Merlin's TNT

Lily looked very sad; she sat in the chair, sobbing helplessly.

James clearly knew he had done something wrong, and he kept saying nice things to comfort Lily.

Veratia, who was standing nearby, suddenly spoke up, "Obviously, Uncle Vernon won in the end."

"Why?" Harry asked curiously.

Veratia turned her face away.

"He's still alive, you idiot."

Harry opened his mouth.

What you said makes so much sense, I'm speechless.

Veratia's shoulders kept shaking; it seemed she was also amused by her own hellish joke.

The screen continued to spin, and after a dizzying moment, the two of them were back in the real world.

"It's already dawn," Veratia said, glancing at the pale light outside the window.

"A lot of time has passed," Harry said wistfully. "Go to sleep, or you won't be able to get up tomorrow morning."

"It was this morning," Veratia corrected Harry.

"Okay, okay, whatever day you say, that's fine," Harry said, raising his hands.

The two slept until noon before getting up. During brunch, Cassandra made several sarcastic and sour remarks to them.

"I told you we had a good relationship, right?" Veratia asked Harry with a smile.

"Who says you're close to me!" Cassandra said disdainfully, "You philandering cat!"

"If you're comparing your relationship with Aunt Petunia and your mother, then you two definitely have a good relationship," Harry said with a shrug.

During the meal, Veratia talked to Harry about Lily again.

Basically, the last memory I saw yesterday was James and Vernon's first and last meeting. After that, Lily went to the Map Chamber and poured out her troubles to Veratia.

Later, when Petunia got married, she didn't ask Lily to be her bridesmaid, which broke Lily's heart.

Vernon also refused to communicate with James again and sarcastically referred to him as an "amateur magician."

Their last contact was after Harry's birth, when Lily invited Petunia to a party—but Petunia never replied.

"So you think..." Harry asked hesitantly, "You think all this trouble I'm going through is unnecessary?"

"But not exactly..." Veratia put down her spoon. "Lily told me that it was her wish to repair her relationship with Petunia, and now that she's passed away, this... should be considered her last wish, right? So there's nothing wrong with what you're doing."

"Okay," Harry nodded.

However, right after brunch, there was a knock on the door of Grimmauld Place, Number 12.

It was Snape, his face grim, as if someone had smashed the precious spit brain he kept in his office.

"Professor Snape," Harry greeted him with a smile, "What brings you here?"

Professor Snape remained silent, his face grim, and asked Harry, "What do you want to know?"

"I already know, Professor," Harry shrugged and said to Snape. "Veratia has some of your mother's memories—about you when you were little."

Snape gave Harry a deep look, snorted, and turned to leave.

This person, you know...

Harry shrugged, not forgetting to call out, "Take care, Professor—goodbye, Professor!"

Hearing Harry's words, Snape walked even faster.

In the afternoon, Neville arrived at Grimmauld Place, Number 12.

He was accompanied by Ron, Hermione, and Seamus.

Ron and Hermione seemed to have had a fight; they had been turning their faces away from each other ever since they sat on the sofa, neither of them looking at the other.

"What's wrong? What's going on?" Harry asked the two of them curiously.

The two exchanged a glance, snorted again, and turned their faces away.

"Neville, you say it," Harry, looking at Neville.

"I don't know either, don't ask me," Neville muttered. "They've been like this ever since I saw them, I don't know what's going on..."

Harry looked at Seamus again.

"Don't look at me then," Seamus waved his hand. "Harry, you know me, I've never really cared about these gossip things—"

"What are we going to do now?" Harry was also a bit at a loss. "They're just sitting here like this, neither of them saying a word. What should we do next?"

"It'll be fine in a bit." Seamus reached for a banana, peeled it, and popped it into his mouth, saying indistinctly, "Hey, that's how it is when boyfriends and girlfriends argue. One minute they're angry, and the next they're fine."

"Who's dating him/her!" Ron and Hermione shouted together.

"Still denying it," Harry chuckled. "Look at how in sync you two are, who would believe you're not boyfriend and girlfriend... And you, Seamus." He turned to Seamus. "How do you know boyfriends and girlfriends make up quickly after a fight? Honest Tape, are you dating someone too?"

Seamus cleared his throat and coughed twice.

"Is there really something going on?" Neville asked, intrigued. "Tell me, Seamus, do I know that guy?"

"You two know each other." Seamus scratched the back of his head. "It's just that right now, it might be that I like her, but she might not like me back."

"Who is it?" Ron didn't care about arguing with Hermione anymore; he loved listening to these gossipy little corners.

"Hi, it's us from Gryffindor," Seamus said with an embarrassed smile. "Lavender Brown, I quite like her... Don't you guys think she's actually quite charming when she smiles?"

Harry thought for a long time before he remembered who Lavender Brown was.

"Did you confess your feelings to her?" Ron asked quickly.

"Not yet," Seamus said, scratching his head. "I plan to talk about it after School Opening. What do you guys think?"

"Pah!" Ron slammed his hand on the armrest of his chair. "Wait until School Opening starts? By then it'll be too late! Listen to me, buddy, what if someone beats you to it if you don't make a move? What will you do then if Lavender Brown becomes someone else's girlfriend?"

"What are we going to do?" Seamus asked anxiously. "School won't School Opening for another month or so..."

"Simple," Ron said confidently. "Why don't you just write her a letter now? Tell her in the letter."

Unexpectedly, Neville, who was always honest and unassuming, raised an objection.

"I don't think this is sincere," he said. "Think about it, is confessing your feelings in a letter something a man should do? I think if you're going to confess, it should be in person. Don't you agree?"

Upon hearing this, everyone agreed that it made perfect sense.

But this theory was actually first proposed by Neville...

"I really didn't expect this," Seamus said with some emotion, "That one day I'd be getting Neville to teach me how to woo girls..."

"Hey!" Neville said, annoyed. "I'm still here!"

Everyone laughed together, and after a while, Seamus spoke again.

"Then I'll write to Lavender now and ask her to come out for a meeting, what do you say?"

"Sure, of course!" everyone said in unison.

Seamus is a fiery person; once he says something, he has to do it.

So he picked up a pen and paper and wrote a very carefully worded letter to Lavender.

"Anyone who didn't know better would think you were going to date Juliet," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"So, now you should tell me what happened, right?" Harry asked Hermione, seizing the opportunity.

Hermione's face fell again.

"Why don't you ask your good friend Ronald!" Hermione said angrily.

"What's wrong with me?" Ron protested. "It's just that I didn't go skiing in the Alps with you! I think it's necessary to spend the summer together, right? Instead of just the two of us going out alone. Don't you agree?"

Ron's last sentence was addressed to everyone.

Everyone sighed and covered their foreheads.

Oh, the running Gorgons...

That Ron is hopeless.

"Have you ever thought..." Harry tried to phrase it in a less hurtful way, "that Hermione didn't actually want to go skiing in the Alps?"

"Then why is she angry?" Ron asked in return.

Harry slapped his forehead and turned to Cassandra, saying, "See, you still call me a blockhead."

Cassandra turned her head away, suppressing a laugh as she looked at Veratia, Veratia did the same.

Indeed, as the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together, and Harry's best friend is a blockhead, which certainly fits this rule.

"Hermione just wants to enjoy some time alone with you!" Neville said, exasperated and disappointed. "Have you even considered that possibility?!"

Ron then realized what was going on.

"Looks like you're not entirely hopeless," Harry said, shaking his head.

However, it was too late to go to the Al now; they had already arrived at Grimmauld Place, Number 12, and the Mr. and Mrs. Granger had left Britain for a holiday in Asia.

In the evening, Seamus received a reply from Lavender.

"Merlin's TNT!" Seamus exclaimed with elation. "Lavender replied to my letter! She said she'll meet me at six o'clock tonight at Florin Ice Cream Shop in Diagon Alley..."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ron said impatiently. "Let's get going! It's six o'clock in the evening... It's already 5:30 now, Lavender Brown is probably in Diagon Alley right now... Let me think, taking the Knight Bus now might be too late, how about we use Floo Powder to get there?"

"Great idea." Harry nodded immediately. "Seamus, get ready, we're leaving right away—oh, and someone tell the Kitchen we don't need to cook dinner for us tonight!"

"You guys go ahead," Veratia said with a slight smile. "Cassandra and I are at home... Hermione, are you coming?"

"I'm not going!" Hermione crossed her arms and huffed arrogantly. "Let them deal with this themselves!"

Only the boys planned to go to Diagon Alley with Seamus. There were four of them, holding Floo Powder, standing in front of the fireplace.

"Diagon Alley!" Seamus said, standing inside the fireplace.

A green flame appeared, and he disappeared into the fireplace.

Following the same pattern, everyone arrived at Diagon Alley via Floo Powder.

After Clean-up, Seamus straightened his clothes and asked Ron with some concern, "Ron, can you take a look and tell me what's wrong with me?"

"Nothing's wrong," Ron said. "Let's hurry to the ice cream shop, don't keep Lavender waiting."

They arrived at Florean's ice cream shop and, sure enough, found Lavender waiting in a seat.

Upon seeing them arrive, Lavender waved to them.

"Hi, Lavender," Seamus greeted Lavender casually.

"You two talk first," Harry said to Lavender. "The rest of us will sit here for a while."

The three of them sat not far from Seamus and Lavender and ordered three ice creams.

Harry really liked the chocolate and raspberry and nut ice cream that Hagrid had given him before, so he ordered the same thing again.

Sitting in their seats, the three of them ate ice cream while watching Lavender and Seamus chat.

"Do you think it will work?" Harry asked, scooping up a spoonful of ice cream filled with nuts.

"I think it's about right," Ron said with a smile. "Most likely. Actually, look at Seamus, he's quite handsome too—"

When Ron said that, he was clearly not being entirely sincere.

However, to Ron's surprise, after they had only exchanged a few words, Seamus put his arm around Lavender's shoulder.

At the same time, Seamus gave everyone a thumbs up.

"That bastard," Neville said through gritted teeth, "He's really quick!"

"Who says otherwise?" Harry chuckled. "Sure, we friends should show our support, shouldn't we?"

Just as they were eating ice cream and gossiping, a middle-aged man walked in, looking furious.

He stood at the doorway and looked around before fixing his gaze on Lavender, who was cuddling with Seamus.

He strode up to Lavender, pointed at Lavender tremblingly, and after a long while, managed to utter a single sentence.

"Lavender, you're really something..."

"Dad..." Lavender was clearly not expecting his father to suddenly arrive here.

"You've disappointed me greatly," Mr. Brown said, pointing at Lavender. "You've grown quite a bit, Merlin's beard..."

As he spoke, Mr. Brown slapped his face.

Seamus had already stood up. Seeing that things weren't going well, he said to Mr. Brown, "Mr. Brown, please don't be angry..."

Mr. Brown impatiently shook off Seamus.

"Dad, please don't do this!" Lavender said.

"What?!" Mr. Brown laughed in exasperation. "Your uncle told me you were eating ice cream in Diagon Alley, and I just said it was impossible! Lavender is a good boy; he'd definitely be at the hospital with his grandmother, not eating ice cream in Diagon Alley. Oh dear... Merlin's pants..."

"Mr. Brown..." Seamus bravely stepped forward, "This isn't Lavender's fault, it's mine..."

"Blame you?" Mr. Brown laughed in exasperation, and shoved Seamus. "What good will blaming you do?"

"Dad!" Lavender grabbed Mr. Brown's arm. "Could you please stop?"

"What do you mean, 'what do you mean'?" Mr. Brown roared angrily. "Lavender, your grandmother is sick, don't you know that?!"

(End of this chapter)