Harry Potter and the Hidden Treasure (Volume 3)

Chapter 433 Marriage Plans

"That's perfect, we can go to the Burrow!" exclaimed Evan; Ron's house was more convenient than his own home for anything.

Evan also wanted to discuss with Fred and George to further expand the range of Weasley's joke products.

"Mrs. Mason was hoping that both of us could stay at your house until the end of the summer holidays," Hermione whispered, her face turning red.

Evan didn't know what his mother had just told him, but he noticed that Hermione seemed to blush exceptionally easily today.

Observing Hermione's unusual shyness, Evan quickly guessed some of the content of her conversations with his mother. It seemed that the latter was very, very pleased with Hermione and did not consider the age of the two.

Indeed, in most parts of Britain, you can get married at sixteen with the consent of your parents.

In that case, Evan and Hermione had less than three years ahead, and they really needed to be prepared in advance.

Thinking about marrying Hermione made Evan nervous.

If he could, he certainly hoped to marry Hermione; there was no doubt about that.

But now was not the time to think about such things.

The past Christmas at Diagon Alley, the atmosphere was so good that Evan truly felt like asking her to be his girlfriend, but in the end, the lack of experience and extreme shyness of both got in the way.

The atmosphere in the room was delicate, and Hedwig let out a soft hoot, staring at the two who had become distant.

Pig, on the other hand, kept twittering and wanted something to eat as a reward for successfully delivering the letter.

"Well, it's better that we prepare something for both of us!" said Evan, carefully choosing his words, "Don't worry, Hermione! I will persuade my mother. I can see she really likes you. If you are willing to come to my house, you can come anytime."

He was concerned that Hermione might know what he had just thought, and that marriage was too far off a subject for her.

"It would be better if we went to the Burrow for the last two weeks of the summer holidays," Evan continued, "besides the Quidditch World Cup, we have to go to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries to see Sirius. Overall, it wouldn't be very convenient for us to stay at home."

He turned around and wrote in his letter that the Weasleys had invited them to the Burrow.

"By the way, we should ask Ron when they are picking up Harry," Evan said as he wrote, "we can both go to the Dursleys' house to meet there; otherwise, it would be very awkward."

After Harry washed up, he returned to his room and asked Hedwig, who had just come back, to deliver the letter to Evan.

He then excitedly went down to the kitchen.

By that time, the three Dursleys were already seated around the table.

None of them looked up as Harry entered or sat down.

Uncle Vernon's large red face was hidden behind the morning Daily Mail, and Aunt Petunia was cutting a grapefruit into quarters, her lips pursed over her horse-like teeth.

Dudley looked surly and irritable, somehow managing to take up even more space than usual.

Which was saying something, as he always occupied a whole part of the square table by himself.

Aunt Petunia placed a sugarless quarter of grapefruit on Dudley's plate with a shaky "Here you go, dear Diddy."

Dudley scowled at her. His life had taken a very unpleasant turn since he had arrived for the summer with his end-of-year report.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had managed to find excuses for his poor grades, as usual. Aunt Petunia always insisted that Dudley was a very talented boy, but his teachers didn't understand him; while Uncle Vernon maintained that he didn't want a studious and delicate boy as a son anyway.

They also overlooked the accusations of bullying in the report.

"He's a very energetic boy, but he wouldn't harm a fly!"

Harry had his doubts about that, but at the bottom of the report, there were some very well-chosen comments from the school nurse that not even Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia could explain.

It didn't matter how much Aunt Petunia complained about Dudley having big bones, about his weight just being puppy fat, and that he was a growing boy who needed plenty of food; the fact remained that the school tailors no longer had trousers big enough for him.

The school nurse had seen what Aunt Petunia's eyes, so sharp at detecting fingerprints on her gleaming walls and observing the neighbors' comings and goings, simply refused to see: far from needing extra feeding, Dudley had reached approximately the size and weight of a young killer whale.

Therefore, after many tantrums, after discussions that shook the floor of Harry's bedroom, and many tears from Aunt Petunia, the new regimen had begun.

The diet sheet sent by the Smeltings school nurse had been stuck on the fridge, which had been stripped of all Dudley's favorite things like fizzy drinks, cakes, chocolate bars, and burgers...

Only fruits and vegetables were on the menu and things Uncle Vernon called "junk food."

To make Dudley feel better about all that, Aunt Petunia had insisted the whole family follow the diet as well.

She now passed Harry a quarter of grapefruit.

Harry noticed it wasn't actually a quarter, being much smaller than Dudley's.

Aunt Petunia seemed to feel the best way to keep Dudley's spirits up was to make sure he at least ate more than Harry.

But Aunt Petunia didn't know what was hidden under the loose floorboard above.

She had no idea that Harry wasn't following the diet at all.

The moment he heard he was expected to survive the summer on carrot sticks, Harry sent Hedwig to his friends.

They responded immediately and positively to his pleas for help.

Evan and Sirius were not in Britain for the adventure and couldn't assist Harry.

Hermione asked Hedwig to bring Harry a large box filled with sugar-free snacks.

Hagrid enthusiastically complied with a sack full of his homemade rock cakes, which Harry didn't even touch. Those rocks were harder than bricks, and he didn't want to break his teeth!

Mrs. Weasley sent the family owl, Errol, with a huge fruitcake and various meat pastries.

Poor Errol, who was old and frail, needed a full five days to recover from the journey after delivering the goods.

And then, on Harry's birthday, he had received a total of six super large cakes.

They were given by Evan, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, and Sirius. Evan and Sirius ordered French-style cakes for Harry.

They had been guests at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, and these cakes actually came from France.

During the summer holidays, Harry wondered what Beauxbatons would be like.

He had only seen a description of the school in his textbooks, contrasting it with Hogwarts as one of the three major magic schools in Europe.

He had to admit those cakes were delicious. Harry still had three large pieces left.

Anticipating a real breakfast when he returned upstairs, he ate his grapefruit without complaint.