Hogwarts: My Grandmother is the Queen

Chapter 411 Visiting Kensington

"Who's coming today?" Diana asked without looking up, continuing to flip through the newspaper.

"Draco, Pansy, and maybe Daphne. Cedric said he's coming from Devon and will arrive around noon."

Diana put down her newspaper: "Four classmates?"

"right."

"I'll have the kitchen prepare extra lunch." Diana stood up, folded the newspaper, and placed it on the table. "Cedric, you're that Hufflepuff guy, right?"

"right."

Diana nodded and walked out of the breakfast room.

After finishing his tea, Henry went upstairs to change his shirt.

William and Harry were already awake. Harry's voice came from the other end of the corridor; he was probably arguing with William about whether or not to continue digging the tunnel in the backyard today.

At 10 a.m., the doorbell rang.

When Henry came downstairs, the butler had already led him into the living room.

Draco stood by the window, dressed in a dark gray summer shirt and light-colored trousers, more casual than he had been at Hogwarts.

Many. Pansy sat on the sofa, flipping through a gardening magazine on the coffee table, with a small handbag beside her.

Daphne stood by the fireplace, looking at the oil painting hanging on the wall—a Victorian landscape.

Henry sat down opposite him. The butler brought tea and snacks.

Pansy poured herself a glass of Darjeeling and grabbed a sandwich.

"Where's Cedric?" Pansy asked, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"He arrived at noon; he came by train from Devon."

"Daphne," Henry turned to Daphne by the fireplace, "you've returned from Greece?"

Daphne turned around: "I came back last week, I got a tan, but don't you think?"

She stretched out her arm, which was indeed several shades darker than when she was at Hogwarts.

"I can tell," Henry said with a smile.

Daphne smiled, walked over, sat down on the sofa, and took a scone.

"What about William and Harry?" Draco asked.

"In the backyard. Harry is digging a tunnel."

"typical?"

"His bunker needs an escape route," Henry said, picking up his teacup. "From the bunker to the vegetable garden."

Draco raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Your brother has a good engineering mind."

"He said it was to protect his mother, but his mother said she wanted to dismantle the bunker and plant lavender instead."

"Your house is quite lively," Pansy said with a chuckle.

Cedric arrived at noon.

He was wearing a light blue shirt, carrying a travel bag, and his forehead was covered in sweat.

Henry greeted him at the door.

"The train is ten minutes late," Cedric said, placing his travel bag by the door. "It's hotter here than at Hogwarts."

"That's how London summers are." Henry stepped aside to let him in. "Tea's in the living room."

Cedric walked into the living room and greeted Draco, Pansy, and Daphne.

There was a polite distance between him and Draco, after all, one was a Hufflepuff and the other a Slytherin.

"How's Devonshire?" Pansy asked Cedric.

"It's alright. My yard is big, so we can eat outside in the summer. My mom raised a litter of cats, and now they're all grown up and running all over the yard."

"How many?" Daphne asked.

"Five. There were originally six, but one ran away. It was later found in the barn, but it has already recognized people and refuses to come back."

Daphne chuckled: "That's how cats are."

Henry had his butler set out lunch on the backyard terrace. The weather was lovely, sunny but not stuffy. On the long table were cold dishes, a large pitcher of lemonade, and a pitcher of iced tea.

William and Harry ran over from the corner of the backyard, Harry's hands covered in mud, and William clutching a stone in his hand.

Harry's eyes lit up when he saw Cedric.

Lunch was casual, and while Draco was eating a sandwich, he mentioned that the roses at Malfoy Manor weren't blooming very well this year, and his father had changed the gardener.

Pansy said her grandmother's garden in the south of France was thriving, but no one cared for it, and the weeds grew taller than the flowers.

Daphne said there's an old olive tree behind her villa in Greece, and it's bearing an unusually large amount of fruit this year.

Cedric said his family grows strawberries in their yard, and his mother picks a basketful every day; the leftovers are made into jam.

William ate his roast chicken quietly beside him. Harry came back after washing his hands, sat down opposite Cedric, and asked him while eating ham, "Do you ride a broomstick?"

"ride."

"Can it fly high?"

"fine."

How high can you fly?

"Harry." Diana walked in from the terrace doorway. She was wearing a light blue linen dress, her hair was tied up, and she was carrying a plate of freshly cut watermelon. "Don't ask people how high they fly the moment you see them."

Harry pouted. "I was just asking."

Diana placed the watermelon on the table and nodded to Cedric.

"You are Cedric. Henry has told me about you. Welcome to Kensington Palace."

Cedric stood up and shook hands with Diana: "Thank you for your hospitality, madam."

"Just call me Diana." Diana sat down next to Henry, picked up a slice of watermelon, and said, "Enjoy your meal. You can do as you please this afternoon; don't worry about me."

After lunch, Diana and William went inside.

Harry stayed on the terrace, pestering Cedric with questions about Quidditch.

Cedric answered patiently, occasionally asking Harry, "Do you want to be a Seeker when you grow up?" Harry nodded vigorously.

Draco and Henry walked to the corner of the backyard. The bunker stood crookedly next to the vegetable garden, with a few loose stones on its base and the tower on top not yet rebuilt. Draco squatted down and took a look.

"What happened to the tunnel your brother dug?"

"Over there," Henry pointed to the mound of earth next to the vegetable garden.

Draco went over to look and saw a shallow pit next to the mound of earth, about a foot deep, with a tree branch lying across it—Harry's tool for digging.

Draco kicked the loose soil around the edge of the pit.

"Can this be considered authentic?"

He said it was the first phase.

Draco stood up and dusted his hands off. "When I was a kid, I wanted to dig a tunnel in the manor. My father said the Malfoys only had cellars, not tunnels, so I stopped digging."

"Be a good boy."

"It's not that I'm being obedient. It's that there are white peacocks in the cellar, and I don't want to dig them up."

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Henry's classmates were strolling around in the backyard.

Draco and Pansy sat on a bench on the terrace drinking tea, while Daphne flipped through a gardening magazine beside them.

Cedric accompanied Harry as they rebuilt the tower next to the bunker—Cedric moved stones, and Harry directed them. William watched from the sidelines, occasionally offering a word of advice.

Henry stood on the terrace, watching them, while Draco looked up.

"How were your days at Hogwarts after summer vacation?" Draco asked.

"It's quiet; there aren't many people in the castle."

"My father said the Defense Against the Dark Arts class might be reassigned next semester."

"Who should we replace them with?"

"I don't know, but what he heard was about Snape." Draco picked up his teacup. "My father said Snape always wanted that position."

Henry sat down on the bench: "Snape was alright teaching Potions, but Defense Against the Dark Arts was a different story."

"He doesn't like teaching younger students." Pansy looked up. "Judging from the tone of his voice when he teaches, how can you expect him to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts well?"

Draco chuckled. "He speaks the same way when he teaches Potions."

"But Potions is his territory," Pansy flipped through a page of the magazine. "At least he knows what he's doing."

Around three o'clock, Diana came out of the house carrying a plate of cookies.

She placed the cookies on the terrace table and walked over to the bunker.

"Harry, your tower is taller than yesterday."

"Cedric helped me move the stones," Harry said, patting the mud off his hands. "Cedric said the base needed three flat stones."

o

Diana glanced at Cedric, who shrugged. "I used to build a little shed in the yard. If the base isn't stable, the top won't hold up."

"You're right," Diana said with a smile. "Harry, next time Cedric comes, you should offer him lemonade."

Harry nodded vigorously, and Cedric smiled.

Around four o'clock, Henry took his classmates for a walk in the garden.

The afternoon sun was warm in Kensington Gardens, the hedges were neatly trimmed, and several pigeons were looking for insects on the lawn.

They walked around the trail of the Nine-Bend Lake. On a bench by the lake sat a person playing the violin. The music was intermittent, probably from a beginner.

Pansy listened for a couple of steps and said that the person played three wrong notes. Daphne said, "You don't understand music theory."

"My grandmother was a piano teacher," Pansy said with a smirk.

Draco and Cedric walked behind, a person's distance between them, and didn't say much.

Henry glanced back; Draco had his hands in his pockets, his gaze sweeping across the lake.

Cedric was looking at a few swans in the distance.

"You two hurry up," Henry said, stopping to wait for them.

At 5:30, they returned to Kensington Palace.

The housekeeper had already set out afternoon tea in the living room, along with a small plate of cut fruit.

Diana was sitting by the fireplace, chatting with Daphne.

Daphne was talking about the olive trees of Greece, and Diana was talking about the roses of Sandringham. The two were having a good conversation.

William and Harry were playing chess in a corner. William was teaching Harry how to move, but Harry was listening absentmindedly, his gaze occasionally drifting out the window, probably still thinking about his bunker.

Henry sat down on the sofa, Draco and Cedric sat opposite him, and Pansy leaned against the window frame drinking tea.

"How's the investigation of your father's documents going?" Draco suddenly asked.

Henry glanced at him.

Draco knew at Hogwarts that Charles was looking up old files; Henry had mentioned it once.

"They're still investigating. Last week he went to Buckingham Palace and found a few letters."

"What letter?"

"A letter from George VI to his court secretary concerning Abraxas Malfoy."

"My great-grandfather?"

"right."

"My father said that we also have those letters at home, and he said they should be returned to the royal family."

"Your father will visit your grandmother on August 5th, and he will personally escort her there," Henry said.

"My father takes this very seriously," Draco said, looking at Henry.

"I know."

At 6:30, the students were getting ready to leave.

Pansy's butler was waiting at the door; Daphne was going to ride with Pansy to her aunt's house in Chelsea.

Draco was traveling in a car from Malfoy Manor—Lucius had a meeting in London today and had the driver pick him up.

Cedric stood in the doorway for a moment: "I'm staying in London tonight. I'll be going back to Devon early tomorrow morning."

"Where do you live?" Henry asked.

"A hotel next to King's Cross Station. My train is at 7 a.m. tomorrow."

Henry thought for a moment: "You can stay here. There are plenty of guest rooms."

Cedric paused for a moment, then asked, "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, Mother won't mind."

Cedric glanced at Diana.

Diana waved from the living room toward the door: "Stay here. I'll have the kitchen make you breakfast tomorrow."

"Okay, thank you," Cedric said.

Draco stood at the door for a while, exchanging glances with Henry for a moment.

See you next semester.

See you next semester.

Draco stepped out the door, where the Malfoy Manor carriage was parked outside the side gate.

The coachman opened the car door, Draco got in, and the window rolled down halfway.

"Please thank Ms. Diana for her hospitality," Draco said.

"I will."

As the car drove out of the side gate of Kensington Palace, Draco waved from the car window.

Pansy and Daphne left too; Pansy's car headed towards Chelsea, and Daphne went with her.

Henry stood at the door watching the two cars drive out one after the other, then turned and went back inside.

Cedric followed the butler upstairs to the guest room, while Diana tidied the teacups on the coffee table in the living room, and Henry went over to help.

“Your classmate, Cedric, is quite polite,” Diana said, putting a scone back on the plate. “He even helped Harry move the stones.”

"He's a good person."

Diana nodded: "Draco is good too, he's just not very talkative."

"He talks a lot, but he's quieter in front of strangers today."

Dinner was at 7:30. Cedric sat next to Henry and ate the roast chicken quietly.

Harry's voice came from the end of the table; he was talking about the bunker again.

William tapped his plate with his fork to tell Harry to be quiet.

Diana asked Cedric about Devonshire, and Cedric said that the strawberries in his yard had grown exceptionally well this year, and his mother had made three jars of jam.

Diana said the strawberries in Sandringham were good this year too, and she made two jars.

The two chatted for a while about how to make jam, and Harry chimed in to complain that the jam was too sweet.

Diana said he ate three spoonfuls last time.

Harry said it was strawberry jam, not fruit jam.

After dinner, Cedric went upstairs to his room.

Henry sat in the living room for a while. Charles flipped through an old magazine by the fireplace.

Diana knitted a scarf nearby. William and Harry went upstairs.

Henry picked up his teacup.

The London night outside the window is very quiet.

"Henry," Charles put down the magazine, "does your classmate know about your situation?"

"I know a little."

"You trust him?"

"Trust," Henry nodded.

"Okay, I understand," Charles said.

Henry finished his tea and stood up.

He went upstairs to his room and sat down at his desk.

I had just sat down when I heard footsteps in the corridor.

It was Cedric knocking on the door.

"Come in."

Cedric pushed open the door and stood in the doorway. "Do you have any extra towels? There's only one in the guest room bathroom."

Henry stood up, took a folded towel from the cabinet next to the wardrobe, and handed it to him.

"There are still some in the small cabinet next to the kitchen. If you need anything, just tell the housekeeper."

Cedric took the towel. "Thanks, your house is quite big, I almost got lost after walking around for a while."