days at Hogwarts

Chapter 729 Hedwig's Summer Vacation
It was the last day of July, early in the morning.

Harry walked out of the bathroom sleepily, wearing yellowed sneakers and a black plaid striped shirt he bought last year. The shirt had faded a little from being washed several times and was slightly blue. Two buttons had fallen off.

On the carpet next to the bed in the dormitory, dozens of packages were piled up like a small mountain. These were birthday gifts sent by friends.

Hedwig was standing on top of the hill.

Harry's eyes lit up and he became more alert. He rubbed his eyes, suppressed his joy and walked over: "Good morning, Hedwig."

The owl tilted its head to look at him and opened its mouth to respond.

Hedwig is already an adult snowy owl, with pure white feathers mixed with some black feathers. Her true shape cannot be seen from the outside. Anyway, she is a fluffy and soft ball that looks good to the touch. Her black eyes are still pure and bright, just like when we first met.

The owl was soon placed on the carpet, gnawing at the dry white rat meat.

Harry sat nearby and watched, a smile on his face.

He never thought of Hedwig as a pet, but more like a loyal companion.

If we were to ask who has always been by his side over the years, the answer would actually be Hedwig, whether at Hogwarts or returning to Privet Drive during the holidays. Hedwig even lived with him in the stairwell of the Dursleys' house. When he ran away without permission that year, it was Hedwig who accompanied him on the Knight Bus and all the way to the Leaky Cauldron to stay.

When conditions allowed, he fed her rat jerky and special nuts, which Hedwig ate with relish. When conditions were poor, such as when he was staying at the Dursleys' house and the canned owl food ran out, he fed her some of his own jerky and bread crumbs, and Hedwig didn't protest.

Sometimes the food fed to them was too unpalatable, such as Hagrid's rock biscuits, which were really hard to swallow, so Hedwig would go to the woods to hunt for food herself.

Harry occasionally thought about a question: Would Hedwig be willing to stay with him?

Or was he trained like this, having to obey the orders of his master, follow him without expecting anything in return, and work as a postman?
Harry glanced at the pecking Snowy Owl and thought that Hedwig also regarded him as a partner.

Harry picked up the top package and tore off the brown paper while thinking, Hedwig is already an adult, should he find a mate for her? It would be best if she could be a snowy owl.

Perhaps his look was a little offensive, Hedwig stopped pecking and looked at him suspiciously.

Harry quickly calmed down and lowered his head to concentrate on opening his gift.

There were no other social circles in the boarding school, and birthday presents were basically given by classmates. They were all the same things, candies and snacks, books and stationery, Quidditch toys, and some naughty things, such as the Every-Flavoured Beans with the Weasleys’ Trick Shop label...

It said Every Flavour Beans on the package, and it looked Every Flavour Beans from the inside out. In fact, it might be Every Flavour Beans, but with the Weasleys' Tricks label on it, he didn't dare to taste it.

Tear off the label and put it away temporarily, and find an opportunity to give it to someone else.

As the birthday presents were opened one by one, sorted and put aside, and many birthday cards were stacked into a small pile, Harry clearly felt the love from his friends during this process, and a kind of joy from the bottom of his heart arose, which made him slow down and move more gently to prolong the process of opening the presents.

"…A birthday present from Loren, 'The Origin and Development of Legilimency'. A birthday present from Hermione, 'The Application and Practice of Legilimency'." Harry held two books that were obviously from the same series and fell silent.

Did they do it on purpose or accidentally?

Is this kind of gift thoughtful or perfunctory?

I put the two books at the bedside, preparing to study them carefully when I returned to the dormitory at night.

There were basically no surprises or accidents in the gifts that followed. They were all put into the storage scales, some in the snack area, some in the miscellaneous area, and the bag of multi-flavored beans was placed separately.

When the last bag of nougat was put into the scales, Harry still hadn't found Ginny's gift. He subconsciously looked to the side and saw only brown paper packages piled up in a ball. There were no other packages. "Does Ginny want to give it to me in person when school starts?"

Harry scratched his head and didn't think about those messy and bloody things.

……

The small courtyard on the edge of the Forbidden Forest was a little busier than the castle during the summer vacation. Before Harry got close, he could clearly hear the chirping of birds coming from the woods.

Walking along the path to the fence, Harry looked at the closed door and couldn't help being a little surprised. In the past, by this time, the hound Yaya would have smelled the scent, and would have run out, wagging his tail and circling around his trouser legs.

Could it be that they haven’t returned from their tour of the Forbidden Forest yet?

Just as Harry was daydreaming, he heard light footsteps in the room. It was definitely not Hagrid. Harry's eyes moved slightly, he reached out to grasp the wand in his pocket, and quietly walked over with light footsteps.

Pushing the door open suddenly, Harry froze in his place, his eyes wide open, the scene in the room came into view:

Ron was holding the cake and sucking his saliva, Loren was sitting on the sofa and teasing Fang, Hermione was clinging to his shoulder and whispering, and Hagrid was standing in front of the fireplace with a teapot.

The girl he had been thinking about was standing next to him. Ginny was staring at him blankly with a strange expression, happy but also a little flustered.

The room was a little messy with a few ribbons and scraps of brown paper scattered around. It was obvious that someone had been wrapping a gift here not long ago. Considering Ginny's hasty action of pushing something behind the chair, it should be his birthday present if nothing unexpected happened.

Loren looked up, rubbed his fangs and chin, and said to Harry, who looked touched, "Happy birthday."

"You...I..."

Harry uttered a few unclear words, then closed his mouth, put away his wand, walked quickly forward and hugged the red-haired girl, all his thoughts and words melted into the passionate kiss.

Ron opened his mouth, but hesitated.

Loren turned his head and glanced at him. After a moment of silence, he asked curiously, "Are you angry at Harry's behavior, or are you jealous of Ginny?"

"..."

Ron rolled his eyes.

The other people in the room smiled.

The Apparition license no longer limits distance. Last night, Ginny called and invited them to go. She said that she had already communicated with Professor McGonagall and the school gate would be open at 9 a.m. Loren and Hermione agreed without much hesitation. They first arrived at Hogsmeade and then walked to Hagrid's hut...

The reunited young couple were so affectionate that the atmosphere in the room became strange. Ron's patience was quickly running out, but Hagrid was very happy to see this scene, like Harry's old father.

"Tsk tsk..."

Loren was still scratching Yaya's chin. It was a pity that he didn't bring any dog ​​food, otherwise he would definitely feed it enough.

In addition to celebrating my roommate's 17th birthday, another purpose of returning to school this time is to observe my roommate's progress in practicing Legilimency and see if I can find some clues about Horcruxes.

(End of this chapter)