Home

When the young wizards boarded the train home, the semester officially came to an end.

Eli and the others squeezed into a compartment, just like when they had first arrived.

This semester had truly been full of ups and downs.

The Troll, Quidditch, Quirrell, and Voldemort—many people might not encounter even a few of these things in their entire lives, yet they had collected them all in a single semester.

Everyone had gained something. Eli had strengthened his soul, removed the life-threatening risk of losing control of his magic, greatly increased his strength, and even made quite a bit of pocket money.

Harry and Ron had also escaped Snape's clutches. Whenever they recalled Snape's expression when he had reluctantly passed them during the exams, they secretly felt delighted.

Draco Malfoy had finally made a few friends, and he felt as though the world had become completely different.

Hermione was probably the happiest. She had originally thought Eli would firmly hold first place, studying from dawn till dusk every day, but in the end, Eli had fallen one step behind her because of his mediocre History of Magic grade.

That was right. The little witch had earned the highest score in the entire year in almost every subject and sat firmly in first place.

The little witch was terrifying.

Eli had gotten an utterly ordinary second place. If his History of Magic grade had not been so outrageously poor, Hermione would not have been able to beat him with his perfect scores in every other subject.

Still, this stuff was useless except for showing off. Second place was more than enough to satisfy Eli's need to show off anyway.

I'm a man who killed a Troll in first year and fought Voldemort head-on. Did I need these grades to show off?

Did I care? Did I regret it? Did I get angry when Hermione bragged to me?

One day, I'll definitely teach that little brat a lesson!

No, Eli insisted that he was not angry. He simply wanted to teach her not to show off, that was all.

Crack! He had accidentally crushed another cup.

The train soon arrived at the station, where the parents were waiting on the platform.

"Eli!"

From far away, Eli could see his mother waving at him. His father wanted to wave too, but was restrained by his paternal dignity, leaving his hand awkwardly hovering at his side.

"Mom!"

Eli threw himself into her arms. Seeing his father beside her, eager to try, Eli obediently threw himself at him as well.

The wrinkles on Mr. Hall's face deepened with his smile, though he still tried to look stern. "You're a big boy now. You need to learn to be steady."

Harry watched them and smiled along with them, but there was an unshakable sadness in his eyes.

"These are my friends. This is Harry—we visited the Dursley family before. This is Hermione. She lives in London too. And this is Ron. His entire family are wizards!"

"Oh, you're Harry. We've met before. So you're a young wizard too!"

Mr. Hall warmly shook Harry's hand, then noticed Hermione beside him.

Hermione politely introduced herself. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Hall. My name is Hermione Granger."

Mr. Hall looked quite surprised. "Oh, I remember. Your parents are dentists, right? Their skills are excellent—they saved my teeth. I even saw you there during my last visit! Fate truly works in mysterious ways!"

Then he looked at Ron. Ron was somewhat reserved, perhaps because he had never dealt with Muggles before. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Hall. I'm Ron. Ron Weasley."

Mr. Hall tried his best to recall whether Ron was another child he had met before, but the Weasleys were a wizarding family. How could he possibly have met him?

"It's a pleasure to meet you. You must come visit our home sometime!"

The Granger couple and the Weasley family had arrived as well. The twins and Percy Weasley had already joined the Weasley couple.

The adults from the three families began chatting enthusiastically, with Arthur Weasley especially excited.

He was one of the few wizards who greatly yearned for Muggle society, and he was even a pure-blood wizard. Having made so many Muggle friends at once, he was overjoyed.

The Granger couple and the Hall couple were old acquaintances, so naturally they had plenty to talk about.

The Hall couple's professions were somewhat similar to Arthur Weasley's, and they got along splendidly. Mr. Hall and Arthur Weasley in particular felt as though they had met too late.

The Dursley family arrived late, looking extremely unwilling to pick up Harry.

But the moment they saw the Hall Family, their expressions changed completely.

Because they came from wizarding families, the Weasley couple were not particularly skilled at interacting with Muggles, especially people like the Dursleys, who loathed magic.

Dursley kept his distance from the Weasleys, which left the Weasley couple with a very poor impression of the Dursley couple.

They had thought all Muggles would be like the Hall Family and the Granger family.

After saying their goodbyes, everyone went home.

Mr. Dursley roughly shoved Harry into the car, making everyone frown.

The adults of the Weasley, Hall, and Granger families had even agreed to keep in touch by letter. They were all easygoing people, and meeting today truly made them feel they had met too late.

After everyone had left, Mrs. Hall grabbed Eli by the ear.

"You little brat, you think you're all grown up now? You dared not come home! You didn't come back for a month before term started, you didn't come home for Christmas, and now you're telling me you can only stay a few days over summer break?"

Eli wailed all the way home, like... a pig being slaughtered?

So what if he had killed a Troll? So what if he had fought the Dark Lord?

He still had to have his ears pulled by his mother, didn't he?

Mr. Hall stood nearby and fanned the flames. The one doing the hitting was not as frightening as the one egging them on.

Eli bared his teeth in pain and swore that he would reveal every place his father had hidden his secret stash!

And so, after they got home, a great battle erupted.

In truth, Mr. Hall and Eli were the main ones getting scolded.

The moment Eli got home, he spilled everything about Mr. Hall hiding private money, like beans pouring from a bamboo tube.

With the evidence irrefutable, even though Mr. Hall was a famous lawyer, he found it difficult to explain himself.

Mrs. Hall was practically about to transform into a Norwegian Ridgeback and breathe fire, while Eli and Mr. Hall huddled in a corner, trembling.

Mr. Hall was not one to suffer quietly either. He immediately confessed that Eli had secretly ruined Mrs. Hall's cosmetics when he was little. Oh, and Mr. Hall had also hidden the fact that Eli had gotten into a fight at school that one time. He confessed that too.

The two nearly severed their father-son relationship, each accusing the other of being disloyal.

This war ended when the Granger family arrived.

Eli nearly hugged Hermione and called her his savior.

Before long, the Weasley family arrived too. Naturally, they had not brought all seven children, only the youngest, Ron and Ginny Weasley.

That evening, Mr. Hall brought Harry over as well.

Normally, the Dursley family would never want to see Harry make friends.

But because they still had work matters that depended on the Hall Family, they had no choice but to let Harry out.

Trading the Hall Family's friendship for the freedom of one annoying boy was worth it! Besides, they were happy not to see Harry anyway.

The three families had agreed to gather at the Hall home for a meal.

The women sat together and chatted happily. Molly Weasley was a wonderful person and exceptionally skilled at managing a household. She was currently sharing her experience with Mrs. Hall and Mrs. Granger.

The men bragged and joked around without any concern for their image. They exchanged many gifts, since they were all curious about one another's worlds.

Arthur Weasley gave them several little magical gadgets, leaving Mr. Granger and Mr. Hall marveling at them.

After returning home, Mr. Granger mailed Arthur Weasley an electric toothbrush, though no one knew whether it would break down because of magical interference.

Mr. Hall thought for a long time before secretly slipping Arthur Weasley a small item.

A Glock 17, 9mm caliber.

After Arthur Weasley went home and tried it, he exclaimed, "This thing is more useful than a wand!"

After dinner, the children played off to one side.

"Oh."

"What's wrong?" Eli looked at Hermione.

Hermione covered her mouth but seemed too embarrassed to lower her hand.

"Are you hurt?"

Hermione shook her head and slowly opened her hand. A tiny tooth lay in her palm.

Eli was shocked. "You're already eleven and you're still losing teeth?"

Hermione's face flushed red, and she raised a hand to smack Eli on the head.

Eli clutched his head but could not hold back his laughter. Hermione was amused too. "Hehehe..."

She looked comical with one tooth missing.

Eli took the tooth and tossed it onto the roof.

"Why did you throw it onto the roof?" Hermione covered her mouth and asked in confusion.

Eli put on the expression of someone speaking from experience. "If you throw a fallen tooth onto the roof, the new tooth will grow in quickly!"

"Really?"

Hermione looked unconvinced.

"Why would I lie to you?" Eli looked like an adult from his past life fooling a child.

Hermione rummaged around in her pocket and pulled out a little packet. When she opened it, there were actually five or six teeth inside.

Under Eli's ghost-struck stare, she threw them all onto the roof in one go.

"Will they grow faster this way?"

"You've been carrying these things in your pocket?"

"Hmph."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. Don't ask about a fairy princess's business.