chsdbacks Chapter 243 Stealing a Moment of Leisure from a Busy Schedule
Chapter 243 Stealing a Moment of Leisure from a Busy Schedule
Chapter 243 Stealing a Moment of Leisure from a Busy Schedule
When Harry, having packed his bags, dragged his suitcase and birdcage back to the living room, this is what he saw:
Belvina sat there leisurely drinking her coffee, no one knew where she had pulled it out from.
Sirius was touring the living room with great interest, occasionally poking at the various modern appliances with his finger, looking like he had never seen anything like it before.
The Dursleys, a family of three, were all crammed into a single sofa, which looked like it might break at any moment.
"I'm ready," Harry said, standing in the hallway with no intention of going into the living room.
"Very well, let's go!" Sirius finished his tour of the Muggle living room, walked out of the living room, and came to Harry's side.
Belvina waved her hand to make the coffee cup disappear, then stood up and said politely, "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, we'll take our leave now."
With that, Belvina also walked out of the living room.
The Dursleys did not react at all, as if they were ignoring the three wizards.
"Then goodbye," Harry said to the Dursleys.
The family of three, crammed together on the same sofa, didn't turn around, or even wave.
Seeing this, Sirius Black said discontentedly, "Harry is saying goodbye to you, are you deaf? You should at least say something!"
Vernon Dursley waved his hand reluctantly, his attitude extremely perfunctory.
"You won't see your nephew again until next summer, so you should at least say goodbye!"
Little Star made a move to walk into the living room, but Harry stopped him.
"It's alright, Sirius," Harry said, pushing Sirius out the door. "I don't care, it's really alright."
Harry managed to push Sirius out of No. 4 Privet Drive with great difficulty, preventing Sirius from turning into One-Punch Man again.
On the clean streets of Privet Drive, Harry's suitcase and birdcage flew one by one into the trunk of a black vintage car. Belvina was already inside the car, leaning against the window with her eyes closed, resting.
Sirius and Harry quickly got into the car and sat in the wide back seat with Belvina.
The Ministry of Magic driver stepped on the gas, and the old black car smoothly drove off Privet Drive.
Given Belvina's status and position, borrowing a car from the Ministry of Magic to do personal work would be a piece of cake.
As soon as the car started moving, Harry immediately opened his mouth and began to complain about the Dursleys' summer diet plan.
Sirius gestured for Harry to be quiet, then pointed to Belvina, who was leaning against the car window and seemed to be asleep.
"She's been really tired lately, so let's keep our voices down and not wake her," Sirius whispered. "You don't want to get a beating from her, right?"
Harry nodded in agreement and whispered, "What has she been up to this summer?"
"Meetings, endless meetings," Sirius replied. "You'll find out what she's been up to once school starts."
Surrey is located southwest of London, not far away. In addition, the Ministry of Magic's cars have been magically modified, making their "speed" incomparable to that of Muggle cars, allowing the three to quickly return to London.
As the old black car pulled up in front of Gate 12 in Place Grimmauld, Belvina opened her eyes.
Although her eyes were closed, she wasn't really asleep. One ear was on guard, and the other was on alert, so Sirius and Harry's whispers reached her ears.
Tonight is Harry's first time in Grimmauld Place. He looks curiously at house number thirteen, which is right next to number eleven, wondering where number twelve in Grimmauld Place came from.
Suddenly, a dark wooden door appeared out of nowhere between the two houses.
"Welcome, Harry, welcome to my parents' house," said Sirius. "I don't usually like to call this place home, but it's different now."
After saying that, Belvina and the other two entered Blake's old house.
The entrance hall, which should have been pitch black, was brightly lit. Lu Ping stood under the row of old-fashioned gas lamps, warmly opening his arms.
Harry quickly went up to Lupin and hugged him.
"I heard a car and thought it must be you guys coming back," Lupin said. "Belvina, you don't look well; you should get some rest."
"Thanks for reminding me, Remus. Why don't you help me kill Ludo Bagman?" Belvina joked.
Ever since Lupin resigned from Hogwarts, Belvina seemed to have suddenly become unreliable, often joking about Lupin being a werewolf.
Just like tonight, Belvina once again absurdly asked Lupin to kill Bagman.
Since the start of summer vacation, Belvina has probably asked Lupin to transform into a moonlit werewolf more times than Lupin has actually become a werewolf.
At first, Lupin was a little uncomfortable with Belvina's jokes, and Sirius would try to stop her.
But as time went on, Lupin gradually got used to it and no longer cared that Belvina would tease him about werewolves.
"No, Belvina, I'm a picky eater and I don't like raw meat," Lupin said with a smile.
After he finished speaking, a burst of cheerful laughter rang out in the hallway. Only Harry stood there, bewildered, not understanding what the adults were laughing about.
After a while, Belvina took Harry upstairs to put away his luggage, and he noticed a row of wrinkled heads hanging on the wall next to the stairs.
Harry looked closer and realized that it was actually a row of house-elves' heads.
"Belvina, this is..."
"One of the Black family's bad habits is beheading house-elves," Belvina explained. "The Black family's house-elves take great pride in it."
Harry didn't understand, and he asked, "Why?"
"Only Dobby was a house-elf who sought freedom," Belvina said. "The vast majority of house-elves will serve a wizarding family for life and will never disobey their master's orders."
From the perspective of house-elves, Dobby's behavior is not only unconventional, but unforgivable.
House-elves who are given "clothes" by their master's family basically have their lives lost meaning and are worthless.
Harry still couldn't understand; he didn't see what was wrong with house-elves fighting for freedom and equality.
"Didn't the house-elves ever think of rebelling? Like Dobby, trying to break free from the wizards' control?" Harry asked.
"No," Belvina shook her head. "From the day the house-elves were tamed by wizards, they never rebelled again. Serving the wizarding family is the only meaning of their existence."
Harry remained silent, a huge question mark swirling in his little head.
"To give an inappropriate example," Belvina said, "would you keep an obedient dog or a dog that bites its owner?"
Obedient dogs will be kept by their owners, while untamable dogs may be killed. The best outcome is to banish them and let them fend for themselves.
"We're here. This is the room you'll stay in," Belvina said, turning the snake-head-shaped doorknob. "Remus lives next door, and Sirius and I live upstairs."
This bedroom was larger than Harry's bedroom on Privet Drive, with high ceilings, a large bed at the inside, and Hedwig, dressed in snow-white, standing on the windowsill.
"Alright, I'm going upstairs to rest now," Belvina continued. "If you're not sleepy, you can go down to the kitchen and find Sirius and Remus; they're probably drinking."
After saying that, Belvina turned and went upstairs. She was so tired that she needed to get a good night's sleep.
The following morning, Belvina Kun stretched and walked into the kitchen.
Sirius, Lupin, and Harry were sitting at the table, each enjoying their breakfast.
Sirius and Lupin each had half a copy of the Daily Prophet, while Harry's eyes followed the busy house-elf Kreacher closely.
"Did you just wake up now?" Lupin asked. "I thought you'd already gone to work."
Belvina nodded, sat down in her usual seat, and said, "The important work is all done, and there's nothing left for me to do personally. I can relax for a little while."
The house-elf Kreacher promptly delivered breakfast: a bowl of porridge, bread, a fried egg, and sausage and bacon.
"Then I'll be working with Crouch on the World Cup finals," Belvina continued. "Accepting so many wizards at once could easily break the secrecy laws if we're not careful."
"Good luck, or Rita Skeeter will be spouting nonsense in the newspapers again." Sirius tossed the newspaper to Belvina.
Belvina took the newspaper, glanced at it, and said, "That woman is a mad dog. When I first went to the Public Press Office, she went against me quite a bit."
Belvina's methods to stop Rita Skeeter from spouting nonsense in The Daily Prophet were nothing short of brutal.
Every time the Daily Prophet dared to publish Skeeter's article, Belvina would lead a full-scale sanction against the newspaper, even preparing a lawsuit against it.
After several such incidents, the newspaper dared not publish Skeeter's articles anymore, and Rita Skeeter's name disappeared for a long time.
Now, Rita Skeeter has returned to the spotlight, once again publishing articles in the newspapers that are provocative and aimed directly at the Ministry of Magic. Belvina casually puts the newspaper aside and says, "People like Rita Skeeter should be locked up in Azkaban. The things she's done are almost as despicable as the Death Eaters."
"Then send her in. I have faith in you," Sirius said jokingly. "Don't let her mislead people anymore. She's making things up based on facts. How many people can tell the difference between truth and falsehood?"
This is where Rita Skeeter's brilliance lies: she always manages to obtain true information that others cannot, and then adapts and distorts it arbitrarily based on the facts.
As a result, Rita Skeeter's articles are highly engaging, with sharp and captivating language, and her level of rumor-mongering is unparalleled in the wizarding world.
Belvina always felt that Skeeter was wasting her talents by staying at the Daily Prophet; Fleet Street was her true stage.