The next morning.
Harry woke up from bed with a yawn, first he reached for his alarm clock and looked at the time – eleven in the morning. Startled, he jumped up from the bed and fumbled for his glasses, “Ron, don’t sleep! We have to go to classroom seven for the selection, and today is the last day-”
Ron seemed like a dead pig slumped in bed, with one arm showing as he snored loudly.
Harry lifted Ron’s covers and looked at him with surprise, Ron is wearing a tattered and dusty robe, his face is bruised and battered like he was hung up and beaten by a whomping willow for half an hour.
Even when they were in the study group, and practicing the Incarcerous Spell, Ron had never looked this miserable.
A thief broke into the dorm?
Someone broke in and beat Ron up violently?
Harry desperately shook Ron awake and asked especially seriously, “Did you see who it was?”
“What?” Ron opened his drowsy eyes and mumbled vaguely.
“Who hit you!” Harry shouted.
“Who else could it be, Malfoy …” Ron said with his eyes closed, Harry became furious and immediately wanted to rush into the Slytherin common room to settle the score with Malfoy, only to hear Ron follow up with, ” He looked even worse than me, I choked his neck and made him kneel down and beg for mercy on his knees …”
In his sleep, Ron grinned broadly and gleefully as he muttered a few words that no one could hear and continued to fall back to sleep.
Harry froze for a moment, a little unable to grasp what is the situation, he walked out of the dormitory with a head full of confusion and found Hermione in the common room as he told her about it.
“He’s not dreaming about fighting with Malfoy and getting himself all bruised up, is he?” Hermione asked in a cold tone.
“Hermione, that’s not possible.” Harry said, “He had his robes all torn up …”
“That means he went out at night and got into a fight with someone. But I do doubt that he has the courage!” Hermione stood up, “I’ll go ask the fat lady, she must know if anyone has been out at night.”
She stomped off, leaving Harry behind on the couch, slightly annoyed. Could it be Ron had gone out in the middle of the night, and what was he doing out there?
He looked at the table, Hermione’s seat left with a stack of parchment, he wondered – her homework is not finished? He took it over and looked at it, and it’s surprisingly a piece of information gathered from the experience of people who have passed the selection process. More comprehensive than what he and Ron inquired about, obviously she spent a lot of effort.
Not long after, Hermione came back with a surprised face and said, “He really went out last night, the fat lady was impressed with him and said that she would compose an opera about him.”
“But where did Ron go?” Harry pondered: “He was with me all afternoon yesterday and came back to bed early, there was no time to meet Malfoy alone, so how could he make an appointment …”
“Or maybe they went to the same place.” Hermione analysed.
Harry nodded, the same place … he jerked his head up and looked at Hermione, who also looked at him with a shocked expression.
“Classroom seven!”
…
At noon, Harry returned to his dorm room as if nothing had happened, Ron had got up and had changed his clothes.
Seeing Harry entering, Ron said with a look of excitement, “Harry, you can’t believe it, seriously! I fought off seventeen waves of big spiders, and by the time I reached the end, I felt like I was not afraid of them anymore, even with all those hairy legs and stinky green liquid spewing around … I did it, Harry! And the magic on the card you told me about, it was so cool!”
Harry looked at him oddly, “When did this happen, I remember, when we came back yesterday, you said you couldn’t see any hope. And I didn’t mention what magic was on the card …”
“Uh,” Ron jammed, he blinked, “you didn’t say that?”
“I didn’t say that. Oh, right.” Harry pulled out a stack of parchment, “Here’s some information I found, we can work on it together.”
“That would be great!” Ron took it happily, looking at the familiar handwriting on it, and became uncomfortable, “Oh … yeah, it is wonderful …”
“Do you have anything to say?” Harry asked.
Ron hesitated for a moment, staring at the stack of parchment, and slowly pulled a golden card out of his pocket.
On the other side–
The Finch-Fletchley couple had prepared a sophisticated menu, and they had put off their work commitments for a while to stay at home.
At lunchtime, someone rang the doorbell, and Mr. Finch-Fletchley went out for a while before returning. When it became time to part, Mrs. Finch-Fletchley took out the two large bags she had prepared.
“Mom-” Justin rolled his eyes and said helplessly, “There’s too much stuff for me to carry.”
“I’ll do it.” Felix said, beckoning toward the packages and putting them into the ring in his left hand. Watching this Finch-Fletchley couple tsked in amazement.
“Is this magic artefact, it’s incredible … I wonder if we can buy it?”
Felix shook his head, “This kind of artefact will be strictly controlled by the Ministry of Magic, it’s okay for wizards, but if it appears in the hands of muggles – that is, non-magical people – it will attract the pursuit of law enforcers.”
“It’s not like that goblin-built antique vase that you can keep at home and appreciate without others’ knowledge, with little chance of being discovered. But this ring has a risk of being found. As long as you use it, there is a danger of getting detected.”
Mrs. Finch-Fletchley said regretfully, “We also got some magical artefacts at home, some trinkets we bought in Diagon Alley, which we hide all in one room and never let outsiders know about it.”
“Yes, Mom collected a whole set of Lockhart’s books.” Justin said.
Mrs. Finch-Fletchley glared at him.
Before leaving, Mr. Finch-Fletchley handed Felix a business card, which Felix accepted, then he felt a faint trace of magic on it, and asked curiously, “This?”
“A friend sent it over. He is a collector, and he keeps in touch with many people who have connections. This card came from a mysterious seller who has offered a lot of antiquities over the years.” Mr. Finch-Fletchley said cautiously, “Including that vase …”
Felix’s mind became clear, the business card only wrote a series of phone numbers, not even a name, indeed mysterious enough.
“They contacted you via this telephone?”
“It’s not easy to determine.” Mr. Finch-Fletchley said, “The mysterious seller asked my friend to call the number above, but every time he called, no one answered. But after waiting a day or two, he will show up and visit your home on his own initiative.”
Felix smiled, “Mr. Finch-Fletchley, thank you for your trust in me. I can assure you that no trouble will involve your family.”
“That’s best.” Mr. Finch-Fletchley breathed a sigh of relief.
He thought about it for a long time last night, but he still felt that he should let the professor at Hogwarts know about it, otherwise, it would always be uncomfortable to have a wizard who is hiding his tail around.
Back at school, Felix played with the card, “Interesting, who could be behind you?”
———–
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