The Weasleys
In the end, the excitement of going shopping in Diagon Alley outweighed the surprise of Tyson becoming a Hogwarts student. Besides, it wasn't a bad thing.
At least, that was what Percy thought, though ever since Tyson had moved into his house, he had been feeling a strange sense of discomfort for some reason.
Percy looked ahead after stepping out of the fireplace and saw Tyson excitedly asking Harry all kinds of questions while Harry calmly answered them. Even though he already looked a little exhausted from answering the same question over and over again, he was still being remarkably patient with him.
Very different from how he was with Percy.
Which made Percy feel slightly annoyed for a moment, so he simply turned his gaze toward the window overlooking the backyard.
And at that moment, for some reason, he thought he saw Lia, his family's house elf, who normally took the idea that house elves should never be seen extremely seriously and spent most of her time invisible.
To ridiculous levels where you would never even realize she was there.
Right now she was visible.
But not only that.
She was on top of another house elf, who was dressed in a dirty, worn burlap sack, and she was hitting him on the head with a wooden ladle as if she were trying to knock him unconscious.
Meanwhile, the other elf was running around the yard with Lia riding on top of him, trying to shout something that couldn't really be understood because Lia had her legs wrapped around his neck.
And whenever he tried to say something, she increased the speed at which the ladle smacked him on the head.
Percy stared with his mouth hanging open before turning toward Harry and Tyson.
"Guys..." he said, briefly looking away toward them.
Tyson, who was asking Harry for the fifth time in a row whether he would also get one of those awesome wands like Harry and Percy, and Harry, who at this point was answering automatically, stopped and looked toward Percy.
Who pointed toward the window with a confused and surprised expression.
But when two pairs of eyes and one extra eye looked toward the spot Percy was pointing at, there was nothing there.
"What?" Harry asked after seeing the completely empty yard. "Did you see something?"
Percy, who had watched Lia and the other house elf disappear, looked from one corner of the window to the other.
But finding nothing, he simply frowned in confusion.
"No... never mind," he said, dismissing it as maybe having seen something wrong.
The little house elf of his family was far too timid and kind to be beating another house elf over the head with a wooden ladle.
"Then let's go. Ron and his family must be waiting," Harry said after seeing it was nothing.
And he couldn't help feeling happy again.
Because during this summer he had had absolutely no contact with his Hogwarts friends, since he had been in another country trying to survive.
Though he was somewhat confused about why they hadn't sent him any letters either, because when he arrived there hadn't been any mail from them or even from Hogwarts in general.
But maybe it was because everyone knew he wouldn't be around during the holidays.
...
The three boys stepped out of the house, where Sally, who had gone ahead after informing them of the Weasleys' arrival, had returned and was speaking with an older man.
He had bright red hair, though not as thick as it must have been in his younger years.
He wore glasses and had a tall, thin frame.
It was Arthur Weasley, Ron's father, the twins' father, and well... the rest of the Weasleys too.
He was enthusiastically talking with Adrien and Dorien, who apparently had come over at some point.
And he was excitedly explaining the specifications of his car.
Which looked perfectly normal.
But from what could be heard at this distance, it was anything but normal.
Beside him stood a short, plump woman whose hair was also red like blazing fire.
She was talking with Sally and letting out a sigh every time she heard one of her husband's modifications to the family car.
Before returning to a warm smile and continuing to invite Sally to have lunch with them and then go shopping.
Seeming genuinely excited about making friends with another mother.
"Hey, they're obviously pulling information out of him and he doesn't even realize it, right?" Percy said while looking at Dorien and Adrien, who were currently listening attentively to every technical detail about the Weasley car while nodding along.
But if you looked carefully, you could see the knight brothers occasionally glance at each other with a strange gleam in their eyes before nodding and continuing to listen to Mr. Weasley's rambling.
"Yeah... completely," Harry said.
After all, Sally always liked to joke that Adrien and Dorien were even worse than Legilimens.
Because they could get information out of people so easily.
And without even being wizards.
"Are you sure? We don't want to be a bother. We can take one of our own cars," Adrien said calmly while chatting with Mr. Arthur as Harry, Percy, and Tyson approached.
"Of course, of course. It might look like this, but you'd be surprised by how much room it has inside," Mr. Weasley said with a hint of pride in his voice.
Adrien, hearing that, smiled politely for a moment before looking toward Sally.
"Then I'll go with you, Sally. That way we can leave the others behind," he said.
"Of course," Sally replied with a smile.
For a moment, both Harry and Percy, now standing nearby, watched the exchange of glances between them and couldn't help observing perhaps a little more than necessary, shifting their eyes from their mother to Adrien suspiciously.
But the knight seemed to feel the young boys staring at him and cleared his throat before turning around and making a gesture with his hand.
"The others?" Mr. Weasley asked in confusion.
But he immediately understood what Adrien meant.
Because the moment he made that gesture through the air, all the neighbors who had seemed to be minding their own business without paying attention to this direction suddenly stood up straight, saluted Adrien, and headed back inside their homes.
Mr. Weasley instantly realized that this entire time he had been surrounded without even noticing.
And most likely by knights.
Who were no longer a secret within the magical world.
Causing him to go pale for a moment and swallow nervously.
Though he quickly calmed down after remembering that last year these same people had only been there to protect Sally's children.
At the same time, however, it reminded Mr. Weasley who exactly this man standing before him really was.
Remembering an older news story from Knockturn Alley, in which he was fairly certain he had seen that face in the newspapers.
Or rather...
The other man who looked almost identical, except with a different hair color.
The one who had given him a friendly smile.
But one that always seemed fake.
"Then I'll be leaving. I have no interest in returning to the magical side for a while," Dorien said calmly before walking away.
"Then shall we?" Adrien said with a warm and courteous smile.
"Huh? Ah, yes," Mr. Weasley replied, feeling as though his mind had drifted off for a moment. "Come on in. Don't worry, there'll be room for everyone," he added, pushing those thoughts aside while leading them toward the Ford Anglia 105E.
Harry, Percy, and Tyson, without thinking much about it, walked toward the back door of the car while the adults headed toward the front.
The moment Harry opened the door, he received a huge surprise.
Several heads full of red hair were already waiting inside to surprise him.
With Ron at the front, followed by the twins, who apparently had come with their parents both to surprise the Jackson Potter brothers and to wish Harry a slightly belated happy birthday.
Instantly, the Weasley twins, whose hands were full of novelty items, tossed them into the air.
And all of them shouted at the same time:
"Happy Birthday, Harry!"
As explosions of every color imaginable assaulted the eyes of everyone present, both inside and outside the car.
Almost blinding half the street with colorful sparks.
Without delay, a loud and powerful roar suddenly rang out.
"You two! What did I tell you about playing with those blasted things!?"
shouted the small Mrs. Molly Weasley, startling Sally, Adrien, Tyson, Percy, and Harry alike.
None of them could stop themselves from staring at the woman who had been speaking so kindly with Sally only moments ago.