according to the address Justin provided.
“Mom, it’s me, Justin!” Justin rang the doorbell in front of the gate and said through the microphone above, “I’m with a professor from school.”
“Oh, my God! Honey, Mommy will be over here.”
There came a sound of heavy clinking from across the microphone, as if someone had broken glass.
Justin opened his mouth, a little embarrassed, and Felix observed the pattern carved into the pillar in silence until an exquisitely dressed woman walked out quickly, straightening her hat in a panic as she did so.
“Hello, you are, uh …”
She froze as she looked at Justin and then at Felix over the gate.
“You’re the professor of …?” She asked cautiously, too young, all the professors she had seen were blessed with a blossoming belly and thinning hair, without an exception.
Even if magic can cure hair loss, it can’t make people younger, right? The professor whose last name is “McGonagall” that visited their home before did not have that ability.
“Oh, Mom, open the gate. He’s my ancient runes’ professor, I’ve talked about him before!” Justine said from the outside.
The woman reached out a hand over the gate and flicked him in the forehead.
“Ouch!”
The woman then fumbled her pocket with satisfaction and then said with an apologetic look on her face, “Are you Professor Hap? The boy did mention you and said you are very young, but I thought, how can I … Oh, sorry, I forgot my keys, I changed my clothes when I came home in the evening … I’ll be right back.” She left in a hurry.
Justin wondered, “Professor Hap? Can we use the unlocking charm …”
“There’s no need for that,” Felix said, “It won’t hurt to wait.”
Justin scratched his curly hair, hardly able to understand, “Professor, what kind of magic did you just use? A Portkey?”
Felix laughed, “Where did you hear that word?”
“Ernest told me, he said that during the summer Quidditch World Cup, the Ministry of Magic prepared Two hundred Portkeys by which people from all over the world came to England!”
“Two hundred is just the number within England.” Felix said, “The magic of the Portkey needs a certain item to rely on, and I used an Apparition.”
“Apparition?”
“Yes, it is more convenient than the Portkey, and you have seen the effect, you will learn about it in the sixth year.”
“But why haven’t I seen anyone else using it?”
“Oh, because there is a spell put on the school that forbids Apparition and, of course, Portkeys too.”
At that moment, Justine’s mom appeared with a jog and greeted both of them.
Mr. Finch-Fletchley, who had the same curly hair as Justin, brought two cups of coffee, “I heard from Justin that you also drink coffee, just this week a friend of mine gifted me some Geisha coffee, please give it a try.”
He put down the coffee, scrubbed his hands with a napkin, then shook his hands with Felix.
Felix made his intentions clear, and the Mr. Finch-Fletchley, got taken aback, and immediately led him to the study, where Mr. Finch-Fletchley introduced it as he walked, “It was originally in the living room, but Justin boy was playing with it all the time, and his mother was afraid it would break, so she put it in the study.”
Justin stared at his mother, who promptly messed up his hair.
In the study, Felix carefully examined the antique vase, looking at it seriously for half a while, he certainly was not looking at the pattern of enamelwork, but rather at the magic glow hidden from the ordinary people –
“Is there a problem?” Mr. Finch-Fletchley asked a little nervously.
“Oh, no,” Felix said, “no matter how many times you look at it, you will be amazed by the goblins’ craftsmanship, and some of their crafts can rival the top quality alchemy … Also, please rest assured, there are no curses.”
“That’s good, that’s good.” Mr. Finch-Fletchley felt relieved, he was concerned about some kind of radiation or something – forgive him for not understanding magic, but that’s what he imagined the curse would be.
Afterward, Mr. Finch-Fletchley invited him to spend a weekend together. Felix knew that it is Justin they wanted to keep.
He said implicitly, “Hogwarts students are all residents, and professors have an unshrinkable responsibility regarding the safety of young wizards …” He saw their disappointed expressions and added, “At best, we can stay until tomorrow morning, and please prepare a guest room for me, preferably a quiet one.”
“That’s only natural, rest assured, Professor Hap.” Mrs. Finch-Fletchley hastily agreed, fearing that he would renege. She patted Justine on the back of the head and said seriously, “Where are your manners?”
Justin said sullenly, “Thank you, Professor.”
…
Hogwarts, after lights out.
Harry went to bed early, he was exhausted from a long day, Ron and Hermione fell out and ignored each other, but Hermione had got her invitation card, so Harry certainly hoped Ron would get it too, so he and Ron stayed in the classroom seven all afternoon.
But what he could do was really limited, he just tried to analyse the situation after Ron’s failure, but it was not something he is good at. Luckily, Hermione left Madam Pomfrey’s potion, which was able to relieve mental exhaustion and shorten their rest time by a lot.
Ron laid on the bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep, with a heavy heart.
He stared out the window at the pale light and could barely see one corner of the moon.
Harry had made it, Hermione also made it, and even … he glanced at Neville who is snoring loudly, yeah, even Neville had managed to get an invitation card.
He knew he could never beat Harry and Hermione, but he at least didn’t want to be left too far behind.
He sat up, fuming for a while, and finally, he tiptoed out of bed and grabbed the half-bottle of potion that still remained from the table. Walking out of his dorm room, he pushed the common room door open.
Ron walked fearfully through the dark corridor, not even daring enough to use Lumos, lest he encounters Filch or Mrs. Norris.
Finally, half an hour later, he arrived near classroom seven, secretly thanking his good luck.
Ron gripped his wand, not daring to make a sound, and groped his hands along the wall. Classroom seven was not locked, and the way to enter is by outlining a rune on the door. It just so happened that Professor Hap talked about it in the Magic Rune Club.
Right now, all he had to do is find the right spot, then quickly outline the rune, and sneak into the classroom, so he could outlast everyone else by one night.
Ron touched something bulging, cool, but warmer than the walls and door, and his spirits soared, he had found it! But the next second, a suppressed scream rang out in his ears, sending chills down his spine.
A ghost? Peeves? No, a living person …
“Who!”
“Who!” Ron’s voice distorted with fright, his vocal pitch was twisted so much that even he didn’t know what he was saying.
In the darkness, an unknown being is less than a foot away from him. Ron gulped, took two steps back, raised his wand, and whispered, “Lumos.”
A hazy glow lit up from the tip of the wand, illuminating the face opposite to him within an arm’s reach –
“Draco Malfoy!”
“Ron Weasley!”
———–
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