Days at Hogwarts

Chapter 722: There's no room for homework in the summer vacation plan.

After dinner, the moon and stars were sparse.

The young wizards, having eaten and drunk their fill, gathered around the campfire to chat.

Loren and Hermione sat on a low stool and teased Tooth.

Hagrid walked over carrying a hand-woven wicker basket filled with freshly washed fruit. Lake water dripped out, indicating that the basket itself had been immersed in the lake to wash. That's how simple and brutal the half-giant did things.

"Here comes the dessert fruit."

"Thank you, Hagrid."

Ya Ya, who was lying on the ground, looked up and saw that it was just fruit. Feeling bored, she lay back down, rested her chin on Loren's shoe, and her bare tail slowly wagged.

The real large fruits in the forest were either picked by animals before they were ripe, or riddled with holes by insects and birds. The fruit basket was full of small fruits from the forest: strawberries, mulberries, cherry tomatoes, and unidentified wild berries. They were of different sizes and had strange shapes. They were washed clean, and the surface still had traces of cool lake water. A few fruits were torn by vines, and their fresh fruity fragrance wafted out, which smelled particularly good.

Loren grabbed a handful at random, not caring about the variety, and tossed three or two into his mouth, but he didn't expect to be pricked by the wild berries mixed in with him, so sour that his eyebrows almost fell off.

It's always these wild berries, all looking pretty much the same. Some are sweeter than strawberries, some are sourer than lemons. Like ginger assassins who are good at disguising themselves, they bite you unexpectedly, and you feel terrible.

Hermione glanced at him, avoided the wild berries, picked up a strawberry and put it in her mouth, biting off most of it in one go. It was a good balance of sweet and sour, not particularly amazing, but with the unique wild fruit aroma, it had a special flavor.

"Crackling..."

A crisp sound came from the fire, it was hard to tell whether it was firewood cracking or an unknown beetle falling in and burning. The campfire was not very strong. The summer night in the forbidden forest was neither hot nor cold. The fire was lit only for lighting.

Ha poked the fire with a small stick and suddenly said, "I don't plan to go home for summer vacation. I want to stay at school."

"Why?" Hagrid looked at him in surprise.

“Going back to Privet Drive will only make the Dursleys anxious, and Voldemort and the Death Eaters are elusive and might actually put them in danger.” Harry stared at the burning flames, his tone calm and relaxed. “More importantly, I won’t have to continue staying by Aunt Petunia’s side to continue my mother’s protection.”

"Harry..." Ginny couldn't help but take his hand.

Ron turned his head, spat out the pit, and scratched his head. "You can come to my house, or go to Sirius's. That's what we did last summer, wasn't it?"

"So last summer was a lot of trouble. Mad-Eye was busy with security work, and Tonks and his crew were forced to disguise themselves and hide. The two groups had to take turns between Grimoire Place and The Burrow."

"What can we do then? You can't stay in school forever, can you? As long as Voldemort is alive, are you going to never go home?" Ron turned to the two people opposite him. "Loren, Hermione, you two should try to persuade him."

“Just like Professor Moody said, it’s always good to be vigilant and cautious. Hogwarts is indeed the safest place.” Hermione paused, then explained in detail, “Our family has temporarily connected to the Floo Network, which might leave traces in the Department of Transport. If they find anything during the time Voldemort occupied the Ministry of Magic, there might really be danger… This summer, Loren and I canceled our travel plans and decided to stay home. Although the probability of Voldemort and the Death Eaters attacking us is not high.”

"Damn Voldemort!" Hagrid cursed.

"Actually, I'd love to spend the summer at Hogwarts." Harry grinned. "Don't worry about food, Dobby and Gilgamesh will take care of me. They're much better cooks than Aunt Petunia. If I get bored in the castle, I'll come find Hagrid. I've never experienced patrolling the Forbidden Forest with the gamekeepers."

Loren hesitated for a moment: "So there's never any homework in the summer vacation plan, right?"

"..."

Harry fell silent.

Loren rubbed Yaya's neck: "Be cautious as you may be, you still have to go home. Holidays are for reuniting with family. Even if you don't want to reunite with the Dursleys, you should at least consider Mrs. Weasley and your godfather's thoughts. At least write a letter to ask for their opinions."

“Speaking of writing letters…” Ron’s eyebrows furrowed. “My mother hasn’t written to us in a long time.”

Harry paused for a moment: "Sirius and Remus too."

"They don't even have time to write a letter, what are they so busy with?"

"You haven't forgotten about us, have you...?"

"Even if you forgot to write to me, you shouldn't have forgotten to write to you and Ginny, right?"

"Have we forgotten something?"

Upon hearing this, everyone seemed to remember something, staring blankly at the burning fire. After a brief silence, they all called out that name in unison:

"Betty!"

……

"Sirius, congratulations, mother and daughter are safe and sound."

"You're tired of hearing 'thank you,' but I still want to say it: thank you so much for taking care of me during this time, Molly!"

The bright and clean delivery room was decorated very warmly. Sirius, whose eyes were bloodshot, hugged Molly and repeated his words of gratitude over and over again, his voice choked and unclear.

Molly gently patted his shoulder to comfort the man who had just become a father.

"..."

It took Sirius a long time to calm himself down. He sat down in front of the hospital bed and looked at his wife, who was fast asleep in exhaustion, his heart filled with tenderness.

Since the Potters were betrayed and sacrificed by Wormtail, he had never felt so terrified, nor had he ever experienced such an agonizing wait. But when he finally learned that the baby had been born safely, he felt that all the waiting had been worthwhile.

Molly stood to the side, watching the baby in the incubator, a gentle smile playing on her lips. Molly was always pregnant and always gave birth herself; she rarely cared for other pregnant women like this. Witnessing the birth of a life from an outsider's perspective brought her a unique kind of emotion.

"We've gone through so much trouble for you all. We know it would be much easier for a witch to give birth at home."

"Oh, you don't have children, so you have no right to say that. Believe me, pregnant women have the highest rights, and Betty isn't a witch; she can give birth wherever she wants."

"Thank you, thank you..."

"Actually, I think Muggle hospitals are pretty good. If I had these nurses to help me when I gave birth, I definitely wouldn't be as fat as I am now."

"Perhaps you could have another baby girl for Ginny."

"Spare us."

"..."

Hearing the voices coming from inside the room, Lupin glanced at Tonks beside him. Tonks put a finger to his lips, signaling for silence. The two then quietly retreated to the corridor where they could speak loudly.