August 31
With only a few days left before school starts, the children are incredibly excited. While most students enjoy holidays, being stuck in a dark, old house—even if it's a huge one—is clearly not one of them. The first thing the Weasley twins do every morning is tirelessly Apparate to announce the countdown for everyone in the old house. They also play a game of unspoken agreement, without prior consultation, to see if they can choose the same order for the announcements, once again proving the observation that "they're practically one person."
Compared to the others, Harry didn't seem as excited, for a simple reason: the end of summer vacation meant he would soon be separated from Queenie, even if it was only temporary.
"Alright, Harry, stop acting like you're heartbroken. Didn't we already come up with a solution? Instead of wallowing in self-pity, why don't you work on learning Occlumency and Apparition? Sirius will be coming up to check on yesterday's work soon." Hermione couldn't stand Harry's absent-minded look. To be frank, she bet he wouldn't even behave like this after losing his girlfriend.
Ron shuddered. "Merlin... I can't get myself into that little circle yet. I think I've developed the PTSD Hermione mentioned. What am I going to do? If I don't manage it, I wonder what kind of prank spell Sirius will cast on me... Where does he get so many different spells? Maybe the next time I see a Boggart, it will look like Sirius!"
Hermione, who could now move freely throughout the house, comforted him, speaking in a rare gentle tone, "Don't be nervous, Ron. You're just scared by the little split you had last time. As long as—"
"A tiny split? I was lucky I only lost a finger. What if it was my waist? What if it was my neck?!"
"...Then you should never learn it! And never dream of becoming an Auror!" Hermione's gentleness finally gave way.
"..." Ron gave up. He did want to become an Auror, it was so cool, wasn't it? And becoming a prefect gave him confidence, but he was really a little afraid of splitting. He meant that he would of course study Apparition properly, but there was no need to do it so quickly, right?
Hermione then looked at Harry, who had remained silent. "What? Our savior can resist the Killing Curse, but can't resist being separated from a girl? I seriously suspect you didn't clear your mind properly before going to sleep. Even a house-elf could see what's in your head!"
Ron leaned closer to Harry and muttered, "I told you she can be as sarcastic as Snape at times."
Harry couldn't refute it; he really hadn't made any progress with Occlumency. "I'm pretty good at Apparate..."
“Yes, you Apparated a hundred times from here to Queenie’s house, and then Queenie thought you had some kind of acute illness because you were depleted of magic.”
"..." Hermione's aggression can sometimes be too strong!
“I’m really afraid Hermione will become an even less popular prefect than Percy,” Ron quickly added under Hermione’s glare. “Of course, it’s good that she’s my partner, so I’ll play the annoying one.” This successfully extinguished Hermione’s anger. She then helped Ron review the theoretical knowledge that he had memorized by heart but just couldn’t do, hoping to spare him another of Sirius’s pranks.
Before going to bed that night, Harry chatted with Queenie as usual. He gave her a heads-up, saying that the company had informed him that he would be going out to sea soon, but he would be back by Christmas. He would stop in cities along the way, so he wouldn't be without signal the whole time.
"When do we depart?"
—September 1st.
"August 31st is really a good day."
Harry actually thought the whole of August was wonderful.
"But since you're leaving the next day, I can't take up your whole night, can I?"
Occupying the place all night? He's still a minor and can't stay out all night! Harry turned into a cooked lobster again.
"—Shy? Again?"
Harry instinctively didn't want to embarrass himself, so he typed that he had just gone to the bathroom, then deleted it and edited it again.
"I went to the restaurant to get a glass of water."
"Oh—what made you so thirsty at 11 p.m.?"
...He guessed he just couldn't win an argument with Queenie!
"It's late, Harry. Goodnight."
Harry knew the answer to the question, and he quickly replied with a goodnight before lying back on his bed, clutching his heart.
As Ron wiped his wizard cards, he thought that Occlumency might be the most difficult spell for the Savior to learn out of the thousands of spells in the wizarding world, because it has a rather difficult-to-eliminate interfering factor.
In the apartment, Queenie seemed to have the upper hand... well, she did have the upper hand, but not as easily as Harry had imagined. However, she wasn't face-to-face with Harry at the moment, and she was always an aggressive player.
Queenie pressed the iced cola to her face to cool down and began to think about the plan that was gradually taking shape in her mind. Perhaps she should ask Emily to recommend some movies for reference.
August 31st was a beautiful day.
The people at Black's old house had been acting rather mysteriously since early morning, but Harry didn't pay much attention. He was mentally rehearsing his meeting with Queenie that evening. He had prepared a large bag of Honeydukes sweets and Lockhart's novels, and had even found a gem hairpin with built-in defensive features in Black's house. If Queenie liked animals, he might even buy her a raccoon cat; at least he couldn't see any obvious difference between Hermione's Crookshanks and a Muggle cat, and it could even sense danger.
After lunch, Black's old mansion gradually took on the appearance of a party. Countless candles, like those in Hogwarts' Great Hall, floated on the ceiling. The dark mansion was brightly lit thanks to everyone's efforts, and filled with balloons, ribbons, and other Gryffindor-style decorations.
“Ahem, now let’s begin the games,” Sirius said loudly, winking at Harry. “I’ve got a new idea—”
“Wait, Sirius, we need to do something else first,” Mrs. Weasley interrupted him with a smile.
Harry, who thought everything was going according to plan, felt a moment of confusion. What else was there to do? To be honest, the time he had agreed to meet Queenie was approaching, and he had to hurry.
Harry watched nervously as Mrs. Weasley went into the kitchen and brought out... a birthday cake?
Suddenly, a loud bang of a cannon went off all around, and an egg filled with ribbons and gold sequins exploded out of thin air above Harry's head, instantly engulfing him in a sea of color.
Happy birthday, Harry!
Harry's dazed state lasted until the entire birthday song was sung, and incidentally, the Weasley twins still used their own original tune.
He didn't come to his senses until three birthday gifts were stuffed into his hands and he received three hugs. His eyes were already wet with tears from the huge surprise.
Everyone had a smile on their face, and Mrs. Weasley gave him a fourth hug. “Darling, it’s been exactly one month. I hope you won’t mind that our celebration is a little late.”
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley, you've always been so kind to me."
Mrs. Weasley smiled and stepped back, followed by Ron. "My gift is on your bed. Well, Mama wants us to keep it a secret. Nobody can refuse her."
Next up was Hermione, who said, "Happy birthday, Harry."
Finally, it was Sirius's turn. "I've already packed the gift in your suitcase. I originally thought it would be very useful, but since you already have a cell phone, its purpose isn't as great. However, it used to be something your father and I owned, so I thought I should give it to you." He leaned closer to his ear and whispered, "I know you have a date with your girlfriend today, but I believe you've completely mastered Apparition. Remember the key: goal, determination, and composure."
Time was running out, but Harry believed he could succeed; he had to keep his appointment.
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