Strange Letters

Chapter 25: A Peculiar Letter

Charles returned to the Gryffindor common room with a silly grin, about to do something very important.

"Where have you been these past few days?" Harry asked, looking at Charles expectantly. "Need help with anything? Same price as usual."

Hermione put down her book, glanced at Harry, then at Charles, who was furiously writing. She then said to Harry, "Harry, I can check your homework for you."

Harry was naturally delighted and immediately handed over his assignment.

"Charles!"

A furious roar startled all the students in the common room.

"Harry did all your holiday homework for you before?!"

Hermione stared at Charles in disbelief, her shock no less than if someone told her that all her magical experiences since summer were a hallucination and that she was now mentally stable enough to say goodbye to Hogwarts.

Charles calmly replied, "Would you believe me if I said I was imitating Harry's handwriting?"

"So that's how it is!" Hermione said through gritted teeth. "No wonder I always felt the handwriting was different!"

Charles couldn't understand why she was so angry. He sighed deeply and said with mock seriousness, "Ah, you don't know how hard Harry's life used to be. He wasn't starving or freezing, but he couldn't go to a good school like us. He was always so foolish, even Tom was smarter than him."

(At this point, Ron curiously asked, "Who's Tom?" Then Dean Thomas explained to him what a TV and cartoons were.)

Charles continued, "I don't think he can go on like this. He needs to be smarter, or he'll never grow tall."

"So, I thought of a great idea. Didn't someone say that doing homework is also a form of learning? So, I made Harry take extra lessons during the holidays."

Hermione stared at the innocent-looking guy for a long moment, then glanced at a slightly touched Harry. She huffily sat down and began to meticulously pick apart Harry's homework, finding every mistake with the intensity of someone searching for a needle in a haystack.

Charles ignored her and continued to rush through his homework. By the time he finished, everyone else had already returned to their dormitories. Even the twins had gone out for a stroll and brought back snacks for him.

His homework was finished around midnight. Charles stretched as he headed back to his dorm, contemplating whether he should use a truth potion to extract the password for the Prefects' Bathroom from Percy.

A letter lay on his bedside table, placed next to an unread copy of the Daily Prophet. It must have arrived in the last couple of days.

The sender's name wasn't written on the envelope. Upon opening it, he found another envelope inside. The name on it made Charles frown. He wasn't that close to Mrs. Dursley, was he?

He pulled aside the bed curtains and opened the letter, reading it carefully.

The content of the letter sounded like an adult coaxing a child. Petunia mentioned some updates about "the old man" and asked how Charles was doing at Hogwarts, whether he was eating enough and if he was cold. She also mentioned that she had heard about Hogwarts from her sister in the past, and asked if it was true that they took a steam train to school.

After reading it once, Charles became serious and started a second read because the questions Petunia asked were too specific.

For example, she indirectly inquired about the scenery along the way to school, mentioning what the view from the train window looked like at noon and dusk.

Then she asked if there was a lake right after getting off the train, and if the lake was as big as Lily had said.

Next, she rambled on about the weather near Privet Drive and asked if Hogwarts was cold.

If someone were to carefully analyze these answers, they could infer the train's route and potentially locate the train station.

Towards the end, Petunia said she wanted to understand better how Lily had spent her time at Hogwarts and asked if she could inquire about her from the professors.

If this question were answered truthfully, Petunia could learn about how many professors there were at Hogwarts, what they taught, and the staff changes over the years.

After finishing the letter, Charles pondered seriously. His intuition told him that Petunia's actions were deliberate, and she wanted to understand the situation at Hogwarts.

The question was, why did she need to know this? Was she simply trying to understand her sister's experiences over the years, or did she have a deeper motive?

Charles recalled her asking for details about Lily's death when she met Dumbledore that day. He wondered if she planned to avenge her sister.

On what grounds?

Did she expect him to help?

If she had a daughter who looked like McKenna Grace, he might consider it.

After much thought, Charles had no clue. He finally decided to stop thinking about it and go to sleep. Tomorrow, when he wrote to the old man about the Centaurs, he would also reply to Petunia, answering whatever she asked truthfully.

After all, he was selling Hogwarts. If she had the ability, she could drive her car into Hogwarts and step on the gas pedal all the way to hit Quirrell's back of the head.

Before the Herbology class on Monday, Professor Sprout specifically asked Charles, "Were you the one who prepared all those plant cuttings by the greenhouse entrance?"

Charles immediately replied, "Yes, my friends from the Centaur tribe helped me prepare them. I plan to plant them in that plot of land."

Professor Sprout had heard about Charles and the Centaurs from Professor McGonagall at breakfast that morning. She looked like she saw right through him and asked with a smile, "Did you deliberately bring these plants that glow at night so you could trick female classmates into coming over at night?"

Charles was taken aback and looked as if he had discovered a new world, nodding his head. "So that's how it can be done. You professors really do have experience... Ow!"

Professor Sprout instinctively hit him on the head with her wand and said, "If you have time, prepare the ground before it gets too cold. Once the ground freezes, it'll be difficult. You can plant the cuttings you brought back in spare pots in Greenhouse Two. It's warm enough there in the winter for them to sprout, and you can plant them in the ground next spring."

Then, the professor handed Charles a key. "This is the key to Greenhouse Two. Take it. You can move the cuttings in now."

After thanking the professor, Charles immediately put the large bag of plant cuttings into his Bag of Holding. Then, he and the professor went to open the door to Greenhouse Two.

As soon as the door opened, a wave of warm, humid air rushed out, carrying the scent of compost.

This was a dedicated greenhouse for seedlings. Many of the pots on the tables contained only soil, while some had small sprouts.

Professor Sprout showed him which empty pots he could use, which soil was suitable for cuttings, and used the Accio Charm to retrieve a watering can from the corner. She also instructed him on how much compost to mix with water for fertilization.

Charles noted everything down. The cuttings couldn't be left for too long. With the professor's permission, he agreed to work overtime that evening.