A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

Chapter 736 Extra: Weasley

The elevator opened in the center of the floating island, and people filed out. Ron laughed heartily, "Floating Island, I'm back again." Behind him followed a short-haired witch, holding the hand of a little girl with red hair.

"Stop messing around," Collins punched Ron, then looked around and asked, "Should we meet up with our families first?"

"It's alright," Ron said softly, rubbing his shoulders, and picked up the red-haired little girl. "Percy won't be here until the afternoon. Let's wander around the neighborhood first, and then go to the hotel. I heard that many old friends are staying there, and there's a party tonight."

The three of them stood on the bustling street, watching the passersby.

"It's a shame Hugo can't come, but one is enough for him," Ron said happily. "Let's take a lot of pictures and tell him about them when we get back."

"Didn't you say there might be danger?" Collins said irritably, "That's why I left it in my mother's care."

"That's what I say, but we're not the ones in danger." Ron puffed out his chest. "You can go wherever you want, just don't forget my nickname."

Collins suddenly felt like rolling his eyes.

"Can I go play in the Tumbler Alley?" the little girl with red hair asked, sucking her finger.

"Rose, we're thousands of kilometers from Knockturn Alley, but... of course we can," Ron said without hesitation. "Next time the department searches for contraband, we'll sneak into the Auror squad—wait, your mother's in charge of that." Rose looked at Collins expectantly, trying to find a hint of favoritism on her mother's face, then silently looked away and remained silent.

"Can you two stop talking about illegal things all the time? It makes it sound like I'm a bad mother," Collins complained.

"Alright, Rose, let's talk about something else. You have a mother who's the head of the Auror office," Ron said. "Your uncle raided the Malfoys' house the other day—they're our family's archenemy, Merlin. Harry must have wanted to use taking down the Malfoys as a major chapter in his career, but unfortunately, he only took a few henchmen. But old Malfoy must have been terrified… He also has a respectable son who didn't get along with us much at school; your dad always outperformed him—"

Collins glanced sideways at Rose, who was listening intently with an expression of admiration, and at Ron, who was describing things vividly.

"Are you sure? May I ask...?"

"Ahem, it's certain subjects," Ron quickly changed his story, "It's absolutely true, Harry can vouch for me!"

The three wandered aimlessly through the winding streets, which stretched in all directions. Sometimes, they would suddenly find themselves in front of a wall, requiring them to use magic to carve out a narrow stone path. On the island, you could always easily distinguish which plots of land belonged to wizards and which to government offices and research institutes. The current situation—obviously lacking proper planning by normal standards—was rather amusing to Ron and his companions, fitting in perfectly with the eclectic houses and the numerous shops around them.

"Square and immaculate, everything must be symmetrical, measured with a ruler like old Crouch's beard, it's actually quite frightening."

This is the central area of ​​the floating island. It is said that the bonfire party was held nearby. Some landmarks with commemorative significance have been preserved, such as a group of statues standing in the center of the pool, each holding a burning, inextinguishable torch; there are trash cans shaped like magical animals everywhere. If you tap their heads, they will open their mouths and eat the trash. Some of the monsters will even burp in a strange way.

Besides the shops and street scenes, there were also some mobile vendors pushing carts. Ron spotted a simple scuba diving set at one stall. "Your grandpa would absolutely love it, though he probably already bought it. His garage has quadrupled since he retired!" In addition to diving gear, they even found Weasley's Magic Tricks merchandise.

"Is it selling well?" Ron asked the vendor.

"Excellent, especially these two. There's a discount if you buy them together, sir and madam." The vendor enthusiastically promoted two items: underwater fireworks and some kind of smoke cloak, which, judging from the label, seemed to be a collaboration between Weasley's Magical Tricks and Diggory. Ron paid and, as they walked away, asked Collins, "I heard Fred and George talk about researching underwater fireworks a while ago, but when did Cedric get into the prank market?"

As fellow Warriors in the Championship Series, Collins has maintained a good relationship with Cedric and Roger Davis and is also more familiar with their current situations.

“No, not him and Cho Chang,” Collins said. “They’ve focused on philanthropy in recent years. Cedric’s invention of shapeshifting smoke has wide applications in the medical field, and his magical dolls with various functions are equally useful. However, he joined the ‘Floating Island Commercial Security Agreement’ to ensure that his research results are not used for military or illegal purposes. The two thousand investigators of the International Pan-Magic Alliance around the world guarantee this.”

"There are fairies inside!" their daughter Rose exclaimed.

“There are a hundred goblins, you know, and they value their possessions a lot,” Collins explained to his daughter. “It’s said that many Muggle doctors are proud to own a set of goblin-enchanted scalpels, though I’ve heard they’re quite rare…”

"Why?" Rose asked.

"Well, this is a matter of ownership. The Alliance allows fairies to retain their own racial traditions, but when trading with other races, they must sign a notification document on this issue, otherwise the transaction will not be protected; and fairies are known for their stubbornness."

"Don't be fooled, those fairies are shrewd," Ron interjected. "I seized a batch of contraband, including several silver ornaments made by fairies, but they denied it because the pieces weren't signed!"

Collins was somewhat surprised. "This completely goes against the concept of fairies. Are you sure it's a fairy product?"

“Of course,” Ron said confidently. “Just look at their eyes. Think about it, when the lust for money clashes with traditional values… the result is a bunch of fairies choosing not to sign their names and then selling their wares on the black market; a bunch of cunning guys! But sometimes fairies will deliberately carve some sarcastic words. I remember reading in the newspaper a while ago about a doctor whose scalpel was carved with ‘Miser’… Maybe the fairies’ naming style has changed. All I know is Long Beard and Lala the Slob.” He added.

Collins and Rose burst into laughter. Just then, Ron's attention was suddenly drawn to something. Collins followed Ron's gaze and saw a tall, broad-chested man at a hat stall not far away.

Ron looked away and muttered, "I must have been mistaken, I don't really remember..."

"Who are you talking about?"

"Harry's cousin! He sent a gift to Harry and Ginny's wedding."

Collins immediately realized what was going on. She looked at the hat stall again; the crowd had already surged into the throng. They walked in the opposite direction and saw a huge poster in front of a theater. "François Klutey Concert," Ron read the words on the poster. "Would you like to give it a try?" Rose nodded repeatedly.

Collins pointed to the concert date on the poster; it was yesterday.

"Oh, bad," Ron and Rose said. Ron tried to salvage the situation, saying, "Actually, it's better to miss it. We can save our energy for the mascot show. It's a shame there aren't any Mummy performers this year. I saw one a long time ago, and that feeling—"

"Ron!"

"Well, there's nothing to see." Ron said to Rose in a serious tone, while she blinked curiously. "You're a girl, what if your little brother comes over—" "My little brother is only three years old." "—Oh, right, you reminded me…Want some ice cream?" He quickly changed the subject, Collins' eyes practically spitting fire.

A family of three stood angrily in front of a mobile ice cream cart.

"How's business?"

"good."

While Collins and Rose were choosing their ice cream, Ron chatted with the shop owner, and within two minutes they were discussing the price of ice cream trucks. "I've always wanted one," Ron said enviously. The owner replied, "Five hundred gallons. But you can rent one for just two gallons a day; register on the island."

Ron's eyes lit up. Collins had already made his choices: "One strawberry peanut butter ice cream, and one floating island chocolate nut ice cream. What about you, Ron?"

"I want the chocolate one," Ron said. Collins pouted and glared at him, so he quickly added, "We can swap."

The shopkeeper got busy. He took out his wand—Ron looked at the row of gems on the wand and couldn't help but let out a strange cry—"I'm a low-magic wizard," the shopkeeper said unhappily. Then, the gems on the wand lit up one by one. He waved the wand, and soon, three ice creams were made. The strawberry one looked like a flowing volcano, the chocolate one looked like a whole ice cream that had been flattened and sprinkled with some colorful candy granules, but the key thing was: a small chocolate snake flicked its tongue and stared at them.

"I'm starting to understand, the chocolate snake, but it didn't bite its tail—what's that?" Ron asked, pointing to the colorful crumbs.

"The houses on the floating islands," the shopkeeper said. "The little snake doesn't bite its tail because it has other functions; it will try to take them from you—" He suddenly stopped talking.

"What did you say?" Ron asked as he handed Rose a chocolate ice cream, and then casually bit off the snake's head.

The shop owner was speechless.

Perhaps sensing the shopkeeper's inner turmoil, Collins asked, "Is your wand specially made? I mean the magic on it; your casting was very smooth, all in one go..."

"Ah, that's right," the shop owner said with a sigh of relief. "Future World Company provides customization services, but now they've subcontracted this business to several other companies. There are wizards who specialize in this; they call it... Magical Path Design, using limited magic to achieve a series of complex effects. It's not just for making ice cream; it's in all sorts of industries. It's amazing."

Suddenly a commotion arose in the street, and a large crowd rushed over.

"A fight has broken out!"

The ice cream shop owner casually pressed the red button on the car in front of Ron's family, then said with no small amount of pride, "This is a location tracking and alarm device. In just twenty seconds, there will be officers on duty—what are you doing?"

Ron and Collins simultaneously raised their wands, ready for battle. However, after a few seconds, they realized it was just a typical drunken brawl.

"Leave it to me," Ron said confidently, setting down his wand. A black chess piece had appeared in his hand without his knowledge, and he tossed it towards the crowd. The 'Knight' piece came to life in mid-air, growing larger and larger—"Bang!" The knight and his horse crashed to the ground, creating a deep crater. The obsidian-like horse pawed the ground furiously, half its body protected by the knight's steel armor, standing a full twelve or thirteen feet tall. Everyone was startled by this suddenly appearing behemoth.

"Unauthorized personnel—retreat!" the knight shouted authoritatively from his horse.

His armor gleamed with a metallic sheen, then the mask on his helmet popped open, revealing a face that bore a striking resemblance to Ron. The crowd parted, and two drunken men stared in disbelief at the black knight galloping towards them, trembling in place—the broadsword in his hand was like a massive door, seemingly capable of flattening them both with a single blow. He moved slowly, but no one doubted the ferocious power he would unleash when he charged.

Both parties involved in the disturbance regained their senses and simultaneously released their grip.

"Look!" Ron said smugly. He walked over to speak when two wizards descended from the sky.

"What happened?" one of them asked seriously. None of the tourists spoke, but silently looked behind him. The wizard turned his head stiffly, "Hiss!" He took two steps back and hurriedly pulled out a thing that looked like a walkie-talkie, ready to call for backup.

"No!" Ron and the other wizard shouted at the same time.

A few minutes later, the knight vanished with a roar, turning back into a chess piece. Ron and Tonks walked over together, but Ron looked somewhat dejected.

"Let's see if you'll still show off like that in the future," Collins admonished.

"He did help, in a way," Tonks said objectively. Ron immediately beamed, and then Tonks continued, "At least he didn't throw out a complete Wizard's Chess set, so from that perspective..."

(End of this chapter)