A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

He looked at Petunia, expecting her to say something more, but her lips were tightly pressed together. So Harry shrugged, went upstairs to pack his things, and came back down a moment later with a trunk filled with traces of his life in the house. He glanced one last time at the Dursleys, who were looking at him with strange expressions, and Harry said softly, "Goodbye," before walking toward the door.

His hand was on the doorknob. The sunlight streaming through the window was a bit dazzling. Suddenly, he heard the creaking of a sofa behind him, as if a giant beast was awakening from its slumber. Then came the sound of footsteps. Harry slowly turned around. Dudley was standing in front of him, hesitantly extending a hand.

"Are those magic books really that powerful?" Harry looked at him in surprise.

“I don’t know,” Dudley said softly. “Goodbye, Harry.”

“Okay.” Harry shook Dudley’s hand. “Goodbye, Dudley.”

Seeing Dudley force a smile, Harry suddenly had an idea that, after swirling in his mind, became incredibly tempting. He knew these words would provoke a fierce reaction from Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, but he couldn't resist saying, half-jokingly and half-seriously:

"Hey, D-bro, if you don't find a satisfactory job in the future, you could consider selling magical goods for ordinary people. What if your future children are wizards? We share some of our blood, so we can't rule out that possibility..."

“Shut up, boy!” Uncle Vernon roared angrily. “How dare you—” came Aunt Petunia’s voice. Harry opened the door to number four Privet Drive to the cheerful background music, sunlight streaming in and falling on his face. Harry turned and shouted, “Oh, right, Dudley, I left something somewhere we all know. You might like it!”

The room erupted in chaos again. Harry closed the door and walked toward Sirius Black, who was waiting at the crossroads, smiling at him.

"Is this your farewell ceremony?" Fred and George asked with interest, leaning against the fence without any intention of helping. In their words, they had finally completed their assigned task and were now taking a break. They happened to pass by when they were looking for Cedric and saw two oddly shaped buttocks through the fence, so they came over to investigate.

"What brilliant ideas do you have?" Harry said irritably. The twins raised their hands in surrender, and the corner of the rags in their hands drooped down, shaking off dust that made it impossible to open one's eyes. Harry was choked and stepped back, while Ron was unfortunately hit and cursed loudly.

“Watch out,” Mrs. Weasley said, coming over at the sound of the voice and overhearing Ron’s words. “If I hear that again, I’ll glue your mouth shut—and you two!” She put her hands on her hips and asked the twins, “Are the chairs all wiped clean?”

“It’s all wiped clean,” Fred said, waving the rag in his hand.

Mrs. Weasley covered her nose and backed away, looking at them suspiciously. "You can resist using magic? Where are the flowers?"

“We were all set. We searched the whole woods around here for that,” George said with a sigh. The four watched Mrs. Weasley leave, and he added quietly, “We really did search the whole woods around here until we found a florist in town.”

Harry looked up in astonishment. "How did you manage to get the shopkeeper to agree to sell you the flowers? Do you have money?" He was obviously referring to Muggle coins.

“Oh, the shopkeeper is a pretty young girl, easily persuaded, so we decided to use our silver tongues—” Fred said.

"In the end, I traded a bag of snacks from the Magic House for enough flowers," George said.

"What is that?" Ron's eyes widened.

"Is there any danger?" Harry asked worriedly.

“Don’t worry, these are all things that have only temporarily passed the review,” Fred said. “You should trust our judgment—”

“Or Percy’s perspective,” George said.

"In short, we lied and said we found a package left behind by a wizard, which contained a variety of fruits, floating fruit syrup, vodka, crème brûlée, vampire pudding, canary cookies, sticky lollipops..." Fred counted on his fingers.

"In short, they're all harmless things that enhance friendship," George concluded.

After the two left, Harry turned to Ron and asked, "What's Vodi?" He didn't like the name at all.

"The thing they invented that most resembles Muggle food is supposedly inspired by Voldemort," Ron explained. "It has alternating sweet and bitter flavors on a single candy bean. You can imagine it being sweet one second and terribly bitter the next... It's wrapped in thirteen layers."

Harry imagined it in his mind and couldn't help but shudder.

On the morning of the wedding, in the orchard behind the Burrow, Felix and Bill were ostensibly assigned to inspect the wedding venue, but in reality, they were taking a walk around the area. They saw Hagrid carrying two logs approaching from a distance, followed by the even larger and more imposing giant, Gropp, like some kind of ugly summoning creature.

“The wedding was in the afternoon, and Fleur was in the house doing a final check of the guest list,” Bill said. “She decided to do it herself, and also to pick up a few invitations she’d forgotten and hand them to them personally…” Seeing Felix’s look, he added, “Not only Hagrid’s brother, but Sirius also brought a list, all big shots. We didn’t dare tell Mom; she’s really on edge. You know, because of Fred and George’s suggestion.”

Felix's gaze flickered with a strange light—well, just last night at Harry's birthday party, Fred and George suggested that Gropp steal Fleur away at the wedding, and that the groom, Bill, must play the role of the hero to win back his bride in order to demonstrate his bravery.

Just like some ancient wizards who personally captured evil dragons.

Mrs. Weasley naturally rejected the suggestion without hesitation, and threatened with her eyes that if the two brothers dared to say another word on the topic, she would turn them into welcoming statues at the door.

The newly arrived Delacour couple were quite intrigued by this imagined heroic drama, but they were stunned when Ginny pointed out the giant temporarily residing in the orchard through the window.

Chapter 705 The Wedding in Progress

Felix and Bill stood in front of a tall wooden house not far from the wedding tent. The house was at least twenty or thirty feet tall, and each side was made of tree trunks with the excess branches trimmed off, leaving only the top part of the crown, making it look like a green mushroom.

This was a temporary house prepared for Hagrid's brother, Grop, but now the small house has a large hole in it.

“Little Grop couldn’t find the door when he woke up this morning,” Hagrid said abruptly, as if that was enough. He started knocking and banging, taking apart the broken wood and replacing it with new logs. He tied a handkerchief the size of a tablecloth to the edge of the door and pointed it out to Grop.

The giant extended two fingers, pinched the handkerchief, and pulled it back and forth, causing the door to open and close repeatedly.

“He’s very smart,” Bill said.

“Yes,” Hagrid said proudly, “Little Grop can already count to twelve.”

Grop's large fingers plucked at the logs one by one, and he said in a deep voice, "One, two, three... ten." When he reached ten, he added two more, "Grop eleven, Hagel twelve."

He scratched his head and grinned foolishly.

“Very good, Hagrid,” Felix said. “He still has a lot of potential. But we need to move the house first.”

“Let’s move it,” Hagrid said readily. “I think binding names to numbers will allow Grop to count to seventeen, but no more,” his face darkened. “It’s easy to miss one or two names.”

The giant suddenly blocked the house and roared at them, "Glopp wants the house."

“It’s just temporarily moved,” Hagrid replied loudly. “I’ll return it to you tonight.” He then looked uncertainly at Felix. “You can use that magic that shrinks objects, right?”

“I’m going to use another spell,” Felix said vaguely. “It’s more portable, and of course, more interesting.” He looked at Grop. “Excuse me.” The giant hesitated for a moment, then remembered the fate of the three-headed dog. He reluctantly moved aside and plopped down on the ground.

The ground trembled violently.

Felix circled the cabin, searching for the right angle, and then the thought cabin unfolded like a silver veil. The color of the wood became indistinct, and the lines on the edges became more prominent, like a three-dimensional oil painting. He reached out and pushed, and the three-dimensional painting was compressed into a flat surface, floating down into Felix's hand. Felix rolled it up and handed it to Hagrid.

Hagrid stared blankly at the unfolding screen, while Gropp's eyes widened, his head resting on Hagrid's shoulder, muttering incoherently.

"You can do this now?" Bill asked in surprise.

"The combination of ancient runes with other magic is quite interesting, isn't it?" Felix asked.

“It’s like my memory has gone haywire,” Bill said casually. “When I was in school, I had no idea that ancient runes would turn out like this. Do you still keep in touch with Professor Barbling?”

Felix hesitated for a moment. "She said I made what should have been a relaxing vacation busy." However, his former professor of ancient runes praised Felix's move to take over the Ancient Runes Association, believing it helped her vent her anger.

“The old man is hiding from me now,” she wrote smugly in the letter. Felix wasn’t sure if she was referring to Kremy’s grandfather, or the previous chairman, or perhaps both.

Felix conjured a spinning top with magic and let Grop spin it around. Then they walked towards the Burrow on the soft grass, with Haig waving to Grop along the way, holding an irregularly folded oil painting in his hand.

“Be careful, Hagrid, magic could damage its structure,” Felix warned him. Hagrid’s boisterous movements immediately softened considerably.

Passing through a grove of crabapple trees, the Burrow came into view in the distance, and Bill hesitated for a moment.

"Felix, I have something to tell you, it's about fairies."

Felix looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

“I worked at Gringotts for a while, and I know them, or at least I think I do. Wizards and fairies can be friends as long as they don’t get into sensitive topics. Like wizards, they are different individuals, with good and bad personalities.”

Felix knew that wasn't what Bill was going to say. "That's not surprising. Intelligent beings always have richer personalities and emotions."

“That’s right,” Bill chimed in, then continued, “A goblin friend of mine told me that the Goblin Brotherhood has elected a new leader and is unhappy about the goblins’ easy agreement to join the Pan-Magical Alliance, as well as the wizards’ threats to reveal the secrets of goblin magic. Besides, goblins aren’t just in Britain; Gringotts are all over the world, and so are goblins. They balance different opinions through a council of elders, and only about a third of the goblin elders participated in the previous negotiations.”

"You mean they're divided, and the trend is clear?" Felix pondered for a moment, then asked, "Are they planning to do anything soon?"

“As far as I know, no,” Bill said. “But once our negotiations with the Muggle government are over, they should take some action.”

“Let’s keep an eye on it,” Felix said. “Even if it’s a powder keg, it’s only going to explode in the future. Unlike the ongoing government negotiations, the fairies have joined the Pan-Magical Alliance, and Dirk Clysway, the director of the fairy liaison office, will appease them. I’m currently tied up, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, I’ll be going abroad after the wedding.”

“From abroad?” Bill and Hagrid exclaimed simultaneously. A thoughtful glint flashed in Bill's eyes. “Is it related to those guests Sirius Black added at the last minute? They're from the International Wizarding Federation…”

“Hmm,” Felix didn’t elaborate, “Compared to the problems abroad, the troubles caused by fairies seem insignificant. The fairy problem is not unsolvable, but it is difficult to solve in a short time. We can pretend to threaten to cut ties at the negotiating table and part ways, but in practice, it will inevitably be accompanied by turmoil and chaos in the entire wizarding world. It’s not worth it at the current juncture.”

His point was simply to distinguish between primary and secondary matters, and clearly, fairies belonged to the latter category.

The three walked through a garden that looked as if it had been washed clean. Mrs. Weasley stood by the window with a long list in her hand, her sharp eyes scanning back and forth. Hearing the door open, she stepped forward and said anxiously, "I feel like something's missing."

Bill opened his mouth, but a white shadow brushed past Mrs. Weasley and pounced into his arms. It was Fleur. She took a step back, spun around, and her white dress unfolded like ripples on water, her long, silvery hair the perfect finishing touch.

“Honey, do I look pretty?” Hibiscus asked.

“It’s absolutely gorgeous,” Bill said, and Fleur’s face lit up with a smile, but Mrs. Weasley’s smile vanished. Felix looked around and pointed to the banner floating above the ceiling and the purple lanterns piled in the corner. “I think it’s because of this, Molly. There were some things from Harry’s birthday party last night that we didn’t have time to clean up.”

“Oh, yes, you’re right,” Mrs. Weasley said hastily.

Hagrid followed Felix cautiously into the living room, which was packed with people. "Hello, Charlie," Hagrid said warmly. Charlie was the second Weasley's son, working in Romania researching dragons. Hagrid liked him quite a bit, perhaps because Charlie had once done him a great favor.

"How is Norber?" Hagrid asked.

“Nober?” Charlie laughed. “We’ll call it Norbert now.”

"What? Norbert is a girl?"

“Yes,” Charlie said. “It’s not easy to tell the sex of baby dragons, but it’s easier when they grow up. For example, I recently got a Ukrainian Ironbelly, and it’s as big as an inflated balloon…” He looked at Felix, who waved to him and sat down next to Lupin.

“They do grow very fast when they’re young,” Hagrid said softly, recalling his experience raising dragons.

After Felix sat down, Lupin leaned over and whispered somewhat urgently, "After the wedding, could you spare some time to come to the company? It shouldn't take too long."

"What?" Felix asked in a low voice as well.

“I think…it’s done.” Lupin seemed to be desperately trying to hide his excitement. The Delacours were quite surprised, but they were immediately drawn to Mr. Weasley’s witty joke.

“What do you mean, ‘okay’?” Felix looked at Lupin. He mouthed a gesture.

“Ancient magic that controls werewolf transformation.” Lupin said, his voice trembling slightly. “It might be the effect of the alcohol. After celebrating Harry’s birthday last night and returning to Sword Castle, I had a strange feeling. I tried it once, and it went very smoothly to the last step, but I didn’t dare to continue.”

“No problem, tonight it is.” Felix said thoughtfully. He was also happy for Lupin. After five whole months, Lupin had finally seen a glimmer of hope. He even had a considerable amount of ancient runes due to his work, which showed how difficult this magic was.

He could understand Lupin's eagerness. Normally, testing on a full moon night would be the best option, but the significance of this magic was too great for him, and the two-week wait seemed too long.

……

Mr. Weasley burst into laughter, as if he were the one listening to the story.

The Delacours weren't very fluent in English, so they expressed their praise in French. Their youngest daughter, Gabrielle Delacour, sat between her parents, looking around. She was a spitting image of Hibiscus; although only 11 years old, she was already a stunning beauty. She and Ginny were bridesmaids at today's wedding.

Gabrielle suddenly jumped up from her seat, pressed her little face against the window, and chattered, "Mommy! Someone's here! Are they wedding guests? Is the wedding about to start?"

Mr. Weasley also stood up and went to the window to look out. "It's Percy and Penelope, and Sirius Black!" He glanced at his watch, then his gaze swept around the room before settling on Charlie.

“It’s almost time, Charlie. Go and call the little ones in the garage.” Charlie stood up in response. “Okay, Dad. While you’re at it, check if they’ve made a mess of the garage.”

“Let Gabrielle go,” Mr. Delacour said good-naturedly. His wife stood up. The couple seemed to be reversed in height; the wife was taller than the husband, slender, with bright blonde hair, while the husband was short, stocky, and had a small black mustache.

Gabrielle skipped excitedly to the door, pushed it open, and disappeared from their sight in the blink of an eye. This seemed to be a signal; everyone in the room sprang into action.

On the other side, earlier

The adults chatted in the living room, while the children (or those considered still children) huddled in the Weasley garage, chatting casually. Ron kept fiddling with the radio equipment the Weasley twins had brought back.

“I’ll buy one someday,” Ron said.

"You're not going to be an Auror anymore?" Fred raised an eyebrow.