Old Blood at Hogwarts

99 The Door Key



While Aaron was still wondering about the tent being insufficient for accommodation, Mr. Weasley got down on all fours and got into the first tent.

"It might be a little crowded," he shouted, "but I think everyone can squeeze in. Come and have a look."

Aaron bent down and slipped under the tent flap, and was so surprised that his jaw almost dropped.He walked into an old-fashioned three-bedroom apartment, complete with bathroom and kitchen, but there seemed to be a pungent cat smell in the air.

"Oh, this is only temporary." Mr. Weasley wiped his bald head with a handkerchief and looked at the four bunk beds in the bedroom. "I borrowed these from Perkins in the office. Poor Guy, he’s got back pain and can’t camp anymore.”

Mr. Weasley picked up the dusty kettle and looked inside: "We need some water..."

"On the map that the Muggle gave us, there is a water tap marked on the other side of the camp." Ron said.He and Harry had already entered the tent at this time.

"Okay, then you, Harry and Hermione will go get us some water, and then..." Mr. Weasley handed over the kettle and two stewpots they brought, "The rest of us will go pick it up. Light some firewood and prepare to light a fire, okay?"

"But we have a stove." Ron said, "Why can't we just..."

"Ron, don't forget the Muggle safety regulations!" Mr. Weasley said with an eager look on his face, "Real Muggles always light fires outdoors when camping. I've seen it."

They took a quick look at the girls' tent and found that it was only slightly smaller than the boys' tent, but it didn't smell like a cat.Aaron, Harry, Ron and Hermione then set off across the camp, carrying kettles and saucepans.

At this time, the sun had just risen and the mist gradually dispersed. They saw tents in all directions, as far as the eye could see.They walked slowly between the tents, looking here and there with interest.

The campers on the site gradually woke up.The first to get up were families with young children.Aaron has never seen such a young wizard.I saw a little boy about two years old squatting outside a large pyramid-shaped tent, holding a wand in his hand, happily poking a slug on the grass. The slug slowly swelled to the size of a sausage.As they reached him, the boy's mother hurried out of the tent.

"How many times have I told you, Kevin? You are not allowed to - touch - your father's - wand again! Ouch!" She stepped on the giant slug, and it exploded with a pop. .

They walked far away, and heard her shouting in the silent air, mixed with the little boy's cry: "You have crushed the bugs! You have crushed the bugs!"

After walking for a while, they saw two little witches, about the same age as Kevin, riding on two toy broomsticks, flying low, their feet lightly skimming the dewy grass.

A wizard working at the Ministry of Magic had already seen them. He hurried past Aaron, Harry, Ron and Hermione, muttering uneasily: "It's broad daylight! My parents are probably sleeping in."

From time to time, adult wizards can be seen emerging from their tents and starting to make breakfast.Some looked furtively and lit the fire with their wands; some struck matches with doubtful expressions on their faces, as if they thought it would definitely not work.

Three African male wizards were sitting there talking seriously about something. They were all wearing long white robes and roasting something like a hare on a pile of purple fire.Another group of middle-aged American witches sat talking and laughing under a banner with the Stars and Stripes logo hanging high between their tents, which read: Salem Witch Institute

Aaron heard fragments of conversation coming from the tents they passed. They were all speaking strange languages. He couldn't understand a word, but everyone's voice was excited.

"Uh... is there something wrong with my eyes? Why is everything turning green?" Ron said.

There was nothing wrong with Ron's eyes.In the area they just walked into, all the tents were covered with a thick layer of clover, and they looked like countless strange green hills rising out of the ground.In the tent with the curtain opened, you can see smiling faces.At this time, they heard someone behind them calling their names.

"Harry! Ron! Hermione! Aaron!"

It turned out to be Seamus Finnigan, their classmate at Hogwarts.He is one year older than Aaron, in the same grade as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and is also in Gryffindor House like them.He sat in front of his family's clover-covered tent, flanked by a blond-haired woman who must be his mother, and his best friend Dean Thomas, also a Gryffindor student.

"Do you like the decorations?" Seamus asked with a smile. "The staff at the ministry are not too happy."

"Well, why can't we show our colours?" said Mrs Finnigan. "You should go and see, the Bulgarians have their tents all hung up. Of course you support the Irish team, don't you?" She stared at Aaron, Harry, Ron and Hermione with bright eyes.They assured her that they did support Team Ireland, and off they went again.

Ron muttered: "In that atmosphere, what else can we say?"

"I wonder what the Bulgarians have hung all over their tents?" said Hermione.

“Let’s go take a look,” Aaron said, pointing to a large tent ahead, where the Bulgarian flag—white, green, and red—fluttered in the breeze.

The tents here are not covered with any plants, but each tent has the same poster, which shows a very gloomy face with thick black eyebrows.Of course, the picture is moving, but the face only blinks and frowns.

"Krum," Ron whispered.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Krum!" said Ron. "Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker!"

"He looks so gloomy." Hermione looked around at the countless Krums winking and frowning at them.

"Too gloomy?" Ron rolled his eyes upward, "Who cares about what he looks like? He's amazing! And he's very young, only around. He's a genius, and you'll see it tonight."

A small queue had already formed at the water tap in a corner of the camp.Aaron, Harry, Ron and Hermione also lined up. The two men standing in front of them were arguing fiercely about something.One of them was very old and was wearing a long printed pajamas.Another wizard, who was obviously working for the Ministry of Magic, was holding up a pair of pinstriped trousers and was so angry that he was almost crying.

"Just go ahead and put it on, Archie. You can't walk around in clothes like this. The Muggle at the gate is already suspicious." said the wizard who worked at the Ministry of Magic.

"I bought these trousers in a Muggle shop." The old wizard said stubbornly, "Muggles also wear them."

"Only Muggle women wear them, Archie. Men don't, so men wear these," said the wizard who worked at the Ministry of Magic, waving the pinstriped trousers.

"I'm not wearing any," said old Archie angrily. "I'd rather have a wholesome breeze blowing up my ass, thank you."

Hermione felt like giggling when she heard this.She couldn't bear it any longer, so she bent over and ran away from the team. She didn't come back until Archie filled up his bottle of water and left.

They returned through the camp, walking much slower than when they came because they were carrying water.On the way back, they saw many familiar faces, all of them were their classmates at Hogwarts and their families.

Oliver Wood is the former captain of the Gryffindor House Quidditch team and has just graduated from Hogwarts.He pulled Aaron, Harry, Ron, and Hermione into his parents' tent, introduced them to them, and excitedly told Aaron that he had just signed as a substitute for Puddlemere United.Next, they were greeted by Ernie MacMillan, a fourth-year Hufflepuff classmate.After walking a few more steps, they saw Qiu Zhang, a very beautiful girl who worked as a seeker on the Quidditch team of Ravenclaw House.She waved and smiled at them, and they waved back, but Harry seemed a little too excited and waved too hard, spilling a lot of water on his front.Seeing Harry's unusual behavior when facing Qiu Zhang, Aaron couldn't help but look at him with some confusion.

Harry seemed to have noticed Aaron's gaze, and his expression was a little unnatural. He quickly pointed at a large group of teenage boys whom everyone had never seen before and asked Ron next to him: "Who do you think they are? They don't seem to be..." A student at Hogwarts?"

"They probably went to some foreign school." Ron said, "I know a lot of other schools. But I don't know the people from those schools. Bill used to have a pen pal who went to a school in Brazil... That was many, many years ago... They also wanted to go on an exchange trip, but mom and dad couldn't afford the money. He said he couldn't go, and the pen pal was so angry that he sent him a pen with a spell on it. The hat made his ears wrinkle."

When they finally returned to the Weasley family's tent, George complained: "What took you so long?"

"I met some familiar people." Ron put down the water and said, "You haven't lit the fire yet?"

"Dad's playing with matches," said Fred.

I saw Mr. Weasley squatting next to a pile of firewood, striking a match.It looked like this was not the first match he had struck, for Aaron saw many spent matches scattered on the ground around him.It stands to reason that with the few matches, the fire should have been lit long ago, but Mr. Weasley's work has not improved at all.

"Ouch!" At this moment, Weasley finally struck the match in his hand, but he screamed and quickly threw it away.

All right.Aaron knew why Weasley had used so many matches and hadn't lit the fire yet.

"That's right, Mr. Weasley," Hermione said gently, taking the matchbox from his hand and showing him what to do.


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