Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 525

A few days after waking from his deep sleep, Harry resumed his aimless wanderings on the Circle Train, day after day—

That's not entirely accurate.

Harry knew exactly what his purpose was, and he knew exactly why he was repeating this monotonous and boring behavior day after day.

But he was unwilling to admit it, unwilling to face the fact that he was avoiding Tiera.

Harry didn't want to stay at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, didn't want to stay in the home that he and Sirius had longed for for so long.

There, at number twelve Grimmauld Place, Harry heard news about Tyella almost every moment—

From the daily newspapers, from the magical radio Mr. Weasley kept in the kitchen, and from the adults' unreserved conversations.

Yes, now Harry doesn't need George and Fred Weasley's listening devices at all to hear Sirius, Moody, Lupin, and other members of the Order of the Phoenix who occasionally come to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place talking about Tyella.

Their arguments about Tierra would rise precisely around breakfast, lunch, and dinner time—

When they gathered together to prepare food or clear the table, the conversation would easily veer towards Tierra through the news from the newspapers and the radio, and then the volume would gradually increase as they held their own opinions.

The sounds of their arguing would soon penetrate the thick floors and walls of the Black family mansion and reach Harry's ears.

At that moment, Harry knew it was time to go downstairs for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

But whenever Harry came down the stairs and appeared in the kitchen doorway, the discussions and arguments would stop abruptly, and everyone would act as if nothing had happened, inviting Harry to sit down.

"Tierra is not to be trusted!" These were the words Harry overheard Sirius saying. For some reason, Sirius seemed to harbor an extremely strong hostility towards Tierra.

“He must be plotting something huge,” Sirius added. “That brat certainly wouldn’t be doing something as simple as revitalizing the wizarding world.”

"Oh, come on, Sirius." This was Mrs. Weasley's voice. "Don't forget, he reopened your case and cleared your name."

“If this doesn’t prove anything, I don’t know what it could,” Mrs. Weasley said.

Although it was summer vacation, this kind woman seemed to have noticed Harry's inner turmoil and extremely low mood. So, since the day of the inauguration ceremony, she had often brought several Weasley children to visit the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, seemingly wanting to comfort Harry or let him feel the warmth of family.

Hermione would also occasionally visit the Order of the Phoenix headquarters, cautiously discussing the strange and wonderful things of the Muggle world with Harry, seemingly trying to cheer him up—

Hermione dared not speak of anything related to the wizarding world, because nowadays almost everything related to the wizarding world involved Tyella to some extent.

"Speaking of which, we're finally safe this summer... Have you guys thought about traveling somewhere else?" Hermione was here again today, so instead of taking the subway aimlessly through London, Harry stayed in his spacious little house facing the street, chatting idly with Hermione and Ron.

“I mean we could go abroad and travel like Muggles,” Hermione added. “I went to France with my parents once, and it was really fun.”

“That’s a great idea!” Ron said immediately. “Where are we going?”

"Hmm... I haven't decided yet." Hermione asked when Harry didn't answer, "Harry, where do you want to go?"

"Huh? Me?" Harry seemed a little absent-minded. "I... I'm fine with going anywhere."

“Then we need to decide quickly,” Ron said half-jokingly. “I need to get out of here before my OWLs results come out. I can’t be within a 500-mile radius of my mother when she gets my OWLs results.”

"OWLs!?" Hermione exclaimed in surprise. "I remember you said the OWLs report cards would be sent to us within a month." "Is it today?" Hermione glanced at the calendar in Harry's holiday book, her expression suddenly changing—

"It seems like it's today, isn't it?" Hermione asked expectantly and excitedly. "I remember we finished our last OWLs exam around this time last month."

"What?" Ron's voice was distorted and cracked with fear. "It's today—"

"Ow—"

Ron's words were quickly interrupted by a strange bird call—

Harry and Hermione looked in the direction of the birdsong—

In the dim twilight outside the window, three black dots were slowly growing larger as they approached.

“That’s definitely an owl!” Ron said in a hoarse voice, jumping up like he was being burned on the butt, then clinging to the window and looking out.

“There are… there are three.” Harry said, standing on the other side of Hermione, his voice revealing an barely suppressed tension.

Although Harry is currently feeling frustrated about Tierra, he is still a student after all.

It's impossible for any student not to feel anxious about their grades.

“One for each of us,” Hermione whispered in a nervous, expectant voice, “Oh no, oh no, oh no…”

She gripped Harry and Ron's arms tightly, one on each side. If Harry and Ron hadn't been wearing long sleeves, they suspected Hermione might have dug her nails into their flesh.

The owls flew straight toward number twelve Grimmauld Place... to be precise, three owls flew toward Harry's room window, the three beautiful tawny owls becoming clearer and clearer as they flew toward the house.

A square envelope was tied to each leg.

"Oh no!" Hermione said in a pained, whispered voice, "What should I do? What should I do? What should I do? What if I fail? What if I—"

"Oh, come on, shut up." Ron rolled his eyes impatiently. "Anyone can fail, but you can't."

As they spoke, Harry and Ron opened the window together—

One, two, three, the owls flew through the window and landed in a straight line on the table in Harry's room.

They simultaneously raised their right feet—

It's like a pope waiting for believers to kiss his toes.

Harry took a few more steps forward and tied his letter to the owl in the middle.

He clumsily fumbled to untie the rope, and to his left, Ron was trying to unravel his score.

On the right, Hermione was trembling so violently that her owl was also shaking.

Finally, in a flurry of activity, Harry, Ron, and Hermione managed to untie the letter from the owl's leg, and Harry tore open the envelope—

(End of this chapter)