[Chapter Size: 1800 Words.]
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Originally, according to Mrs. Weasley's suggestion, either she or Mr. Weasley should go to Privet Drive or the Dursleys' house to pick up Harry. The worst possible outcome would be Percy coming to fetch him.
But Harry felt there was no need for this and politely declined, saying he could take the Knight Bus directly. In the end, Harry did exactly that.
On Tuesday morning, during the seventh week of the holidays and the fourth week of communication isolation, Harry prepared to leave.
Dobby hadn't shown up again, and everything was going well. While it was still dark and the neighbors were asleep, Harry walked to the side of the street and raised his wand.
In less than two breaths, accompanied by a rough sound of friction, the Knight Bus appeared in front of Harry.
"Welcome aboard the Knight Bus, an emergency transport service for witches and wizards in distress. Just raise your wand, get on the bus, and we'll take you wherever you want to go." A conductor in a purple uniform jumped off the bus and called to Harry:
"My name's Stan Shunpike. Today, I'm your conductor."
Harry raised an eyebrow. This conductor wasn't the same one he'd had last year, but that didn't matter. Harry smiled and asked him to help with the luggage.
The ticket seller, Stan Shunpike, understood the difficulty of underage witches and wizards not being able to use magic. He lightly tapped the luggage rack with his wand, gave a salute, and headed for the baggage compartment.
"What's your name?" Stan Shunpike asked casually as he entered the bus. "Where are you headed? Hey, if you hadn't said anything, I would've thought you were a girl..."
Harry smiled and didn't mind. After the summer holidays, he had grown taller and stronger. His facial features weren't as round as they used to be. But if you didn't look closely, he could still be mistaken for a girl.
That was due to his long hair.
"My name's Dudley, Dudley Dursley," Harry smiled and used his older cousin's name. Although he had been in the wizarding world for a year, Harry assumed that people's curiosity about him had likely diminished quite a bit. Still, out of caution, Harry didn't plan on using his real name.
He had no intention of shaking hands with as many people as he did last year. "I'm going to the Burrow, Mr. Weasley's house."
Harry gave the address Mrs. Weasley had provided in her letter.
"The Burrow, yeah, I know, it's in Ottery St. Catchpole, in Devon," Stan Shunpike nodded, grumbling. "It's quite far, and not a very well-visited place. Yeah, eight sickles and nine knuts, I think."
Harry was a bit surprised. He hadn't expected Ron's house to be closer to London. He paid Stan, then sat back as if he knew the place, leaning in his seat and holding onto the armrest.
By the time Stan had collected the handful of coins, the bus had already started moving. This time, Harry didn't feel the strong effects of inertia. Though the scenery outside the window blurred due to the high speed, his body didn't experience any discomfort.
With a satisfied smile, Harry stopped looking out the window. First, he couldn't see anything clearly, and second, he got dizzy easily.
Harry pulled a pamphlet from his pocket and began flipping through it. It was a basic spellbook Harry had copied. When learning and using spells at the early stages, pronunciation and tone were crucial. Harry thought it was never too much to review them carefully.
Seamus "The Explosive Genius" Finnigan had demonstrated to his classmates numerous times what could happen if a spell was recited incorrectly.
Unlike regular buses, though the Knight Bus was incredibly fast, it was very stable to ride, with no jolting. Therefore, Harry didn't feel dizzy while reading.
Soon, Harry became fascinated and couldn't help but make small gestures with his hands, muttering quietly. Without thinking, he suddenly felt his fingers growing slightly warm. Then, he looked up and saw that the tips of his right hand's trembling fingers were glowing faintly.
However, when Harry looked, his hand stopped moving, and the light disappeared instantly.
Harry's hands weren't glowing, but his eyes were. He was reviewing the art of illumination, and it had actually triggered a response without a wand?
This was a wandless spell!
Casting spells without a wand was a common trick among adult wizards, and many could do it if the magic was minor. But among students still at school, only a few managed to do it.
Harry was so excited that he tried again, with no response, and then tried once more, still no response.
"Hmm… maybe it was just a coincidence?"
Harry wasn't disappointed, though. After all, this was quite an advanced technique. The fact that he had accidentally managed to do it at all showed that he was very close to being able to cast wandless spells.
As soon as he thought this, Harry's mood immediately improved.
When you're in a good mood, time seems to pass quickly, and Harry was in a good mood now. Initially, he thought Stan had said the distance was too far and it would take at least an hour to reach the Burrow. But in reality, in less than half an hour, the vehicle stopped in a field near a small village.
"The Burrow, in Ottery St. Catchpole!" Stan Shunpike announced loudly, drawing Harry's attention away from his book.
Harry turned his head to look outside, and the first thing he saw was a stone wall. The courtyard wall was covered with ivy. Inside the wall, there was a building at least twenty meters tall.
The building was unlike any house Harry had ever seen before. It looked like several small houses stacked in a crooked way, yet somehow they managed to stay balanced.
Harry was ninety-nine percent sure that this structure had been built by magic. Otherwise, it would have collapsed long ago.
From here, you could see four or five chimneys on the building, and there were too many windows to count.
At the entrance, or rather, the gate of the stone wall, there was a sign diagonally inserted, which read: The Burrow.
There were some tattered boots and a broken, rusty cauldron tossed by the door. Harry wasn't sure if they were leftovers or Portkeys, as Portkeys were usually made to look similar.
Looking into the yard, Harry could see several fat, brown chickens pecking at something on the ground. Was it crumbs, bread bits, insects, or even small stones?
With Shunpike's help, Harry got out of the car and took the large box from the luggage compartment. As soon as the things were set down and Harry was thanking Stan Shunpike, he heard a high-pitched scream, which seemed to be the voice of a girl.
But when Harry looked in the direction of the sound, all he could see was a window that was shaking slightly.
Before Harry could think further, he saw a plump woman sticking her head out of the building, in the yard. When she saw Harry, she immediately flashed a bright smile. Then, in the next second, she suddenly crossed a distance of more than ten meters and appeared right in front of Harry, giving him a big hug.
"Harry, how lovely to see you. Did you have a good holiday?"
"Good morning, Mrs. Weasley!" Feeling Mrs. Weasley's enthusiasm and genuine kindness, Harry returned her bright smile and a polite hug. "You always look so radiant. I had a great holiday, except for not being able to use magic."
"What a polite child," Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully, and with a snap of her fingers, without any spell or wand, she made Harry's heavy box float and said warmly:
"Come in quickly, you've arrived much earlier than I expected. Breakfast isn't ready yet, so you may have to wait a bit. Ron, that lazy one, hasn't even gotten up yet. Hermione will be here tomorrow, she's such a clever and sensible girl. Neville was here a few days ago, but unfortunately, he's gone..."
Mrs. Weasley kept talking, but Harry felt genuinely warmed. In fact, his aunt and uncle weren't bad to him, they didn't treat him poorly when it came to food, clothes, and other expenses, but none of them showed the kind of sincere affection Mrs. Weasley demonstrated at that moment.
Led by Mrs. Weasley, Harry stepped into the yard and the wonderful building.
As soon as Harry entered the room, his eyes couldn't help but wander around. This was the first time he had entered a wizarding family's home.
How can I put it? It's quite cozy.
At the Dursleys' house, everything is clean and organized, and the items are carefully placed, even with a certain order and pattern. Aunt Petunia is somewhat obsessed with cleanliness, so she cleans her room every day and keeps it spotless.
The Weasley family's Burrow is a bit different.
Though still relatively clean, the arrangement of things isn't very particular. There were books and other small items scattered on the table and the sofa in the small living room. A large cat lay on a big mat covered with some knitted fabrics, sleeping deeply.
There's a small dining room next to the kitchen. The dining table is the cleanest in the whole room, with a few chairs placed around it.
What intrigued Harry the most was a large clock hanging on the living room wall.
The clock had nine hands, and above each hand was a small picture of just the head and the name. Harry saw that all the Weasleys he knew had their own hands on the clock.
Instead of numbers representing the hours, the clock displayed possible locations or statuses of the family members. It included: home, school, work, on the road, missing, hospital, visiting, and mortal danger.
Harry noticed that Charlie Weasley's hand suddenly appeared in the "mortal danger" section. A small door immediately opened in the center of the clock, and a bird, similar to those on common clocks, seemed ready to fly out at any moment.
But in the next second, Charlie Weasley's hand moved back to normal. Then the bird shrank before it could even sing.
Harry was stunned for a long moment before reacting. Charlie Weasley worked at a dragon training farm, so it seemed he could be in mortal danger at any time.
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