Hogwarts: I am Snape

Chapter 80 Weasley's Vacation Plans
The semester ended quickly, and the students boarded the Hogwarts Express for their return journey in the beautiful weather.

Before leaving school, Dumbledore specifically told Snape that he would visit Snape's house during the summer vacation, and the specific time would be announced later by owl.

The train started moving slowly, its wheels grinding against the rails, the sound growing louder and louder.

The time on the train seemed to pass very quickly. Snape and Pandora sat in one compartment, talking about many things at school and enjoying all the food on the cart except for Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

The scenery outside the window rushed past like a scroll painting. Just as they were getting into the swing of things, the train sounded its whistle and began to slow down with a clatter.

After the bright red steam locomotive came to a stop, Snape dragged his suitcase and followed the crowd off the train, said goodbye to his companions, and walked once again toward the brick wall of Platform 9.

Sunlight shone on the platform. Eileen was already waiting there on one side of the brick wall, smiling at him.

“Let’s go,” she said softly, extending her arm toward Snape. “Let’s go home.”

Snape didn't tell Eileen that he had passed the Apparition test, but instead bent down slightly and took her arm.

That year, he grew very tall and was already much taller than her.

After spinning around, they found themselves on the hillside of Autri San Cachipol.

Before me, the village gleams in the sunlight, and a winding stream flows gently; behind me, the familiar little wooden house stands quietly, waiting for its owner to return home.

Snape spent his summer vacation comfortably at home, occasionally visiting the Burrow with Erin and helping Mrs. Weasley look after her three sons.

Percy can already take a few wobbly steps on the ground and say a few simple words. However, the little guy doesn't like to crawl around and get himself all dirty. He prefers to sit quietly to one side, watching the adults chat with his big eyes.

Just out of sheer morbid humor, Snape kept trying to teach Percy words like "prefect" and "student council president."

One day, they were chatting in the kitchen of the Burrow when suddenly the strange clock on the wall chimed twice, and the hands representing Mr. Weasley pointed directly to "home".

Then, the door was pushed open with a bang, and Mr. Weasley's loud voice rang out from the yard: "Molly! I'm home!"

"Ah, Eileen, Severus, you're here too." Mr. Weasley walked into the house looking exhausted, greeted them, then plopped down in a kitchen chair, took off his glasses, and rubbed his temples.

Mrs. Weasley stood up and stood behind him, gently massaging his shoulders.

“What a busy and tiring day,” Mr. Weasley sighed. “An old witch cast a spell on some kind of ‘plug’ for Muggles, and the ‘plug’ suddenly went mad, whipping around with lightning bolts and sending several Muggles to the hospital.”

“That’s strange…” he complained, his face full of doubt. “Why would the ‘stopper’ release lightning?”

"'A stopper?'" Snape asked curiously.

“Yes,” Mr. Weasley said, pulling a dark plug from his pocket with a short wire attached to one end. “This is it.”

"Why did you bring this back?" Mrs. Weasley said, displeased, noticing the dark marks on Mr. Weasley's hands and robe.

“It was amazing, Molly.” Mr. Weasley seemed to perk up, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “This ‘plug’ was like a monster, whipping around like a blue whip. It took Perkins and me a lot of effort to subdue it…” But seeing Mrs. Weasley frown, he quickly stuffed the plug back into his pocket.

“These are electrical plugs,” Snape explained with a smile, thinking to himself that this was where Mr. Weasley’s love of collecting plugs came from. “Muggles use them to power electrical appliances.”

Mr. Weasley sat up straight and kept asking Snape about Muggle life.

Snape tried to explain, from televisions to washing machines. But he soon discovered that Mr. Weasley lacked some basic concepts and had difficulty understanding him.

Helpless, Snape had to make an excuse that he didn't know much about it himself, and that he had only heard about it from his Muggle-born classmates, which allowed him to escape Mr. Weasley's continuous questioning.

During dinner, Mr. Weasley warmly invited Snape to sit next to him. When Mrs. Weasley wasn't looking, he quietly took out a few batteries and showed them to Snape, asking about their purpose.

"Ahem, ahem." Mrs. Weasley couldn't help but cough softly twice.

“Ah, Molly,” Mr. Weasley quickly changed the subject, “this summer, the Ministry has employee benefits that will subsidize some of the money so that Ministry employees and their families can go on vacation.”

"Bertha Jorkins, who just transferred from The Daily Prophet to the department, said she wants to go on vacation to Albania and asked if I wanted to bring my family along. Are you interested?"

"How many Galleons will that cost, Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley seemed tempted, and asked hesitantly, "How much can the ministry subsidize?"

“However, Percy is still young…” she then added.

“Don’t worry about that, we can take Muggle transportation there,” Mr. Weasley said excitedly. “Jorgins said it won’t cost much to travel to Albania. If all five of us go, the Ministry can subsidize no more than two hundred gallons.”

“And, Molly,” he said apologetically, “we haven’t gone on a trip since we got married. You’ve been busy at home all the time, and I feel a little bad about it…”

“Arthur,” Mrs. Weasley said to him, a little embarrassed, “Eileen and the others are still here.”

“Ah,” Mr. Weasley said, rubbing his hands together, “I’m sorry, the department’s subsidies are only available to employees and their families.”

Listening to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's conversation, Snape was reminded of Bertha Jorkins, the witch who was killed by Voldemort and whose death was used to turn Nagini into a Horcrux.

He quickly recovered and said, "It's okay, we understand. But if you don't mind, we can pay for our own vacation and go on vacation with you."

Snape looked at Eileen: "Mom, would you be interested in spending the summer in Albania?"

“If you want to go, then go ahead,” Eileen replied with a smile.

“Great!” Mr. Weasley said cheerfully. “Molly, don’t refuse! It’ll be more fun if we all go together!”

　Thanks to Visually Estimated Necklace and guyu152 for the monthly tickets.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)