Unlike the Weasley family, who had never even heard the term "fraternal twins" before.
Harry, who had attended primary school, knew what it meant.
The misguided trend of feel-good education had already begun sweeping through Europe, but it had yet to gather the momentum it would have decades later. At least in Britain, the education system was still fairly normal.
Academic stars like Hermione were rare-indeed, exceedingly rare even among children of this generation-but at least most children still had their wits about them.
Yet even though Harry had heard the term "fraternal twins" at school, seeing two twins who shared absolutely no resemblance apart from their hair still came as a tremendous shock.
Especially with Fred and George standing right there, a pair of genuine, completely identical twins.
"Haha, that's a perfectly normal reaction." Ron burst out laughing at Harry's stunned expression.
Although the Weasley family was on poor terms with many pure-blood clans, they got along quite well with other wizarding families. They visited some of those families from time to time.
In the past, practically everyone who learned that Ron and Tris were twins had reacted the same way.
Harry nodded blankly. It took some effort, but he accepted it.
The Weasley family's friendliness toward Harry was heartfelt, and he could clearly feel it. He easily slipped into their cheerful atmosphere.
The only thing that puzzled him a little was why Mr. Weasley was so interested in Muggles. Still, having spent ten years living with a Muggle family, Harry knew plenty about them and could answer almost every question.
In turn, Harry quickly learned about the wizarding world from the Weasley brothers.
Well, compared with the tongue-tied Hagrid, Fred and George were incredibly good at talking. They painted a vivid, colorful magical world for Harry. Though their descriptions occasionally strayed a little from reality, they only deepened his existing longing.
By the time Tris and the others arrived, Harry had actually finished having his measurements taken.
Still, they waited until Tris and Ron had finished too before heading to their next stop together: Ollivander's wand shop.
Tris had originally thought that, as someone who had crossed over into this world, he would receive a special wand. The result was nothing like he had expected. Yew with dragon heartstring-although Mr. Ollivander called it a temperamental, powerful wand, it was hardly anything special.
By comparison, Harry's combination of holly and phoenix feather was far more noteworthy.
Especially after Mr. Ollivander explained his theory about brother wands.
Tris was the first to choose his wand. While Ron was choosing his, Tris pulled Charlie outside and suddenly fired a Disarming Charm at him-over the past few years, Tris had already mastered most of the basic spells.
"What are you doing?" Charlie stared speechlessly as his wand landed in his little brother's hand.
Charlie was very fond of his youngest brother and indulged him quite a bit. Especially since his brother's idea had allowed him to go to the French Dragon Reserve he had dreamed of joining.
But this little stunt still left him baffled.
"Hehe, Charlie, you're getting a new wand anyway, aren't you? This one's already in terrible shape." Tris pointed at the damage to the wand's tip. A faint silver gleam shone through it-the sheen of the unicorn hair inside.
Charlie looked a little embarrassed.
He had, admittedly, been somewhat rough with his wand. Normally, six or seven years of use would never have left a wand in such a state.
"Since you're getting a new one anyway, why not give this wand to me?" Tris asked with a grin.
"You could've just asked if you wanted it," Charlie said helplessly. "Why did you have to ambush me with a spell?"
Tris had often borrowed his and their mother's wands to practice magic before. Over the past few days in particular, he had been practicing with Charlie's.
If Tris had asked, Charlie would certainly have given him the wand. He was about to get a new one anyway.
"That's how the wand changes allegiance. Otherwise, it won't work properly," Tris said with complete conviction.
Charlie blinked, not quite understanding what his brother meant. Still, he did not particularly care. He ruffled Tris's hair and let the matter drop.
Tris had expected that sort of reaction from his second-oldest brother. With an extra wand in hand, he was delighted.
An underage wizard's first wand would have something called the Trace placed on it, allowing the Ministry of Magic to detect whether it had been used at an inappropriate time or place.
In truth, this restriction was not particularly limiting for young wizards from wizarding families.
After all, even if it was triggered, they could simply say someone else had picked up the wand and used it. Unless it happened frequently, the Ministry of Magic generally turned a blind eye.
But Tris was different!
His Grind Dog System required him to practice magic. It already demanded ten sessions a day, and who knew what it would ask for in the future? Practicing with his own wand during the holidays would risk breaking the rules.
That made a wand with its Trace already removed essential.
As for why he had fired a Disarming Charm at his brother, that was because of the special mechanism governing a wand's allegiance. Whenever he had used Charlie's or Molly's wand before, neither had felt quite right.
At first, he had assumed his own skills were lacking-that his incantations, gestures, and understanding of magic were not good enough.
But after acquiring [Memory Palace], he was confident that his understanding of basic spells was already solid. Yet his magic still faltered.
That was when he remembered the theory about wands choosing their masters.
The advantage of the Memory Palace was that anything he had once memorized could be recalled clearly through it, even if the memory had since grown hazy.
Its limitation was that it could do nothing about things he had never memorized or even seen.
In the eighth film of the series, he had watched Ollivander discuss this theory after Harry took Draco's wand.
Considering that Ron seemed to perform poorly in both Charms and Transfiguration during his first and second years in the films, Tris had reason to suspect that it was because he had been using Charlie's wand, which had not recognized him as its master.
As for whether this idea was correct, he only needed to test the old wand once he got home. It had originally belonged to Charlie, but it should now belong to him.
Charlie paid no attention to any of this.
Ollivander recited his wand theories every time he sold a wand, but few people truly took them to heart. Charlie, at least, was not one of them.
When they returned to the wand shop, Ron had also chosen his wand. Charlie then bought his own new wand, completing their shopping for the day.
"Harry, well, this might be a little inappropriate, but I still wanted to ask." Molly looked at Harry, choosing her words carefully. "Would you mind staying at our house for these last few days before school starts?"
Harry's eyes immediately lit up, and he looked toward Hagrid beside him.
"Well..." Hagrid hesitated, scratching his shaggy head. "I'm not too sure. Dumbledore told me to take Harry home after we finished buying his things."
At those words, Harry's face immediately fell.
But Hagrid continued, "Still, I reckon staying with friends for a bit before school starts should be all right. Besides, the Dursleys... Merlin, they're the worst Muggle family I've ever met.
"I reckon living with that family has been downright miserable for Harry. It really isn't good."
The hope returned to Harry's face.
"Hagrid, could you stop leaving us hanging halfway through?" Fred complained.
"Perhaps," Arthur said after a moment's thought, "we could write Dumbledore a letter?"
After what had happened with Charlie, Arthur had come to appreciate the importance of writing letters.
"Well, that'd be a bit slow. How about this? I'm heading back to Hogwarts now... Dumbledore asked me to take care of something. I need to report back to him anyway, so I can mention it then.
"I reckon it should be fine. But before that, I think you should take Harry to Privet Drive. He's probably still got some things there?"
"That sounds good to me." Molly nodded, then turned to Harry. "What do you think, Harry?"
"If it wouldn't be too much trouble..." Harry tried hard to suppress his excitement, but his expression and eyes gave him away completely.
"Of course it's no trouble." Arthur gave him a broad smile. "Hagrid, please let Dumbledore know. I'll take Harry to that Privet Drive place first. Molly, you take the children home."
Tris had no idea how Arthur took Harry to Privet Drive and then back to the Burrow-after all, Ministry of Magic regulations prohibited taking underage wizards along by Apparition.
In any case, when Tris finished jogging around the yard and returned to the entrance, he happened to find the two of them standing there. Harry was carrying a large trunk.
"Dad, Harry, you're here?" Tris said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Um..." Harry searched his memory, not entirely certain. "Tris, right?"
After all, remembering seven names in one go was rather difficult.
Only after receiving confirmation did he ask in puzzlement, "What are you doing?"
"Exercising!" Tris replied.
"Do wizards... need to exercise too?" Harry asked uncertainly.
"There's never any harm in having a strong, healthy body, is there?" Tris countered with a smile.
Harry thought about it, then nodded, agreeing that Tris had a point.
Seeing this, Tris immediately seized his opportunity. "So, Harry, want to exercise with me?"
"Well..." Harry hesitated and glanced up at the sky. Although the hottest part of the day had passed, it was still quite hot.
"I usually exercise in the mornings and evenings. I'm only doing it now because we went to Diagon Alley today," Tris explained.
"Then... all right." Facing Tris's earnest expression, Harry turned a refusal over in his mouth several times but ultimately could not bring himself to say it. He would regret that for a long time in the days to come.
"Ah... Tris, is that really necessary?" Arthur looked at the delighted Tris, his expression painfully conflicted. "Harry's our guest."
"Dad, what are you saying? Are you suggesting exercise is bad?" Tris asked self-righteously. "Look at that belly of yours. I think you ought to start running with me too."
Arthur immediately turned to Harry. "Harry, let's go inside first."
Watching Arthur beat a hasty retreat, pulling the still-bewildered Harry along with him, Tris smiled in satisfaction.
He intended to get everyone around him grinding alongside him.
It really was not because watching other people take it easy while he worked hard made him uncomfortable. Absolutely not! He simply thought exercise was good for everyone.
Wizards included.
Exactly. That was all!