Home

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

Eli and the others squeezed into a compartment, just as they had on the way there.

This school year had truly been full of ups and downs.

Trolls, Quidditch, Quirrell, and Voldemort—many people might not encounter such things more than a few times in their entire lives, yet they had collected them all in one semester.

Everyone had gained something. Eli had strengthened his soul, removed the life-threatening danger of his magic going out of control, greatly increased his strength, and earned quite a bit of pocket money.

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

Draco had finally made a few friends. 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, since he studied day and night, but in the end, Eli fell one step behind her because his History of Magic grade was merely average.

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

The little witch was terrifying.

Eli had taken an utterly ordinary second place. If his History of Magic score had not been absurdly bad, Hermione would not have been able to beat him with all his perfect scores in the other subjects.

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

I'm a man who killed a Troll in first year and traded blows with Voldemort. Do I need these grades to show off?

Did I care? Was I disappointed? Did I get angry when Hermione bragged to me?

I'll definitely teach that little brat a lesson someday!

No, Eli said this was not anger. He simply wanted to teach her not to brag, 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 restrained by paternal dignity, he did not know where to put his hand.

"Mom!"

Eli threw himself into her arms. Seeing his father eagerly waiting nearby, Eli obediently threw himself at him as well.

The wrinkles on Mr. Hall's face crinkled with laughter, though he still put on a stern expression. "You're a big boy now. You need to learn to be steady."

Harry watched them and smiled along with them, though there was always an unerasable sadness in his eyes.

"These are my friends. This is Harry—we visited the Dursley family before. This is Hermione, and she lives in London too. 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, Uncle and Auntie. My name is Hermione Granger."

Mr. Hall was quite surprised. "Oh, I remember! Your parents are dentists, right? They have excellent skills—they saved my teeth. I saw you when I went there last time too! Fate really is wonderful!"

Then he looked at Ron. Ron seemed a little reserved, perhaps because he had never dealt with Muggles before. "Hello, Uncle and Auntie. I'm Ron. Ron Weasley."

Mr. Hall tried his best to remember whether Ron was another child he had met before, but Weasley was a wizarding family. How could he have met him?

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

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

The adults from the three families chatted 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 and Arthur Weasley had somewhat similar professions, so they got along quite well. Mr. Hall and Arthur Weasley in particular felt as though they had met too late.

The Dursley family arrived late, and they looked most unwilling to pick Harry up.

But the moment they saw the Hall Family, they immediately put on another face.

Since the Weasley couple came from a magical family, they were not especially good at interacting with Muggles, much less people like the Dursleys, who loathed magic.

Dursley kept Weasley at arm's length, leaving the Weasley couple with a 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 today's meeting had truly felt like meeting too late.

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

"You little rascal, you think you're all grown up now, do you? You dared not come home! You didn't come back for the month before school started, you didn't come home for Christmas, and now you're telling me you can only stay a few days during 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 get his ear twisted by his mother.

Mr. Hall even fanned the flames from the side. The one who acted was not as frightening as the one who egged them on.

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

And so, once they arrived 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 turn into a Norwegian Ridgeback and breathe fire. Eli and Mr. Hall huddled in a little corner, trembling.

Mr. Hall was not one to suffer silently either. He immediately confessed everything about Eli secretly ruining Mrs. Hall's cosmetics when he was little. Oh, and there was also the time Eli had gotten into a fight at school, which Mr. Hall had hidden from her. He confessed that too.

The two nearly severed their father-son relationship, each accusing the other of having no loyalty.

The war ended when the Granger family arrived.

Eli nearly hugged Hermione and called her his savior.

Not long afterward, the Weasley family arrived as well. Of course, they had not brought all seven children, only the youngest, Ron and Ginny Weasley.

That evening, Mr. Hall picked Harry up too.

Ordinarily, the Dursley family would never want to see Harry making friends.

But because they still needed the Hall Family's help with work matters, 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.

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

The women sat together and chatted happily. Molly Weasley was a wonderful person and excellent at managing a household. She was currently passing on her experience to Mrs. Hall and Mrs. Granger.

The men bragged and joked around without the slightest concern for their image. They exchanged many gifts, since they were all interested in one another's worlds.

Arthur Weasley gave them some little magical gadgets, leaving Mr. Granger and Mr. Hall exclaiming in amazement.

After returning home, Mr. Granger mailed Arthur Weasley an electric toothbrush, though nobody knew whether it would break down because of magical interference.

Mr. Hall thought for a long while 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 works better 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 moved her hand away. A small tooth lay in her palm.

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

Hermione's face reddened, and she raised her hand and smacked Eli on the head.

Eli held his head and could not help laughing. 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 wore the expression of someone speaking from experience. "If you throw a fallen tooth onto the roof, the new one will grow in quickly!"

"Really?"

Hermione looked unconvinced.

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

Hermione rummaged around in her pocket, took out a little packet, and opened it. There were actually five or six teeth inside.

Under Eli's ghostly stare, she tossed all of them onto the roof.

"Will they grow faster this way?"

"You've been carrying those things around in your pocket?"

"Hmph."

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