From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 240 Birthday
"This old house is full of Death Eater-related things." Sirius waved the dusty clippings in his hand and pushed Mrs. Weasley down the stairs. "My stupid brother did it. I've been trying to get them down these days, but with little success. The spell your two sons cast is indeed quite effective, but I may have to renovate the wall of the bedroom on the fifth floor... Never mind, there are plenty of rooms in the house anyway, and there is no third person living here except Harry and I."

"Hey! Ivy! Are you okay?" Sirius opened his arms as soon as he saw Ivy, wanting to hug her, but then he remembered the Voldemort clipping in his hand. After Sirius kneaded it, it became a paper ball, which he threw into the trash can in the living room - it looked like a severed troll leg.

Sirius looked very good. He had cut off his messy hair that looked like a rock star's, revealing a much younger face. It was obvious that getting along with Harry had helped him regain the happiness he had lost in Azkaban. The thing that was most lacking on his face was a smile.

"So where is Lupin? He didn't even reply to my letter!" Sirius patted Ivy's shoulder vigorously and asked about his good friend's news. "The last time I received a letter from him was about half a month ago. At that time, he said that he was going to Hogwarts with his compatriots. As a result, there was no news after that. There was no definite news whether he would come to Harry's birthday party."

"Not long ago, he and a group of werewolves completed the full moon ceremony in the Forbidden Forest. I'm afraid he is busy with livelihood issues now? After all, werewolves have never had any proper way to make a living." Ivy replied, "But I think he will still come to Harry's birthday party, after all, there is convenient magic like Apparition."

"So what we heard is true? Remus really got rid of the influence of lycanthropy?" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed. After noticing Ivy's gaze, she quickly introduced herself. "I'm Ron's mother. He told me that you helped him a lot at Hogwarts! Thank you so much! Ivy! Can I call you Ivy?"

"I've wanted to meet you for a long time, Mrs. Weasley. I can see that Ron has a mother who loves him very much." Ivy shook hands with Mrs. Weasley and said a few polite words.

Ron and Mrs. Weasley's ears turned red. One knew that she had never said anything good about his mother to Ivy at school, while the other felt that she did not pay enough attention to Ron. There was nothing she could do about it, after all, the Weasleys had seven children.

"Don't just stand there like idiots!" Sirius didn't know whether he was trying to liven up the atmosphere or he couldn't stand the fact that no one was talking. He circled his hands above his head several times and finally pointed to the living room on the second floor. "Before the dinner dishes are ready, let's play some games first! Once all the guests are here, Harry's birthday party will officially begin!"

"Ouch!" The first person to respond was not Harry or Ron, but Mrs. Weasley. She rushed to the kitchen, still muttering, "My cake! If it gets burnt, I'll skin those two brats!"

Ron shrugged, feeling sorry for his two brothers.

"Since I came back, I've been trying to figure out how to deal with all the dark magic props in the house, as well as the vixen and boggart that occupied most of the space." Sirius guided the group of people inside and introduced the situation of the Black house to Ivy. "Those were really hard times to look back on... Fortunately, Harry joined me a few days ago, and the house already looks brand new!"

"Dark magic props?" Ivy asked at the right time. "I have always been interested in those things. I mean, I take them apart and have a look. Some dark magic is quite interesting."

Mr. Weasley pretended to be very interested in the Muggle balloon in his hand and pretended not to hear Ivy's speech. In fact, he had already figured out the thing almost - blow it with your mouth instead of filling it with a spell.

"It's dangerous to keep those things here..." Sirius looked back at his godson, then waved his hand, "You can take whatever you want. I put them all in a small room next to the kitchen. There is a magic lock on the door. In addition to the dark magic props, there is also a house-elf in it. He doesn't listen to me... But I know you are good at dealing with house-elves - anyway, let's not discuss the dark magic props today, let's talk about everything tomorrow!"

In the living room, Ginny and Hermione were fighting on the wizard chessboard, which was why they didn't come out of the room. The two chess pieces were giving advice to the chess players while bickering fiercely with each other, which was very annoying.

Ron took just one look and shook his head. He was very good at wizard chess and there were few people in the school who could match him.

"So many people obviously can't play wizard chess, so..." Sirius was already standing in front of a chest of drawers rummaging around, "Harry asked me to buy this from a Muggle shop!"

What Sirius took out was a set of Monopoly, a common tabletop game among Muggles, or as it is called in the UK - Monopoly.

But the gameplay is the same: roll the dice, buy land and build buildings, and then collect tolls.

Ginny and Hermione's chess game had not yet ended, so Ivy, Mr. Weasley, Ron and Harry could form a four-person game. As for Sirius, he had to go upstairs to keep an eye on George and Fred to prevent them from being skinned alive by Mrs. Weasley.

"I've been wanting to try this for a long time!" Harry had never had a birthday party when he was at the Dursleys', so he was very interested in this kind of party game. When he went out shopping with his godfather, he saw this tabletop game in the window of a Muggle store and couldn't wait to try it.

The one who was more interested than Harry was Mr. Weasley. Thanks to the outdated Muggle Studies textbooks at Hogwarts when he was in school, he had always had only a vague understanding of the Muggle products he was obsessed with. Now that he had seen a Muggle board game, how could he miss the opportunity to experience it?
As a DND mage, the thing Ivy fears least is the dice-rolling game. How could he, who has been dealing with various dice for many years, lose to a group of people who have just seen the chessboard in such a childish game?

……

Ivy was the first to be eliminated. He rolled three sixes in a row and ended up stepping on the highest-level resort facilities of Ron, Harry, and Mr. Weasley respectively. Not only did he pay a large toll, he was also forced to suspend for three rounds. When he started to act again, there was no place to stand on the map.

So he could only mutter "This isn't magic!" and give way to the Weasleys' youngest daughter, Ginny, who blushed and sat next to Harry.

Ivy left the living room and went upstairs to find Sirius and the others, because according to Hermione, Sirius had spent a lot of effort to deal with the mess in the house, and even invited Dumbledore to terminate the effect of the permanent sticking spell. In the end, the old headmaster removed all the wallpapers with portraits in the house, including the Black family tree and other Black family portraits. This is why Ivy saw the wallpaper in the hallway bubbling - obviously Sirius and Harry were not qualified wallpaperers.

Starting from the third floor, Ivy could see many guest rooms. Sirius should be planning to put them into use, but from the appearance, it was obvious that they needed some renovation. The wooden floor was covered with various temporary patches and the ceiling was black.

Sirius and the Weasley twins were on the top floor, the fifth floor of the villa, and Ivy could hear them discussing a robe.

"Who would want to keep a robe that could strangle someone in their closet?" George asked, breathing heavily, obviously having been attacked before.

'Mrs. Walburga Black would!' said Sirius sarcastically. 'She's my mother, a mad old woman.'

Even people like Fred and George who were so out of tune never thought of calling their mother a crazy old woman. They didn't know how to respond, so they pretended to be suddenly interested in the mold on the wall. "Ivy!" Fred spotted Ivy coming up the stairs, "Why aren't you playing games downstairs?"

"As a master of the dark arts, I think I can be of some help." Ivy made no mention of the fact that he was the first to lose the game.

"Uh...well..." Sirius scratched his head, "There are only three rooms on this floor. One of them is mine, and the remaining two belong to my brother and my mother. As you can see, my mother's robes don't like visitors very much."

Ivy glanced at the room facing the staircase. The door was already open. There was a small wooden sign on it with very neat handwriting:

No entry without my express permission. - Regulus Arcturus Black

It was obvious that Regulus was different from his rebellious brother, he quite liked the Slytherin style decoration, the room was full of silver and green, although many years had passed, these magnificent decorations had not been damaged. However, after the violent demolition by the Weasley twins, a huge hole appeared on one wall, and dust and wall fillings were all over the room.

The few photos of Regulus glared at his brother, who was considering covering them up with dusty sheets. Sirius was determined to say goodbye to everything in the house, including his trusting, foolish brother. But he was not much stronger.

Fred and George stood at the door of another room, which belonged to the former owner of the house, Sirius' mother.

As a member of the "eternally pure" Black family, Mrs. Walburga Black is both Sirius' mother and his aunt. Yes, Sirius' parents are cousins, and they are married to close relatives, so the house belonged to Sirius' mother before the marriage.

Mrs. Black had obviously inherited a lot of random magical items, some of which were made by wizards to facilitate their lives, and more of which were used to hurt others. However, due to their age, many of them were no longer effective, and the purple robe that almost killed George belonged to this category.

Fortunately, the two brothers worked together, and the purple robe has turned into a rag and can no longer harm anyone.

Ivy had just walked around Mrs. Black's room for a few rounds when she heard the doorbell ring downstairs. Then Mrs. Weasley rushed out of the kitchen and opened the door, and she exclaimed, "Dumbledore!"

Ever since he learned that Dumbledore had been to this old house, Ivy guessed that he would show up today. Regulus was "RAB" himself, which was not difficult for the wise old wizard to guess, not to mention that he took away the Black family portrait.

Finding the Horcrux hidden in the Black mansion is a foregone conclusion.

Hearing that Dumbledore was coming, the Weasley twins and Sirius all craned their necks to look down the stairs. However, several heads also popped out from the second floor, completely blocking the view.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry shouted in surprise. There had never been so many people attending his birthday party. In fact, this was also his first birthday party.

“I hope I’m not too late. Can I still have birthday cake?” The old wizard’s white beard trembled with joy.

"We're just about to start!" Mrs. Weasley wiped her hands on her apron in front of her. "... I hope you don't mind the slightly mushy taste of the cake."

Mrs. Weasley said as she glared at her twin sons again, "You two! Come over here and help serve the food!"

At this time, another person flashed in from outside the door. It was Lupin. He was holding a whole box of chocolate frogs, which should be a birthday present for Harry.

So Sirius and his godson went downstairs to greet the guests, while George and Fred went into the kitchen dejectedly. As the only adult woman to attend Harry's birthday party, Mrs. Weasley turned the kitchen into her own territory as soon as she entered the door, as if she thought she should assume the role of Harry's mother.

This was a piece of cake for her, even Dumbledore was controlled by her.

The old wizard helped everyone cast a spell to clean their hands, and then everyone sat together in the tidy reception room waiting for the food to be served.

Mrs. Weasley's decision to take over the kitchen was undoubtedly a wise one, as neither Harry nor Sirius were the type to cook their own meals.

Cakes, stews, and various other rich dishes were brought to the table like water. Everyone's face was glowing. As the protagonist of the birthday party, Harry actually began to miss Dudley's old trousers that his aunt threw to him, because the waistband of that pair of trousers was terribly large, which must be able to accommodate his current belly.

I don't know who started it first, but everyone, having eaten and drunk their fill, started a cream war. Even the highly respected Dumbledore joined the battle, and his white beard was covered in cream.

When everyone had had their fun, it was time for Harry to open his presents.

　There will be another chapter in a moment

　　
　
(End of this chapter)