Chapter 131: Ministry of Magic Internal Bounty
Before Aaron even reached the door, he heard laughter and cheerful voices from inside.
There was Ron's, and his two brothers Fred and George's, but to his surprise, it seemed Harry Potter's voice was also among them.
Seeing the figure outside the door and window, Harrysuddenly stood up from his seat and asked, somewhat startled, "Aaron, why are you here?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Ron, George, and Fred all turned to look at the door.
Although they had a good impression of Aaron, he was, after all, a Slytherin, and his uninvited arrival was bound to be unexpected.
"Uh… before I answer that question, can I come in first?" Aaron said, feeling a bit awkward. "It wasn't easy to get here, you know, hundreds of miles!"
George and Fred, the twin brothers, exchanged glances. Before Harry and Ron could react, they opened the door.
"Come in, come in, it's good to see you."
"Thanks, George."
One of the twin brothers paused, "You can recognize me?"
"I couldn't, but now I do."
"Actually, I'm George," the other twin brother said, pointing to himself with a hint of grievance.
"Alright, Fred," Aaron said, then looked at the Weasley who had opened the door for him, "I know, George."
The twin brothers looked at each other, shaking their heads in unison, "Boring."
"Aaron, are you here to visit The Burrow?" Harry asked.
"Not exactly, to be precise, I'm here to seek refuge," Aaronexplained, then looked at Harry. "I'm actually quite surprised to see you here.
Your aunt and uncle, and your big cousin, actually let you out? Do they have such a conscience?"
"Of course not," Ron said indignantly. "You have no idea how terrible Harry's summer has been.
They didn't give him food, and they locked him in a small room, even boarding up the windows."
"The outside of the house was covered in locks, Vernon put at least a dozen on for me," Harry added with a wry smile. "My status in that house was no different from a servant."
"So… you ran away too?" Aaron's mouth twitched slightly, and his gaze towards Harry held a newfound seriousness and admiration.
He had a flying tool, a Disillusionment Charm, a precise plan, and most importantly, escape funds, which allowed him to easily travel hundreds of miles.
But Harry had nothing and still managed to achieve the same feat. It was truly remarkable.
"Too…" Harry raised an eyebrow. "So you also…"
"It's a long story," Aaron said, sitting on a chair and sighing wistfully. "Life is hard!
You might think your holiday was unbearable, but compare it to mine, and you'll know what happiness is."
"It's not that exaggerated, is it?" Ron said, somewhat doubtfully. "You're a young master, who would dare bully you in your family?"
"Yes, Gines the butler. Before my dad left, he signed me up for four tutoring classes.
Of course, that's nothing to me, just four subjects, I can handle it.
But there was a tiny, tiny accident in the middle, and the tutoring time was extended by just a tiny, tiny bit," Aaronsaid, holding up his index finger and thumb, the gap between them seemingly infinite.
"To put it more directly, my average daily sleep during this holiday was less than six hours."
"That's too cruel, isn't it?" Ron's eyes widened, filled with doubt. "Are you their biological child?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Aaron rolled his eyes at him. "Sleeping six hours a day does have a slight impact on the body, but for a Wizard, it's easy to recover from that loss.
To exploit my potential as a child, Gines stopped at nothing, and he also painted a picture of a grand future that was utterly impossible to achieve; it was truly excessive."
"That doesn't sound entirely unacceptable," Harrymurmured. "At least it's better than my aunt's family."
"Heh heh!" Aaron patted Harry's shoulder and said meaningfully, "If you were in my shoes, you wouldn't think that way."
"Aaron, how did you get out?" George asked with interest. "We drove my dad's flying car to rescue Harry, on his birthday."
Harry, Fred, and George exchanged glances, a smile blooming on their lips. "That was a rather good birthday present."
"Wait, you were brought out by them?"
"Yes! I wouldn't have been able to escape on my own."
Aaron pursed his lips, feeling ridiculous about his earlier thoughts.
However, on second thought, it made sense. Harry couldn't use magic, had no funds, and it was already incredibly difficult for him to get out of that prison-like house. If no one had helped him, crossing half the country to The Burrow would have been nothing short of a miracle.
"You guys did a really good job," Aaron said, giving a rare thumbs up. "Whose bright idea was this?
Driving a magic car to snatch someone from the Muggleworld, if the Ministry of Magic caught you, Mr. Weasley's job would be gone. You could have solved the problem with a gentler method."
"We couldn't help it, we were just too worried," Ron said, shrugging. "I wrote Harry so many letters, but I didn't get a single reply.
Not just mine, but Hermione's, Hagrid's… Wait, you didn't write to Harry, did you?
We went through the trapdoor together, what about being good friends?"
Hearing this, Harry also reacted, a faint hint of resentment in his eyes.
"Hey, hey, hey! You can't blame me.
My holiday was even worse than Harry's! Where would I find the time to write letters?
Besides, even if I did write, given his family's character, the letter would never have reached him anyway."
"It seems… that's true!"
Harry's mouth curved into a wry smile, and he even felt a little grateful that Dobby had intercepted his letters.
Otherwise, the letters from Ron and the others would certainly have to pass through the eyes of the Vernon couple first. If there were valuable items, such as Galleons, they would simply pocket them, leaving nothing for him.
If they were ordinary, valueless letters, they would probably glance at them and then burn them as firewood.
But if it was a notice from the Ministry of Magic, for example, that he couldn't use magic freely, then they would eagerly gloat.
To put it bluntly, rather than sending letters to him, it was more like sending letters to the Vernon family, and whatever eventually reached his hands would definitely not be good news.
"Don't change the subject," Fred said playfully. "You still haven't told us how you got out."
"And you traveled so far alone, it must have been carefully planned!" George asked with interest.
"Oh, that!" Aaron scratched his head sheepishly. "Can I not say?"
"No!" the four of them said in unison.
"Such synergy," Aaron muttered inwardly, then told them his escape plan.
Of course, riding a dragon was too exaggerated and not suitable for them to know, so he made some modifications to the details of his escape. However, his modified plan was remarkably similar to some people's imaginings.
"That's amazing," George said with admiration. "You actually thought of hiding in the sewers to find an opportunity. Most people wouldn't have that kind of courage."
"And traveling at night on a magic carpet, that sounds even more interesting than our car," Fred said. "By the way, can we see your magic carpet?
Such flying tools are very rare on the market, and some people even classify them as contraband."
"No problem," Aaron agreed without hesitation.
Just then, the front door suddenly opened.
Mr. Arthur Weasley appeared at the door with his wife, Molly.
"Children, we're home!" Arthur said loudly, but a moment later, his gaze fell on Aaron. "Who are you?"
"Aaron Gaius, just call me Aaron," Aaron said politely.
Arthur and Molly exchanged glances, their mouths unconsciously turning up, and their eyes filled with a strange glint.
This change in expression made Aaron feel a little uneasy, because Abey looked the same when he encountered a dish he loved.
"Um, sir," Harry introduced, "Aaron is Ron and my friend, from Hogwarts…"
"Sorry, Harry, just a moment," Arthur interrupted Harry Potter, then eagerly searched for something on his person.
He rummaged through all his pockets and finally pulled out a photograph from his inner pocket.
"Found it, it's this!" Arthur excitedly looked at his wife, then walked up to Aaron and compared them carefully. "That's right, it's not just similar, it's identical."
"Sir, what… what does this mean?"
"Aaron Gaius, what a stroke of luck!" Arthur exclaimed, then noticed that his three children and Harry Potter were all looking at him blankly.
"Why are you all looking at me?"
"No, Dad, it's just that you're acting so unusually," Ron said. "You weren't this excited when Harry arrived."
"What do you know? Weasley has hit the jackpot this time," Arthur said, holding up the photograph. "Just half an hour before I left work, the Ministry of Magic suddenly issued a special warrant, valid for only two days.
It's for a twelve-year-old child, Aaron Gaius. He must be captured alive, without the slightest harm.
For information about him, there's a reward of two hundred Galleons. For his exact location, five hundred Galleons. And for finding him and safely returning him to the Ministry of Magic, five thousand Galleons.
With this money, we won't have to worry this year, or even next year. Our family can get new furniture, wands, textbooks, clothes, and we can even take a high-class family trip."
Aaron: …This is really awkward.