Homecoming from Hogwarts

12 Grimmauld Place.

The soft and comfortable sunlight shines through the carved window grilles and falls on the two boys who are writing furiously at their desks.

The quill scratched across the parchment, and the rapid rustling sound filled the room.

Although his wrist was sore, Harry did not dare to stop for a moment. He held his breath and concentrated. His green eyes were not focused on the words left by the pen tip as it passed through the paper. Instead, he paid special attention to the remaining space on the parchment under his pen. He wrote with great vigor and vitality and muttered softly to himself.

Ron, who was sitting next to him, was in almost the same state.

The old clock on the wall faithfully records every second of the passing of time. When the hour hand points to ten o'clock--
"It's done!"

Harry suddenly dropped his quill, jumped up from his chair, and raised his hands above his head, making a celebratory noise like he had won a Quidditch match.

On the other hand, Ron looked as if he had lost his parents when Harry cheered.

Reluctantly, he pulled out Harry's parchment and glanced at it. After making sure that Harry's essay met the length required by Professor Binns, he let out a wail and fell on the table as if his spine had been pulled out!
"Give it to me Ron, don't try to cheat!"

Ron's wailing not only failed to win Harry's sympathy, but made the smile on his face even brighter. He stretched out a hand towards Ron.

"for you--"

Ron let out an angry cry, reached into his pocket, pulled out a handful of coins, picked out a Galleon, and put the remaining coin given to him by Sikko, Nat, and Professor Brian back into his pocket.

"This Galleon should have played a more important role--"

Ron reluctantly placed the Galleon in Harry's palm and said with a melancholy look on his face.

"I'll admit my defeat, Ron—"

Harry said with a grin,
"It's just one Galleon. It's not worth losing your composure."

The tightly closed door of the room opened at this moment, and a person appeared, whom they had known would appear today. But when she really appeared, the two of them couldn't help but fall into surprise.

Before Harry could even shout out in surprise, the girl at the door rushed over and hugged him tightly.

"Oh, it's only been two weeks, Hermione--"

Feeling the warm embrace, Harry said, but the joy in his heart was many times greater than winning a Galleon from Ron just now, and he hugged Hermione tightly.

Then it was Ron's turn. Hermione smiled brightly and gave Ron a warm hug, which made the slight tension on Ron's face disappear and his smile became brighter.

"How was the tour, Hermione?"

Ron asked with a grin, looking Hermione over.

The girl in front of them was wearing a Muggle-style light blue halter dress with floral patterns and her slender, fair feet were wearing refreshing sandals. She seemed to be eager to see them. Hermione had not yet taken off the straw hat with a white silk ribbon wrapped around it and tied into a playful bow.

Perhaps because of the abundant sunshine, Hermione's skin color was slightly tan.

However, this did not detract from her beauty. Harry and Ron were surprised to find that after only two weeks of not seeing Hermione, she looked much taller than before!

"call!"

Hermione's face was filled with a smile just as bright as Harry and Ron's. She looked around the room, and the much worse environment than before made her nose twist.

But then she let out a breath of pleasure,

"My father and mother took me to Dijon, which was beautiful, but the weather was much drier than in London, and I couldn't adapt to it.
Let’s not talk about this anymore. How’s your summer homework going?”

"Already done!"

"almost!"

Harry and Ron said quickly.

They both moved at the same time, hiding their History of Magic papers that they had made up for a speed contest and placed on the table behind them. Of course, even without this, their papers would not necessarily be that brilliant in Hermione's eyes.

"Oh, really!"

Hermione looked delighted.
"I thought you wouldn't be so diligent without supervision. Anyway--"

Fortunately, Hermione didn't notice their little movements. She combed the hair in front of her eyes and continued,

"My parents were not happy that I left early, they wanted me to stay at home until school started.
You know, I didn't spend much time with them this summer, the trial and the war in Diagon Alley delayed me--"

"And how did you convince them, Hermione?"

Harry actively followed Hermione's topic and pretended to be very interested in it, because if Hermione noticed their messed up paper, with her stubborn and serious personality, she would probably force them to rewrite it.

"I told them that I had to buy things for next semester in advance. I didn't tell them that the wizarding world had just experienced a war, but only said that things were a little uneasy, so I'd better go with you, and then they agreed--"

Hermione was in high spirits.

"By the way, have you received the book list sent by Hogwarts? It's strange that I didn't find that it requires us to buy the textbooks for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class next semester--"

"Maybe they haven't figured out who to ask for this unfortunate job yet!" Ron and Harry had the same idea. In order to avoid rewriting the boring paper, Ron also actively followed the topic.

"We've been waiting for you to come. Now that you're here, we can set off to Diagon Alley right away!"

"They're already waiting for us downstairs!"

Hermione suddenly remembered, and hurriedly grabbed Harry and Ron's arms, rushed out of the room, and walked down the stairs in rapid steps.

"By the way, how did you get here, Hermione?"

When they got down to the second floor, Harry glanced at the large suitcase at the door of Ginny's bedroom and asked,
"A Muggle taxi?"

"Don't be silly, Harry, of course it's the Knight Bus -"

Hermione said quickly.

"But!"

Ron looked puzzled. Before he could even ask his question, Hermione answered.
"Before I left, the Daily Prophet said it, didn't it? The Death Eaters only stole the Knight Bus to transport the giants to the battlefield, but they didn't kill the driver and conductor of the bus!"

"why?"

Harry asked in confusion.

"Are the Death Eaters beginning to show mercy?"

"Oh, maybe the You-Know-Who really likes the Knight Bus!"

Ron pouted.

They went down to the kitchen where Mrs. Weasley, Ginny and the twins were ready to go.

"Hurry up, Ron!"

As he walked down the stairs, Ron's robe got caught on the wooden spikes on the handrail, and he was tearing his robe, which was obviously too small.

Ginny looked at her brother unhappily.

"We still have to go to Gringotts to get the money first!"

Harry and the Weasleys had been to Diagon Alley many times, but each time before they set out, Mrs. Weasley always looked cautious and uneasy, never as confident as she was now.

She stood in front of the fireplace with a smile on her face, not once blaming Ron for the rude way he treated his robes.

Harry knew that her confidence was due to Ron's prize money from the Triwizard Tournament and the huge increase in Mr. Weasley's salary.

"Don't complain, Ron. We can buy you a new robe later. Just consider it as encouragement in advance!"

“Encourage what?”

Ron, who was looking at the tear in his robe unhappily, suddenly raised his head and looked at his mother eagerly.

"Does this need to be said?"

Hermione was the first to react. She took a small breath and looked a little nervous.
"Fifth grade is the OWLS year, isn't it? We have to face the OWLS exam this school year. Oh my god, my heart is pounding just thinking about it!"

"Oh, if I didn't have to take the OWLS test, I would have worn this ripped robe for the entire school year."

Ron immediately wilted.

They crowded in front of the fireplace noisily, but everyone had a smile on their face, as if the start of school at Hogwarts had brought general happiness to everyone.

Harry felt that this was a bit like the Olympic Games, and all disputes had to be postponed for this important day.

"Come to think of it, wasn't Gringotts destroyed in the war, Mrs. Weasley?"

Watching Fred and George jump into the fireplace first, Harry suddenly thought of a key point. He quickly turned around and asked Mrs. Weasley, who was at the end of the team.

When he went to Diagon Alley before the war, he also deposited the prize money he won from the competition into the vault. It would be too conspicuous to carry so much gold with him!

That was the first time since he inherited the vault that he put gold into it instead of taking it out.

but--
This was also because Gringotts stored all his assets. If he lost all of them at once, he would have no choice but to borrow money from Sirius.

"Oh, don't worry, dear. Those vaults are deep underground and were not affected by the war. Gringotts will compensate for the losses of individual vaults!"

Mrs. Weasley said with a smile.

"I don't recognize fairies anymore--"

Harry grunted something, then stepped into the fireplace. (End of this chapter)