Harry Potter and the Burnt Badger

Golov did not answer Edgar's question immediately. Instead, he glanced at him and said angrily: "Where did you go again?"

Edgar chuckled, took a biscuit from the plate and stuffed it into his mouth, muttering in response: "I didn't go anywhere, I went back to the office - it's business, Kingsley is over in Kent." Several hidden dark wizards were discovered. Those unlucky guys actually wanted to secretly cultivate a basilisk, but something went wrong. The basilisk did not hatch and the egg exploded. Eight of the dark wizards were killed. They were killed directly, and the rest tried to escape but were captured. Because I had captured a few bastards who killed Muggles indiscriminately in Kent County before, Kingsley asked me to go see if there were any familiar faces. "

"Remember to tell him in advance next time." Golov shook his head helplessly, "Yes, I just mentioned Lucius Malfoy. Andrews Flint visited him before, and he was probably fooled. , thought Lucius Malfoy was firmly standing behind him."

As if he heard something particularly funny, Edgar couldn't hold back his laughter, which caused him to almost choke on the biscuit he hadn't swallowed. "Cough, cough... I heard that right, actually... Does anyone think that bastard Lucius Malfoy will firmly support someone? This person has no loyalty and honor at all except for the Malfoy family to which he belongs."

Golov spread his hands, "Yes, that's it, but unfortunately, Andrews seems to have no brains. He came to me and hoped that Nora and I could support his work and expressed his willingness to communicate with us. Well, he will provide us with more conveniences in the future, and even told me in a roundabout way that he can provide me with a sum of money if I am willing. Ha, I suspect that he is almost going to kill him for the position of vice president. All the family’s money was gone.”

"Did you promise him?" Edgar asked a boring question.

"How is that possible?" Golov shook his head. "I told him that Nora's department has no say in the trade of magical materials between the two countries, and I myself don't have much communication with the Ministry of Magic now, but I can introduce him to two old friends, people who can really help him."

Of course Golov was talking nonsense, and everyone in the room knew it, including Moon.

"So the person you recommended to him is..." Edgar seemed to have thought of something and looked at Golov with a strange expression.

"At first, I wanted to introduce him to two people from MACUSA. Although it was difficult to contact him, they could really help him. But then I found out that he was just stuffing money into his position, and he was stuffing money. I gave it to a few idiots in the Wizengamot, so I simply refused the benefits he brought and introduced him to the current director of the International Magic Exchange and Cooperation Department, Barty Crouch Sr. I gave him Di’s address.”

Edgar failed to hold on again, and even Nora looked at Golov with dumbfounded eyes.

"Good guy... Golov, you are trying to speed up the process of this guy's dismissal..." After a long time, Edgar finally choked out these words.

Yes, everyone knows that Barty Crouch Sr. is famous for being serious and conscientious. He can even send his own son to Azkaban without blinking an eye.

Unlike Edgar, Nora thought about being able to smile and leave happily because she was introduced to Barty Crouch Sr., this Andrew Flint...

I'm afraid it's really not feasible.

Chapter 56 Christmas Gift

In the next few days, some people began to visit Shafiq Manor one after another.These people include Golov's former subordinates and other family members who have certain kinship with the Shafiq family.Naturally, Tonks and her mother were included among them - this time, Tonks finally didn't scare any of the Shafiq family's little brats.

In addition, Moon also met members of the Longbottom family, including the proud, old-fashioned and restrained Mrs. Augusta Longbottom [Note 1], and some who were not very serious and always smiled and talked to Augusta. Tower Longbottom is the exact opposite of Mr. Algy Longbottom.The only regret was that they did not bring Neville, because nine-year-old Neville Longbottom had recently fallen ill (Moon even suspected that Mrs. Longbottom did not want to take him out).

The Weasley family also came to visit, but only Arthur Weasley and Molly Weasley came, and none of the children came with them.They came during dinner. At the dinner table, Mr. Weasley often mentioned the experiences of their family in recent years - because the Weasley family has always firmly opposed the concept of "pure-blood dignity", so There are fewer and fewer pure-blood families willing to let them be guests, even those who are related to them like the Shafiq family.

Moon also experienced Mrs. Weasley's enthusiasm. After meeting him for the first time, Mrs. Weasley liked him and several younger brothers and sisters so much that she even didn't forget to tell them when they were about to leave. After a few times, I knitted a sweater for each of them, which actually made Angui feel embarrassed. He kept thinking about what gifts to prepare for the Weasley children for Christmas.

Moreover, during this period, Uncle Golov also took them out to visit other people. Of course, they were all those who were relatively close and could easily move between families, such as the current Minister of Magic, Millicent Barnold. kind.Uncle Golov and Aunt Nora took care of the rest.

In this way, time flew by and it was soon around Christmas.

On the morning of December 12, Uncle Edgar got up early, called Moon, Quaid and Owen, and then ran to the nearby mountain with the three boys to pick up the Christmas tree.Hesper was not idle either, she had to clean up the house at home with her parents and Ann.Of course, the main force in cleaning is the house elves. Hesper and the others are only responsible for their respective rooms, as well as the dining room and living room.

After Edgar and Moon came back carrying the Christmas tree, everyone had a simple lunch together and then erected the Christmas tree.Several adults took turns to cast a lot of magic on the Christmas tree. This made the freshly cut tree have many bright decorations, and there were even little fairies holding little bits of light inside. Flying.

Christmas is approaching, and Uncle Golov has put down all the things he was busy with. He has to decorate the house tonight and prepare a big meal tomorrow. After Christmas, wizards' gatherings will be held in Diagon Alley and other places.At least in these three days, even if Golov wanted to work, he probably wouldn't be able to spare much time.

In this way, in everyone's thoughts, Christmas has finally come.

It was early in the morning again, and Moon had just woken up when there was a brisk knock on the door of the room.

"Brother Moon! Brother Moon! I have your gift! Come downstairs quickly!" Owen was noisy, extremely happy, and a little anxious at the same time. He probably opened his gift halfway before Hesper gave it to him. Sent to wake up Moon.

Thinking of this, Moon couldn't help but laugh. While answering Ouen's call, he put on his clothes.

After going downstairs, he was the last one to get up as expected (this was also the case every Christmas in the past, Moon was always the last person to get up on Christmas Day).

"Ha, no one of you opened my gift~" Taking advantage of Ou En's unpreparedness, Moon went over to pick him up and ruffled his hair at the same time.

A few children laughed and said no, and pointed out his gift to Moon by the way - everyone had already placed his gift in a small pile when they were opening the gifts.

"Well, let me see..." Moon put Owen down again and walked to the pile of gifts. The top one was still a gift from Uncle Golov.He thought for a while, and instead of standing next to the pile of gifts and opening them like his younger brothers and sisters, he moved the gifts to the sofa and began to open them one by one.

Uncle Golov gave him a silver pocket watch with his name engraved on the cover and a photo on the inside of it, showing Uncle Golov, Uncle Edgar and his mother Ann. To his surprise, , there was a handsome man with black hair and black eyes standing next to his mother An.There is no doubt that that is his father Hu Yan.

Uncle Edgar's gift is a fist-sized hollow metal ball. If there are no other bright light sources around, this metal ball will float gently, emitting a soft white light, and can also detect the approach of surrounding creatures. The range is about 20 meters.

Aunt Nora's gift is also very precious - she gave Moon a special purification bracelet, which can absorb gas toxins or toxins contained in liquids.If this bracelet is put together with the hollow metal ball given by Uncle Edgar, Moon feels that it can almost form a wilderness survival suit.

Mom An's gift was the one that Mu En couldn't put down the most. It was a foldable and thin metal plate. When the user needed it, he could use magic power to leave some text and pattern records on it. It could be called a memory. The perfect choice for taking notes.

In addition, Moon also received a lot of other gifts. Cedric gave him a quill, which will spray an ink-like black liquid on the user if it detects that the user is dozing; Gal. He gave him a large bag of blueberry biscuits baked by himself, and said in the card that he would teach Hagrid how to make this later; Arlin gave him a beautiful black cloak with patterns and badgers embroidered with silver thread. , it is said that Yaerlin bought four pieces, one for each person in the dormitory.

There are also Tonks, Violet, Mrs. Weasley, several younger brothers and sisters, Hagrid, the four people from Milton dormitory, the Dawson brothers and sisters, senior Gabriel...

While Munn happily opened the dozens of gifts, he was thankful that he was not afraid of the hard work of sending gifts to all these people, otherwise it would be really rude.

But after he opened the gifts one by one, he suddenly realized that this year was already like this, and next year...

Oh, Merlin, he could already see himself writing Christmas cards until his hands swelled.

Chapter 57 Merry Christmas

"Merry Christmas!"

The long dining table is filled with all kinds of food: oily roasted turkey with colorful fruits and vegetables, roasted suckling pig with an apple in its mouth, already cut into slices with beautiful texture. Smoked ham... The adults each had a glass of red wine cooked with cinnamon and other spices in front of them. Even Moon, Hesper, and Quaid each had a glass. Of course, they were only allowed to drink one glass.

The huge restaurant was now completely filled with the smell of food and wine. The house elves in the kitchen were still busy preparing pudding, cakes, cheese, gingerbread and ice cream for later. Even though Moon I have told them that I hope they will enjoy their Christmas dinner first, but the constraints in their blood still make them stubbornly want to serve their master's meal first.

There is a strong pink magical flame burning in the fireplace, and little fairies with transparent wings are flying around the crystal lanterns on the ceiling and the Christmas tree standing inside the room. As a Christmas gift this year, Ern received a giant flying and fire-breathing creature. At this time, he also took out the dragon toy and circled it around the dining table.

Encouraged by Nora and Edgar, Hesper, who drank half a glass of boiled red wine, had slightly rosy cheeks and relaxed a lot. He performed a passionate dance for everyone and received unanimous applause from everyone. ——That's right, in addition to the one represented by Golov, the participants of the Christmas dinner, the other two bloodlines of the Shafiq family also returned to the manor to share in this beautiful annual festival.

The children always finished their dinner first. After getting the consent of the adults, seven or eight children ran to the garden to play in the snow.After the other two families came back, the oldest of the children was no longer Moon. Instead, he was one of his cousins, named Queena Shafiq. She was 19 years old and had just graduated from Hogwarts two years ago. Year, it happened to be exactly the same as Munn.

This cousin is the only daughter in the family. The remaining three children belong to another family. They are about the same grade as Owen. At the moment, they are arguing with Owen about whether to make a snowman or have a snowball fight. The two boys among them are determined She and Owen were on the same side and wanted to have a fun snowball fight. Although the girl was single and weak, she still insisted on building a snowman.The two sides were going back and forth, and the quarrel made Quina quite unbearable.

It's so pitiful that over the years, Quina has always been the hands-off shopkeeper when it comes to taking care of her younger brothers and sisters, and Moon is always the one who really takes care of things.

Fortunately, Moon, who went back to the room to get his clothes, didn't wait too long. After returning, he made a proposal that was acceptable to both parties: no one would play, and everyone would build a castle with snow.

Owen and the others originally thought that building a snowman was too "girly" (I don't know where the three little brats learned such wise words from), but now they changed it to building a castle, and they suddenly became interested.Although the little girl felt that she might not be qualified for such a big project, she was not to be outdone.Besides, building a snowman is also building a castle, so there is nothing to be afraid of.

In this way, the four youngest children took Quaid and Hesper to work together. Moon and Quina did not have to do anything - they were supervisors and designers, and they were also responsible for using magic to get these children out later. The four are not as big as the snowdrifts, so they look a little more presentable.

Christmas happens like this almost every year, and it was the same last year, because they debated for a long time whether to play hide-and-seek or play sleigh. In the end, Moon’s solution was to go hide-and-seek in the garden on a sleigh. In short, both sides wanted to play. As long as they can get involved, these children can be easily satisfied.

After the adults had had enough wine and food, they each made some wine of their choice, and then they raised their glasses together to the balcony of the small building near the garden, where they chatted and watched the children playing.Golov used magic to create a flame to keep everyone warm, while Edgar gave the children another heavy snow in a bad way, saying that he wanted to give the children more materials.Looking at the huge snow nests built by the little children below, several adults burst out laughing. This made Owen very unconvinced. He felt that even if the adults were allowed to build it, as long as they didn't use magic wands, they might not be able to build it better than them. How good is it.

Moon left again midway. As he expected, the house elves didn't have a good meal at all. Although the adults had already left the table, they just took the things off the table and started busy trying to clean them all. , and then get busy with all kinds of messy things.In desperation, Moon had no choice but to use an almost commanding method to ask them to eat their food first and then get busy.

In this way, amidst the chaotic and lively scenes, this Christmas that makes people feel happy, happy, and a little tired at the same time gradually comes to an end.

After bidding farewell to the relatives of the two branches of the Shafiq family, the family came to the living room one after another. Ooun couldn't bear the fatigue and muttered that he would continue to complete the castle tomorrow while snuggling against his mother Nora's arms. He fell asleep in his arms.Hesper also yawned and sat for another 2 minutes before going back to the room to rest.

Gorlov and Edgar finally had some free time. After discussing for a while, they took the wizard chess from the room and started killing. Quaid, who was not sleepy at all, sat beside him and watched quietly, complaining about Edgar's chess. Bad play - Edgar plays chess very hastily, and has no chance of winning against the wily Golov. Although Quaid's play is not very good, it is more than enough to provide Edgar with advice.

Nora hugged Ouen and sat aside and watched for a while, but she was helpless because Ouen, this little guy, was really dishonest when sleeping. He was always moving around and had no stability, so Nora had no choice but to hug him back. room.

At first, Moon wanted to get a book to read, but when he came out of his room, he saw his mother Ann walking through the corridor with a bottle of wine.

You don't need to ask to know that Ann must be missing her husband again.

Moon hesitated for a moment, but finally followed.

"Boom boom boom——"

An, who had just uncorked her wine, suddenly heard a knock on the door. She quickly wiped the corners of her eyes and asked softly: "Who is it?"

"Mom, it's me, Moon."

An breathed a sigh of relief, walked to the door and opened it, then put a smile on his face and rubbed Moon's hair. "What's the matter, Moon, do you need to see mom for anything?"

Moon thought for a moment, put the book aside, and then hugged An gently.

"It's nothing, Mom, I just wanted to come over and tell you..."

"Merry Christmas."

Chapter 58 Friends Reunion

On the day after Christmas, places like Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade held lively wizard gatherings.

Since he has decided to have a good rest before and after Christmas, Uncle Golov will naturally not be stingy with his time when it comes to going out for fun. Just after breakfast, he took the family straight to Diagon Alley leisurely. .

Robes, toys, joke and trick props, newly brewed cherry wine, interesting little pets... After a whole day's trip, almost everyone had something in their hands.After finishing dinner, they bought tickets to watch a very interesting wizarding pantomime. The content of the script was roughly a game between a decent wizard and a dark wizard. Although the subject matter was very ordinary, it used a lot of exaggerated words. This technique greatly enhanced the dramatic tension of the whole pantomime.When the show ended, everyone except Uncle Golov felt a little unfinished.

On the way back, Moon became a little silent. Everyone thought he might be a little tired, so they didn't pull him to say anything.Only he knew that he had just suddenly figured out something.

There was this scene in that pantomime:

The upright wizard A wanted to catch the dark wizard B. The two of them chased him all the way and finally came to a forest.In order to escape A's capture, B used magic to create several false selves, appeared in front of A with them, and claimed that one of these people was transformed into his own image using magic.This confused A for a long time, thinking about how to determine which one of them was the real B.

The plot itself is silly, even a little illogical, and is just used to fill the plot with some laughs.But B's method gave Moon some inspiration. Since Professor Dumbledore and the others already had a clue about the people who broke into the Forbidden Forest, why did they still seem to have made no progress after so long?

At first, Moon thought they might have just clues, but he didn’t know who it was and was still investigating in private.But now it seems that Professor Dumbledore and the others have actually found the person who broke into the Forbidden Forest, or even already found it, but for some reason they were unable to take action immediately?

Moon secretly remembered this idea in his mind. He had a premonition - not the kind of nihilistic sixth sense, but more similar to the legendary inspired prophecy - he always felt that this matter seemed In the end, it will still involve you passively.

…………

Starting from December 12, the Shafiq family finally returned to normal life, and Moon was able to stay in the manor and read his books, learn and experiment with new magic.

At times like this, he would be very happy that none of his younger brothers and sisters were too naughty, at least none of Hesper, Quaid, and Owen were too naughty.Although they usually play with Munn, as soon as they see him reading, the little guys will quietly leave, trying not to disturb Munn's study.

On the other hand, my uncle Edgar is more...annoying. He is always restless and likes to flirt here and there when he is not working.When Munn was reading, he would come over and glance at it, and then comment on the contents of the book; when Munn was practicing spells, he would come over and yell about how the spell was.Although he knew that his little uncle had no ill intentions and was just restless, Moon still found him very annoying.Fortunately, after so many years since he was a child, Munn has already mastered the skill of completely ignoring him. It won't take long for him to realize that he is boring and find someone else to bother him.

In such a dull daily life, the days slipped away day by day, until January 1, when his three roommates finally came to visit.

Cedric and his father were the first to come. To be honest, although his father was not very tall and his figure was a bit out of shape, he still had a vague sense of handsomeness on his face.Now it seems that Cedric inherited at least half of his appearance from his father.

Sadly, Cedric’s father “had a mouth.”

As soon as they met, Mr. Amos Diggory began to chatter incessantly.He first chatted with Golov for a long time about things in the Ministry of Magic - he himself worked in the Department for the Control of Magical Creatures. Although he was not affiliated with the Department of International Magical Cooperation that Golov had previously managed, he had indeed met Golov. Love.It wasn't until Golov was a little confused about what this gentleman was doing that he finally changed the target, shook hands with Moon again, and talked about how much Cedric liked to praise Moon.

Just when Moon thought Mr. Diggory would chat with him for another 10 minutes and was thinking about how to apologize and disappear, Mr. Diggory ran to start a family affair with Edgar, the current Auror.

Moon secretly looked at Cedric in amusement, and Cedric noticed his gaze and shrugged helplessly, saying that his father was like this.

Adult matters must be left to the adults to handle.After being surprised to find that his uncle Edgar really liked chatting with Mr. Diggory, Moon resolutely pulled Cedric and ran away.

Within two hours, Shafiq Manor welcomed guests that it had never seen in the past many years - a Muggle couple and their wizard son.Yes, Gal came over in his parents' car.

After all, Muggles rarely come into contact with magic in their lives. The last time they saw serious magic was when the professor from Hogwarts went to their home to deliver the admission letter to Gal.Therefore, after arriving at Shafiq Manor, they were almost dazzled. They could see strange magic everywhere: textile machines that worked automatically, and silver teapots that stretched out their hands to wipe away dirt. , a record player that can directly change the record with a snap of the fingers... The house elves who were busy cleaning the picture frame aroused their great interest. Even though Garr explained to them many times that the house elves were not goblins, they didn't even look like them. There are big differences, but Mrs. Fuller still calls house elves goblins [Note 1].

Compared to Cedric and Gal, Arlin arrived the latest and looked the worst.His mother used Apparition to bring him here, then hurriedly exchanged greetings with a few adults, then said hello to Munn and the other three, and then Apparated away again, leaving only Xia Yaerlin stood at the gate awkwardly, his eyes filled with helplessness.

-

[Note 1] House Elf-House-elf, Goblin-Goblin (yes, it is actually Goblin, but it is translated as goblin in the Chinese version), because house elves look very similar to "short" and "big ears" "Pointed" (Actually, house elves' ears are big bat-like ears, although they are indeed pointed, and the common description of goblins in the West is simple pointed ears), so I have never been to Gringotts or seen goblins. Our Mrs. Fuller would call the house elves Goblin.

Chapter 59 Reasonable restraint of underage wizards

The adults were left chatting in the living room. As soon as the four children got together, they ran directly to Moon's room to stay.

On the way back to the room, the four of them also met Ouen. As soon as little Ouen saw a few people, he clamored to join them. Fortunately, everyone did not object to this. Instead, they all liked the little and cute little one. Ern.

This made Owen very happy. He held his brother Moon with his left hand, and pulled the sleeve of his newly met brother Cedric with his right hand. He called him even more affectionately, and proudly said that these three He had seen his brother before, which made Mu En think that Ou En was possessed by Jia Baoyu.

Of course, Owen was not talking nonsense. He had indeed met Cedric and the others. On the day Moon met the brothers Victor and Adam for the first time, he took a lot of photos and sent them to his three friends who were far away in the United States at the time. The younger siblings, including Cedric, Gal and Arlin, are in the photo, and there is also a photo of the four of them together.

"Wow, Munn, your home is really big." As soon as he entered Munn's room, Yaerin, who had never been embarrassed to speak on the way, couldn't help but praise: "I couldn't tell that your home is so big before. rich."

Moon couldn't help laughing and jokingly said: "That's because you don't know the goods. The books I brought here are more expensive than the others."

Yaerlin also laughed and snatched a piece of gummy that Anze had just given to Gal from Gal.

Of course he has some himself, but things like snacks always taste better if they are stolen.

"By the way, Munn." Gal rolled his eyes at Yaerlin angrily, and asked Munn curiously: "Why haven't you seen your father? Has he gone to work?"

Upon hearing this question, Owen quickly glanced at Moon cautiously, then tugged on Gal's sleeve, whispered in his ear: "Uncle Fox has..."

While Moon was pleased with Owen's caution, he said, "My father has passed away in order to save my mother and I from the Death Eaters."

"..." Gal was stunned, and then looked at Munn apologetically, "I'm so sorry Munn...I, I don't know this..."

"It's okay, you will know after all, and this is not something to be ashamed of." Moon waved his hand, indicating that everyone should not be so nervous, but he also knew that if he didn't find some topic to discuss this matter, If I go over there, I'm afraid the atmosphere will be heavy for a while.

"By the way, you all received my Christmas gifts and greeting cards, right? Do you like them?" Moon rubbed Ouen's hair, who came over to comfort her, and asked with a smile: "Anyway, I am your gift They all liked it very much. The quill and the cloak were already received as back-to-school gifts. Everyone in my family shared the cake and ate it, especially Ouen who ate the most. Everyone thought it tasted great."

When it came to gifts, everyone finally regained their spirits. Cedric was the first to show off the gift that Moon gave him - a kettle with "Drink eight glasses of water a day" written in Moon's own hand. If it is detected before going to bed that the water has not been filled eight times that day, the eight above will add the missing amount to another number the next day.

Of course, although the words were written by Munn, he asked his mother to help cast the spell. Although the spell was not difficult, it was a bit complicated and convoluted, and it was beyond Munn's ability.

What surprised Moon was that Cedric actually put the water bottle in his bag, and from the numbers above, it seemed that Cedric actually drank eight glasses of water every day.

Compared to Cedric, although Arlin did not bring Munn's gift with him, that was because the gift was inconvenient to carry. Just like the cloak he gave to Munn, it could not be worn all the time.To be honest, he liked the gift much more than Cedric.Because the gift Moon gave him was a set of three posters of Quidditch stars, and they were all autographed.