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The moment Malfoy and Neville entered the castle, the two children who had grown up in the wizarding world once again turned into country bumpkins.
This was completely different from the mainstream aesthetic of the wizarding world. Fantasy and science fiction were combined together.
Under Harry's lead, they came to the dining room. Dudley and Hermione had already been waiting here for a long time.
"Neville, Draco, welcome to our home."
The words our home not only made a bright smile bloom on Harry's small face, they also made Hermione, who was sitting beside Dudley, blush and turn her head away shyly.
"Serve the meal." Dudley sat upright and snapped his fingers lightly.
In an instant, the lights were bright. The sun had already set, and night was gradually falling, but the room was as bright as daytime.
Cornish pixies became attendants, wearing suits and ties as they flew in from outside carrying plates one after another, placing them on the spacious dining table.
The fragrant delicacies immediately stirred everyone's appetite.
Malfoy casually used his fork to take a piece and put it into his mouth. It melted as soon as it entered. A wonderful flavor bloomed across his tongue.
It was much better than the food at his own house.
When he learned that Dudley had personally cooked all these dishes, Malfoy exclaimed in surprise.
"Big D, you can cook too?!"
At Hogwarts, Dudley had never shown his cooking skills in front of them, so Malfoy and Neville had not known he could cook.
"Of course," Harry said proudly. "Big D's cooking is the best."
Anyone who did not know better might have thought Harry was the one being praised.
"Don't be polite. Eat as much as you want. I made plenty."
As Dudley spoke, he looked toward a plate of crispy roasted pork knuckle. He was about to begin his meal.
Did you think Dudley would use a knife and fork, slowly cut off a slice, and taste it bit by bit?
Don't joke. This was Dudley.
He directly picked up the pork knuckle and, at great speed, put it into his mouth and began chewing in large bites.
Meat was satisfying only when eaten in big pieces.
Malfoy had only taken his second forkful when Dudley had already finished, and his gaze shifted to another dish.
Perhaps because they had spent so long with Dudley, Hermione and Harry also ate very quickly. The food on the table visibly disappeared. At first, Malfoy tried to be somewhat reserved, but after watching the delicious food vanish bit by bit, he could no longer care about that and joined the battle for food.
Neville needed even less explanation. He was bigger than Malfoy and Harry, and he had long been hungry.
Before long, the group had demolished the entire table in minutes.
Dudley waved his hand, and a group of Doxies very sensibly flew over, picked up the plates, and carried them toward the kitchen.
He gently wiped his mouth with a napkin and looked at the others. "There is still some time before school starts. What do you want to do?"
They could tour the castle, but even looking at every place one by one would only take a few days at most. There were still a full two months before school started.
Before coming out, they had already told their families that they would not be going home during these two months.
Originally, Malfoy had thought his father would not let him out. Unexpectedly, Lucius had actually agreed. Before Malfoy left, he had even told him to learn properly from Dudley.
Although Lucius was arrogant, he was not stupid. He still had some judgment when it came to reading the situation.
Hermione was the first to express her thoughts. "I think we should use the remaining holiday time to strengthen our studies. O.W.L.s are in fifth year. We don't have much time left."
"When we report to Hogwarts this year, we will be third-years."
"There are only a little over four years left until graduation."
That only was used very well. Anyone who did not know better might think graduation was only a month away.
However, Dudley very much appreciated Hermione's sense of crisis in preparing ahead of time.
Their starting points, however, were not quite the same. Hermione was thinking about graduation. Dudley was thinking about another matter.
Senior Tom had suffered losses at his hands in succession. Two Horcruxes had been destroyed one after another, and his main remnant soul had also been eliminated. There was absolutely no way he would sit still and wait for death.
As Harry grew older, the threat he posed to him would become greater.
He believed in prophecy. He believed in prophecy far too much. In the prophecy's description, Harry was the person who defeated him. That was his obsession.
For wizards who had reached his level, or old Dumbledore's, if they wanted to go one step further, they had to personally erase their obsessions.
And he had died at Harry's hands. At least, that was how it looked to outsiders.
So as long as he gathered enough strength, he would definitely make a comeback. He would summon his followers and try every possible method to personally kill Harry in front of everyone.
As far as students were concerned, the members of the disciplinary group were already very strong. But against adult wizards, and vicious adult wizards at that, Harry and the others were still far from enough.
Never count on the Ministry of Magic to accomplish anything. They truly could not be relied on.
Dudley, who had dealt with the Ministry, was very clear on this point.
'Timid before Death Eaters, ruthless before ordinary wizards.' That was the Ministry's current reality.
"I agree." Unexpectedly, Malfoy was the first to approve Hermione's proposal.
Usually, although he was not like Ron, always looking for chances to slack off, he could absolutely not be called diligent.
The others did not know that Malfoy had already made becoming the head of the Malfoy family as soon as possible his first goal.
Of course, if he wanted to become the new head of the family, he first had to push the previous head down.
What a devoted son.
"I think so too."
Hearing Hermione's suggestion and seeing Malfoy's attitude, Neville nodded deeply and expressed his opinion.
"I think we should increase our Defense Against the Dark Arts training," Harry also said.
Harry was very dissatisfied that he had failed to deal with the basilisk together with Dudley at the end of last term, and he strongly demanded more Defense Against the Dark Arts training.
The foundation of Defense Against the Dark Arts was practical combat.
"I think so too." Neville agreed again, his head bobbing like a pecking chick.
The three of them all turned their gazes toward Dudley.
He was the one who made the final decision.
Seeing everyone so active in studying, Dudley felt very gratified.
"We need both theory and practice."
Dudley slowly expressed his view. "Besides the basic content in the textbooks, I think we should also learn some advanced magic."
For example, the Patronus Charm.
Conveniently, this year there would be a group of Dark creatures that all the young witches and wizards of Hogwarts needed to face.
Dementors.
They were perfectly suitable as practice targets.
How to defeat ten or more Dementors head-on could serve as this year's basic topic for the disciplinary group. Whoever reached the standard would be qualified to join the disciplinary group.
Dudley's gaze fell on this issue of the Daily Prophet. More accurately, it fell on the Weasley family.
He wondered whether the big dog in Azkaban had seen this paper.
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