From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 239: 12 Grimmauld Place

On the last day of July, Ivy was invited to 12 Grimmauld Place to attend Harry's thirteenth birthday party.

Grimmauld Place is an old place. The exterior walls of the surrounding buildings are covered with traces of erosion by London's acidic rain and look dirty.

The facades of the surrounding houses are also dilapidated, and the garbage bags piled at the door indicate that there are still people living inside.

If it were more than a hundred years ago, the townhouses near the square would have been considered luxurious, but now it is the last decade of the 20th century, and these houses are already considered dilapidated. However, a hundred years ago, the general building specifications in London were to use only thick stone bricks to build the exterior walls, and then use wooden floors to divide the floors.

This greatly increases the service life of these townhouses, but if the owners do not have the habit of replacing the floors, they may have to be prepared to step on empty space at any time.

Ivy could feel that the house in front of him was under a spell. For Muggles, No. 12 Grimmauld Place did not exist. Over the years, they had long been accustomed to the ridiculous mistake that No. 11 Grimmauld Place was right next to No. 13. Of course, like Hogwarts, the Black family's house could not be marked on the map. If a Fidelius Charm was cast on it, it would become an unbreakable safe house.

Ivy pulled the bell in front of her, and immediately a voice came from the metal bird statue standing on the bell: "The door is open! Come in!"

There was no doubt that the bell with a standing bird on it was something Sirius had recently found. It was brand new and out of place with everything around it.

Ivy grabbed the silver handle on the badly tarnished door of number 12 Grimmauld Place - a coiled Slytherin snake - and pulled it back, opening the door and walking inside.

It was obvious that Sirius had tried his best to make the room look tidy. Many bright lights were lit up at the same time, and the ceiling was piled with colorful balloons, showing a cheerful atmosphere.

Perhaps the light was too bright, magnifying the flaws of this old building. Ivy could see the wooden patches on the ceiling through the gaps in the balloon. It seemed that no one had maintained this villa for a long time.

But at least the walls were still acceptable, not occupied by mold. Or maybe their former territory had been uprooted and covered with new wallpaper. Ivy stared at a bubbling spot for a few seconds, and finally decided to use his wand to help the wallpaper stand up again.

"Ivy!" It was Harry who appeared at the end of the hall. He turned around and shouted, "Sirius! It's Ivy!"

Ivy put away her wand and hugged Harry affectionately. The boy had grown a lot taller during the summer vacation and looked quite different from when Ivy saw him more than a month ago.

The person who stuck his head out after hearing the sound was not Sirius, but a man Ivy had never seen before, but it was certain that this man must be Ron's father.

They have too many things in common - tall, thin, covered with freckles, and a conspicuous red hair. But Mr. Weasley is a little bald. The geographical environment of the UK is really not good. Maybe it's because the water is too hard?
Ivy has seen bald werewolves, bald wizards, and bald civil servants, and he may see bald princes and kings in the future. This makes him a little worried about his hair.

Putting aside the worries about hair in his mind, Ivy reached out and shook hands with Mr. Weasley: "You must be Ron's father, right? I can recognize him at a glance."

"Hey! Hello! Can I call you Ivy?" There was an eager light in Mr. Weasley's eyes. Ivy didn't know what attracted him so much about her.

But Mr. Weasley's next words made Ivy understand. "I heard from Ron that you got an O in Muggle Studies in OWLs!" Mr. Weasley shook Ivy's arm, "I dare say you must be the only Slytherin who got this certificate in the past ten years!"

"Twenty years, to be exact." Ivy smiled gently. "This is what Professor Kerry Di Burbage told me. The last Slytherin who got an O in this course was from the Crouch family. In fact, Professor Burbage was also very surprised why a Slytherin student chose this course."

"Dad!" Ron also appeared from the other end of the corridor. "I said Ivy got ten Os. How did you make it seem like he only got this one?"

Hogwarts sends letters to students every summer vacation, informing them of their final grades and the equipment they need to prepare for the next semester. The Ministry of Magic also sends out OWLs report cards at the same time.

Although neither Harry nor Ron would ask questions about study, they had a friend who loved studying. Ivy sent a letter to Hermione via owl, in which she talked about her OWLs results, so she must have told Ron and Harry. Ivy could even imagine that Hermione used harsh words in the letter to spur the two partners, otherwise the other Weasleys would not know Ivy's specific results.

"boom!"

The whole house shook, and the four people in the hallway fell silent, then looked up at the ceiling together.

"Harry, you and Sirius made these balloons together, didn't you?" Ron asked. "...did you do anything tricky with them?"

"The kind that makes a loud noise? Of course not! These are Muggle balloons! Both of our cheeks are sore from blowing them up!" Harry shook his head frantically, making sure that the loud noise just now had nothing to do with the balloons.

When Mr. Weasley heard the word "Muggle balloon", he took out his wand, cast a spell, pulled one down from the ceiling, and began to study it happily.

"George Weasley! Fred Weasley!" The balloon on the ceiling rose and fell uneasily. Anyone with such lung capacity must be an angry mother.

A short, fat man rushed out of the kitchen and ran upstairs in a rage.

"It's the Pyroblast!" Ron already understood the whole story, just a little slower than his mother.

"They pestered Percy for a whole week, and finally they learned this spell from Professor Victor!" Ron explained. "The gnomes in our yard were in trouble. They used this spell to deal with them! In the end, there were big holes all over the vegetable garden, and Mum scolded them."

"Calm down, calm down, Molly." The dusty Sirius finally appeared. He was pushing Mrs. Weasley's shoulders and walking down the stairs. In his other hand, he was holding some clippings. Ivy could see some words such as "Death Eaters" and "Dark Lord".

"I was the one who asked them to do that, but I didn't expect the spell to be so powerful!"

(End of this chapter)