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Chapter 436: Contact with the Dursleys
🕑 Added 2019-03-31 22:32:24 +0000 UTC
Evan and Hermione just walked to the first floor and saw Dudley, like a pig, covering his backside, screaming and running back to his room.
The door slammed shut with a bang.
"That was Harry's cousin, wasn't it?!" Hermione said doubtfully, "Why did he run when he saw us?"
"I think, probably because of fear," Evan replied. He knew that every contact between Dudley and any wizards did not end well.
The first time was Hagrid, who left Dudley with a curly pig’s tail poking out of the seat of his trousers.
The Dursleys had had to pay for its removal at a private hospital in London.
When he had just recovered from the shock, he met Dobby, the house-elf.
The angry Dobby caused Dudley to grow a pig's tail because he spoke ill of Harry in front of Evan.
In the end, it was Evan’s parents who paid a lot of money to the Dursleys to calm them down.
The hapless Dudley had to go to a hospital again to receive this confidential private service and cut off the pig's tail!
This was absolutely terrible. No wonder he screamed when he saw Evan and Hermione after such encounters with wizards.
To him, all wizards were the same; a group of monsters that would cause him to grow a pig's tail.
He had no idea that underage wizards couldn’t cast magic outside school.
Everyone's wand had a mark on it, and the Ministry of Magic could detect magic fluctuations they would cause within a certain radius.
Of course, they could do nothing for those would leave Britain and use magic so far away, like Evan had done when he went to France or Albania.
Now, the panic-stricken Dudley was hiding in his room shivering and covering his backside.
He was afraid of being targeted by Evan and Hermione again, terrified of the idea that the previous tragedy could once again repeat itself!
Evan ignored Dudley, and he led Hermione to Harry’s room at the end of the corridor.
Pushing open the door, Harry was packing his luggage inside.
The school trunk was open in the middle of the room, and Harry was sweating-busy.
Beside him, there was the Invisibility Cloak he had inherited from his father, the broomstick he had gotten from Sirius, various textbooks and other daily necessities and magic props.
When he saw that the door had been opened, he looked up in dismay and immediately showed a happy smile.
"Evan, Hermione, here you are!" Harry said with a smile.
He rushed over to give each of them a hug and looked so happy!
"Nice to meet you, Harry!” Evan looked around. “You look so messy!”
"It’s time to leave. Why haven’t you packed your luggage yet?!” Hermione said sharply, frowning tightly.
"Forget it, my uncle and aunt have been pestering me all morning, I had no time to pack anything up." Harry waved his hand. "Don't worry about me, Evan, where did you and Sirius go during the holidays? Why was he hurt so badly? Has your curse been broken? And why should I practice Occlumency?"
It was obvious that Harry had too many questions.
He asked a lot of questions at one go, and Evan could only answer them one by one.
While he explained, he followed Hermione to help Harry pack up.
They took out all the food Harry had hidden under the loose floorboard, for there was a lot of food still left inside.
Then, Harry double-checked every nook and cranny of his bedroom for forgotten spellbooks or quills.
When everything was in check, he took down the chart on the wall, counting down the days to September the first, on which he liked to cross off the days remaining until his return to Hogwarts.
Harry had a lot of things, and the three spent a lot of time packing.
By the time they walked downstairs, Evan’s father had left. There were things waiting for him in the company.
Now, inside number 4, Privet Drive, the mood was extremely tense.
Dudley was called down and the six people sat at the table on two sides.
They drank tea silently, and no one knew what to talk about.
The imminent arrival of an assortment of wizards at their house was making the Dursleys uptight and irritable.
"Come on, boy!" Mr. Dursley snarled at once and everyone jumped. "I hope you told them to dress properly, these people who are coming. I’ve seen the sort of stuff your lot wear. They’d better have the decency to put on normal clothes, that’s all!"
Evan and Hermione were wearing Muggle clothing, and the Dursleys couldn’t say anything.
However, Evan had never seen Mr. Weasley, his wife or any of his children wear Muggle clothes.
Usually, they wore long robes in various states of shabbiness.
In fact, Harry was totally indifferent to his uncle's roar.
He was only a little anxious about how rude the Dursleys might be to the Weasleys if they turned up looking like their worst idea of wizards.
"They’ll be driving, of course?" Mr. Dursley asked sharply.
"Er!" Harry nodded. "Probably so!"
Hearing Harry's answer, Evan subconsciously covered his forehead.
Mr. Weasley used to have a Ford Anglia classic car, but for now, it was running wild in the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts.
Because of this flying car, Evan had become a celebrity in the school just from the first day.
Since the founding of Hogwarts, no young wizard had ever been reported in a flying car.
Needless to say, Evan had also missed the Sorting ceremony.
Of course, the experience of more than two years proved that this was only a trivial part of Evan’s legendary feats. The flying car was nothing compared to what happened later.
After asking this question, Mr. Dursley snorted heavily and sprayed the rough breath on his mustache.
Normally, he would have asked what car Mr. Weasley drove…
He always tended to judge other men by how big and expensive their cars were. Obviously, he still retained some sense and did not ask Harry this question.
Mr. Dursley gave Evan and Hermione a contemptuous look before his tiny black eyes slowly moved to another place.
There was another awkward silence, Harry's Aunt Petunia stood up, and she kept looking peering out through the net curtains.
It was as if there had been a warning about an escaped rhinoceros from the zoo.
She kept swinging her cushions around as if she were suffering from obsessive-compulsive psychosis.
Beside Evan, Hermione sneaked a touch on his arm and the two looked at her.
Hermione had never seen such a terrible person, and if she could, she wanted to be back in Harry's room instead of sitting here with the Dursleys.
