"I suppose there just happens to be a forest nearby that can serve as a landing spot for Illusionary Appearance." Bill cracked a not-very-funny joke.
"Oh, of course, there really is a forest there."
Mr. Weasley said with a cheerful smile; after all, he had actually gone to check the site beforehand.
"For those who don't want to or can't use Illusionary Appearance, we'll use Door Keys—these things are used to transport a Wizard from one place to another at a fixed time, and if needed, they can take a large group of people in one go—if I remember correctly, the Ministry of Magic has placed about two hundred Door Keys all over the United Kingdom."
"But we don't need to use those things now, do we?" the twins asked in unison.
"Oh, of course not." Mr. Weasley patted his belly. "Oh right, I still have to go pick up the Grangers—Hermione? Call your dad first, I'll drive the car over to get them."
"A car?" Little Sirius perked up. "You never told me you had a car, Arthur—"
"I never got around to it." Mr. Weasley said to him, "It's not too late to find out now."
"Oh, it's that Ford Anglia." Charlie swallowed his mouthful of bread and said to Little Sirius, "When Dad was modifying that car, Mum really let him have it—but in the end she still couldn't stop him from tinkering with it."
"Yeah, and I got pecked by those two terrified chickens." Bill said a bit nostalgically.
Hearing Bill's words, everyone at the table burst out laughing.
"Well then, once we finish eating we'll head out together to pick them up." Mr. Weasley said, "Little Sirius will go with me… but the car is still at home, so we'll have to use Flue Powder to get back first and pick it up."
"Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley roared, "You're going to mess around in that car again, aren't you!"
"Oh no, dear." Mr. Weasley said, "We're going to pick up the Granger family so they don't get lost…"
That was a pretty good excuse; at least Mrs. Weasley didn't keep trying to stop him.
After they ate, Little Sirius set off with Mr. Weasley to pick up Mr. Granger.
"You know what?" Mr. Weasley was still chatting with Little Sirius as he stepped into the fireplace. "I know Mr. Granger's Bentley is very expensive, but he said he was willing to trade ten Bentleys for my car—"
"Well, yeah, for a Muggle, you can't buy a flying car anywhere." Little Sirius said seriously.
After they left, the boys gathered together to play poker, while Hermione sat off to the side, looking like she was grinding away at an essay.
And Cassandra sat behind Harry, watching them play cards.
They were playing Texas Hold'em, but instead of using money as stakes, they were sticking slips of paper on their faces.
Around seven or eight in the evening, the roar of an engine sounded outside.
After a moment, the front door opened, and the Granger family walked in with Mr. Weasley.
Judging by Mr. Granger's expression, he was quite excited and was still gesturing and describing to Mr. Weasley everything he had just seen.
"This is absolutely amazing!" Mr. Granger said happily. "I've never had such a novel experience; I feel like I've become much younger all of a sudden!"
"That's Magic for you—pretty wondrous, isn't it?" Little Sirius closed the door and said with a grin.
"Uhr-hmm!"
The portrait of Mrs. Blake, rudely awakened, coughed in displeasure; when she saw Mr. Granger and Mrs. Granger, she muttered something under her breath, turned over, and went back to sleep.
They really had Potter to thank for that; otherwise, there would inevitably have been another round of yelling.
"Is that a portrait? Or a television?" Mr. Granger stared in shock at the moving, talking painting and asked in astonishment, "It feels so realistic…"
"No, that's a portrait of my mother." Little Sirius answered casually.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Mr. Granger quickly apologized. "I really didn't know that was your—er—mother."
"It's fine." Little Sirius spread his hands. "I don't know she's my mother either."
The way he said it made Mr. Granger think this was some kind of Wizard-specific humor.
When they walked into the sitting room, they saw the kids with their faces covered in slips of paper.
Seeing her parents come in, Hermione let out a squeak, shoved the cards in her hand back into the deck, and bolted.
"What on earth are you doing?" Mr. Weasley asked in bewilderment.
"A specialty of the Black Clan." Bill lazily set down his cards and turned around. "Treats dry skin—want to give it a try, Dad?"
"Oh, I'd rather not." Mr. Weasley declined tactfully.
"I think it's pretty good." Fred hooked an arm around George's neck, and they said in stereo, "We're free anyway, so might as well play some cards, right?"
"Looks like your values are still quite healthy, at least there's no money involved." Mr. Weasley chuckled, then turned to Little Sirius and said, "We need to arrange a room for these two—"
"Don't worry, there are still plenty of empty rooms." Little Sirius snapped his fingers with a grin. "Kreacher!"
Kreacher appeared like a whirlwind, still holding on to Regulus.
Seeing the people in front of him, Regulus let out a screech and lunged for Mr. Granger.
"Jesus Holy FXXK!"
Mr. Granger jerked backward; Regulus's appearance had really scared the life out of him.
What kind of hardcore family was this, keeping zombies in the house?
"Kreacher!" Little Sirius barked. "Lock Regulus back up!"
Kreacher muttered under his breath, grumbling about how Young Master Regulus needed more moonlight, but he still didn't disobey Little Sirius's order and took Regulus back to his own room.
"Sorry you had to see that." Little Sirius turned back and apologized to the still-shaken Grangers. "Sorry, Regulus is my younger brother; for some reasons he turned into what you just saw—sorry for frightening you."
"It's fine." Mr. Granger swallowed. "Our room—"
"Oh, far away from them." Little Sirius said with a smile. "Right next door to Hermione's; I've already got it all ready for you."
Hearing that, Mr. Granger finally relaxed.
That night, they stayed over at the Black family house.
The next morning, they got up very early.
As honored guests, they didn't need to arrive at the venue ahead of time, so it would be fine to set off after lunch.
"This is my first time attending such a grand event in the Magic World." Mr. Granger seemed a bit excited. "It'll be like Diagon Alley, right?"
"No, if we really have to compare…" Little Sirius thought for a moment and said, "It's like the World Cup football tournament, yeah…"
"Oh!" Mr. Granger smacked his palm. "I even went to the United States for the World Cup this year."
"Really?" Harry asked around a yawn. "So who won?"
"Brazil." Mr. Granger said. "They went into extra time still tied, and in the end Brazil beat Italy 3–2 on penalties to win the championship—it has to be admitted that South American football really is strong."
Speaking of this, Mr. Granger added rather regretfully, "What I didn't expect was that Roberto Baggio actually missed his penalty; I really thought he would score…"