Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 102: 101. The Grangers and Harry's Test of the Trace
Harry saw Ron's mother at a glance, because there was a little red-haired girl next to her, who screamed excitedly when she saw Harry and Ron coming out.

Neville was picked up by an old lady who looked very serious. She was his grandmother. The serious old lady thanked Harry and the other two for taking care of Neville at school. Finally, she invited them to visit her home when they were free.

In Ron's words, when facing Neville's grandmother, he seemed to meet an older Professor McGonagall.

Harry thanked Ron's mother for her Christmas gift. He found the sweater quite comfortable, and Mrs. Weasley smiled and said she would give him a blue one next year...if Harry didn't mind.

The parents of several friends are all very easy to get along with, but that's also true. If the family environment is not good, it would be difficult for Ron and his friends to develop good character that Harry can identify with.

Just like Draco Malfoy, Harry never thought that Malfoy was a born evil child. He was just influenced by his parents and family environment... This was inevitable.

This is where the differences between people lie, shaped by their origins, environment and personal experiences.

Just like Harry himself, everything about him has been deeply influenced by the Kane family and the Minotaur tribe, and can never be separated from them. They have become a part of Harry's body and mind.

And he had no intention of giving it up.

After seeing off Neville and Ron, when they walked to the outside, only Harry and Hermione were left.

Harry suddenly saw his target, Uncle Vernon. He looked a little thinner than the last time they met, still dressed in a white shirt and suit pants. He was waving at him, motioning him to walk faster.

"That's your uncle?" Hermione whispered. "I've seen old issues of the Daily Prophet and it says they, uh..."

Hermione looked a little conflicted. After all, the Daily Prophet before school started didn't say anything good about Harry's Muggle uncle's family.

"That's all in the past. They also had their own difficulties." Harry shook his head slightly and said, "At least our relationship is much better now. Don't worry."

"Hurry up, boy! We have to go back soon!"

From this distance, I could hear Uncle Vernon’s shouting.

"Well, it seems he is indeed in a hurry," Hermione shook her head and said, "Ah, those are my parents over there - I didn't expect them to come together, I thought they would be very busy."

Looking in the direction Hermione pointed, Harry saw a man and a woman whose faces were somewhat similar to Hermione's walking towards them quickly.

"Aha, no wonder it took so long?" Uncle Vernon came to Harry, glanced at Hermione and laughed oddly, "I was wondering why the time was different from the time you sent me with the owl."

"Don't talk nonsense, uncle." Looking at Hermione who suddenly blushed, Harry said helplessly: "It just took some time to say goodbye to other friends - this is Hermione, my friend."

Considering the general environment in Britain, both Muggles and wizards are a little too precocious.

"Okay, okay, you have the final say." Shrugging, Uncle Vernon obviously didn't take Harry's words to heart.

"Hermione?" Just then, Hermione's parents also came over.

"Dad! Mom!" Hermione smiled delightedly. She rushed over and threw herself into the woman's arms, then turned around and said, "He is Harry Potter! The man next to him is Harry's uncle."

After Hermione finished speaking, Mr. and Mrs. Granger's expressions changed from joy at seeing their daughter to excitement in an instant.

"Thank you, thank you, Mr. Potter," Mr. Granger said solemnly, shaking Harry's hand. "I really don't know how to thank you. We have always wanted to meet you, especially after knowing that you saved Hermione's life."

"Her mother and I never thought she would be in danger because of magic. We thought the school was safe—"

"Hogwarts is indeed safe, Dad!" Seeing how the topic suddenly turned to her inability to go to school, Hermione interrupted quickly, "What happened last year was just an accident! Well, and if little wizards with magical powers don't learn how to master magic, they will be in danger! That's not safe!"

"Well, well, anyway, your mother and I don't know as much about magic as you do," Mr. Granger said after shaking his head slightly, and then extended his hand to Vernon, "Hello, Harry's uncle, I'm afraid only a good person like you can raise a child with such good character as Mr. Potter. He saved Hermione, and this means a lot to our family."

"...You never said these things, boy." Uncle Vernon glared at Harry first, then shook Mr. Granger's hand and said: "Vernon Dursley, you - uh, I mean, it's magic...you too?"

"Wendell Granger, she is my wife, Monica," Mr. Granger said enthusiastically, "If you mean whether my wife and I can cast magic, then we can't. In wizard terms, that is - Muggles? Well, we run a dental hospital and are also doctors there."

"That's great." Hearing what Mr. Granger said, Uncle Vernon was obviously relieved, and even the smile on his face became real. "Hello, dentist, that's great... After all, it's a serious job, isn't it? I mean, it's not as weird as a wizard."

Mr. Granger and his wife looked at each other, and he finally remembered some things about Harry Potter that Hermione had mentioned in the letter, which was that Harry's uncle didn't seem to like wizards or Harry very much.

Of course, they would not show anything on the surface. They just took Hermione away after some greetings. When leaving, Hermione kept waving her hands, reminding Harry to remember to write the letter.

"That's right." After the two got into the car, Uncle Vernon did not start the car in a hurry. Instead, he said with satisfaction: "You really should get to know more people like the Grangers. This is very useful and will help your future - a couple of dentists, ahaha!"

In the UK, dentistry is a very high-end profession. Not only does it have a high income, it also has a high social status and is very respected. This profession can also bring dentists a very broad social network. After all, no one will offend a highly skilled doctor.

Not to mention the Grangers run a hospital themselves.

"If you have a toothache, I can make you a potion to heal your teeth, uncle," Harry said. "This way you don't have to go to the hospital to get your teeth drilled, and you don't have to eat only bland vegetarian food for more than a week after seeing the dentist."

Harry's words were quite damaging, because Vernon was obviously caught in a dilemma. He didn't want to admit that the wizard's weird things were powerful, but he was afraid of toothache and the pain of treating toothache.

"Okay, kid, you win." After a long thought, Uncle Vernon suddenly sighed, "Where is the potion?"

"If you want, I can make it for you when we get back." Harry shrugged and said, "This potion is not difficult to make, and no magic is required when making it. The Ministry of Magic probably won't care about this."

"What do you mean?" Uncle Vernon widened his eyes.

"The Ministry of Magic prohibits young wizards from using magic during the holidays," Harry said briefly, "Speaking of this, uncle? Can we go home later? I want to go somewhere."

"There's actually such a rule?" Uncle Vernon grumbled, "Well, kid, considering the big order you gave me, where are you going?"

"The Leaky Cauldron."

Back to the door of the bar Hagrid had taken him to before, Uncle Vernon firmly refused the invitation to sit in, even though Harry repeatedly assured him that it was absolutely safe. It was already his limit to wait outside the wizard bar for Harry to come out - for Uncle Vernon, it was like sitting on a gunpowder barrel that seemed to explode at any time. Harry had no choice but to walk into the Leaky Cauldron alone. After immediately signaling the bar owner Old Tom to keep quiet, Harry ordered a glass of butter beer for himself, and then sat in the corner where no one noticed him.

He had something he wanted to verify, which was that students were not allowed to cast magic outside of school during the holidays.

The vacation was long and Harry's time was precious. He couldn't bear to be unable to study the magic of this world for more than two months. That would be a waste of his life.

Before leaving school on the Hogwarts Express, Harry went to the library to look up information on the subject. The book stated that the Ministry of Magic used Tracking Threads to track whether underage wizards were using magic.

Perhaps they were afraid that if they said too much, the underage wizards would find a way to crack the code. In short, this was the only relevant record that could be found in the library. The rest were records of young wizards being punished for casting magic outside of school. It was a thick book, and some of them were even expelled from Hogwarts. It could be said that the purpose was very obvious.

deterrence!

However, although there are no further records in the book, Harry has his own judgment based on his current magical strength and knowledge.

Ever since he signed his name on the notice at school, Harry felt that something invisible had descended upon him. It was not just a simple notice. When the students signed their names, something was transferred from the parchment to the students.

Harry guessed that this was what was called a Tracking Thread, a magical tracking device.

What puzzled Harry was the thick record of the punishment for the young wizards who violated the rule that they could not cast spells outside the school during the holidays. The record in it was quite detailed. It said, "XXX violated XXX by XXX at XX time on XX month of XX year in XX and was punished with XXX." The time, place, causes and consequences as well as the punishment result were all recorded in great detail.

But no matter which page he turned, and even went to look for it specifically, Harry still could not find Hogsmeade, Godric's Hollow, Transylvania, and other villages among the punishment locations in the book, which were either formed by pure wizard families or villages where wizards and Muggles lived together.

The difference was so obvious that Harry almost found it funny.

Although it was not known what kind of families these punished little wizards came from, Harry had discovered that those who would be punished were either little wizards living in Muggle communities or little wizards living scattered in large Muggle cities - in short, their parents must not be wizards, or there were no adult wizards near where they lived.

Harry didn't believe that after all these years, the children of wizarding families would be so well-behaved that they didn't even perform magic during the holidays. Even what Ron said about Fred and George that day might have been false... The twins might have discovered this, but they chose to keep it secret from their brother.

This was also the reason why Harry did not ask Uncle Vernon to return to 4 Privet Drive immediately, but instead came to the Leaky Cauldron, a place where there would definitely be no shortage of wizards.

He needed to verify his suspicions.

After thinking for a moment, Harry tapped the cup in front of him with his fingers. The next moment, the cup changed its shape, grew two legs, and began to dance in this unnoticed corner. However, Harry did not observe anything unusual until the cup finished the whole dance, made a farewell gesture, and returned to its original shape.

No Auror suddenly pushed open the door of the Leaky Cauldron, no Ministry of Magic official, not even a delivery owl.

The first step was successful.

Harry drew his wand and waved it stealthily, a simple levitation charm, and the glass of butterbeer floated - and Harry waited.

But everything was normal, nothing happened, it was very peaceful.

So, Harry felt that he had almost come to a conclusion.

This trace thread can probably only detect whether someone has cast magic within a certain range, but it cannot detect who exactly cast the magic. From this perspective, the trace thread is mainly used to monitor young wizards from Muggle families.

—Harry thought that made sense.

The reason why Hogwarts can withstand so many naughty students is that the castle is cast with countless protective magic, but various things outside are not protected by so many magics. Once the little wizards from Muggle families can cast spells freely at home, on the one hand, it is easy to cause accidents, and on the other hand, their parents will not be able to control them, which is even more dangerous.

As for the children from wizarding families, their parents are wizards themselves, which means they have the corresponding management skills and know better what can be done and what cannot be done.

When the young wizards reach adulthood, the trace will no longer work on them, which means they can cast spells freely outside of school - but it doesn't matter, because there will be another kind of trace to restrain them.

"Witcher Law"

Overall, after seeing through the Ministry of Magic's tricks, Harry still quite agrees with this approach... It's just a pity that he himself is one of the former type who lives in a Muggle community and will be discovered if he makes the slightest move.

Privet Drive was not a community with a large number of wizards, and Harry was very sure that there was no other wizard family near his home - if there was, it would have been found by his uncle and aunt who had an extremely keen anti-magic nerve.

After drinking the butterbeer in the cup in one gulp, Harry decided to complete the first thing on his holiday to-do list as soon as possible. This was related to whether he could continue to study the magic of this world freely during the holidays.

——That is to take back the Potter’s old house.

But before that, let's go back to number 4, Privet Drive.

Dumbledore, who had been avoiding Harry for a long time, specially found Harry once before the holiday. Even at the risk of being caught and beaten, he still reminded Harry that he must live with his blood relatives for at least a few days every year until he came of age. Only in this way can the protective magic that Lily cast on him continue to be effective.

By the time Harry got into the car again, Uncle Vernon was getting a little impatient.

"Are you going to meet your fans again?" Uncle Vernon said unhappily as he started the car. "Boy, I admit that you may have some fame among those...freaks - although it's only a little, but don't think you can ride on our shoulders just like that. That's impossible."

Uncle Vernon could never forget that when he was taking Harry out of King's Cross Station today, someone would pop up and wave to his nephew, saying "Goodbye Harry", "Goodbye Potter", "Have a good holiday, Harry" all the time... In short, it was these conspicuous words.

Even some ordinary people who knew nothing about it came up to ask Harry if he was a new movie star, which really annoyed Vernon - for him, this was a bit too conspicuous.

It was like turning him into a freak too.

Uncle Vernon's attitude was not good, but it was not bad either. The car wobbled towards Number 4 Privet Drive, and Harry took out a piece of parchment from the small bag beside him and quickly began to write on it.

"...What is that?" Uncle Fenon noticed his nephew's behavior in the back seat of the car and took the time to turn around and take a look.

"A letter," Harry replied softly, and then took Jaina out of the cage.

"Can you find her?" Staring into Jaina's eyes, Harry asked seriously, "That Rita Skeeter."

(End of this chapter)