"Reparo—"
Harry aimed his hand at the rusted hinge between the door and the wall, quickly and skillfully chanting the spell.
A silver light appeared on the rusted hinge, then gradually expanded outwards; where the silver light passed, the rust disappeared, replaced by the bright gleam of metal.
He was already very familiar with this spell. Although he didn't have a wand, which meant his casting efficiency wasn't very strong, allowing him only to repair these small objects bit by bit, it was effective nonetheless.
After repairing the door's opening and closing, Harry shook the door, no longer hearing that creaking sound.
Finished!
By now, he had already repaired most of the Castle.
After finishing all this, Harry walked towards the balcony in the room. This was a room on the third floor, uninhabited and smelling a bit dusty, but still quite clean, as Harry often tidied it.
Outside the balcony, directly facing the cliff, standing here offered a much better view than standing on the cliff itself, a view he could never tire of.
After enjoying the breeze for a while, Harry scurried downstairs again, exited the Castle, and began collecting clothes.
Howl, lying on the sofa, was suddenly startled awake by Harry's footsteps.
"Ugh… I fell asleep again?" Howl looked at Lucifer, a little dazed.
Lucifer nodded: "Yes, you fell asleep again."
"Sigh." Howl let out a heavy sigh, then said: "Harry, make me an Energy Potion, half sugar, less ice."
Harry had just brought in the clean clothes and nodded repeatedly: "Okay, coming right up."
"Why am I so sleepy lately… I don't feel very tired, but I keep falling asleep intermittently." Howl shook his head, a bit troubled.
"Cats sleep two-thirds of the day," Lucifer said expressionlessly.
Howl glared at him, annoyed: "I'm not a cat."
"Poluk isn't a pig, either. But he still turned into a pig, fat and short," Lucifer retorted without hesitation.
"Did you forget that when Poluk's Curse was lifted back then, his height and weight changed instantly? This Curse doesn't just affect your face."
"It seems… it's true…" Howl recalled the changes in the former red pig, then suddenly looked down and noticed his belly as he lay there…
Was that… a spare tire?!
He sprang up: "Lucifer, Lucifer, where's the scale? Quick, let me see!!"
"No need for a scale, you have indeed gained weight." Lucifer's words pierced Howl's heart like a knife.
Howl took off his shirt and examined himself closely. He used to have a golden ratio body, but now… it was covered with a layer of fat.
Though not much, it was certainly there.
However, only he knew that there was no logical reason for his body shape to change.
Thinking this, he gathered his energy, drawing symbols on his chest with his fingers. The next moment, strange runes and formations gradually appeared on his skin.
These runic formations usually lay above his bones, not visible on his skin. They allowed him to always maintain perfect physical vitality, with functions like energy storage, magic recovery, item storage, and high-speed biological repair.
A perfect creation based on human Alchemy, and today it had actually gained weight.
"Your body has no problems, but you just got fatter," Lucifer said pointedly: "Just as you couldn't figure out how you turned into a cat, now you can't know why you're getting fat.
There's only one explanation: the Curse has deepened!!"
Howl was silent for a long time before putting his clothes on, feeling a bit helpless.
"Howl, you need to slow down and enjoy life. The more you rush, the more likely the Curse is to deepen."
"Perhaps." Howl put on his clothes. Recently, there had been no storms, neither at the cliff nor on Privet Drive, preventing him from proceeding with the next step of Animagus.
"If Animagus doesn't work either, I'll listen to you and slow down," Howl said.
Lucifer crossed his arms, disdainfully saying: "You'll realize I'm right sooner or later. The more you rush to get rid of it, the stronger it becomes."
Howl patted his chest, all the runes hidden, then he put his clothes back on. Just then, Harry brought out the Energy Potion and asked curiously: "Uncle Howl, what are you two talking about?"
"He's getting jowls," Lucifer said.
Jowls?
Harry used to be sent to Mrs. Figg's house often, and that old lady had many cats, so he knew what "getting jowls" meant.
It meant a cat's face getting fatter and rounder.
He glanced at Uncle Howl; now that it was mentioned, it did seem to be the case…
"Lucifer, can you shut up? I'm not a cat, why would I get jowls?" Howl said grumpily.
Then he took a sip of the Energy Potion and immediately changed the subject: "Is the Castle all repaired?"
Harry nodded: "Many small places are already repaired, but on the third and fourth floors, there are some broken beams I can't fix… they're too thick."
As he spoke, Harry's eyes lit up: "Oh, and I also fixed this."
With that, Harry ran to the second floor and, from somewhere, brought down a gramophone with a large horn. Howl didn't know when these things had been left behind, and he hadn't expected Harry to have fixed them all.
"Well done." Howl nodded and said: "I'm going to Diagon Alley. Do you want to come?"
"Can I?" Harry asked happily.
"Of course," Howl nodded and gulped down the Energy Potion: "If there are no problems, let's go now."
After speaking, his face instantly transformed into its sharply defined appearance, and he tidied his hair, then put on his clothes and hat.
Harry, standing beside him, was a little impatient and also tied the previous turban onto his head.
However, what Harry didn't expect was that Uncle Howl didn't directly teleport him to London but opened the door and stepped onto Privet Drive.
"Uncle Howl, where are we going?"
Howl gently shook his sleeve, and a small wand appeared in his hand. He lightly waved the wand and said:
"I heard that if you just wave your wand by the side of the road, a magic bus will come to pick up passengers. I don't know if it's true or not, let's try it."
With that, Howl gently waved his wand, and the tip glowed faintly.
Harry was a bit puzzled. Would a bus really come just by waving a wand like this? That was too strange.
Just as he was thinking, he suddenly heard a sound, but it wasn't on the road; it was in the alley between Number Thirteen, Privet Drive and number twelve.
The sound gradually grew louder. Harry looked over; it was pitch black inside, and something was blocking the alley, preventing him from seeing the other end.
Howl also noticed the unusual activity in the middle of the alley, turned to look, and raised his eyebrows, somewhat surprised.
The sound grew louder and louder, like thunder. Harry quickly stood to Howl's side, his eyes fixed on the spot.
Rumble—
A huge dark shadow shot out of the alley like a rocket.
Accompanied by an extremely ear-splitting screech of brakes, one second later, the huge dark shadow stopped on the road, right in front of the two, even billowing Howl's trench coat.
Harry looked up and realized that this was actually a three-story bus!
Yes, a huge three-story bus, which had just squeezed out of the narrow alley between two houses.
On the side of the bus, large golden cursive letters read—Knight Bus.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded Witch or Wizard.
Just stick out your wand and step aboard, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. I'm John Daley, the conductor. You signaled, right?"
Howl adjusted his hat, which had been blown askew: "Yes, does it go to the Leaky Cauldron?"
John Daley snapped his fingers, showing an eight-toothed smile: "Of course, the Knight Bus has no fixed route; we travel all over Britain according to our passengers' needs."
Howl nodded and stepped on first: "Come on, kid. I have a feeling this ride will be exciting."
Harry swallowed. He thought of how the Knight Bus had appeared just now; to call it speeding would be an understatement, it was practically land flying.
He tugged at the turban covering his scar, then mustered his courage and jumped onto the bus.
"Alright, get ready, we're off. You're lucky, no other passengers right now, so we can go straight to the Leaky Cauldron, only about twenty minutes. By the way, eleven silver Sickles per person, and if you pay fourteen, hot cocoa is included."
There were no seats on the Knight Bus, only beds. Harry was a bit surprised; this didn't look like a bus at all.
Just as he was thinking, Howl had already paid.
John Daley tapped the railing, making a clanging sound: "Let's go, Ern, Leaky Cauldron."
With another huge bang, Harry, who was testing the softness of the bed, involuntarily fell onto the bed, then spun around and crashed to the floor.
He scrambled up, disoriented, his mind a blur, only able to desperately cling to the bed frame to avoid being thrown off.
And it… came with beds??
It should have been equipped with safety seats like a roller coaster.
Then he looked at Uncle Howl, only to find that Uncle Howl's feet seemed to be rooted to the ground; no matter how much the bus tilted, there was no sign of him falling.
"Michael Jackson?!" Harry murmured.
After his shock, he looked out the window and was immediately horrified: the bus was heading straight for the sidewalk.
Then he realized that although the bus was on the sidewalk, it didn't hit anything. Rows of lampposts, mailboxes, and trash cans all jumped aside to avoid the bus as it passed, and then returned to their original positions once it was gone.
It was as if space itself was being warped; originally, there were only about ten centimeters between the lampposts and pedestrians, but they were stretched to a width that could accommodate the bus.
Twenty minutes later, accompanied by a huge screeching brake sound, Harry realized they had already arrived on Charing Cross Road.
"Finally… here…" His face was flushed, and he felt a bit nauseous.
Almost the moment the bus door opened, he jumped out, breathing the calm, fresh air.
Howl slowly walked down, smiling with a hint of confusion: "I didn't expect you to be so good at riding a flying broom but unable to handle a bus."
Harry leaned against a lamppost, suppressing the surging stomach acid, his eyes swimming: "I… perhaps I can only fly by myself…"
Just then, both of them simultaneously heard a girl's somewhat indignant voice: "Dad, Mom, hurry up, I'm sure there's a very old pub there! Why don't you believe me?!"
"Girl, your mother and I have been here so many times, we've never seen any pub," a man replied helplessly, then quickly added: "Slow down, child."
Howl and Harry both turned their heads to see a girl with messy brown hair walking on the road, pulling her parents along, one on each side, towards them.
Behind her, the couple being pulled on either side exchanged glances, revealing helpless smiles…