Chapter 705

Felix and Bill stood in front of a towering wooden house not far from the wedding tent. The house towered twenty or thirty feet high and was built from a tree trunk trimmed with excess branches on every side, the trunk only retained the top part of the canopy and the overall appearance resembled a green mushroom.

It was a makeshift house prepared for Hagrid’s brother, Grawp, but now there was a large hole punctured in this little house.

“Little Grawp couldn’t find the door when he woke up from his morning nap.” Hagrid said without much ado as if that one sentence would suffice, knocking and tapping to remove the broken wood and replace it with a new round log. He tied a handkerchief the size of a tablecloth around the edge of the door and pointed it to Grawp.

The giant reached out with two fingers, pinching the handkerchief and pulling it back and forth as the door kept opening and closing.

“He’s quite clever.” Bill said.

“Yeah,” Hagrid said proudly, “little Grawp can count to twelve already.”

Grawp’s thick fingers flicked the door as he counted one by one in a jarring voice, “One, two, three … ten,” and when the count reached ten he counted two more, “Grawp eleven, Hagger twelve. ”

He rubbed his head and giggled.

“Not bad, Hagger.” Felix said, “He still has a lot of potentials to explore. But we’ll have to move the house first now.”

“Move it,” Hagrid said briskly, “I think we can make little Grawp count to seventeen with the method of linking names to numbers, any more than that won’t work,” he grimaced, “it’s easy to miss a name or two. ”

The giant suddenly stepped out of the house and yelled at them, “Grawp! – Wants! – The house!”

“We’re just temporarily moving it!” Hagrid responded back loudly, “You’ll get it back tonight.” After that he looked uncertainly at Felix, “You can use that – that magic that shrinks objects, can’t you?”

“I’m going to use another magic.” Felix said vaguely, “It’s easier to carry and certainly more fun.” He looked over at Grawp, “Excuse me, please move aside.” The giant froze for a moment, reminiscing about what had happened to the three-headed big dog, and he reluctantly moved out of the way and sat down on his butt.

The ground trembled hard.

Felix circled the house, looking for the right angle, and then the thinking room spread out like a silver veil. The colour of the wood became indistinct, and the lines on the edges became more and more prominent as if it were a three-dimensional painting. He reached out and nudged it, and the three-dimensional painting was compressed into a flat surface and floated down into Felix’s hands, which he rolled up and handed to Hagrid.

Hagrid froze as he unfolded the painting, and Grawp’s eyes went wide, his head resting on Hagrid’s shoulder, his mouth stammering.

“You can do this level of magic now?” Bill asked in amazement.

“Ancient Rune with other magical applications is quite interesting, isn’t it?” Felix asked.

“It’s like my memory has gone faulty.” Bill said casually, “When I was at school I didn’t think ancient rune would ever become like this at all – do you and Professor Babbling still keep in touch?”

Felix hesitated, “She says I’ve made an otherwise leisurely holiday busy.” But this Professor of Ancient Rune before him did praise Felix for bringing the Ancient Rune Society under his wing and felt it would help her out.

“That old man is avoiding me now.” She wrote triumphantly in her letter, and Felix wasn’t sure if she was referring to Clammy’s grandfather or the president who had preceded him – or possibly both.

Felix magically conjured a big spinning top for Grawp to spin around, and then they walked back towards the Burrow on the soft lawn, with Hagrid constantly waving at Grawp as they walked, clutching the irregular canvases folded into a scroll in his hand.

“Be careful, Hagrid, it is possible for the magic to destroy its structure.” Felix warned him. Hagrid’s brash movements lightened up considerably.

As they passed through a patch of fruit trees, the Burrow appeared in their sights, and Bill hesitated.

“Felix, I have something to tell you, and it’s about goblins.”

Felix looked at him and waited for his next words.

“I worked at the Gringotts for a while, and I know them well, or I thought I did. It is still possible for wizards and goblins to be friends when some sensitive issues are not involved, they are just as different as wizards on an individual basis and have both good and bad characters.”

Felix knew that wasn’t what Bill intended to say, “It’s no surprise, intelligent creatures always have more diverse personalities and emotions.”

“True,” Bill agreed and continued, “A goblin friend of mine told me that the goblin brotherhood had elected a new leader and resented how easily the goblins had agreed to join the Pan-Magical Alliance and also resented the wizard’s threat to disclose the secrets of goblin magic. Furthermore, the goblins are not unique to Britain; the Gringotts are spread across the world, and so are the goblins, they have balanced their differing opinions through a council of elders, with only nearly a third of the goblin elders involved in the previous negotiations.”

“You mean they are not in agreement and there is a clear trend that it would go the other way?” Felix pondered for a moment and asked, “Are they planning to do anything about it in the near future?”

“Nothing as far as I know,” Bill said, “but by the time our negotiations with the Muggle government are over, they ought to do something.”

“Then keep an eye on it,” Felix said, “even if it is a powder keg, it will only explode in the future. Unlike the ongoing government negotiations, the goblins have joined the Pan-Magical Alliance, and Dirk Cresswell, the head of the Goblin Liaison Office, will keep them at bay. I can’t take time out at the moment – if nothing else, I’ll be going abroad when your wedding is over.”

“Abroad?” Bill and Hagrid called out at the same time. Bill’s eyes flashed thoughtfully, “Something to do with a couple of guests Sirius has suddenly added to the party? They’re from the International Confederation of Wizards …”

“Well,” Felix didn’t elaborate, “the trouble that the goblins pose pales in comparison to the issues abroad – it’s not that the goblin problem can’t be solved, it’s just difficult to solve overnight; we can threaten to clean up their whole monopoly at the negotiating table, but the practical implementation is bound to be accompanied by turmoil and chaos throughout the wizard community, and it’s not cost-effective at this point in time.”

He was in fact implying only one thing, which was to distinguish the main and the secondary priorities, and it was clear that the goblins belonged to the latter.

The three of them walked back through the garden, which seemed to be watered through. Mrs. Weasley stood at the window with a long list of items, her sharp eyes scanning back and forth. When she heard the door being opened, she offered to welcome them, and said anxiously, “I have a feeling that something is still missing.”

Bill opened his mouth, but a white shadow brushed past Mrs. Weasley and swooped into his arms; it was Fleur, who took a step back and spun in place, her white dress unfurling like ripples in the water twice, and her long silver crystal hair appeared like a painting.

“Do I look pretty, darling?” Fleur asked.

“Beautiful.” Bill said, and Fleur burst into a smile, while the smile on Mrs. Weasley’s face narrowed. Felix looked around and pointed to the banner floating high above the ceiling as well as the purple lanterns stacked in the corner and said, “I think it’s because of this, Molly, some of the stuff from Harry’s birthday party last night didn’t get packed up.”

“Oh, yes, you’re right.” Mrs. Weasley said in a panic.

Hagrid cautiously followed Felix as the two walked into the living room, which was packed. “Hello, Charlie.” Hagrid said warmly, Charlie is the Weasley’s second child who works in Romania studying dragons. Hagrid liked him quite a bit, probably because Charlie had done him a big favour once.

“How’s Norbert?” Hagrid asked.

“Norbert?” Charlie laughed, “We call her Norberta now.”

“What – Norbert’s a girl?”

“Yeah.” Charlie said, “It’s not easy to tell the sex of a young dragon, but it’s a bit easier when they get older, like a Ukrainian Ironbelly I got recently, it’s as big as a bloated balloon …” He looked over at Felix who waved at him and sat down next to Lupin.

“They do grow fast when they’re little.” Hagrid whispered, remembering his own experience of raising dragons.

When Felix sat down, Lupin leaned over and whispered slightly eagerly, “When the wedding is over, can you find some time to come to my office? It shouldn’t take too much time.”

“Sure, for what?” Felix asked in the same whisper.

“I think … it’s finished.” Lupin seemed to be desperately trying to conceal his inner excitement. The Delacour’ were rather taken aback, but their attention was immediately drawn away by Mr. Weasley’s brilliant joke.

“What did finish – oh!” Felix looked over at Lupin. To which Lupin mouthed something.

“The ancient magic to master ‘werewolf to human transformation’.” Lupin said with a slight tremor in his voice, “It might just be the alcohol, I had a strange feeling welling up inside me last night after Harry’s birthday and when I got back to the Sword Castle, I tried it once, and it went exceptionally well until the final step, but I was afraid to go any further.”

“No problem, let’s give it a go tonight.” Felix murmured. He felt happy for Lupin on his behalf, after five whole months had passed, Lupin had finally seen the light of hope, and he even knew quite a bit about ancient runes because of his work, which showed how difficult this magic is.

He could also understand Lupin’s impatience – normally, testing it on the night of a full moon would have been the best option, but half a month’s wait would be too long when the significance of this magic was too great for him.

…

Mr. Weasley let out a hearty laugh as if he was the one listening to the joke.

Mr. and Mrs. Delacour are not very fluent in English, so praises for the joke were showered in French. The youngest daughter, Gabrielle Delacour, was sitting between her parents looking left and right, she looked like a replica of Fleur, despite being only 11 years old, she was a total beauty. She and Ginny are the bridesmaids for today’s wedding.

Gabrielle suddenly jumped up from her seat, her little face pressed against the window as she chirped, “Mummy! Someone’s here, are they wedding guests? Is the wedding about to start?”

Mr. Weasley also got up and went to the window to look out at the situation. “It’s Percy and Penelope, and someone else – it’s Sirius!” He glanced at his watch, then his eyes searched the room for a moment before finally settling on Charlie.

“It’s certainly about time, Charlie, you go and fetch the few little ones staying in the garage -” Charlie stood up in response, “Yes, Dad.” “-and by the way, help me see if they’ve made a mess of the garage.”

“Let Gabrielle go.” Mr. Delacour said good-naturedly. His wife stood up, the couple’s heights seemed to be reversed, with the wife being a cut above the husband, slender, tall with brilliant blonde hair and the husband being short, chubby with a black moustache.

Gabrielle bounded to the door, pushed it open, and disappeared from their sight in the blink of an eye. It was like a signal, and everyone in the house moved.

On the other side, earlier in the day –

The adults stayed in the living room talking as the children (those who were still considered children by adults) huddled in the Weasley’s garage, relaxing and chatting. Ron had been fiddling with the radio equipment that the Weasley twins had brought home.

“I’m going to get one of these when I can.” Ron said.

“You’re not going to be an Auror anymore?” Fred raised an eyebrow.

“Of course I am,” Ron said, “but it doesn’t stop me from having a personal hobby.”

“Our brother is interested in jamming his rough voice into other people’s ears,” Fred said to Cedric. The two families had moved nearby to look after each other because of the brief threat of Voldemort, and the Diggory’ hadn’t moved back when the war ended, deciding that it would be nice to stay and visit each other from time to time instead.

“Don’t tell me you guys don’t like the idea.” Ron pointed out.

“Yeah, we were just giving a heads-up,” George said in a threatening tone, “if you’re planning on sharing some funny family stories too, you better not bring us along, for your own personal health.”

“You mean the interview with Mr. Weasley?” Hermione asked the twins.

They didn’t respond positively. “The Daily Prophet quoted part of the Muggle interview in an article, and now I feel like I’m standing naked in the freezing cold.” Fred said in a sullen tone.

“Parents are such horrible creatures, they remember every moment you’ve been embarrassed since birth.” George said, with a deep sense of resignation too.

“-and are happy to share it.”

“I originally thought that was Mum’s hobby!”

“Who knew it would be Dad who would give us the fatal blow from behind.”

“We were too scared to go out and meet people.”

The two said in unison, but Harry didn’t see much embarrassment on their faces, and Mr. Weasley didn’t mention anything unpleasant too; anyway, Harry did solve one of mystery he had in his mind through that article – the Weasleys had distinguished the two identical babies in swaddling clothes by putting marks on the twins’ bottoms.

“Hey, I saw a bunch of gnomes glancing this way.” Cho Chang said looking through the window.

“That’s odd,” Ron said in wonder, “normally they’d only show up a day or two after the clean-up, it takes time for them to work up the courage.”

“I know why.” Ginny said, “Dad thought every member of the family should share some happiness, so he quietly took some candies and gave them to the gnomes.”

“Every member of the family? The gnomes?” Ron’s jaw dropped and after a moment his face showed a look of realization, “I now know why Dad give the ghouls in the attic new clothes, I thought he was infected by Mum … right Harry?”

“Stop it.” Harry said with distress, he had accidentally squeezed a few pus sores while grabbing the ghoul’s arm and the stench was so bad that it could make a person faint. Hermione, Ginny, and Cho Chang laughed heartily while Cedric looked away, he was having a hard time holding it in.

At that moment, a little girl with silvery hair like a waterfall appeared in the doorway, “Hello there! They’re calling you over! The guests are turning up!”

“Got it, Gabrielle.” Hermione said softly as if she wasn’t the one who had just been laughing very loudly, “Let’s go.”

They came out just in time to meet a group of people coming out of the Burrow and Mr. Weasley handed Fred and George the seating chart, “Help out, boys.” Then turning to Ginny, he said with a stern face, “If you don’t want to hear your mum shouting your name through a Sonorous Charm, you should better get back and change your clothes quickly.”

Ginny yelped, “Oops,” and rushed back. Gabrielle trailed behind with light footsteps.

“Where’s Amelia and Tonks?” At the back of the crowd, Felix and Lupin walked together and asked Sirius, who had just appeared.

Sirius glanced at his watch.

“There’s an hour before the wedding starts, and she probably will turn up a quarter of an hour early. She is probably inspecting Diagon Alley now – for the reception of the muggles who would come soon. She has Tonks with her, and they sent me over to explain the situation first; it was said that the guest narrator was a tour guide from a travel agency, I don’t know who came up with this stupid idea.” n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“It was me.” Felix said absent-mindedly, “I mentioned it in passing.”

“Very insightful.” Sirius grinned, “I don’t exactly know that wizard, but when I was at school, this travel agency seemed to make it their mission to make more wizards ‘disappear’.”

“There will be Aurors watching from the shadows at that time.” Felix said, “On the other hand, the people from the International Confederation of Wizards, when are they arriving?”

“Already here,” Sirius said, “Amelia asked them to rest at the Ministry of Magic, they would join Amelia when she come. Akingbade was in a bit of a bad state.”

At exactly three in the afternoon, Harry, Ron, Fred, and George stood outside the huge, cream-coloured tent in the orchard, with seating charts in hand, waiting for the guests to arrive. Purple carpet stretched from their feet to the end of the tent inside; the golden chairs were neatly organized, and the pillars and tables were carefully decorated with flowers that Fred and George had traded from the village. Hermione and Penelope went to great lengths to place various small gifts in the centre of each table.

Mr. Weasley disappeared for a while and then appeared with a squad of attendants and a band, each doing their own job, and gradually the tent became more and more crowded.

Grawp couldn’t get into the tent; he had no trouble removing the flags stuck in the top to see inside the tent just by standing. As the only pureblood giant in Britain – though it probably had nothing to do with it – Grawp was also given his share of the task, clutching a handful of balloons in his hand and handing one over whenever a guest passed by. But the only thing it did was scare the hell out of the guests.

But there were always the brave ones who were brave enough to give it a go.

With nothing else to do, Felix kept surveying the guests who had arrived from afar.

After watching for a while Felix pulled out a magic camera and handed it to Mr. Weasley. Mr. Weasley was overjoyed and left with the camera in his arms. When Felix looked outside again, he found Percy standing in front of