Homecoming from Hogwarts

Woo!
The deafening train whistle woke Percy from his decadent thoughts. When he came to his senses, he found that the scenery outside the window had changed from the endless green mountains and the rippling blue lakes between the valleys. The Hogwarts Express was galloping across the endless fields and pastures full of cattle and sheep.

The wide open space under the bright sunshine did not make Percy feel any better.

He lifted his butt slightly from the cushioned sofa in the box and looked in the direction of the departure. The majestic and towering Hogwarts had completely disappeared from his sight, and not even a shadow could be seen.

"Hey--"

A heavy sigh dissipated in the rhythmic sound of wheels rolling over the rails. Percy bent down and buried his face in his outstretched hands.

Professor Blaine was not convinced by himself.

Percy didn't want to deceive himself that he hadn't expected this situation, but Professor Braine was so decisive that he didn't even explain the reason for his refusal. This was something he didn't expect.
In his opinion, Professor Brian still takes good care of him.

When he was still the assistant of old Mr. Barty Crouch, he had just independently supported the daily work of the Department of International Magical Cooperation after Mr. Crouch left on sick leave. He had a very difficult time during that period, and was troubled by countless insignificant and tedious matters. Professor Brian gave him some advice. He asked himself to ask his father more questions and asked his father to take him to visit the heads of various departments.

He did as he was told half-heartedly, and from then until he was kicked out of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, his work was much easier than before.

"Why don't you want to help me again?"

A lost complaint came from behind the open palm.

It's just a matter of letting Ms. Umbridge teach at Hogwarts. The young wizards are just in need of a professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Isn't this the best of both worlds?
Percy didn't want to think too deeply about why Professor Brian refused, but the current situation was that he had fallen into an even more desperate situation.

He did not complete the minister's test, so he could not hope to become the minister's assistant. He had to continue wasting his precious time day after day in the Ma Ren's office, a place where there was nothing to do except wiping tables and sweeping the floor. Perhaps his embarrassing situation would not be reversed until the next minister took office.

He wiped his face with his hands a few times, and wiped his eyes which were a little moist due to the sour stimulation, and Percy once again cast a dull gaze out the window.

What should I do next?

Not only did he fail to get the support of Professor Blaine, but he also angered his father. Ron was right. His father did strongly oppose his coming to Hogwarts, and they had a big fight over this.

Thinking of his father, Percy's confused heart became more angry.

He really couldn't understand what good it would be to go against the powerful Minister of Magic, if it wasn't for the fact that he had always been...
Boom, boom, boom——
The sudden knock on the glass door of the box made Percy turn his head. A smiling woman with dimples appeared in his sight. There was a cart parked in front of the woman.

Seeing Percy looking at her, the woman smiled and pushed open the door of the box.

"Honey, do you want to buy some food from the car?"

"Oh, thank you, no, I brought my own."

Some long-standing habits made Percy subconsciously give a negative answer, but before he could finish, he realized that he was no longer studying at Hogwarts. He did not have the pie prepared by his mother with him. Moreover, he was not as cramped as when he was in school. Working in the Ministry of Magic still allowed him to save some money, although not much.

The witch selling snacks did not show any displeasure because of Percy's refusal. She still nodded at Percy with a smile, and then prepared to close the door of the box.

"and many more!"

Percy said, looking at the wide variety of food on the cart, he suddenly realized that he did not follow Professor Brain's suggestion to have lunch at school, but left Hogwarts directly. Now, he did feel a little hungry, and what made him happy was that there were some Galleons in the purse in his pocket.

"Change your mind, dear?"

The slightly plump witch looked at Percy with slight anticipation.

"Oh, yes—"

Standing up from his seat, Percy examined the snacks on the cart.

The food was very rich, and the cart was piled with Peppa Pig Every Flavour Beans, Puffball bubble gum, chocolate frogs, pumpkin pies, cauldron cakes, liquorice wands, and some candies from the Bee Duke Candy Store.
He couldn't remember whether he had ever shopped in this witch vendor's mobile shop during his seven years of education at Hogwarts. Even if he had, it was probably only a few times due to reasons he didn't want to mention.

"Oh, are you sure you want to buy so much, dear?"

The witch's surprised voice brought Percy, who was lost in memories, back to reality. Percy blinked and found that the food he had chosen had been piled up into a small mountain on the seat in the box. This was indeed more than he could finish by himself. "If I buy all of it, how much will it cost?"

Percy bit his lip and spoke carefully.

"Oh, the prices of these things have gone up recently, dear—"

Percy's heart skipped a beat at the plump witch's response. Before his face could even turn red, he heard the witch say,

"Sixteen silver Sickles and nine bronze Knuts."

"Oh--"

Percy breathed a sigh of relief. He took out a Galleon from his pocket, feeling strangely satisfied.

"Here you go, no need to look for it—"

"Oh, thank you, generous gentleman--"

The fat witch took the Galleon with a smile and considerately closed the box door for Percy.

Generous gentleman sir.
It was not until the clattering sound of the cart faded away that the smile on Percy's lips slowly faded away, and his melancholy mood also dissipated a lot in this pleasant transaction.

With some eagerness, Percy returned to his seat and began to taste his food. He had tasted almost all of these common foods before, but perhaps because of hunger, Percy had never thought they were so sweet, so that his eating posture revealed a bit of wolfing down.

Although he was not particularly fond of these 'children's' food, he had never experienced such 'affluence' before.

During his student life at Hogwarts, most of his things, including magic books, cauldrons, scales, telescopes, and wizard robes, came from Bill and Charlie. When he first stepped into Hogwarts, the only completely new thing that belonged to him was his wand, and his pet owl was bought for him by his parents after he became a prefect in the fifth grade.

In this family, poverty tortures everyone's self-esteem, but no one dares to speak out in public, which is undoubtedly a kind of cowardice.

Almost greedily, Percy tore at the snacks.

It’s not that their family can’t live a good life, and their poverty is not entirely caused by having too many brothers and sisters.

The root of the problem comes from his father.

His father's greatest hobby has always been to tinker with those useless things from the Muggle world. He has never been willing to put more effort into his work, has no ambition, is unwilling to please his superiors, and is willing to stay in a worthless small department to entertain himself, while ignoring the difficult life at home.

Compared to that, what have I done wrong?
Since he entered the Ministry of Magic, he has devoted all his energy to his work, hoping to have a good career development, to realize his ambitions, and to make his family live a more decent life, so that his mother does not have to worry about money all the time.
In order to achieve this goal, he had to gain the favor of the Minister of Magic, so for this reason, he came to Hogwarts today.

A piece of chocolate cake choked his throat. The pain of suffocation made Percy curl up, his body twitching slightly. He reached for the water glass on the table with difficulty, and after taking a gulp, he finally breathed better.

Percy fell on the chair. Perhaps because of the pain he had just experienced, the thin young man's eyes were slightly moist. He gasped and looked at the flowing white clouds outside the window with lifeless eyes.

Why doesn't anyone understand his difficulties?

(End of this chapter)