Chapter 1102

"Who is it, in the middle of the night?"

Uncle Vernon Dursley shouted loudly, obviously very dissatisfied with this late night visitor, and he came down from the living room upstairs. Harry was stunned, holding a brass telescope in one hand and a pair of sneakers in the other. He completely forgot to tell the Dursleys that Dumbledore might come over in the evening.

This made Harry feel panicked and amused. He stepped over the suitcase and opened the door, just in time to hear a deep voice say, "Good evening, you must be Mr. Dursley. I guess Harry has told you that I Are you going to come and pick him up?”

Harry rushed downstairs in three steps at a time, but when there were only a few steps left, he came to a sudden stop. Long-term experience told him that he should stay as close as possible to his uncle's body at all times. beyond the reach of the hand.

There was a tall, thin man standing at the door. His long silver-white beard and hair had reached his waist. Half-moon glasses were set on a tall nose, and he wore a black traveling cloak and a pointed wizard hat.

The other person also surprised Harry greatly. Under the black cloak, he revealed an extremely white face, with aqua blue eyes that seemed to be flowing with light.

This face was too familiar to Harry. Not only at Hogwarts, but at the Dursleys' house, Harry had been rescued from misery countless times.

"Hello, Mr. Dursley, I think you won't blame us for our sudden visit, right." Fan Lin said, smiling at Dursley.

Vernon Dursley's beard was almost as thick as Dumbledore's, but it was black. He was wearing a dark brown nightgown and stared hard at the visitor with his little eyes, as if he couldn't believe it.

"Judging from your look of shock and disbelief, Harry must not have told you about my visit," said Dumbledore cheerfully. "But let us suppose that you will cordially invite me to your house. It would not be wise to linger long at the door in such a troubled situation."

Dumbledore walked in gracefully, followed closely by Fanlin, and then closed the door as a matter of course. He was already very familiar with this kind of thing. Do you expect Vernon to welcome them in?

There are still some possibilities to bring Mr. Al here.

"It was a long time ago when we last met," Dumbledore stared at Uncle Vernon over his high nose. "I must say, your purple clivia is looking great."

Vernon Dursley didn't say anything, but Harry believed that he was about to explode. Sure enough, after a while - the blood vessels on his uncle's temples bulged to the limit - but Dumbledore seemed to have taken it away in some way. Vernon's breath. Perhaps it was due to his ostentatious wizard attire. But it may also be because even Uncle Vernon felt that Dumbledore was a difficult person to intimidate.

"Ah, good evening, Harry," Dumbledore looked at him through his half-moon glasses with a satisfied expression. "Excellent, excellent." These words seemed to wake up Vernon Dursley. As far as he knew, anyone who said Harry was "great" was not in the same league as Vernon.

"I don't want to be violent-" he began to read word by word in a threatening tone.

"It is worrying, though, that poor, casual rudeness still occurs so often," Dumbledore finished solemnly. "But it's best not to say anything, my dear friend. Ah, this must be Petunia."

The kitchen door opened, and there stood Harry's aunt, wearing a pair of rubber gloves and a housecoat over her nightgown. She usually dusts the kitchen again before going to bed, so she's clearly busy. Her long horse face showed nothing but shock.

"Albus Dumbledore," Dumbledore said before Vernon could introduce him. "Of course, we have already passed the letter. And this person...I think it doesn't require too much introduction from me, does it?"

Harry thought it was an odd way to remind Aunt Petunia that he had sent her an explosive letter, but Petunia made no objection.

"Hello, Mrs. Dursley." Fan Lin nodded, "I'm so glad to see you."

"Ah……"

"This must be your son Dudley, right?"

Dudley was peeping at them through the living room door at that time. His big golden head stuck out from the striped collar of his pajamas. He looked as weird as if he had been separated from his body. His mouth was open with surprise and fear. big.

Dumbledore waited, obviously wanting to see if the Dursleys had anything to say. After a while, he smiled.

"Can we go inside and talk?" When Dumbledore passed by Dudley, he almost ran away. Harry jumped down the last few steps and followed Dumbledore, still clutching his binoculars and sneakers.

Dumbledore found an armchair next to the fire and sat down, looking around with an interested and kind expression on his face. He looked out of place in the tense atmosphere.

"Shall we go?" Harry asked anxiously.

"Yes, we do have to go. But before that we have a few issues to discuss," said Dumbledore. "And I prefer not to talk about these things outside. We have to disturb your aunt and uncle for a little while."

"Fan Lin, why are you..."

"I'm dropping by, you know, you can use that as an excuse to go there, and besides, I think Dudley would really like to see me."

"He misses you so much!" Harry smiled heartily. Harry naturally welcomed the arrival of Dumbledore and Fanlin, a huge welcome.

The two of them looked at Dudley's curled up and shaking body unscrupulously. In fact, it was not Dudley's fault. If Vernon could just accept it a little bit, Dudley wouldn't be so afraid.

"Are you really determined to do this?" Vernon walked into the room, Petunia holding his shoulders and Dudley hiding behind them both.

"Yes," Dumbledore said simply, "That's it." He drew out his wand unnoticed; with a flick, the sofa flew over and hit the Dursleys on the knees, causing them to They all collapsed on the sofa. He shook slightly again, and the sofa flew back again.

"It will make everyone more comfortable," said Dumbledore cheerfully.

"Please sit down." Harry sat down in one of the remaining armchairs, deciding not to look at the stunned Dursleys.

"I thought you would prepare some snacks for me," Dumbledore said to Vernon, "but as things stand, my optimism was foolish." So he waved his wand again, and a dirty word appeared. The stained bottle and five glasses appeared in mid-air. The bottle tipped over, pouring a generous amount of the honey-colored liquid into each glass, and the cups flew into the hands of everyone in the room.

"Lady Rosmerta's finest mead, brewed in oak barrels," Dumbledore raised his glass to Harry, who was sipping his own. Harry had never tasted anything like it, but he liked it very much. The Dursleys looked at each other quickly and panicked, trying to completely ignore the cup in front of them, which was difficult as it kept dangling gracefully in front of their heads.

Harry couldn't help but guess that Dumbledore was enjoying himself. Judging from Fanlin's expression, it was obvious that this was Dumbledore's little way to entertain himself.

Well, interesting, maybe when he becomes an adult...

"But Harry, are you sure about your appearance..." Fan Lin said suddenly. He looked at the sneakers and binoculars in Harry's hand. Fan Lin knew his friend very well.

"Are you afraid we won't come?" Dumbledore asked shrewdly.

"I'll just go over and - uh - finish cleaning up," Harry hurried over to pick up the binoculars and sneakers he had dropped on the ground. It took him more than ten minutes to find everything he needed; finally he pulled the invisibility cloak from under the bed, screwed the cap on his bottle of color-changing ink, and shut the cauldron firmly in the box. Then, carrying the box in one hand and Hedwig's cage in the other, he returned downstairs.

He was somewhat disappointed to find that Dumbledore was not waiting in the hall, which meant that he had to return to the living room. Everyone was silent. Dumbledore was humming a tune calmly, and it was obvious that he was very comfortable, but the atmosphere here was more solemn than cold custard.

"Professor - I'm ready," said Harry, not daring to look at the Dursleys.

"Very well," said Dumbledore. "Just one last thing, then," he turned to the Dursleys again. "As you are no doubt aware, Harry will be an adult in another year—"

"No," Aunt Petunia said for the first time since Dumbledore's arrival.

"Sorry?" Dumbledore asked politely.

"No, he's not. He's a month younger than Dudley, and Dudley won't turn eighteen until two years later."

"Ah," said Dumbledore cheerfully, "but in the wizarding world, seventeen is considered an adult."

Uncle Vernon muttered "ridiculous," but Dumbledore ignored him.

"Now, you all know that the wizard named Voldemort has returned to this country. The wizarding world has been in a state of war recently. Voldemort has tried to kill Harry several times. His situation is worse than when I left him in your home fifteen years ago. It was much more dangerous at the door. At that time, I left a letter explaining the death of his parents and hoping that you could take care of him like your own son." Dumbledore paused, although his voice remained relaxed and calm. There were no obvious signs of anger, but Harry felt a chill emanating from him and noticed the Dursleys moving closer together slightly. "You didn't do what I said. You never treated him as a son. In your hands, he got nothing but neglect and destruction. It can be said that the luckiest thing is that he at least escaped The damage you both did to the unfortunate boy sitting between you." Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon looked around instinctively, preferring to see someone else huddled between them instead of Dudley.

"Did we - abuse Dudley? You mean -?" said Uncle Vernon furiously. But Dumbledore made a quiet gesture, and Uncle Vernon fell silent as if he had been suffocated. "The magic I cast fifteen years ago is that as long as Harry can call this place home, he will receive strong protection. No matter how miserable he feels here, how unwelcome, how badly he is treated, you Finally, I reluctantly gave him a room to live in. The magic would end as soon as Harry turned seventeen; in other words, when he grew up, all I asked was that before his seventeenth birthday. Let him live in this house one more time so that the protection can last until then."

None of the Dursleys said a word. Dudley frowned slightly, as if he was still thinking about when he had been abused; Uncle Vernon looked like something was choking his throat; and Aunt Petunia blushed strangely.

Fanlin looked at the Muggles in the room. If anyone could understand wizards, Petunia was one of them. However, she didn't seem very smart sometimes.

But getting an answer from Vernon was obviously not a realistic thing. In fact, Fanlin didn't really need the Dursleys to answer. After all, this was already decided.

"Okay, Harry, Fanlin... I think we should go." Dumbledore said at last. He stood up and straightened his black cloak. "See you next time."

He said to the Dursleys, who seemed to wish that moment would never come. He took off his hat and saluted, then left.

"Goodbye," Harry said goodbye to the Dursleys in a hurry and followed Dumbledore, who was waiting by Harry's suitcase, on which Hedwig's cage was placed.

"We can't be dragged down by these things," he pulled out his wand again. "I'll take them to the Burrow first. But I want you to take your Invisibility Cloak with you... just in case." Harry struggled to pull the Invisibility Cloak from his trunk, trying not to let Dumbledore see the mess inside. He stuffed it into the inside pocket of his jacket, and Dumbledore waved his wand, and the trunk, cage and Hedwig disappeared. He waved his wand again, and the front door opened into the cool, misty night.

"And now, Harry, let us go out into the night and continue our strange and fascinating adventure."

Although Harry had been awake for the past few days hoping that Dumbledore would actually come to pick him up, he instinctively felt a little uncomfortable when they actually set out from Privet Drive.

Outside Hogwarts, Harry and his headmaster had never spoken to each other in the strict sense; there was always a desk in the office between them.

Harry's embarrassment was greatly increased by the memory of their last meeting the previous year, when he had yelled so much, not to mention smashing some of Dumbledore's most prized possessions.

Dumbledore, however, looked very relaxed.

"Hold your wand and be alert, Harry," he said warily.

"But I suppose I am not allowed to do magic outside the school, Professor?"

"If someone attacks you," said Dumbledore, "I allow you to use any counter-hexes and counter-cursors you can think of. However, I don't think you need to worry about being attacked tonight."

"Why, Professor?" (To be continued)