Ron Weasley's summer vacation was not a pleasant one.
Not long ago, I had an unpleasant quarrel with Percy over asking him to borrow an owl.
Ever since that last phone call, Ron had completely lost contact with Harry.
Hermione wrote in the letter that Harry's uncle might hate wizards, so he forbade Harry to contact his friends in the wizarding world, and suggested that Hagrid should visit Harry on their behalf.
Ron also thought Hermione's proposal was very good, so he wrote a letter to Hagrid, but his owl Errol was already very old, and he really couldn't bear to let it fly too far to deliver the letter.
Ever since Percy became a prefect, the family had bought an owl, so Ron wanted to borrow the owl from him.
It was just that Percy kept making poor excuses to reject him, which made Ron feel very annoyed.
"Percy still doesn't want to borrow the owl." Fred, who was playing wizard cards with Ginny, looked up at Ron who came downstairs angrily and asked.
"Hermes has gone out to deliver the message." Percy explained casually.
"Don't tell me that you send endless letters every day." Ron was checking Errol's situation. After hearing Percy's words, he turned and glared at him, "Please lie and come up with a good excuse."
In the end, Ron was reluctant to let the elderly Errol go out to help him deliver a message to Hagrid. Crossing half of Britain was a severe test for an elderly owl.
"I do." Percy's face turned red and he glared at Ron. "As for who I send the letter to, it has nothing to do with you."
Ginny glanced at Percy secretly, and she knew who Percy was writing to during the summer vacation.
"Isn't there any news from Harry yet?" George took a sip of his drink, picked up the Daily Prophet on the counter, and sat down next to Fred.
"No."
Ron thought it was the last time he called Harry that caused the trouble.
At that time, the person who answered the phone must have been Harry's uncle, and the tone of that person was very bad, or extremely bad.
"Hermione thought that Harry might be trapped at home. The uncle who adopted him hated wizards, so Hermione suggested that Hagrid help us visit Harry."
Ron didn't know that Hagrid had actually written several letters to Harry, but never got a reply. He suspected that Harry was in trouble.
However, Dumbledore had reminded him before that if it was nothing important, he should not disturb Harry's life, so Hagrid had no idea of going to Harry directly.
Of course, if Hagrid knew about Harry's situation, he would probably visit the Dursleys personally.
"When I get rich, I will definitely buy an owl myself." Ron put the letter back into his pocket and muttered quietly.
"You have money? You have no hope." Fred joked with a smile, "In the future, when we have money, you can come and work for us again!"
"Do you have money?" Ron curled his lips dissatisfied.
Of course he knew what Fred and George were doing, but he didn't understand where these two guys had the confidence. Given their family's situation, they couldn't help them at all.
"This is not something you should worry about." George took a sip of his drink and opened today's Daily Prophet. As soon as he took a sip of the drink in his mouth, he spurted it out, all over Percy who was sitting across the table.
Face.
"What the hell are you doing!" Percy growled.
"Look at today's headlines!" George ignored the furious Percy, spread the Daily Prophet on the table, and excitedly called to the others.
"What's wrong?"
Fred was the first to put his head close, and then his eyes widened in surprise, "It's really Albert. That guy actually went to France and made himself an international wizard chess champion."
The Weasley children gathered at the table to look at the black-and-white photos of the headlines.
That was a photo of Albert holding the International Wizards Chess trophy.
Ron looked at the text under the black and white photo and read out softly: "Albert Anderson, a player from the UK, defeated all opponents and became the youngest champion in the history of the International Wizard Chess Competition."
Looking at the beautiful young man in the photo, Ron felt sour in his heart.
The opponent was obviously not much older than him, but he had already won the honor of the International Wizard Chess Champion.
What about yourself?
In fact, if possible, Ron would also like to participate in the International Wizards Chess Competition and obtain this honor like Anderson.
It's a pity that he can only think about everything in his heart. He can't even go to France, let alone participate in the international wizard chess competition.
"I remember, last time that guy wrote a letter saying that he was going to the United States with someone else and asked us not to send him letters!" Fred muttered, "Actually, he wrote to the wrong place!"
"Children, what are you doing?" Mr. Weasley, who had just gotten off work, walked in from the door and asked as he looked at the children gathered at the table.
"We were watching the news that Albert won the international wizard chess championship." Percy was still wiping his cheeks with a handkerchief, "I never knew his wizard chess was so good."
"That's just you don't know." Fred said sarcastically.
"Reporters from the Daily Prophet are now looking for him everywhere and want to give him an exclusive interview." Mr. Weasley did know some inside information, "No one knows where he is now."
"He seems to have said he is going to the United States."
"Dad, why did Albert go to France and win the International Wizarding Chess Championship?" Ron was very curious about this. He knew that Albert was a Muggle wizard and was more troublesome than them in certain things.
"It seems that someone took him to France." Mr. Weasley actually didn't know much about it. "It is said that Mr. Bud Brod, one of the former international wizard chess champions, recommended him to participate in the competition."
"Is that Mr. Broad?" Fred and George looked at each other: "I remember that Albert had a very good relationship with him. When he was in first grade, Albert often went to Mr. Broad's place for afternoon tea.
.”
"What's wrong, Percy?" Ginny noticed the change on Percy's face and asked confused.
"Look here." Percy motioned for everyone to look at the fourth page.
"Albert is a Muggle wizard, and there are always some people who dislike him."
There was a hint of disgust in Mr. Weasley's tone: "They think he used magic, because it is impossible for an underage Muggle wizard to go to France to participate in the International Wizarding Chess Competition."
At this moment, everyone's faces were not very good-looking, and there was no doubt that they were full of malicious accusations.
"Of course, this matter was suppressed quickly." Mr. Weasley comforted, "Of course Fudge would not allow such an article to appear. Britain finally won the championship, so wouldn't it be a slap in the face to itself?
?”
"Mr. Bud Brod revealed in the interview that he asked an old friend to send Albert to France to compete..." Mr. Weasley pointed to an interview on the Daily Prophet and said, "Many people said
That kind of sound is very dissatisfying.”
"Albert knows many famous wizards." Fred suddenly said: "He often has correspondence with those famous wizards, and it is normal for someone to protect him."
"No, it's very abnormal. In fact, just now, the Department for the Prohibition of the Misuse of Muggle Items received a large number of reports. Someone reported that the group headed by Malfoy had a large number of dark magic items hidden in their home." Mr. Weasley
There was a hint of excitement in his tone, "The superiors even directly issued a search warrant, allowing me to take people to their homes for a surprise inspection."
…
…
In the kitchen of McDougal's house, Katrina hurried in holding the Daily Prophet.
"What's wrong?" Mrs. McDougal looked at her daughter in confusion.
"Have you seen the headlines in today's Daily Prophet?" Katrina asked.
"Sit down and tell me something." Isobel took off the apron, placed a cup of milk tea in front of Katrina, picked up the Daily Prophet, read the headlines, and said to her mother, "Katrina probably wants to say
My boyfriend won the international wizard chess competition!"
"Your boyfriend?" Mrs. McDougal was not surprised that her daughter had a boyfriend.
In fact, she heard Isobel mention it last time, a boy named Albert Anderson, who was said to be a talented genius.
"As expected of my daughter, she has very good taste." Mrs. McDougal looked at the newspaper and said to Isobel, "If you have the opportunity, you can invite her to our house."
"Yeah." Isobel responded.
Just then, a woman's voice came from the fireplace.
"It seems that there is another emergency tonight." Mrs. McDougal glanced at the clock, "I may have to work overtime and won't be able to come back at night."
After saying this, she got into the fireplace and disappeared.
Isobel and Katrina looked at each other, they had seen this situation countless times.
Katrina recalled what Isobel had just said, and her expression suddenly became a little subtle.
The two sisters were sitting at the table talking about what was in the newspaper, but their attention was soon attracted by a photo on the third page.
In the photo, a beautiful French girl is kissing Albert's cheek, and there are two other beautiful girls next to her.
The Daily Prophet used a photo to help Albert fabricate a romantic history.
"Isobel, you have to be careful, that guy might be secretly dating other girls without telling you." Katrina stared at the photo for a long time, then raised her head and said to her sister.
No way, Louise's passionate face-to-face kiss was too deceptive.
"You think too much!"
Isobel was quite calm and didn't take this matter to heart at all.
"I don't think foreign girls are so enthusiastic." Katrina pouted and said, "I just don't want you to be deceived."
"The Daily Prophet always likes to catch people's attention and create some fake news to attract everyone's attention." Isobel pointed at the author of this article, "Rita Skeeter always likes to spread rumors and distort the facts. Don't you think so?
is that clear?"
Katrina couldn't understand why Isobel was so calm and didn't take this matter to heart at all.
"Well, don't worry, even if they are really love rivals, they have no chance of winning." Isobel said calmly, "What's more, they are not even love rivals."
Of course Katrina doesn't know that Isobel can ask Albert through the double-sided mirror at any time, if she wants. As for how to ask without making Albert feel uncomfortable, Isobel naturally has her own
method.
Moreover, Isobel actually didn’t believe this was true. What kind of person was Albert? After being together for so long, wouldn’t she, a telegrapher, have no idea?
On the contrary, it was her sister's reaction that was a bit beyond her expectations, which made Isobel sigh inwardly.