Chapter 517: Departure, Destination: The Hill (Edited)
"Dearest, can you help me bring the food I've prepared to the table, please?" Molly ordered as she pointed her wand at the potatoes in the sink, which obediently flew over to the trash bin and peeled themselves automatically.
"No problem, is there anything else we can assist with?"
Mrs. Weasley shook her head. Unlike Muggles, wizarding kitchens didn't require any technical skills, just wand movements to complete tasks. That was the difference between wizarding and Muggle families.
In Muggle families, if one of the parents or children didn't know how to cook, they had to take on repetitive tasks like peeling potatoes, sorting vegetables, rinsing rice, and, of course, doing the dishes. In the magical world, those tasks weren't necessary at all! All sorts of domestic magic were so advanced that there was nothing in the kitchen that couldn't be solved with a wand, and children would only cause more mess than help.
Mrs. Weasley pointed her wand, and the kitchen drawers slammed open, some knives flew out and sliced the peeled potatoes into pieces. At the same time, the two chickens that had been sacrificed on the chopping board staggered to their feet and headed for the sink to shower themselves as if they were taking a bath.
After washing off the blood, a butcher's knife floated and chopped the two chickens into pieces from the joints. Once done with the chicken, the butcher's knife rinsed itself and continued to cut other meats.
Mrs. Weasley wasn't paying much attention to handling the ingredients; she was busy preparing a pie. Butter, milk, sugar, eggs, and flour were neatly mixed under her guidance, quickly stirring until the dough was ready and poured into the baking tin lined with parchment paper. Once the tin was filled, it went into the oven by itself.
"When it's ready, help me take it outside to the table. Be careful, it's hot," Mrs. Weasley warned Tom before continuing to cook. However, this time, her wand moved with too much force, and the knife stabbed deeply into the chopping board, getting stuck there.
"Oh my!" Mrs. Weasley pounded the countertop with her wand, and the knife jumped off the board, embedded itself in the ceiling, and threw the board to the floor.
Mrs. Weasley's mood worsened.
"Humph!" She complained as she restored everything to its original state. "These two! They have no ambition at all, just like this darn knife, causing trouble every day. Don't they have even a bit of ambition?"
Both Tom and Hermione knew she was referring to Fred and George.
She placed a brass pot on the stove, poured in some oil, and heated it to the maximum.
"They're very clever... but they just don't want to apply that cleverness to their studies..." Mrs. Weasley complained in frustration. Tom and Hermione stayed quiet in a corner of the room, acting as if they weren't there. Tom truly hoped to be chosen to set the table so he could escape the kitchen.
"...I bet they'll come to no good if they keep it up. There are more owls flying from Hogwarts to complain about them than any other student..." Mrs. Weasley added rosemary and garlic to the hot oil, then added chunks of beef.
Finally, Mrs. Weasley set her wand aside and pulled some steaming bottles of drinks from a cabinet. She placed them on the table and picked up her wand from the table.
"After all these years, I've written dozens of guarantee letters, do they serve any purpose? Oh, please! Another fake wand!" The wand emitted a squeak and transformed into a rubber rat.
"Interesting," Tom thought to himself because he had just realized that there was no fake wand on the kitchen table's surface, which meant this wand had come on its own.
But upon seeing the smoke rising from the brass pot, Tom felt the kitchen was too dangerous at the moment.
"Let's go, Bill and the others need our help," Tom grabbed the drinks from the table and rushed out of the kitchen with Hermione.
They both ran through the back door into the garden, leaving Mrs. Weasley alone in the kitchen. Just as they entered the garden, something resembling a mud-covered potato darted past them, closely followed by a ginger-yellow figure.
In the end, the "potato" plunged headfirst into a hole in the ground, and Crookshanks stood there scratching the dirt outside in vain, looking displeased. Once he was sure he was safe, laughter echoed from inside the hole.
Tom immediately recognized it as a gnome that Crookshanks had been chasing. Unlike what's portrayed in Muggle fantasy works, gnomes in the magical world are incredibly dumb and can't invent those wonderful magical artifacts. In fact, they're no smarter than field mice.
Gnomes are a species that often appears in wizarding families' gardens, somewhat akin to cockroaches in Muggle households. However, unlike cockroaches, many wizards believe that having gnomes in the garden is a kind of blessing. Xenophilius Lovegood even claimed that gnome saliva had many unusual benefits, like suddenly increasing a person's creativity. Tom had his doubts about that: these beings seemed genuinely stupid; how could they boost someone's intelligence?
In the garden, Bill and Charlie were wrestling with the table, with the rest of the Weasley family watching from the side. Except for Percy, who was busy finishing a report, and the Minister of Magic from Bulgaria was arriving to see the World Cup final, increasing the workload of the Ministry of Magic.
A visit at the ministerial level is extremely rare and will bring about a series of problems that the Department of International Magical Cooperation will have to handle.
Despite all the setbacks, Mrs. Weasley managed to prepare a hearty dinner before it got dark. When the last dish was placed on the table, it made a creaking sound, indicating that it was at its capacity limit, but it finally stabilized thanks to a reinforcement charm performed by Charlie.
Chicken stew, roast beef, a large stew, pastries, cold drinks, and a delicious, soft and flavorful Basque cake.
This meal was enough to satisfy everyone.
At first, they were all focused on their food, but once their stomachs were slightly full, they started discussing the topics that interested them.
Percy was eager to discuss some details about the reception of the Bulgarians with Mr. Weasley, but it was clear that Mr. Weasley's attention was not on his son. He simply nodded and muttered without paying much attention. After Percy finished speaking, Mr. Weasley quickly turned to the Grangers and asked them about some Muggle world matters, such as transportation, currencies, and telephones.
After running into a wall with his father, Percy closed his mouth in annoyance and concentrated on finishing the chicken stew with potatoes on his plate.
Fred and George regained their energy; they were like little invincible insects that could quickly recover from any setback. Now they were excitedly discussing the World Cup final with Charlie and Ron. Harry, on the other hand, watched them eagerly, not wanting to miss a single word. During the summer holidays, he had been stuck in Privet Drive, completely isolated from the magical world, so everything related to the magical world was unknown to him.
He deeply regretted missing almost the entire World Cup. He would be so happy if he could be with his friends in front of the television, eating snacks and watching the World Cup.
But thinking about the television, Harry realized that it wouldn't be very realistic for all his friends to gather to watch the broadcast together since the magical world didn't have televisions, only radios. He feared...
"I admit Krum is very strong, but the Bulgarian team as a whole is very weak. Ireland's team can crush them, except for Krum," Charlie said while eating a baked potato and facing his brothers.
"But Krum-"
"No 'buts.' The final result will depend on whether Krum can catch the Golden Snitch before Bulgaria is 150 points down. In fact, the Bulgarian team didn't even make it to the semifinals," Charlie said firmly after swallowing the potato in his mouth.
"What about the British team?" Harry asked eagerly, Quidditch was his favorite form of entertainment, and he wanted to know everything about it.
"Wales was eliminated by Uganda, Scotland was defeated by Luxembourg, and the England team was crushed by Transylvania," Charlie said with a concerned expression on his face.
"Sorry, Trans... Trans what?" Harry searched his mind for the name of that strange place but realized he had no idea about such a location.
"Transylvania. It's in west-central Romania. It's not a country itself, but a region with a complicated history," Charlie explained to Harry what Transylvania was.
In the magical world's Quidditch World Cup, many teams don't participate as countries but as regions. Some classic examples include the British team being divided into England, Scotland, and Wales teams. In Romania, they have teams representing Romania and Transylvania. In the Netherlands, they have Flanders representing the Netherlands, and so on.
If wizards were to draw a map of the world, it would be very different from the Muggle map. The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy protects the isolation between wizards and Muggles but also makes changes in political divisions challenging. Flanders and Transylvania, mentioned earlier, used to be independent principalities. They disappeared in the non-magical world but still exist in the magical world.
Bill finally freed himself from Mrs. Weasley's annoying attempts to change his appearance. He couldn't accept removing the earrings or cutting his hair. He swapped seats with Ginny and sat next to Tom.
"Tom, what did you experience in the desert?" Bill held a plate full of food with one hand and a spoon with the other, playing the role of a gracious host at a social gathering.
Tom: ...
"Why are you suddenly asking that?"
"Curiosity is one of the essential qualities of a Curse Breaker," Bill smiled a little embarrassed. "Treasures aren't placed in open locations for anyone to pick up. You know, I'm a Curse Breaker, and I also need to have achievements."
Tom took a big sip of the iced cranberry juice in his glass.
Curiosity, huh? So you're a research team machine. As we all know, in ancient ruins, those who are the most curious are the ones who usually suffer or drive the plot's development. Curiosity is an essential quality for a Curse Breaker, but those who can control their curiosity are the best Curse Breakers.
Tom didn't want to reveal information about Menes. Although Menes had told him it was good to have company, it depended on the situation. If Tom turned someone's tomb into a tourist spot, he would likely face retaliation from Menes.
Menes was just being polite. Besides, now that Tom thought about it, the hidden area in the ancient city was too dangerous and not suitable for a Curse Breaker to venture into.
"A ruin left over from the ancient era of ancient Egypt, very dangerous," Tom recounted to Bill his experience in the ancient city, nine truths and one lie.
He didn't mention anything about the inverted pyramids, just that the team was attacked by Lethifolds and miraculously escaped from the ruins of the ancient city.
"I recall that the guild organized by Professor Dumbledore issued an exploration task. Was there any news in the end?" Tom asked.
Bill shook his head and said, "The guild members explored the place; it's a dangerous ruin where there could be treasures. Some of my colleagues aren't giving up and want to search there. Guild members aren't expert Curse Breakers; there might be something that slipped past them."
"Good luck," Tom said uninterestedly.
While everyone ate and drank, the moon rose in the night sky, and everyone was satisfied.
"Oh my, is it this late already?" Mrs. Weasley nudged her husband, interrupting his conversation with Mr. Granger.
"They have to get up early to watch the match tomorrow! Go to bed!" Mrs. Weasley urged them with an unquestionable tone, sending each to their respective rooms.
After washing up, Tom felt like he had barely touched the pillow when Mrs. Weasley called him. Because they had to walk to the key drop-off point, and the keys had a fixed schedule, everyone had to get up early.
It wasn't even light outside when they woke up!
When they entered the kitchen, Mr. Weasley was chatting with Mr. Granger. Last night, one wanted to learn about the magical world, and the other wanted to learn about Muggles, so they talked non-stop. If it weren't for the lack of comfort, Mr. Weasley would have wanted to spend the night in Mr. Granger's room.
"Look, how does my outfit look? We have to conceal our identities when we go, so I've chosen an outfit for myself," Mr. Weasley asked eagerly.
This outfit was personally chosen by him without consulting Mr. Granger. To him, it was like an exam, dressing independently and dressing with a Muggle's help were two different things. In an exam, you can't look up answers to the teacher, and the same goes for clothing.
Tom, with sleep-filled eyes, looked at Mr. Weasley, who was wearing a big, baggy T-shirt on top and worn-out jeans on the bottom, with a wide belt at the waist. Not bad, he looked quite like an American redneck.
After receiving affirmative responses from Harry and the others, Mr. Weasley showed a happy smile.
Tom's sleepiness disappeared when he saw Hermione arrive. Today, she was wearing a tight, light pink sweater, covered with a cream-colored tweed jacket, and jeans that showcased her slender legs perfectly. This outfit perfectly highlighted her youth and beautiful teenage body.
If there weren't other people in the room, Tom would have surely whistled to express his admiration, but now there were too many people around, so he took a sip of cold water to calm himself.
The group that left early in the morning was quite large; only Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, and Percy didn't have to get up early. Mrs. Weasley wasn't going to watch the match, and the other three could use the Apparition Charm.
During breakfast, Mr. Weasley explained in detail to Harry and Mr. Granger about the Apparition Charm, an amazing magic.
Before departing, there was a little incident: Mrs. Weasley discovered the Tongue-Tying Toffees that Fred and George had secretly stashed away.
It was a sad story.
Mrs. Weasley used a Summoning Charm and pulled out all the toffees. Fred and George's plan was completely ruined.
This sudden change made the atmosphere before departure very tense. At least Fred and George had serious faces when Mr. Weasley shouted, "Let's head to the hill!"