Homecoming from Hogwarts

"I have no intention of going against the Ministry of Magic or Mr. Blaine!"

John slammed the table and glared at his wife angrily.
"Don't you understand, Egwene?
The land we have is only enough to keep our family from starving, but it can't improve our lives. I must have a job. But I have no other skills. I can only do work related to brooms. I just... just..."

Looking at Evan's frightened face, John came back to his senses.

His towering shoulders slowly dropped, and his expression softened.
"I just want to continue my work. You also hope that Bona can live a decent life in the future, right?"

The rain was pouring down outside the house, and the mud and sand were washed down by the rain, burying the cobblestone road in front of the door.

"But you. What are you planning to do?"

Egwene held her face high, her brown eyes misty.
"Promise me, John, don't do anything dangerous. Bona and I can't live without you."

"rest assured--"

John hugged his wife to Egwen and patted her back gently, so that Egwen would not see the haze in his eyes at the moment.
"You know I'm no fool, Egwene.

I won't wield a shovel or a broomstick to duel with the Ministry's strikers and wizards like Mr. Braine. I'm just giving my opinion, hoping that the Ministry will pay more attention to us poor people."

Evan clasped her husband's back with her slender fingers, her brows slightly furrowed and her lips tensed.

The two people hugged each other at the door for a long time, but the rain outside showed no sign of stopping.

It was inevitable that a heavy rain before the autumn harvest meant that their harvest would be reduced.

Looking at the world that seemed to be shrouded in thick fog, Egwene became worried again.

"Maybe I should go get Bona back. I hope she won't cause any trouble for Mr. Lovegood and Luna."

"You just said--"

John's eyebrows twitched slightly.

"Are the Lovegoods nice people?"

"That's right--"

Egwene looked at her husband and blinked.

"When the weather was fine, Mr. Lovegood and his daughter would go fishing for painted squid in that little river over there, and I'd often see them while I was doing the laundry there.

Luna is willing to play with Bona, and she will give Bona some little gadgets she made herself. Beer bottle cap necklaces and the like are a bit strange, but very interesting.

When Luna went to Hogwarts, Mr. Lovegood would stay at home most of the time writing articles, occasionally taking walks by the river to find inspiration, and sometimes when he ran into me, he would buy some fresh vegetables from me. Oh, and once in the summer, he used magic to help me water the fields. "

"is it?"

John frowned.

"But I haven't heard you say that?"

"I thought I did, John, and more than once--"

Ewen reached out her hand and caressed her husband's cheek lovingly.
"But you were exhausted when you came home from work every day. When I was telling you this, you were already dozing off."

John used silence to hide his guilt.

"So--"

When Egwene mentioned picking up Bona again, John hesitated.

"Would it be possible for Mr. Lovegood and his daughter to accept you and Bona staying there for a night?"

"Stay?"

"Actually, this is the case -"

John turned his head away, avoiding his wife's inquiring gaze.
"I invited the two boys from the Ciel family and some of my friends to come to my house to drink in the evening, just to talk about our stress, but they might drink so much that they can't walk, so--"

"I think."

Egwene didn't ask any more questions, but just stared at John's eyes hesitantly.
"Mr. Lovegood and Luna will welcome you. But who will cook for you?"

"Oh, we can do it ourselves."

John was visibly relieved.

Egwene nodded.

After going up to the third floor and changing into clean clothes, Ewen returned to the first floor and found her husband cleaning the living room. This scene made Ewen, who was standing at the bottom of the stairs, dazed for a moment, but when she came to her senses, she still didn't say anything, but went to the kitchen, put some fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, and spinach into a basket, and then walked to the fireplace.

She picked up a small cloth bag from the dusty niche, weighed it in her hand for a few times, pursed her lips,
"We need to get some Floo powder, John."

"I will--"

John raised his eyes and said.

"But Diagon Alley has been destroyed, is it still possible to buy things there?"

"The Ministry of Magic has temporarily created a vacant lot next to the original Diagon Alley, and those doing business are now setting up tents to sell things."

John wiped the floor vigorously, panting as he responded to his wife's questions.

Egwene nodded, opened the bag, pinched some powder and threw it into the fireplace, then leaned into the green flames.

"Oh, I'm so sorry to bother you, Mr. Lovegood, can I come over and talk?"

John watched as his wife was visibly relieved after hearing something, and then her body outside the fireplace squeezed into the fireplace and completely disappeared in the flames.

John just stood there looking at the fireplace. About ten minutes passed, but Egwene and Bona still didn't show up.

call.
John breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that the kind-hearted Mr. Lovegood must have agreed to let Egwene and Bona stay at his house for one night.

John didn't rest for a moment this afternoon.

He first climbed onto the roof of the third floor in the heavy rain and replaced the broken tiles with wooden boards.

Afterwards, he immediately worked to repair the first-floor ceiling that was damaged by Yuwen when she was cooking at noon.

He spent the rest of his time cleaning the living room and the kitchen connected to it.

He cleaned very carefully, lying on the ground and wiping the muddy wooden floor piece by piece with a rag until the ugly black spots were no longer visible.

During this process, he also replaced several floors and used a special insecticide at home to treat the groundgrass under the floor.

However, he did not dare to provoke the spotted spiders too much, for fear that they would destroy the foundation of the house completely in a fit of rage.

John did not miss any of the hidden corners on the first floor, the niche above the fireplace, the dirty stove, and the windowsill next to the stove.
When John stopped, the first floor of his house had been completely renovated!
Although the overall look is far from decent, it is much tidier than the living room of the Weasley family's house outside the village.

However, there was no joy in John's eyes, instead he looked a little uneasy.

His eyes scanned every corner of the living room and kitchen, fearing that there was still some filth left.

Suddenly, John noticed the magic wand on the windowsill, with even the feathers sticking out. This wand had been in his house for nearly half a century, but had never cast a single spell.

"waste--"

John looked depressed. He quickly grabbed his wand and threw it into the neatly stacked firewood.

But before he could turn his body completely around, John pounced on the firewood again, and with great effort he fished the wand out from the gap between the firewood.

"For Bonna's sake, she loves watching you blow up--"

John muttered, and stuffed his wand into the cupboard drawer.

"Oh my God--"

John, who was only focused on cleaning, finally found time to look outside the house.

It seemed like in the blink of an eye, the gray and wet sky turned dark, and the annoying rain during the day stopped at some point.

The stars twinkle behind the thin clouds.

The old clock nailed on the wall told John the exact time. John didn't dare to delay and rushed upstairs.

After cleaning the house, it was time for him to tidy himself up. He couldn't have a conversation with that respectable gentleman in this state.

Compared to his seriousness in cleaning the living room, John was much more vague about his own body hygiene.

It took him less than five minutes to come out of the bathroom. After hurriedly changing into a clean shirt and jeans, John rushed downstairs while wiping his hair with a towel.

call!
John jumped down the stairs and hadn't yet stood firm when the fireplace in the kitchen suddenly burst into flames.

In the emerald green flame that was brighter than the flame of a candlestick, a man wearing a black bowler hat, an elegantly trimmed tuxedo, shiny black leather shoes, a pair of gold-rimmed square glasses on his nose, and a gentle smile on his lips walked out.

(End of this chapter)