A Night at the Burrow

Compared to the gardens Loren had seen before, the Burrow's garden was filled with a wild beauty. The garden was large and overgrown with weeds. If it weren't for the earthen wall surrounding it, it would seem no different from the outside world.

At the base of the wall, many trees with intertwined roots grew wildly, and some ornamental plants that could repel insects sprouted from each flower bed. They had probably never been pruned. In the middle, there was a pond filled with green tendrils, and frogs lay on the rocks, staring at them without any fear of people.

Loren and Hermione lay on the grass, watching Harry and Ron chase after those goblins that looked like potatoes with arms and Gnome.

These little creatures have rough skin, strong limbs, and can even talk. When caught, they initially kick and thrash angrily, swearing resentfully. But when Harry grabs their ankles and swings his arms in a big swing, these little things start begging for mercy.

After being spun around until he was dizzy, Harry let go of the Harry's hand, and the Gnome flew straight for twenty or thirty feet, crashing and completely disoriented.

"They'll burrow into the basement of the house, and if you don't clean it regularly, the Burrow will collapse sooner or later." Harry clapped his hands, his movements practiced. "They won't hurt them... but you have to confuse them, or they'll bite your thumb and won't let go."

"That's not up to your standards!" Ron squinted at the Gnome's landing spot. "I bet Ginny could throw that stump over every time."

Ginny: "..."

It seems like this older brother is no longer suitable.

But when George and Fred proposed a Gnome- clearing competition, Harry enthusiastically dragged her to find Gnome cave that even Ron didn't know about, Ginny thought that being good at clearing Gnome might not be a bad thing.

Charlie and Bill were past the age of playing pranks on Gnome, so they moved at a leisurely pace, occasionally telling Loren about things here.

Autry Ottery St Catchpole is a village where Muggle and wizards live together. Surrounded by mountains and with the dense forests on the outskirts accumulating moisture, the temperature here is relatively low, and even in the height of summer, it is not too hot. The wizards and Muggle living here cherish the bright sunshine.

The Burrow was hidden among the hills and trees, and surrounded by Muggle-Repelling Charm along the roadside, so most Muggle didn't even know there was a house there. Only some elderly people knew that a red-haired family lived in the woods south of the village.

Not only the Weasley family, Bill said, but also the Diggory family, Lovegood family, and Fawcett family lived nearby. So the bedtime stories passed down by word of mouth among the village's elders and children always had a touch of mystery and fantasy.

Looking across the village from the Burrow, there is a beautiful hill called Stoat Hill, where Lovegood, also known as Luna, lives.

"Oh my god!"

Molly's startled and furious scream came from the Fourth Floor the Burrow, then the window was flung open with a bang. Molly, her face contorted with rage, leaned out, holding a bag of toffee in her hand, and shouted angrily, "George! Fred! What the hell is all this stuff?!"

George and Fred, who were chasing each other in the garden, stopped, looked at each other, and reluctantly walked into the house.

Mrs. Weasley's stern expression and angry voice made it clear to everyone that they were about to be scolded.

The Weasley family and Harry didn't seem to think it was anything to be surprised about; Twins always got scolded during summer vacation, it had always been like that.

Hermione, a newcomer to the Burrow, looked around, completely bewildered.

"It's nothing serious, it's probably just that their prank items were discovered by Mom again..." Charlie examined Crookshanks's scars without looking up. "Mom will calm down by lunchtime."

Bill nodded.

Hermione looked bewildered.

Loren looked up at the Fourth Floor window, tilted his head, and silently wished the Twins good luck.

About an hour later, the remaining Gnome in the garden realized their current predicament. They shrugged their little shoulders, formed a sparse line, crawled out through the small hole under the wall, and disappeared behind the hedge at the other end of the field.

Ron said they would be back.

It's always the same.

It's always like this.

"The Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?"

"Fake Wand, magic candy? What is this? Tell me what this is!?"

"No wonder there were so many explosions in your room. I had no idea you guys were always inventing things..."

Molly's face was redder than her hair with anger, her eyes bulging as she stared at the Twins in front of her, waving a stack of order forms in her hand.

George and Fred stood before her, heads bowed, looking utterly defeated.

Loren and the others, who had just returned to the room, shifted their gaze to the table, where a large bag of strange and unusual items was piled up, including various oddly shaped magic wands, brightly packaged candies, and a wooden box with a clown's face painted on it...

Just then, the Ghoul on the top floor started banging on the water pipes again, making a clanging sound.

"Oh..."

Molly forced a furious, exasperated sigh from her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut in anguish and yelled at the Twins, "Go up there and shut that damn Ghoul up! Then obediently throw all of you out and destroy you all!"

George and Fred turned away sheepishly, walked through the crowded Entrance Hall, and went up the rickety stairs.

"Those two!" Molly muttered angrily, glanced at the order form in her hand, slammed it on the table impatiently, and squeezed into the Kitchen to start preparing lunch.

The seven people who had been eavesdropping outside then tiptoed inside, afraid of being discovered by Molly.

"I really don't know what they'll become. They have no ambition whatsoever, all they do is find ways to cause trouble..." Molly muttered to herself as she pulled out a number of large and small pots from the cupboard, placed the brass stew pot on the stove, and lit it.

This constant muttering continued, even more intense than the clanging of the water pipes on the roof, and when the pipes quickly quieted down, Molly's mutterings became even clearer.

Loren, sensing an ominous premonition, sighed at the Twins' bad luck. They could have hidden the thing inside the scales tonight, but it was exposed now.

He glanced at the others.

Hermione's lips were pressed together, and her face was tense.

Ginny clutched at her clothes, feeling uneasy.

Ron and Harry scratched their heads. Their mother was still angry all day, and the problem was more serious than they had thought.

Loren asked in a low voice, "Are they alright?"

Bill shook his head, glanced at the few students who hadn't graduated yet, and said softly, "You guys go upstairs and check on George and Fred. Charlie and I will stay here and help Mom prepare lunch."

Ron nodded heavily, grabbed Ginny and Harry, and ran upstairs, with Loren and Hermione following a step behind.

Once out of Molly's sight, Hermione finally breathed a sigh of relief, saying with lingering fear, "An angry Mrs. Weasley is even scarier than an angry Professor McGonagall."

Loren smiled but didn't say anything, and led her uphill.

On the top floor, they finally saw the legendary Ghoul, an ugly humanoid creature covered in filthy slime, with blurred features that made it impossible to recognize a human, and buck teeth.

The Twins were binding it to the water pipe with cloth strips, wrapping it around and around, even sealing its mouth tightly so it couldn't make any annoying groans or whimpers, or bang on the pipe.

Ron paused for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Are you... all right?"

George tied a knot in the cloth strip, clapped his hands, and turned around. "Oh, dear little Ronnie, you don't think this little setback will make us cry, do you?"

"We're not kids who're afraid of spiders." Fred pulled on the cloth strip to test its elasticity and nodded in satisfaction.

After saying that, the two of them laughed together.

George and Fred lay dejectedly on their bed, which was pushed together. It was almost midnight. Just yesterday at this time, they were happily checking orders, planning how to expand their business after buying Storage Scale from Loren, and how many products to prepare to take to Hogwarts to sell at the school next term.

They could finish producing the confiscated goods before the Quidditch World Cup final, and now with the Storage Scale, they don't have to worry about being discovered again.

But I still feel so sad.

My mother's words kept echoing in my ears:

"It's not that they're not smart, but they're not using their intelligence in the right place. Unless they quickly pull themselves together and turn over a new leaf, they're going to be in big trouble."

"..."

"More owls Accio from Hogwarts to complain about them than all the others combined!"

"If they continue like this, they'll eventually be caught by the Office for the Prohibition of Misuse of Magic, and their fathers will be investigated as well, who knows, they might even lose their jobs."

"..."

"I really don't understand what's wrong with our education."

"It's been like this for many years, one problem after another, and they just won't listen to anything."

"George, Fred, are you still planning to continue doing business?"

The Twins weren't surprised that Loren was still awake at this hour when they heard the question coming from the opposite bed. They knew about their business and their ambition to open a shop, and they were also willing to give them those Storage Scale. They were even looking forward to their full range of products!

Just a second later, George sat up from the bed and said firmly, "Loren, congratulations. We've decided to make you Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes's most valued customer. From now on, you'll receive one of every product we offer for free."

Fred stood up as well. "That's right, you'll be proud of this in the future."

Loren: "..."

You worried for nothing; it seems she really wasn't affected.

"I wish you all the best." Loren threw back the covers, stepped over the sleeping Ron, and got out of bed. "I'm going to the bathroom."

George whispered in a low voice, "Remember this day!"

"The day the new Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes was born..." Fred drawled.

Looks like Mrs. Weasley will have plenty more to say in the future...

Walking towards the washroom in the dark by moonlight, Loren shook his head, unable to help but recall Mrs. Weasley's ramblings that had lasted all day, sometimes irritable, sometimes complaining, sometimes self-reproachful.

From the moment she discovered the order until the end of dinner, Mrs. Weasley spent the entire day repeating these things, while also recounting several times every mistake the Twins had made and every complaint letter she had received from Hogwarts.

After Percy and Arthur finished work, the dinner table became Mrs. Weasley's judgment seat for the Twins. Mr. Weasley was the deputy judge, but he didn't think there was anything wrong with it. Sometimes he would even praise the Twins ' ingenious ideas, which intensified Mrs. Weasley's anger.

Loren didn't seem to care much about the scene. As a mother, Mrs. Weasley wanted her son to graduate from school normally, find a decent, stable, and well-paying job, and stop living such a miserable the Burrow in the Burl... Who could say she didn't mean well?

George and Fred want to achieve something in their fields of love and skill. Although the future is uncertain, they are happy and fulfilled, which is certainly not wrong.

It's just a normal family dynamic between a mother and son.

Hermione seemed to be frightened by the atmosphere.

As Loren emerged from the bathroom, pondering how to comfort Hermione the next day, he suddenly spotted a faint light at the top of the stairs and heard rustling sounds of things being moved coming from downstairs.

With a slight thought, Loren quietly approached.

Little Hangleton is nestled between two steep Deep Mountain. Like most old rural villages, many of the young people have left for the big cities to find respectable jobs, leaving the older generation to spend their time in pubs reminiscing about bygone days.

For example, the case of the Riddle family of three being murdered fifty years ago.

They believed the killer was Frank Bryce, the Riddle Family's gardener, a wounded soldier who had been discharged from the battlefield, whose leg was stiff and unresponsive, and who was eccentric and withdrawn.

He has a spare key to Riddle House; who could be more likely to be the murderer?

At the time, no outsiders were visiting Riddle House, no one broke in, and the windows were not broken. Frank simply had to sneak into the mansion while everyone was asleep...

That's what the villagers thought at the time.

But the police autopsy report ruled out Frank as a suspect. The doctors had never seen such a strange way of dying: none of the Riddle family had been poisoned, subjected to force, or shot, nor had they been suffocated or strangled. Their bodies were perfectly healthy, except for the identical expressions of terror on their faces, as if they had all died of fright at the same time.

Therefore, there was no evidence that the Riddle family were murdered, and Frank was not imprisoned.

Some of Riddle's relatives did visit the house, but they all found it eerie and frightening and didn't stay long. After that, the Riddle Family house remained uninhabited for many years, falling into disrepair and gradually decaying.

Only the elderly Frank would occasionally clean it up, preventing it from falling into complete disrepair.

On this day, Frank, who was about to turn seventy-seven, once again walked to the old house with his stiff, broken legs. When he opened the door with his Scabbers old key, he heard cold voices coming from the long-abandoned old house.