With a few minutes left until three that afternoon, Su Er and Hermione were already waiting in the living room with their little schoolbags on their backs.
Mrs. Ellison waited rather nervously nearby, glancing at the fireplace a short distance away. Although she had once seen Su Er and Hermione step into it and Evanesco, she still found it a little hard to picture.
"They said they'd come out of the fireplace? But it's full of ashes..."
"Don't worry, we have magic that can clean our clothes in an instant," Hermione said with a smile. "For wizards, traveling through flames is perfectly normal."
"You've seen it before, Mum. We have a kind of... er... magical item. As long as we use it, we can connect our fireplace to places with fireplaces all over Britain. Well, provided the Ministry of Magic allows it, of course," Su Er explained.
Mrs. Ellison nodded without fully understanding. For a Muggle, using a fireplace as a means of travel really was difficult to comprehend. It felt rather like reading a storybook.
After all, magic was something out of fairy tales~
The minute hand swept past the Roman numeral twelve, and the hour hand shifted gently forward as well. The swinging pendulum gave a clear chime-"Dong... dong... dong..."
At the same time, a blaze of bright green flames lit up inside the fireplace.
A tall, thin, slightly balding middle-aged man stepped out of the flames, dressed in green robes.
"Ahem..." He brushed the dust off his green robes and adjusted his slightly crooked glasses. "Ah, you must be Su Er's mother?"
"Hello, I'm Arthur Weasley." Mr. Weasley extended his hand as he walked toward Mrs. Ellison.
"Hello, Mr. Weasley." Mrs. Ellison extended her hand as well and shook his, saying politely, "I'll be leaving Su Er