Everyday Players at Hogwarts.

Chapter 493: The Humble Dwelling in the Dark

Harry actually doesn't take birthday parties as seriously as he used to.

Because ever since he entered the wizarding world, especially after his godfather was vindicated, he had a perfect birthday party at the Black family.

So what he was concerned about was the person Draco mentioned, whom he absolutely never expected to come.

Secondly, he was touched that Bill stayed up late to prepare a birthday party for him.

But while thinking about it, he suddenly realized one thing, that is, Neville's birthday was yesterday, and he and Ron had forgotten it.

Also, he never knew when Ryan's birthday was.

"Neville. July 7th."

"Ginny's date is August 8th, which is the Wednesday after next."

"Next is Percy, August 8nd, the Sunday after Ginny's birthday." So Harry took out his notebook and began to write down the birthdays of friends who had given him birthday presents.

This was something he had never had to consider before.

No one had given him birthday presents in the past, and he didn't need to remember them.

As the quill in his hand moved across the paper, he realized that he didn't know the birthdays of some people he should know.

Like Hagrid, one of his best friends, whose birthday he didn't know.

And there is Dumbledore. Although he never gave Harry a birthday present, Harry still wanted to know.

As he was thinking about this, he put on a shirt made of horned camel skin.

Surprisingly, the shirt, shorts, and gloves are barely noticeable when put on.

Putting on the cool wizard robe given by Draco, Harry felt like he was naked in a swimming pool.

Combined with the feather-light sneakers Ron gave him, Harry doubted whether they were a set.

It's just that Ron and his friends split it up and bought it and gave it to him.

A minute later, Harry took a deep breath and opened the door.

It was like entering another world.

His room was filled with sunlight and the low hum of the seaweed.

But after pushing open the door, cold lights decorated everything, and not a single ray of light penetrated the entire house.

The heat and light in his room seemed to be swallowed up, as if they had never existed in the first place.

The originally cozy and warm house, as if baked by the warm sun, now has a new look.

It felt a bit like when Harry attended Nearly Headless Nick's death anniversary dinner last year.

Black carpet, black wallpaper, black stair railings. It was black everywhere.

The noise that he had expected to come from downstairs was not audible at all, as if everyone in the humble abode had left, leaving him alone in this empty, silent house.

He finally understood what Ron meant by "I'm sure I'll be shocked."

He hasn't even gone down yet, that's it.

In this strange house, Harry followed what he thought was the staircase, but was now pitch black, and put his foot down.

"Phew! These are really stairs."

"Ginny?"

"Ron?"

"Draco?"

"Where are you all?"

"Mrs. Weasley?"

"Mr. Weasley?"

"Sirius?"

"Okay, Bill?" However, no one answered until they got downstairs.

Just when Harry couldn't help but want to open the door to see if everyone was outside, bang! The sound of fireworks exploding rang out.

Several cold will-o'-the-wisp flames appeared, floating in the living room, followed by Ron and the others.

They all seemed to have hidden their shapes, breathing, and body temperatures with the help of themselves or others.

This made the transformed Harry unaware of everyone's presence. "Very good, Harry, you didn't expect it."

"This was my and Fred's idea." Fred and George popped up.

"Then Charlie and I will do it." Bill and Charlie waved their hands.

"I didn't want these kids to do anything wrong." Mrs. Weasley suppressed her joy at the mischief and acted reluctantly.

Harry finally understood where the mischievous nature of Fred and the others came from.

"But Ron's suggestion is outrageous. He even wants us to cast a thermostatic spell on ourselves."

"We're dealing with Harry, not a lycanthropist or a vampire," said Mr. Weasley.

His hair, which seemed to have been blown by a strong wind, was now combed and pressed tightly.

He looked a little nervous, as if he had never done anything like this before.

Percy, standing next to him, was dressed in the same style, looking like a thick-haired version of Mr. Weasley.

"But it's all worth it." It was Draco.

He looked at Mr. Weasley with reverence, then turned his gaze to Harry.

"There's another person joining your birthday party today." Sirius also showed up.

He looked into the air with a loving gaze, and with a yawn, a tall, thin young man with black hair and skin even paler than Draco's appeared from the spot.

"Regulus!"

"I said, the unexpected guest Draco was talking about is you?" Harry suddenly realized.

Yes.

Although Regulus can bask in the sun, as an Inferi he hates the sun very much.

Prefer dark environments.

All the preparations today are because of him.

"Harry, you won't blame me for ruining your birthday, will you?" Sirius said a little nervously.

This was the first time his brother wanted to go out, but if it ruined Harry's birthday, he would find a way to trick Regulus back after playing with him for a while.

Finally, change these arrangements back.

"would not."

"Regulus' first time out was on my birthday."

"How wonderful!" exclaimed Harry.

He saw Sirius's concern, then continued, "This is pretty good. At least it's not like the last Deathday dinner, which was not only dark, but also cold."

Far away in Hogwarts, Nearly Headless Nick sneezed.

I wondered if after I regained my color, I had also begun to regain the ability to catch a cold that I had when I was alive.

"Hello, ha, Harry, happy birthday!" Regulus stammered and stretched out his right hand.

"Thank you, Regulus." Harry held Regulus's cold right hand.

After greeting everyone else one by one, everyone else's gifts were handed to him personally. However, because there were so many people, he did not open them one by one like he did upstairs.

He simply thanked them one by one and placed them on the sofa behind him.

This time, for the first time, he felt like the Dudley of old.

There were too many gifts to put away. Although there were many gifts before, they were not received by him after all, so they did not feel real.

He is more like a star counting gifts from fans.

Not like it is now.

Harry thought that he would just have some food and cake.

But what he didn't expect was that his cake was also extraordinary.

The cake that he thought was in the kitchen was hanging above his head.

It is the ghost fire that has been floating in the air and emitting cold light.

"Whose idea was this?" Harry looked at the cake that was still burning after being cut, speechless.

(End of this chapter)