Chapter 135 A Relatively Comfortable Camping Life
Night fell.
Aaron lay alone in his tent, bored, gazing at the stars through the skylight.
It was his first time running away from home and his first time camping alone in the wild, so he inevitably felt a bit unaccustomed to it.
The living conditions were naturally incomparable to his usual setup, but the Holy Dragon brand pillow he hugged, the premium magic carpet covering him, and the backpack full of funds under his head still warmed his rather worldly mind considerably.
"Sleep!"
Just as Aaron was about to close his eyes, he involuntarily frowned.
Clang, clang!
The Ghoul's pipe-banging sound came from the very top of The Burrow again.
Although it was quite far from Aaron, his current physical condition was several times stronger than an average person's, so he could barely hear the not-so-subtle noise.
Honestly, no one liked noise while sleeping, but Aaroncouldn't do anything about that Ghoul.
After all, The Burrow's owner had never driven him away or eliminated him, and even Ron Weasley, who was closest to the Ghoul, hadn't raised any objections.
This meant that the Weasley family was very familiar with this Ghoul, and with that acquaintance, he couldn't easily make a move.
Aaron sighed softly, raised his palm, and cast a simple sound-proofing magic on the tent.
As a white glow flashed, the world became much quieter.
However, just as Aaron thought he could rest, several small shadows appeared on the tent.
A few Ghouls in the garden couldn't sleep and wanted something to do; they wouldn't bother The Burrow, but this tent was another matter.
"In this day and age! You can't even get a peaceful night's sleep."
Aaron rolled his eyes, speechless, then walked out of the tent and looked at the eight short, fat little creatures outside, like potatoes that had come to life, and said in a deep voice, "I won't bother you, and you'd best not bother me.
Otherwise, you'll suffer the consequences."
However, these Ghouls clearly didn't take Aaron's warning to heart and continued to chatter outside the tent, doing as they pleased.
"Then don't blame me," Aaron shook his head, put Abeydown from his arms, "Go."
Roar!
Abey let out a low growl and pounced on the eight Ghouls.
With the physical prowess of a dragon, it could easily take on eight of these garden pests, whose combat strength was like that of weak chickens.
Just then, the door of The Burrow suddenly opened, and Mr. Weasley rushed over with a lamp, "I almost forgot, Aaron, you need to be careful with the Ghouls in the garden..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Arthur's voice abruptly stopped.
Because in front of him, Abey displayed a combat prowess completely different from his appearance.
It swatted one Ghoul flying with a paw, then pounced on another Ghoul trying to run into the garden, while the remaining six lay on the ground, moaning in Pain!.
"Mr. Weasley, is something wrong?"
"No.
Just a reminder, you should control your magical animal better in the future." Arthur forced a smile and turned to walk towards The Burrow.
Aaron shrugged, picked up Abey, who was about to use Dragon's Breath to clear the area, "A lesson is enough; don't really kill them!"
Abey nodded and followed Aaron back into the tent.
After it showed its strength, the Ghouls in the garden became much more well-behaved; whether it was a misconception or not, he felt that the frogs in the pond also quieted down... The next day, Aaron woke up early.
He walked out of the tent and stretched towards the first ray of morning sun.
"You're awake." George and Fred walked over. "You're up so early! Even our dad only gets up this early when the Ministry of Magic does a surprise inspection."
"Uh... aren't you guys up early too?"
"It's not the same; we specifically set an alarm. Normally, we'd still be sleeping in at this time!" George said.
"What? Training Quidditch first thing in the morning?"
"That's part of the reason, but not the main one," Fred said. "I expect Wood will give us a long lecture after school starts. His love for Quidditch surpasses anyone else's."
"I heard he makes you train with him even when it rains?"
"That depends on how heavy the rain is." George shrugged, then looked at Aaron's tent and asked awkwardly, "Um... where's your magic carpet?"
Aaron realized, glanced in the direction of the village, which was still shrouded in night.
"No wonder you guys have to get up so early, you're really dedicated!"
"We're always very interested in new things," Fred said, with some eagerness in his voice.
Aaron smiled, took the dark blue blanket from the tent, and spread it in mid-air.
Looking at the magic carpet floating steadily in the air, the Weasley brothers' eyes sparkled, and they suddenly felt that flying brooms weren't so great anymore.
"Should we wait for Harry and them?" Aaron asked meaningfully.
"No need; it'll be too late by the time they wake up."
George and Weasley said in unison, then eagerly jumped onto the magic carpet.
The reason they woke up so early was that the Muggles in the village were still asleep at this time; they didn't have to worry about being discovered and could let loose, shamelessly experiencing the wonder of the flying carpet.
The dark blue shadow instantly disappeared from Aaron's sight as the Weasley brothers controlled the magic carpet to fly wildly around the vicinity.
The magic carpet's speed was much faster than their brooms, and the two of them experienced the exhilarating feeling of flying like the wind after a long time.
More than two hours later, Harry and Ron finally emerged from their rooms.
Seeing George and Fred sitting on the magic carpet, sunbathing, both of them felt a little tempted.
But before they could even speak, the Weasley brothers controlled the magic carpet to descend, and then folded it and placed it in Aaron's hand.
"This... isn't what you're doing a bit inappropriate?" Ron said unhappily. "We just got here!"
"It's very appropriate," Fred teased. "The Muggles are all awake now, and it's not suitable for high-altitude flying at this time. If we're discovered, the Ministry of Magic will send someone to deal with it, and then it'll be troublesome."
"So..." George handed two flying brooms to Harry and Ronrespectively, "You guys play with these! Remember to fly low."
Aaron looked at them sympathetically, "This is what they call the early bird catches the worm.
Tomorrow!
You'll have a chance."
"Not tonight?" Harry asked. "Muggles won't notice at night, right!
Not to mention, this blanket has natural camouflage at night."
"This really won't work." Ron hesitated for a moment, then said with a wry smile, "Mom went to buy groceries; she said she's preparing a big dinner tonight to celebrate Ginnygoing to Hogwarts this year.
And school starts tomorrow, so if we have too much fun tonight, we might miss the train tomorrow."
"Alright!"
"It's okay." Aaron patted Harry's shoulder, "If you lend me your Invisibility Cloak in the future, I can definitely lend you the blanket."
Harry nodded helplessly, picked up his broom with Ron, and went to a fenced-off area on the mountain to pass the time by throwing apples.
With everyone gone, Aaron felt a bit bored alone.
He simply made a simple fishing rod, moved a small stool, and started fishing by the pond.
However, his luck wasn't great; the Weasley family had already finished lunch, and he had only caught one fish, and it had even been ruined by his pet.
A puff of dragon fire erupted so suddenly that before he could react, Abey had already roasted the fish. Although the taste might not have been great, it was enough for him to have a snack.
After all, it was a dragon; let alone cooked food, eating it raw was no problem!
After that, Aaron kept it under his watchful eye; from a distance, this master-and-pet duo looked like a background for retirement.
"Why won't it bite?" Aaron looked at the nearest large grass carp, grinding his teeth in frustration.
He had been eyeing this particular fish for three hours.
But the hook had been cast several times, and the bait had even been delivered to the fish's mouth, yet it remained unmoved.
Not biting was one thing, but it kept swimming around the bait, perhaps guarding its food, or perhaps judging if there was a trap. Aaron himself hadn't expected to fight a three-hour war of attrition with a fish.
"How about I go catch it?" Abey couldn't stand it anymore; if his master sat there any longer, he'd probably turn into a wooden carving.
"No!" Aaron shook his head. "At this point, it's all about patience. I'm not going to be defeated by a fish."
Abey pouted, unimpressed in his mind, feeling that his master was making a mountain out of a molehill.
As soon as it changed to a more comfortable position, it saw the fishing line begin to shake violently, and its large eyes cautiously looked down into the water.
"Finally, it bit."
Aaron's mouth curved slightly, and he forcefully pulled with his right hand, straining to yank the grass carp below upwards.
Snap!
Just as he was about to pull the fish out of the water, the not-so-sturdy fishing rod suddenly broke in two.
Pain!.
Aaron's mind began to wail; if he hadn't caught it, it would have been fine, but to fail when only one step away from success was something no one could accept.
Looking at the grass carp, dragging half a wooden pole but swimming further and further away, Aaron immediately grabbed the broken half of the fishing rod in his hand and used Transfiguration to turn it into a long net pole.
The net pole quickly entered the water, then was sharply pulled up, scooping out the grass carp.
Whew!
Aaron looked at his hard-won trophy, took a deep breath, "It was a winding road! But in the end, I still won!"
Looking at the lively grass carp, two options appeared in Aaron's mind.
Steamed? Braised?
But after a short period of deliberation, he went to borrow kitchen utensils and seasonings, adding a plate of braised fish to the big dinner that night.