Friday, the day before the Quidditch World Cup began.
That morning, a brand-new car drove into Ottery St Catchpole.
Hermione had arrived.
Mrs. Weasley was supposed to pick her up, but Mr. Granger thought that would be too much trouble, so he brought Hermione over himself, following the address in the letter.
And to show his gratitude, he brought a giant pile of dental care kits as gifts.
"Oh, what a beautiful car..." Mr. Weasley's eyes lit up as he stared at the silver sedan Mr. Granger had driven.
Since Ron lost that old Ford, Mrs. Weasley had banned him from buying another.
So now he could only feast his eyes, endlessly circling the car, occasionally crouching down to examine the wheel patterns.
Mr. Granger wasn't even surprised at this; instead, he kindly handed over the car keys.
No big deal—when he first came into the Magic world, he'd been no less enthusiastic than Mr. Weasley.
Mrs. Weasley came out too, inviting Mr. Granger to stay for lunch.
Mr. Granger shook his head, saying he had an appointment coming soon, and declined.
He was a dentist, and Mr. Weasley was fascinated by the profession; after Mr. Granger left, he grabbed those dental kits and ran off to investigate them.
Mrs. Weasley called Ginny over, asking her to show Hermione around the Shabby Residence.
It was Hermione's first time visiting a Wizard Family, and everything here felt so novel—it was utterly different from what she experienced at school.
By afternoon, Cedric and Cho had arrived too, and a big crowd suddenly filled the house; according to Fred and George, they'd never known it could feel so crowded.
Kael wrote a letter to Conna, asking if she wanted to come as well.
But when Ladon returned, he was carrying not just a brief reply—"see you at the venue tomorrow"—but also a small bottle filled with shimmering blue potion.
This was a poisonous Magic Potion, often used to deal with household pests.
...
Around five in the afternoon, Mr. Weasley was getting ready to fetch Harry—the job landed on him since Mrs. Weasley was preparing dinner.
"Dad, can we come with you?" Fred and George volunteered eagerly.
As soon as they heard Harry was to be picked up, they rushed back from Kael's house.
"All right." Mr. Weasley agreed, but then thought for a moment and warned, "No mischief! That family doesn't like Wizards; we can't cause trouble for Harry."
"I don't think things could get any worse for him anyway," Fred muttered under his breath.
They'd fetched Harry once before—they knew perfectly well how bad his situation was.
Mr. Weasley didn't hear that comment; he was busy tossing Floo Powder into the fireplace.
He'd already applied to the Floo Network Administration on the pretense of picking someone up, hoping to temporarily hook up the Dursleys' fireplace.
Though the Ministry of Magic prohibited connecting Muggle fireplaces to the Floo Network, Mr. Weasley had a lot of friends—some at the Floo Network Administration.
So the application was granted quickly, but the window was short—only ten minutes.
Knowing you need stamps to send a letter, but using Floo Powder to pick someone up... Kael really didn't know what to say about it.
If you had to pick between the two, he figured the Dursleys would much rather get mail delivered by owl than have someone suddenly pop out of their fireplace.
But he didn't stop them; after all, their agreed time was five o'clock and there were less than ten minutes left.
No way they'd make it by rushing—without Floo Powder, they'd have to use Apparition, which would probably freak the Dursleys out even more.
"Hurry up, we've only got ten minutes!"
Once the fire in the fireplace turned green, Mr. Weasley stepped in first, shouting out Harry's address.
"Surrey, 4 Privet Drive!"
The green flames shot up in the fireplace, and Mr. Weasley vanished.
Fred and George followed right behind.
Ron wanted to go too, but Mrs. Weasley grabbed him firmly.
"Don't send too many people—they don't like Wizards."
Hearing that, Hermione—who'd been keen to try Floo Powder—immediately stopped in her tracks.
Five minutes later, Fred was the first to return.
He came out of the fireplace, excitedly went up to Kael, and lowered his voice: "I tossed a bag of candy as I left, and deliberately left one piece behind..."
Right then, George and Harry arrived as well.
"Did he eat it?" Fred asked excitedly, reaching out to help Harry up.
"He did." Harry stood. "What was that…"
"Balloon Candy!" Fred said, eyebrows dancing. "You gave us the idea. All summer, we've been waiting for someone to try it out…"
The tiny kitchen burst into laughter.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Honestly, when he watched Dudley float uncontrollably up to the ceiling, he thought he'd accidentally inflated him again—just like Aunt Marge last year.
Then Harry looked around, greeting everyone.
Charlie and Bill were curious about him too.
The Boy Who Lived—they'd heard the name, but never met him before.
Soon, the fire in the fireplace died out.
"Mr. Weasley hasn't come out yet!" Hermione said nervously.
"Don't worry." Ron waved his hand. "Dad will figure it out…"
Ron hadn't finished speaking when a soft popping sound was heard. Mr. Weasley suddenly appeared beside George, furious.
"This isn't a joke, Fred!" he bellowed. "What did you give that Muggle boy to eat?"
"I didn't give him anything," Fred grinned wickedly. "I just 'accidentally' dropped it on the floor. He picked it up himself… That's not my fault.
If he'd wanted to return the candy to me, nothing would've happened, right?"
"You dropped it on purpose!" Mr. Weasley knew his son too well. "You know he's dieting… He was bound to eat it!"
"Did he really fly?" George asked eagerly.
"All the way up to the ceiling!"
Harry and the Weasley Brothers erupted in laughter again.
"This is not funny!" Mr. Weasley protested. "It seriously damages wizard and Muggle relations! You shouldn't…"
"It's not about him being a Muggle!" Fred said angrily.
"He's always been bullying Harry," George said, "and that family doesn't even let him eat!"
"Exactly!" Harry said seriously.
To keep Dudley happy while dieting, Harry was allowed nothing more than a small miserable grapefruit at each meal—Aunt Petunia apparently believed the best way to encourage Dudley was to ensure he had more food than Harry.
But even then, Harry's tiny portions were often snatched by Dudley. If Ron and Hermione hadn't sent him food sometimes, he had no clue how he'd survive the month.
"That's not the point—what you did was wrong." Mr. Weasley was still a bit angry. "Besides, they'll take it out on Harry. You're just making things harder for him."
"It's fine, Mr. Weasley." Harry shrugged, showing he didn't care.
No matter what, his aunt and uncle would never like him—especially after last year when he inflated Aunt Marge. It didn't really matter…