Hogwarts: Bourne Returns from Warhammer

Chapter 187 Trace Warning System
Facing his uncle's doubts, Harry managed to keep himself calm, but pretending to be nonchalant was not his strong point, not to mention that he had indeed "played a trick."

At this moment, sitting on the bed in his attic bedroom was a magical creature with big bat-like ears, a long nose like Pinocchio, and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls.

The little guy called himself "Dobby."

However, Harry Potter still doesn't know whether Dobby is the name of this little guy, or whether this magical talking creature is called Dobby.

He first met Dobby in the morning, when the elf was hiding outside the Dursleys' garden fence and keeping an eye on him.

Later, when Harry Potter was imprisoned in the attic, he officially met Dobby.

Before he could say a few words, something seemed to happen outside, and then he was called downstairs by Uncle Vernon, who looked like a bulldog.

"So, were you the one responsible for these things, or were your unscrupulous companions?"

Mr. Dursley stretched out a fat finger like a small carrot and pointed out the window at the pink smoke that filled the street. The fog did not look serious.

"This is magic...???"

Harry Potter can't be sure either.

However, as a true wizard, his intuition told him that the pink fog outside was indeed related to magic.

However, facing the aggressive Uncle Vernon, Harry instinctively wanted to make a quibble or two.

"How come? Did you see a wizard with a wand, or someone boiling potion in a big pot? Otherwise, it's possible that someone is wearing an invisibility cloak and casting a spell, but ordinary wizards can buy it. We can’t afford an invisibility cloak made of invisible beast hair…”

"What a mess!"

Just when Mr. Dursley was about to explode, the lady among the two distinguished guests whom he had unconsciously treated so slowly, Mrs. Mason, suddenly opened her mouth wide and let out a scream.

It turned out that it was Hedwig who had flown down from upstairs. This snowy owl, with its pure white feathers mixed with many black spots, was flapping its wings and circling happily in the Dursley's living room.

Hedwig had been locked in a cage since Harry Potter's summer vacation, and it was suffocating her.

However, in good conscience, Hedwig's life at the Dursleys was not bad.

To some extent, its food standard is better than Harry's.

Because Dudley, the fat son of the Dursley family, has a very fond impression of this majestic-looking pet.

Not only did he not bully Hedwig like he bullied Harry, he even shared some of his own nut snacks for the first time and gave Hedwig a snack from time to time.

However, just because Harry and the Dursleys have no ill feelings toward Hedwig does not mean that everyone is the same.

For example, Mr. Mason, who came to visit Vernon Dursley today, said his wife had been afraid of animals with sharp beaks, especially birds, since she was a child.

As we all know, the snowy owl is a large raptor (no kidding, the body length (not wingspan) of this owl can grow to more than 80 centimeters).

Therefore, the moment she saw Hedwig, Mrs. Mason's fear level was maxed out.

So, like a kettle boiling water, she covered her lips with her hands and burst out in a shrill scream.

"Is this a prank on your part? I must admit, Mr. Dursley, you did succeed in scaring my wife."

Mr. Mason hugged his wife, comforting her, and complained to Vernon slightly dissatisfied.

When faced with the question, Dursley had the same expression as Harry a second ago, with a somewhat embarrassed expression.

However, he turned his head and glared at Harry fiercely, and threatened loudly: "Boy, while the electric oven at home is temporarily unavailable, quickly put that round-faced fat chicken you raised back into the cage!"

As for why he didn't catch Hedwig himself. Look at his size, and consider the magical owl's ability to move flexibly...

He doesn't have that ability, you know.

Harry nodded hurriedly, turned around, and prepared to climb up the stairs to take down Hedwig's cage and snacks.

However, the child suddenly had an idea.

"I need to use my wand, otherwise I won't be able to make Hedwig behave."

He made up a lie.

Of course, we can't all blame him for this. Just like Hedwig, who was extremely suffocated by being locked up, Harry was also suffocated during these days.

Since returning to No. 4 Privet Drive, the Dursleys have not allowed him to use any kind of magic at home. He has not touched his wand for a long time, and he has not learned a few spells. At this time, he was even more unfamiliar.

When he heard the word "magic wand", the veins on Vernon's forehead popped up - he had to lose weight, but this man's blood vessels were actually pretty good, so he didn't get angry at all - he sat on the sofa The Masons inside were confused.

"Just this once!"

Dursley then turned to look at his two guests, relieved his tense face, and explained in a calm manner: "He is the child of my wife's sister's family, and he was adopted by our family after his parents died. But this kid’s grades in school are not very good, and he spends all day studying circus tricks.”

I have to admit that Dursley is actually a bit quick-witted to be able to work his way from a salesperson to the company's sales director.

Most of the reasons (huang) and reasons (hua) he compiled are true, with only a little bit of lies, which does sound quite reasonable.

However, after he gave such a reasonable explanation, a voice of opposition suddenly sounded in the family.

"You're not allowed to say that about Harry Potter!"

"The great Harry Potter is the savior of the wizarding world and Dobby's hero!"

"At the Hogwarts pre-holiday party, Harry Potter gave Gryffindor 10 house points, a full 10 points!"

Say it or not, Dobby the house elf knows how to be a good fan.

Putting aside the fact, he only remembered the 10 points that Principal Dumbledore gave him at the end of the term, but did not even mention the dozens of points that Harry had deducted in the past two terms.

It must be because Draco and Harry get along so well (dense fog), so when they got home they hardly mentioned the embarrassing incident of the savior being deducted points (dense fog × 2), only talking about the gift he gave Gryffindor during the end-of-term banquet Extra 10 points for being crazy (heavy fog × 3)...

Along with Dobby's yelling, Harry's Aunt Petunia also screamed because a pudding cake she had just brought from the kitchen to entertain the guests suddenly floated.

It floated precariously in the air, evading the interceptions of Petunia and Vernon, and hit the Masons huddled together on the sofa like a precision-guided bomb.

"Do not--!"

Dursley let out a helpless cry at the top of his lungs. He had already foreseen that his business was probably going to fail completely.

And Harry was nervous.

He tried to use a magic spell to interrupt the levitation spell, but he couldn't see Dobby at all - it was still because excellent house elves were able to hide their existence from others - he could only wave his wand in vain. , but I don’t know what incantation to recite.

At this moment, an owl with a wingspan even larger than Hedwig actually hit the Dursley's living room window.

"Bam—!"

The owl made an emergency stop with its flat face. It shook its head in panic, regained consciousness, and then dropped a pink letter that was similar in color to the thick smoke filling the street, and then left. He quickly spread his wings and flew away without looking back.

The letter seemed to want to find a place to get into the room, but because the cracks in the window and door were sealed with transparent tape, there was no place for it to get through.

This made the letter very angry: it swelled up, and white smoke began to emit from the four corners, as if there was gunpowder burning inside.

In the blink of an eye, the letter seemed to have swelled to the limit, so "angry" that it turned upside down from the inside out, and the seal of the envelope turned into a "red" thick lip.

"Dear Mr. Potter:

We received a tip and learned that at 5:12 tonight, you used a levitating spell at home.

You should know that wizards under the age of 17 are not allowed to cast spells outside school. If they do it again, they will be expelled from the school.

(From the Decree for the Reasonable Restraint of Minors in Witchcraft, 1875, Section C).

We also ask that you bear in mind that Section 13 of the International Code of Wizarding Regulations states that any magical act that risks detection by Muggles (breach of the Statute of Secrecy) is an extremely serious offence. "

The wording was polite, but the tone was rather unkind—it was a roaring letter after all, and you couldn't expect it to speak well.

The sound it makes is very sharp.

Including the Masons and Harry, everyone in the Dursley family was so shocked that they couldn't help but cover their ears. Even the glass on the window was shaken and made "clang, clang, clang, clang" noises.

After saying this, the letter turned into a ball of fire with a bang, blackening a large area of ​​the Dursley's windows.

"Look at what you've done!"

Mr. Dursley was like a bulldog, yelling at his nephew with his mouth wide open, as if he was going to pounce on him and bite him the next second.

But just when Harry was in a panic and was a little overwhelmed, Mr. Dursley suffered a "shameless sneak attack."

An extremely large single sofa behind him, which was his usual exclusive seat, suddenly became more than ten centimeters above the ground.

Immediately afterwards, a "sliding shovel" came to the sofa and shoveled Mr. Dursley directly into the seat.

Not far away, the pudding cake that almost hit the Masons turned somersaults like a nestling swallow and hit him on the head.

Mr. Dursley, who had cream and cake crumbs on his forehead, suddenly became furious, but just when he was about to stand up and teach Harry a lesson, the man seemed to have thought of something.

He smiled.

He actually laughed.

He actually sat on the couch laughing.

This frightened Petunia, who hurried over with a napkin to wipe her husband's dirty things.

"Darling, what's wrong with you? Don't scare me!"

"It's okay, Penny, don't worry."

Mr. Dursley took the napkin from his wife's hand, wiped his face thoroughly, and then poked Harry with his finger.

"That little bastard is done." He was doing his trick again outside that bullshit circus. "

"Now, even those weirdos will no longer accept him. This hateful little freak is completely hopeless."

Don't mention it, Dursley's logical ability is indeed good. Anyway, it was after what he said that the famous Harry Potter realized his current bad situation.

"No, I don't belong here!"

"I must go back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where my friends are and that is my world!"

"Dobby, come out quickly. Explain to those people that I didn't do this."

However, no matter how he shouted at this time, the house elf who had just used magic twice did not respond.

It's like it disappeared into thin air.

Instead, another owl messenger who is good at "face braking" came outside the window, with a letter still hanging on its ankle.

This letter wasn't a pink howler, but a letter in a solid black envelope.

However, the envelope has three silver stamped letters "MOM" on it, indicating that it is an official letter from the Ministry of Magic.

Seeing that the letter was stuck in the crack of the window with the owl messenger's claws, Harry's little face suddenly turned pale, and his whole body shrank, like a defeated dog.

"It's really over now."
-
"how come?"

Mr. Weasley replied disapprovingly. And his reply also reassured Miss Granger, who had been always on tenterhooks.

Because he was off work today, he took his wife, daughter, and sons to the garden suburb of Hampstead in north London.

They were guests invited to the Granger family's new home by the parents of their youngest son's classmates.

That's right, the Grangers have moved to a new home.

Although Hampstead Garden Suburbs is not as good as the old-school Knightsbridge, it is still considered a newly affluent community in London, and land prices are much more expensive than those in ordinary middle-class communities.

After all, opening a dental clinic is a relatively profitable business, so the Granger family has always been relatively wealthy.

After entering Granger's house, Ron expressed his deep envy of Hermione's spacious housing conditions, but Hermione didn't care about it. The little witch has been worrying about the address of her new home recently. .

"I really have to move."

The little witch pursed her lips and confided her bitterness to her friend.

"Originally, I didn't know. But when I was in school at Hogwarts, I saw it in some books I used to kill time. It turns out that underage wizards like us have traces on their wands. of."

Ron blinked.

He didn't know how to answer Hermione. For a young wizard from a pure-blood family like him, this was common knowledge.

"Before the age of 17, we are not allowed to perform magic outside of school, otherwise we will be discovered by Trace and reported to the Ministry of Magic.

One warning, the second time... According to the laws of the Ministry of Magic and the agreement of the International Wizarding Statute of Secrecy, we will be expelled.

Fired, you know? This is scary! "

Speaking of the word "expelled", Hermione couldn't help but show a frightened expression.

Ron disagreed, he was not worried about this issue at all.

"What's the point? George and Fred are always working on prank magic at home, and even my most disciplined brother, Percy -"

When he said this, his voice was much lowered, because Percy was not far away participating in the adults' conversation.

"——He also uses magic less.

Two days ago, he and my father overhauled a magic flying car at home.

Because he drove that car out, and then the entire frame except the chassis and engine broke, so the body had to be replaced. "

"What's more, the trace wire in our wand can theoretically only detect a distance of more than ten meters.

Therefore, as long as the traces are in places where wizards gather, or where other adult wizards are present, trace silk will not work at all.

Or, like the wand I use—"

He took out his wand and handed it to his good friend Hermione.

"——It was originally the wand used by my second brother Charlie. Percy also used it for two years before. It is said that my eldest brother Bill also used it.

Before Bill, maybe my dad used it when he was in school. It could have been passed down from one of my ancestors... There's no trace of anything in this wand.

I estimate that most of my poor grades in Charms were due to my inability to use this wand. "

As he spoke, the child combed his hair embarrassedly, using the old wand to make him feel a little inferior.

Hermione looked at him with wide eyes.

What kind of family condition is this?

There is actually an ancestral wand without traces.

That doesn't mean that he can practice magic at home during the holidays!

If you practice diligently, why worry about poor grades?
As for herself, although she did practice a lot of magic spells before the start of school last year, that was actually because she didn't know "Zongsi" at all, and she didn't quite understand that using magic at home by underage wizards might violate the secrecy law.

The clever little witch later guessed that the reason why she did not receive a warning from the Ministry of Magic at that time might be because one of the neighbors in the apartment they lived in might be an adult wizard, or because the ban only applied to those who had entered school. But there are no young wizards who have graduated - the Ministry of Magic has tacitly acknowledged that young wizards who have not yet gone to Hogwarts will probably not be able to use any magic that can attract the attention of Muggles.

But now, she has moved to a new home.

The houses in Hampstead Gardens are all single-family homes. If she continues to practice magic at home, she might be found by the Ministry of Magic.

"I'm not envious, I'm not angry, I..."

Although she warned herself like this for a long time, Hermione was still only a 12-year-old child after all, and she couldn't hide anything in her heart.

Finally, she took the initiative to find Ron's father, Arthur Weasley, and asked the Ministry of Magic official about the "Trace Thread".

So, she got the answer above.

"In fact, if a young wizard from a non-wizard family does use magic at home, he will usually get a few warnings."

Mr. Weasley explained to Hermione.

“Only if you’re unlucky — if the person responsible for the job is in a bad mood, for example — you might get a howler letter.

And if you use two or more magics in a row, you may receive an official letter from the Ministry of Magic.

But that's not too difficult to solve. As long as you don't use magic indiscriminately in front of ordinary people who don't know your identity as a wizard, then you will at most receive some reprimands.

To expel a Hogwarts student, you must first obtain a personal confirmation from the dean of the student's house.

Secondly, and more importantly, it must be approved by Principal Dumbledore himself. "

Mr. Weasley's answer did reassure Hermione, but the little witch still had some questions.

And Mr. Weasley saw it too.

"I know that you may want to practice magic at home. Practicing more magic is indeed not a bad thing for little wizards of your age."

These words made Hermione's eyes light up.

"It is not difficult for a wizard who has received education at Hogwarts to remove or limit the warning effect of the trace silk.

I can actually help you do it (as a side note, Arthur Weasley was the prefect of Gryffindor at the time, and most likely also became the student council president).

However, in addition to supervising the little wizard, Zongsi also has some other additional functions.

It is actually an early warning mechanism, a kind of protection for young wizards like you who come from non-wizard families.

For example, if Ron is attacked by a ghoul at home, he will not be warned by the Ministry of Magic for using magic spells. However, the premise of this situation is that the Ministry of Magic acquiesces. I and his mother had been able to protect Ron.

And if you, Hermione, suddenly use a repelling spell, Trace will alert you, and at least someone will definitely notice your situation.

In the future, if you are able to take out the trace thread in the wand by yourself, it actually means that your magic level has reached a certain level - although you are still underage, you have the ability to protect yourself in most cases.

So, at least for now, I won't help you remove the trace wire from your wand. "

What Mr. Weasley said was very reasonable, and Hermione couldn't find anything to refute.

Perhaps noticing the little witch's slight disappointment, Mrs. Weasley said, "But Hermione, don't be too disappointed. If you want to practice magic during the holidays, we can invite you to the Burrow, in the Ott There are many wizarding families living in the village of Li-Saint Catchpole, where you don’t have to worry too much about triggering trace wires and setting off alarms when you use magic spells.”

"Really, that's great!"

The problem that had been bothering her recently was solved, Hermione immediately became elated, and she immediately turned to look at her parents.

"Daddy, Mommy——"

The little girl's coquettish voice was so sweet that it seemed like she could draw silk.

Even the twins, who had been immersed in studying the structure and working principle of Granger's phone after entering the house, now opened their mouths slightly in surprise.

then……

"Hahahaha-!"

(End of this chapter)