Chapter 906 Christmas

Sirius and Lupine gave Harry a wonderful set of books called "Defense Magic in Practice" and "For Defense Against the Dark Arts". They had gorgeous covers and colorful activity illustrations of all the magic and objects described in them. Harry eagerly opened the first volume, he could see that it would be of high practical value to his D.A plan.

Fan Lin presented a cloak. The pattern hidden under the black looked very beautiful. It was produced by Mr. Al. There is no doubt that this is a Muggle style, and wizards have no interest in making such things.

Hagrid gave him a leather wallet made of toothed brown fur, presumably to protect it from theft, but unfortunately, Harry couldn't put money in it without tearing his fingers.

Thomas's gift was a small Quidditch model, and he watched it fly around the room, praying that he still had his Quidditch heart intact.

Ron gave him a giant box of every-flavorBeas. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave away coats and minced pies that they had knitted themselves as usual. Dobby sent a portrait that was so horrific that Harry wondered if it was Dobby's real work. He turned it over and over to see how it would look good.

Then, with a loud pop, Fred and George appeared at the foot of his bed.

"Merry Christmas!" said Fred. "Don't go downstairs too often."

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Mummy's yelling again," Fred shouted, "Percy returned the Christmas coat he got to Mummy."

"There wasn't a text," George added, "not a word to say hello to Dad, or a visit to see him or anything. We tried to comfort her, telling her that Percy was just a giant pile of rat turds."

Fred said, moving around the bed so he could see the portrait in Harry's hands.

"But that didn't work," said George, popping a piece of Chocolate Frog into his mouth, "so Lupine is comforting him now. It would be best if he could cheer her up again before we go downstairs for breakfast."

"Anyway, tell me what that is?" Fred asked Harry, squinting at Dobby's painting. "It looks like a gibbon with a pair of black eyes."

"That's Harry! Look at the back of the painting," said George. "That's what it says on the back."

"It's so similar!" Fred laughed, and Harry threw his new homework notebook at the tired boy. But it just hit the wall and bounced to the ground, where it lay there and said happily, "If you can dot the i's and cross the t's, you can do whatever you want." They said. Putting on clothes and getting up from the bed, "However, I hope that this is what Dobby gave to Fan Lin."

"Oh, that seems to disappoint you. Dobby knows what he wants." Fred said, "I saw some precious wild medicinal herbs when I got up in the morning. However, Dobby gave his daughter The owner’s looks like this too, but it looks even worse.”

"You mean Hermione?"

"That's right!" Everyone laughed immediately.

As they walked downstairs, they could hear the residents in the room wishing each other "Merry Christmas."

When they went downstairs, they met Hermione and Fanlin coming downstairs.

This made everyone look at Hermione strangely. Everyone was looking forward to Dobby's portrait of Hermione, which would definitely be interesting.

"Thank you for sending me the book, Harry." Hermione said happily, "I have wanted that "ethey" for a long time! And Ron, thank you for sending me that bottle of unique perfume."

"No big deal," Ron said. He nodded to the wrapped gift in her hand and asked, "Who is that for?"

Hermione looked pleased.

"It better not be clothes!" Ron warned her. "You know what Sirius said? He said Kreacher knew too much and we couldn't release him!"

"It's not clothing," said Hermione, "although I'd love to give him something to wear to replace those dirty old socks he's wearing. But it's just a quilt patched out of rags, and I thought it would Make his bedroom look nice."

As they passed the portrait of Sirius' mother, Harry lowered his voice and said, "What bedroom?"

"Yes, Sirius said it was less like a bedroom and more like a cave." Fan Lin said slowly, "He obviously slept under the pot in the cupboard outside the kitchen. The two of us were planning to Where to go."

When they reached the basement, Mrs. Weasley was alone. She stood in front of the stove, and when she said "Merry Christmas" to them, her voice sounded like she had a bad cold. They all averted their eyes and looked elsewhere.

Harry walked to a dirty door in the opposite corner of the pantry and asked, "So, is this Kreacher's bedroom?"

"Yes," said Hermione, a hint of nervousness in her voice, "well, I think we'd better knock first."

Ron tapped the door with his knuckles, but there was no sound from inside.

"He must be walking quietly upstairs," he said, and without thinking he opened the door.

Fan Lin peeked inside, then frowned, and saw that most of the cupboard was used to hold an old-fashioned pot. Kreacher made himself a bird's nest under the pipe at the bottom of the cupboard. Rags and smelly blankets were piled haphazardly on the floor, and the small hollow in the middle revealed where Kreacher curled up and slept every night.

There were crumbs of stale bread and moldy cheese here and there. In the far corner, some small objects and coins shone brightly, and Harry guessed they were from Kreacher's collection.

Among them were some that Sirius had thrown away when he was cleaning the house, and even a silver frame with photos of family members that Sirius had thrown away at the end of the summer. The glass of the frame may have been broken, but the black and white little people in the photo still looked arrogant. Looking at him, there was in the photo - something moved in his mind - the dark, hat-wearing woman he had seen in Dumbledore's memory: Bellatrix Lestrange.

It seemed that her picture was Kreacher's favorite, as he placed it in front of all the others and clumsily magically repaired the glass in the frame.

Fan Lin took the lead and walked in, staring at Kreacher's room. There were too many things in his room, and it was messy, maybe...

Kreacher is not here at all, and no one knows where he has gone.

"I think I will just leave the gift here." Hermione placed the package in the depression between the rag and the blanket, then pulled Fan Lin and closed the door gently, "Later, he will see Its, that’s good.”

After they closed the cabinet door, Sirius suddenly appeared in front of the cabinet carrying a turkey: "Think about it, who has seen Kreacher recently?"

"I haven't seen him since we got back that night," Harry said. "You ordered him out of the kitchen."

"Yeah," Sirius frowned, "I also think that was the last time I saw him. He must be hiding somewhere upstairs."

"Isn't it possible that he's out of here?" said Harry. "I mean, when you said 'get out,' did he think you were telling him to get out of the room?"

"No, it won't. House elves can't leave the house unless they get their clothes. They are one with the family house to which they belong," said Sirius.

"If they really want to leave, they can leave." Harry objected. "Dobby did this. He left Malfoy Manor two years ago to give me a warning. He had to punish himself after that, but he still Did it.”

Sirius looked a little flustered for a moment, then he said, "I'm going to look for him later, and I hope I'll find him upstairs crying a mess into my mother's old bloomers or something. Of course. He might have crawled into the drying cupboard and died."

Fred, George and Ron all laughed; but Hermione looked serious.

After eating Christmas lunch, the Weasley family, Harry, Vernon and Hermione began to plan a visit to Mr. Weasley, escorted by Crazy Eyes and Lupin.

Because the subway was closed on Christmas, Moody "borrowed" a car. Not everyone can apparate, especially when Harry is underage.

When Moody arrived, it was just in time for the Christmas pudding to be served. Harry suspected that the car had been "borrowed" without the owner's consent.

The car was encapsulated like the old Weasley Ford. Although it looks like an ordinary car on the outside, it can actually seat ten people plus Moody as the driver in comfort. Mrs. Weasley hesitated before getting into the car - everyone knew she disapproved of magical travel.

But finally, unable to resist the cold outside and the persuasion of her children, she got into the back seat and sat down gracefully between Fred and Ginny. Because there were very few cars on the road, it took them a short time to reach St. Mungo's Hospital of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

A handful of witches and wizards were quietly making their way to the hospital through a deserted path. Fanlin got out of the car wearing Muggle clothes, and Moody drove the car to the corner and waited for them to come back.

They sauntered toward a window, where a rag doll sat on a green nylon stand. Then, one by one, they crossed the grass. The reception looked full of festive colors: the crystal ball that illuminated St. Mungo's was painted in red and gold colors, vibrant Christmas baubles were everywhere, holly trees were hung at every door, and gorgeous The Christmas tree is covered in magical snow, and icicles sparkle in every corner, with a shining gold star on the top of each icicle.

It wasn't as crowded as it had been the last time they'd been here, and although halfway across the room, Harry found himself only distracted by a wizard plugging his left nostril with a satsuma.

"The whole family came together, right?" the blond witch behind the table asked with a smirk, "This is the third time I have seen this happen today. Damage spell, fourth floor."

They saw Mr. Weasley leaning on the bed with his leftover turkey dinner on a plate in his lap, looking sheepish. When they had greeted Mr. Weasley in turn and handed over their gifts, Mrs. Weasley asked, "Is everything okay, Arthur?"

"Very good, very good." Mr. Weasley replied hurriedly, his attitude seemed a bit over-enthusiastic, "You...um...you haven't seen it yet, have you?"

"Not yet, what?" Mr. Weasley asked suspiciously, "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing, nothing." Mrs. Weasley hesitated, but finally gave up.

Mr. Weasley said cheerfully, and began to open the pile of presents he had received, "Well, how is everyone? What did you get for Christmas? Oh, Harry, that's great! "

He screamed happily as soon as he opened the metal fuse and screwdriver that Harry gave him. Mrs. Weasley didn't look satisfied with her husband's answer. As Mr. Weasley leaned forward to shake Harry's hand, she took a surreptitious look at the bandages under her husband's pajamas.

"Arthur," she said, "you changed your bandages. Why did you change them a day ago? They told me they wouldn't change them for you until tomorrow."

"What?" Mr. Weasley looked panicked and pulled the sheets up to his chest, "No, no, it's nothing, this..." He seemed to shrink under Mrs. Weasley's sharp gaze. . "Okay, don't be angry yet, Molly, but he has an idea. You know, he is a newbie, a cute little guy, he is very interested in... um... auxiliary therapy, in fact, some old Muggles The cure. It's called 'stitching,' Molly, and it works great for Muggle wounds."

Mrs. Weasley made a strange sound that was somewhere between a scream and a growl, and Lupine walked away from the bed and walked towards the ignored werewolf, who was looking at the crowd around Weasley with a longing expression.

Sirius muttered something about wanting a cup of tea, and Fred and George jumped over to join him, laughing happily.

"Do you want to tell me that you let him use Muggle treatment methods to manipulate you?" Mrs. Weasley's voice became louder and louder, not realizing that the visitors who came with her were all trying to protect themselves. Ran away in a hurry.

"It's not just playing around, dear Molly," Mr. Weasley said with a pleading expression, "It's just, it's just something he and I both wanted to try, but unfortunately, well, for these special In terms of wounds, that doesn't seem to be as useful as we thought."

"What happened?"

"Okay, okay, I don't know if you know, um, if you know what a suture is."

"It sounds like you've been trying to sew your skin back together, but Fanlin has helped you heal as much as possible." Mrs. Weasley sneered from her nostrils, "But Arthur, even you, You can’t be this stupid.”

"I'd like a cup of tea too," Harry said, jumping aside. Hermione, Fanlin and Ginny almost jumped out with him towards the door. When the door closed behind them, they heard Mrs. Weasley's roar from inside: "What do you mean? That's conventional thinking. ?"

As they left the corridor, Ginny shook her head and said, "Typical henpeck." "

"What are sutures?"

"Well, you know, they're great for non-magical trauma," Hermione said impartially.

"It's just that the wounds of vampires will leave toxins. These threads can't support them at all. Maybe they can be replaced with dragon tendons. But, where is the tea room?" Fan Lin said quickly.

"Fifth floor," Harry said, remembering the sign on the welcoming witch's table.

They followed the corridor, passed through a set of double doors, and found a rickety staircase lined with more portraits of quacks, many of them looking like wild beasts. As they ascended the stairs, they were greeted by quacks who claimed they were suffering from strange illnesses and offered dire prescriptions. (To be continued)