New chapter!
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“Catherine, did you pack the ingredients I asked Bercas to buy?”
Aurelian sat at the breakfast table, spreading sauce on a piece of bread as he spoke to Catherine beside him.
A month had passed since the attack at Gringotts.
Today was September 1, the day school began.
“Do not worry, Master Aurelian.
Everything is in the bag.”
Catherine patted her pocket.
The bag with the Undetectable Extension Charm was tucked inside her clothes.
“Good.
School life.
I am rather looking forward to it.”
Expectation flashed in Aurelian’s eyes.
He quickly finished breakfast.
“Aurelian, do you need us to take you?”
Seeing him stand, Miles asked.
“No.
Bercas can send us.”
Aurelian accepted the napkin Catherine handed him, wiped his mouth, and answered Miles.
“Then be careful.
The black-robed man who attacked you has still not been caught.
The Ministry merely arrested a few scapegoats to give the public an answer.”
Although Miles was worried, he still agreed to Aurelian’s decision.
“And Aurelian, remember.
Do not let the Pendragon name be diminished.”
“When have I ever disappointed you or the family?”
Aurelian gave a light laugh.
He made no grand promise, but the confidence in his words left Miles without doubt.
“Aurelian, make more friends at school.
You have been mature since you were little and never liked socializing.
You have very few friends your own age.
Your mother truly worries about you.”
Elaine looked at Aurelian with reluctance in her eyes, and her voice choked slightly.
She loved joking with him and playing little tricks on him, but she did those things because she worried about how early he had grown up.
She wanted to see him behave like a child from time to time.
Now that he would be away from home for so long, she could not help worrying.
“Do not worry, Mother.
I have always understood why you did those things.
I will make plenty of friends.”
Aurelian hugged Elaine, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and comforted her softly for a while.
In his previous life, Aurelian had been an orphan.
After coming to this world, he had felt a father and mother’s love through Miles and Elaine, something he had never known before, and he treasured it deeply.
He had always understood why they often fooled around with him.
But because he had not been good at interacting with people even in his past life, he did not know how to put them at ease.
He could only respond in a similar way.
“All right, Elaine.
It is not as if Aurelian is never coming back.”
Miles felt helpless at the sight of her.
He had expected this, but that did not make it any easier.
“Bercas, I leave Aurelian and Catherine to you.”
“It is Bercas’s honor to serve Master Aurelian.”
Bercas bowed to Miles and Aurelian, looking extremely happy.
“Then Catherine and I are leaving.
Father, Mother, take care of yourselves.”
After saying goodbye to Miles and Elaine, Aurelian and Catherine placed their hands on Bercas’s arm.
With a pop, all three vanished from the dining room.
“I still do not know whether choosing Hogwarts is fortune or misfortune.”
After they left, Miles sighed with a complicated expression.
Then he and Elaine went to the study.
…
“Master Aurelian, we have arrived.”
After a journey that left Aurelian extremely uncomfortable, Bercas brought him and Catherine to a platform crowded with travelers.
Beside the platform waited a scarlet steam engine.
The sign on the train read: Hogwarts Express, eleven o’clock.
Behind them stood an archway marked Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
“All right.
Bercas, return to the family for now.”
At Aurelian’s instruction, Bercas bowed to him and Catherine.
With another pop, he disappeared from the platform.
“Let us board.”
After Bercas left, Aurelian led Catherine onto the train and found an empty compartment.
“How long until departure?”
“Ten minutes, Master Aurelian.”
Catherine took out a pocket watch, glanced at it, and answered.
“How boring.”
Aurelian propped his chin on one hand and looked through the window at the bustling platform.
Many children his and Catherine’s age were tearfully saying goodbye to their parents and relatives.
Older students gathered in groups of three or five with their friends.
“Catherine, look.
Who is that?”
Suddenly, Aurelian pointed in one direction.
Catherine followed his finger and saw a thin, black-haired boy pass through onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
“Is that not Harry Potter?”
Catherine recognized him at once.
“Master Aurelian, do you want to greet him?”
“No need.
We will be in the same House soon enough, and we will meet sooner or later.
There is no need to rush.”
Aurelian shook his head.
In the books, Harry had been the protagonist, but this was now a real world.
“You mean Harry Potter will be sorted into Gryffindor?”
Catherine was surprised.
She and Aurelian both understood the Hogwarts Sorting method quite well, which made Aurelian’s certainty unusual.
“Do not forget which House Dumbledore came from.
He values Harry so highly.
How could he let Harry be sorted elsewhere?
Besides, Harry’s father and mother were both Gryffindors.”
Catherine understood.
“Master Aurelian, should we warn Potter?”
“Warn him about what?
To be careful of Dumbledore using him?”
Aurelian looked at Catherine in surprise.
Catherine nodded.
“Catherine, do not play with fire.
Dumbledore may usually look like a kindly old man, but never forget that he is the most powerful wizard alive and the only man Voldemort ever feared.
Do not try to provoke him.
The consequences would be difficult to imagine.”
Aurelian did not know why Catherine, who was usually so sharp, had come up with such a poor idea today, but he still warned her.
Catherine pouted, clearly dissatisfied.
“But Dumbledore underestimated you…”
Aurelian felt helpless.
Now he understood where the thought had come from.
“Catherine, Dumbledore did not underestimate me.
He simply trusts fate and prophecy too much.
Remember what I said.
Do not do anything that will anger him.”
Aurelian patted Catherine’s head and reminded her again.
At that moment, the train gave a whistle and slowly began to move.
“Excuse me.
Is anyone sitting here?
Everywhere else is full.”
Not long afterward, a rather timid voice reached Aurelian’s ears.
“Harry, it has been a while.
And Ron, how did you end up with Harry?”
Aurelian looked up and saw Harry and a red-haired boy standing at the compartment door, both drenched in sweat.
“Aurelian!
It is you!”
Seeing him, Harry called out in surprise.
Beside him, Ron’s expression changed.
His mouth opened and closed twice, but in the end he said nothing.
“Do not just stand there.
Come in.”
Seeing Ron remain silent, Aurelian smiled faintly and paid it no mind.
He had Catherine sit beside him, leaving the seats opposite to Harry and Ron.
Then he waved his wand and helped put their luggage onto the rack.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter.