Hogwarts Homecoming

Woo!

The deafening sound of the train whistle woke Percy up from his depressed thoughts. When he came back to his senses, he found that the scenery outside the window had been separated from the green mountains and the rippling lakes between the mountains. The Hogwarts Express was racing across the endless horizon. The fields and pastures filled with cattle and sheep galloped.

The vast expanse under the bright sunshine didn't make Percy feel any better.

He lifted his butt slightly away from the cushioned sofa in the box and looked towards the direction of departure. The majestic and majestic Hogwarts had completely disappeared from the field of vision, and not even a shadow could be seen.

"Why--"

A heavy sigh dissipated in the rhythmic collision of wheels rolling over the rails. Percy bent over and buried his face with his open hands.

Professor Brain was not convinced by himself.

Percy didn't want to deceive himself that he hadn't expected this situation, but Professor Brain was so decisive that he didn't even explain the reason for his refusal, which he didn't expect.

In my own opinion, Professor Brain still takes good care of me.

When he was the assistant to Mr. Barty Crouch Sr., he had just independently supported the daily work of the Department of International Magical Cooperation after Mr. Crouch left on sick leave. During that time, he lived a very painful time, troubled by countless trivial and trivial matters. He, and Professor Brain gave him some pointers. He asked himself to ask his father for advice, and asked his father to take him to visit the chief officials of various departments.

He dubiously followed the instructions. From then until the time before he was kicked out of the International Magical Cooperation Department, his work became much easier than before.

"Why don't you want to help me anymore?"

A disappointed complaint came from behind the open palms.

It's just that Ms. Umbridge is allowed to teach at Hogwarts. The young wizards are short of a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Isn't this the best of both worlds?

Why did Professor Blaine refuse? Percy didn't want to think deeply about this issue, but the current situation was that he had fallen into an even more desperate situation.

He has not completed the ministerial test, so he cannot expect to become an assistant to the minister. He must continue to waste his precious time in the centaur office, a place where there is nothing to do except wiping the table and sweeping the floor. One day, perhaps until the next minister takes office, his embarrassing situation may be reversed.

After wiping his face a few times with his hands and wiping his slightly damp eyes that might have been irritated by the sourness, Percy once again cast his dull gaze out the window.

What to do next?

Not only did he not get the support of Professor Brain, but he also annoyed his father. Ron was right. His father was indeed strongly opposed to his coming to Hogwarts. For this reason, they even had a big fight.

Thinking of his father, Percy felt a little more angry in his confused heart.

He really couldn't understand what the benefit was of going against the powerful Minister of Magic, if it hadn't always been...

Boom, boom, boom——

A sudden knock on the glass door of the box made Percy turn his head, and what appeared in his field of vision was a smiling, dimpled woman with a trolley parked in front of her.

Seeing Percy looking at her, the woman smiled and opened the door of the box.

"Honey, do you want to buy some food for the car?"

"Oh, thank you, no, I brought it myself."

Some long-standing habits made Percy subconsciously give an answer of "no", but before he finished speaking, he woke up. He was no longer at Hogwarts, and he didn't carry what his mother had prepared for him. Pies, and he was not as cramped as when he was in school. Working at the Ministry of Magic still gave him some savings, although not much.

The witch selling snacks did not show displeasure because of Percy's refusal. She still nodded towards Percy with a smile, and then prepared to close the box door.

"etc!"

Percy said that he looked at the dazzling array of food on the trolley and suddenly realized that he did not respond to Professor Brain's suggestion to eat lunch at school, but left Hogwarts directly. Now, he does feel a little hungry. , and to his pleasure he had some Galleons in the purse in his pocket.

"Have you changed your mind, dear?"

The fat witch looked at Percy with a little expectancy.

"Oh, yes--"

Standing up from his seat, Percy examined the snacks on the cart.

The food was plentiful, with carts piled high with Bibi's All-Flavour Beans, Bubbles, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pies, Cauldron Cake, Licorice Wands, and some candies from Bee Dukes Candy Shop.

He couldn't remember whether he had ever made purchases at the witch vendor's mobile shop during his seven years of education at Hogwarts. Even if he had, for reasons he didn't want to mention, the number of times was probably very few. .

"Oh, are you sure you want to buy this much, honey?"

The witch's surprised voice brought Percy, who was lost in memories again, back to reality. Percy blinked and found that the food he had selected had piled up into a small mountain on the seat in the box, and he was indeed eating it alone. Endless.

"If I buy them all, how much will it cost me?"

Percy bit his lip and said cautiously.

"Oh, the prices on these things have gone up lately, dear—"

The fat witch's response made Percy's heart skip a beat. Before his face could turn red, he heard the witch say again,

"Sixteen silver Sickles plus nine Bronze Nats."

"oh--"

Percy breathed a sigh of relief. He took out a Galleon from his pocket, feeling strangely satisfied.

"Here you go. No need to change--"

"Oh, thank you, generous gentleman--"

The fat witch took the Galleon with a smile and considerately closed the door of the box for Percy.

Generous gentleman.

Until the sound of the cart clattering away from his ears, the smile on Percy's lips slowly faded, and his melancholy mood also dissipated a lot in this pleasant transaction.

With a bit of urgency, Percy returned to his seat and began to taste his food. He had tasted these common foods, but perhaps because of hunger, Percy had never felt that they were so sweet, so that his eating posture was a bit wolfing down.

Although he was not particularly fond of these "children's" food, he had never experienced this kind of "wealth".

During his student life at Hogwarts, most of his things, including magic books, crucibles, scales, telescopes, and wizard robes, basically came from Bill and Charlie. When he first stepped into Hogwarts, the only brand new thing that belonged to him was his wand, and his pet owl was bought by his father and mother after he became the head of the class in the fifth grade.

In this family, poverty tortured everyone's self-esteem, but no one dared to complain in public, which was undoubtedly a kind of cowardice.

Almost greedy, Percy tore these snacks.

It's not that their family couldn't live a good life, and poverty was not entirely caused by having too many brothers and sisters.

The root of the problem came from his father.

His father's biggest hobby has always been to fiddle with those useless Muggle world things. He never wanted to spend more time on work, had no ambition, was unwilling to please the leader, and was willing to stay in a worthless small department to entertain himself, ignoring the tight life at home.

In comparison, what's wrong with me?

Since he entered the Ministry of Magic, he has devoted all his energy to his work, hoping to have a good career development, to realize his ambitions, and to make his family live more decently. So that his mother does not have to worry about money all the time.

To achieve this goal, he must win the favor of the Minister of Magic, so he came to Hogwarts today.

A piece of chocolate cake choked his throat, and the pain of suffocation made Percy curl up, his body spasming slightly. His hand struggled to touch the water cup on the table, and after a fierce gulp, his breath finally became comfortable.

Percy fell on the chair, perhaps because of the pain just now, the thin young man's eyes were slightly moist, while he panted, his eyes looked at the flowing white clouds outside the window.

Why. No one understands his difficulties?