The Burrow is the Weasley family's home. It's a crooked little house several stories high, built with magic, with four or five chimneys on the roof spewing smoke. Its foundation seems to be a large pigpen built with stones, and it's clear that since its construction, the owners have added more rooms to it using wood and other materials to make it what it is today.
As Victor looked at the fairytale-like house in front of him, he still couldn't understand why the Weasley family was so poor, to the point that Ron was wearing his brother's robes, which, to be honest, were no different in price from ordinary clothes. It might have been understandable before, when they had a large family to feed and had to save every penny.
But now, the man of the house, Arthur Weasley, worked in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic. Although his salary wasn't particularly high, it was still decent.
His eldest son, Bill Weasley, worked as a Curse-Breaker at Gringotts Bank after graduation. This was a job that couldn't be done by just anyone, as Curse-Breakers could be killed by ancient curses, hexes, or jinxes in their daily work.
The position also required a wizard to have studied Arithmancy, and also have N.E.W.T. certificates in subjects such as Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Potions, and Transfiguration. Sometimes, they even needed to be able to read ancient runes. It was a very dangerous and serious profession, so the pay was very generous.
His second son, Charlie Weasley, worked in Romania studying dragons. This job was also extremely dangerous, and there was a chance he could be turned to ashes by a dragon's breath, so the pay was also not low.
His third son, Percy Weasley, was about to graduate, and his expenses were mostly limited to tuition and daily meals.
The Weasley twins, Fred and George, sold joke items and homemade potions every day at Hogwarts, and their living expenses were completely self-sufficient.
So the Weasley family now only had two children, Ron and Ginny, to take care of. There was no way they should be this poor!
Just as Victor was wondering where the Weasleys' money had gone, the twins next to him were looking at the front door with an uneasy and hesitant expression. So, when Victor saw their faces, he took the initiative to go up and knock on the Burrow's door.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"I'm coming!" Mrs. Weasley's voice came from inside the door. Then, she shouted, "Ginny, dear! Come down and open the door, and see if it's your father!"
A moment later, the sound of footsteps came from upstairs, and then the door opened, and a pretty little red-haired girl poked her head out.
"Hi, Ginny!" Victor said, greeting her with a smile.
"Victor! Why are you here?!" Ginny happily opened the door, then looked at the space next to Victor. She was happy, but for some reason, a hint of disappointment instantly appeared on her face.
Victor saw right through the little girl's thoughts and teased, "You don't have to look. Harry isn't here!"
This made Ginny blush instantly.
"But compared to that guy who's still at school serving his punishment, I think you should be more worried about your two brothers right now!" he said with a smile, then stepped aside, revealing the Weasley twins hiding behind him.
"Oh my God!" Ginny exclaimed. "Fred, George! What did you do?!"
Just then, Mrs. Weasley, who had been listening by the door and was worried that something dangerous might have happened, came out with her wand. The moment she saw her two sons standing naked at the door with only some water plants covering them, she felt a wave of anger rush to her head.
"Oh, for god's sake! Fred, George, what did you two do to get yourselves into this state?!"
"..." The twins were speechless.
Meanwhile, Victor, who was standing on the side, politely greeted her, "Good afternoon, Aunt Molly!" Then he took out a large bag of chimaki. "I brought you some food!"
"Oh, welcome! Thank you so much, dear!" Mrs. Weasley's face immediately changed, and she showed a warm smile when she saw that Victor was also there. She took the chimaki, then waved her hand and said, "Come on in, dear!"
Then she shouted at Fred and George, "And you two, get in the house immediately, and tell me what happened!"
With that, she turned and walked into the house.
Upon entering the Burrow, the first thing you saw was the dining room, with the sink and kitchen right next to the dining table. At this moment, a brush was automatically washing the dishes in the sink, and not far away, a broom was bouncing around, cleaning the house.
Walking past the dining room, you would find the living room. There were a few sofas in the living room, and on one of them, two knitting needles were automatically knitting a sweater.
On the pillar between the living room and the dining room, there was a nearly two-meter-tall grandfather clock, and the faces on the front were all big portraits of the Weasley twins and Ron.
All in all, the Burrow, though very old, was decorated very warmly.
Mrs. Weasley first put the chimaki on the table, then turned around with her hands on her hips and stared at Fred and George, asking, "Tell me! What kind of trouble did you two get into now?!"
Fred and George looked at each other, not daring to speak. They would usually play around in front of their professors at school, but when they were in front of their mother, that natural pressure was no joke.
The twins didn't dare to make a sound, so Victor, who was watching from the side, took a sip of the black tea that Ginny had given him and, not wanting to miss out on the fun, immediately explained for the two of them, "They took advantage of my absence and secretly ran to the Black Lake, and then they were grabbed by the merpeople."
Upon hearing this bad news, Mrs. Weasley felt like she had been struck by a lightning bolt. She gasped for air, then turned and looked at her two sons with wide eyes. Her voice trembled as she asked, "Is... is what Victor said true?!"
The Weasley twins were silent for a moment, then nodded stiffly. This made Mrs. Weasley feel a surge of blood to her head, and she rolled her eyes and almost fainted.
Fred and George were scared and quickly went to support her. Fred also immediately started to explain, "Mum, Mum! Don't worry, nothing happened to us!"
"Yeah, yeah, the merpeople just tied us to some stone pillars and fed us some unknown herbs," George also explained.
"Really?!" Mrs. Weasley asked weakly, looking at the twins. The Weasley twins nodded in unison, but right after, chaos erupted in the Burrow.
"You two idiots!!!"
"How many times have I told you not to go near the Black Lake during this season, and you just ignored me!"
"This time, I'm going to beat you to death!!!"
Mrs. Weasley picked up the broom that was sweeping the floor and angrily chased Fred and George around the house.
Victor just calmly took a sip of his black tea as he watched the scene unfold. Ginny, who was eating the chimaki with red bean paste filling, couldn't help but ask, "What happens if you get taken by the merpeople? Why is Mum so angry?"
"Uh-hem… you'll find out later," Victor said, a bead of cold sweat dripping down his forehead. Ginny was still too young, and it wasn't appropriate to tell her such things. He vaguely remembered reading in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them that merpeople were oviparous, so they probably didn't need to mate in a certain way.
And so, the Weasley twins' "quantum loss of innocence," a small interlude at the start of the summer, slowly came to an end.
Half a month passed.
The construction of the Fairy Tail headquarters at Hogwarts was progressing very smoothly, but at the same time, the entire European wizarding world was still desperately searching for Victor's whereabouts.
Ever since Victor received the Ravenclaw legacy, many media outlets had wanted to interview him, but he was so elusive, and the Swinton family also has powerful protective magic on their home.
As a result, no media outlet had been able to find Victor so far. Instead, the young eagles who had witnessed the Ravenclaw legacy first-hand were being ruthlessly tracked down.
At this moment, Victor was at home holding a copy of the Daily Prophet, and his mind was starting to buzz with ideas. He knew that if he wanted to overthrow pure-blood supremacy, he had to take the initiative on the public opinion battlefield. Only then could he gain the widespread support of the general public, so he wouldn't be put on the defensive or be a target of criticism in everything he did.
And to control the public opinion of the wizarding world, the printed media was the main target.
Victor had mentioned this before: Because the wizarding world had long been disconnected from the Muggle world, and its technology was lagging, its forms of entertainment, besides playing Quidditch and Wizard's Chess, were mainly reading newspapers, listening to the radio, and so on. Even the content on the radio was pathetic.
There were currently three most famous media outlets in the British wizarding world: the Daily Prophet, the Witch Weekly, and The Quibbler.
The Daily Prophet mainly reported on social news, political and business developments, and major sporting events. It could be said to be the official media of the Ministry of Magic, but at the same time, it also contained a lot of content that attacked the Ministry of Magic.
The Witch Weekly was the entertainment section, and it was full of all sorts of crazy, inaccurate gossip and boring stories about Gilderoy Lockhart winning the Most-Charming-Smile Award.
The Quibbler was more like Muggle tabloid literature, spreading very outlandish and bizarre things, even for the wizarding world. Its style was very absurd and strange, but because of that, it was loved by many young wizards.
——————————
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to my Patreon ——— patreon(.)com/PrimalDemon [remove the parentheses ( )]
There are 50+ advance chapters available for you to read!