The Shopkeeper of All Worlds in the British Wizarding World

Chapter 403: Departure to Yekaterinburg

Harry stayed out late in the DA room on the day before Christmas, as he spent a good while chatting with Ginny over tea after everyone else had left.

Naturally, after he returned to the common room, he received a warning from Ron as his brother. Although Ron himself agreed that his sister and he were in love, he was still a little worried that Harry would bully Ginny. Naturally, Harry patted his chest and swore that he would never let Ginny get hurt no matter what.

Perhaps because of the successful date today, Harry's brain was in an excited state, so it took him a long time to fall asleep after lying on the bed. In his dream, he dreamed of the scene of himself guiding everyone to practice in DA. However, this scene did not appear for long, and the dream had an unexpected illusion.

In the dream, Harry found that his body became soft, powerful and flexible, sliding between the shiny metal fences and on the dark, cold stones. He slid along the ground with his belly, and the light was dim, but he could see the light of the surrounding objects and some strange, vivid colors.

Turning his head, he found a man sitting on the ground, his head hanging on his chest, his outline flickering in the dimness. Harry felt a desire to sink his teeth into the dozing man, but something inside told him to resist the urge.

But the dozing man started, jumped up, a silver cloak fell from his legs, and Harry saw his bright, blurry outline standing before him, a wand drawn from his belt.

He had no choice but to stand up and attack, but a strange barrier popped up from the man's body to block the attack. He attacked again, but perhaps the poison on his teeth had taken effect, and this time the barrier did not appear. His fangs fiercely shattered the man's hastily released magic defense, and bit the man's arm that was blocking him. He felt the arm bone shatter between his teeth, and hot blood...

The man screamed in pain... then fell silent... collapsed at the foot of the wall... the venom took effect... blood dripped from his mouth onto the ground...

His forehead hurt terribly...as if it was going to explode...

"Harry! Harry!"

He opened his eyes, soaked in sweat, the sheets wrapped around him like a straitjacket. He felt as if a hot pair of tongs were thrust into his forehead. His vision was blurry with pain, but he had to tell Ron, it was vital...

"Your dad," Harry panted, his chest heaving, "Your dad...something happened...He got bit, badly, there's blood everywhere."

"Harry, mate," Ron said doubtfully, "you... you're just dreaming."

"No!" Harry said furiously, making sure to let Ron understand, "It wasn't a dream, not an ordinary dream. I was there, I saw... I did it!"

The unexpected events before Christmas made Harry and the Weasley family very busy and nervous, but these things were not revealed to others. So Hermione was a little curious why she didn't see Harry and the Weasley family on the Hogwarts Express back to London.

"I think maybe something happened to them." Ryan comforted. "At Christmas, there are always a lot of things that catch us off guard. It shouldn't be anything serious."

When they got off the train from King's Cross Station, they saw that the Christmas atmosphere here was very strong. A huge Christmas tree stands in the lobby of the train station, covered with bright decorations.

"Where should we go next?" Hermione asked, pulling a small suitcase. Actually, as wizards, they could use space equipment to put all their luggage in. But since they chose to travel in a Muggle way, it would be a bit strange to travel across the country without any luggage. So each of them brought a small suitcase. "Go directly to Heathrow Airport. Penelope will be waiting for us there with all our things." Ryan said, and he and Hermione took the Piccadilly Line subway in the blue carriage directly at the train station to Terminal 4 of the airport.

More than an hour later, the two arrived at their destination and saw Penelope waiting for them with a black bag in her hand.

"Your passports, visas and tickets are all in it." Penelope handed the black bag to Ryan. "In addition, the information you asked others to find is also in it. I checked and there is nothing missing. Finally, I wish you all a good time!"

"How are you going to get back?" Hermione looked at Penelope and asked, "The road to the city center is not close."

"Of course it's Apparition," Penelope said. "It's much more convenient than taking the subway or bus. I can go straight back to the joke shop later. I have to work overtime these two days. Business is so good during Christmas."

"I remember you can take turns to have a day off after Christmas," Ryan said.

"Actually, we are very satisfied with the triple overtime pay plus bonuses during Christmas. You know, you can't offer such high bonuses anywhere else. It just so happens that Percy is assigned to be on duty during Christmas by Fudge and others, so I can take advantage of the post-holiday break to go out and play with him." After saying goodbye to Ryan and the others, Penelope left.

"It seems that she is quite satisfied with this job." Hermione said, looking at Penelope's back, "I can feel that she was really happy just now."

"A celebrity once said that employees are dissatisfied either because they are not paid enough or because they are wronged. I try my best to avoid things that will make everyone dissatisfied. Now it seems that everyone's morale is very high." With that, the two of them began to pass through security with their luggage.

The plane took off at 4pm. It was a long journey, including the transfer time in Moscow, which took them a total of eight and a half hours. They landed at the Koltsovo Airport in Yekaterinburg at 8:30pm local time.

"Hiss, it's so cold." Hermione shivered as she got out of the cabin. Even though her body had been strengthened several times, she still felt a chill penetrating into her bones.

"Put this on." Ryan put a coat on Hermione. "This is the Russian winter. You are not the first person to fail here. Countless famous people have failed here before."

"Okay, I admit I underestimated this place. Just like that Corsican or Austrian." Hermione buttoned up her coat. "Let's get to the hotel quickly. I'm cold and hungry now."

After leaving the airport, the two took a taxi to the hotel they had booked in advance. Fortunately, Ryan had obtained a Russian language pack in the Fallout world a few years ago, and he had given this language pack to Hermione through soul teleportation. Knowing Russian made the trouble they encountered on the way much less. When they arrived at the hotel, the two first put their luggage away, and then immediately called room service to bring up dinner.

This time, the two of them chose to stay in the same double room, because this time they were not here to travel, but mainly to complete some tasks. In this case, it is best for the two of them to stay together to avoid being dispersed in the event of a surprise attack. Although this possibility is extremely small, it is still better to be prepared.

After dinner, they talked for a while and then went to bed quickly, because tomorrow was the beginning of the really difficult journey. They had to conserve their energy and prepare to face everything tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)