At the park entrance, Mr. and Mrs. Holmes let Sherlock and Harry choose whatever ice cream and drinks they wanted.
At the zoo, the couple used their rich knowledge to tell Sherlock and Harry about the living habits of various animals.
This was also the first time Harry learned that male peacocks display their feathers, tigers can climb trees, and elephants can swim.
During lunch, Mrs. Holmes reminded the two children not to eat too many high-sugar, high-calorie snacks and to maintain a balanced diet.
In the afternoon, they went to an amusement park.
Mr. and Mrs. Holmes took Sherlock and Harry on almost every ride.
During this process, Mr. Holmes keenly discovered that Harry preferred thrilling and exciting attractions.
So, he decisively changed their route, selecting rides that better suited Harry's temperament: pirate ships, roller coasters, water rapids, and so on.
This gave Harry an unprecedented sense of satisfaction and even made him rediscover the feeling of playing Quidditch.
When they left the amusement park, it was already evening.
Harry had originally thought that everything for today was over.
Unexpectedly, Mr. and Mrs. Holmes took them to see a movie!
Coming out of the cinema, Harry once again felt that this trip had been worthwhile.
This was his first time going to a movie theater.
The viewing experience was completely different from watching the small TV at the Dursleys' house.
This feeling was absolutely fantastic!
Even after leaving the cinema, Harry was still immersed in the wonderful plot.
The story itself wasn't complicated: a weather reporter encountered a blizzard while on assignment and became stuck reliving the same day, unable to escape—so he began a repetitive life from that day forward.
Harry was immersed in the plot partly because the movie itself was high quality, with skilled acting and compelling dramatic tension.
On the other hand, it was because after watching the movie, he couldn't help worrying:
What if he woke up one morning and discovered that time had stopped on a certain day forever, just like in the movie?
If that day was after learning he was a wizard, it wouldn't be too bad—like in the movie, knowing that magic existed, he could explore like the character in the film.
If that day was after meeting Sherlock, it would be even better—he just had to tell Sherlock about it, and he would definitely find a way to solve it.
But if that day was before his birthday in 1991, that would be too tragic!
Harry didn't think his worry was unfounded.
If it were before, Harry would definitely have thought:
A brain that seeks reality in fictional stories must have problems.
But now it was different.
Even magic truly existed—time imprisonment and time travel, these seemingly fictional concepts, weren't impossible either!
However, Harry's worry only lasted for a while.
Because when he finished watching the movie and returned home, he was astonished to discover that the surprises Mr. and Mrs. Holmes had prepared for him weren't over yet.
A simple but exquisite birthday party, represented by a birthday cake.
"Originally Mycroft had agreed to come back, but later he said something came up..." Mrs. Holmes frowned, then apologetically touched Harry's head, "So it's just the three of us to keep you company."
"Auntie, this is my happiest birthday."
After Harry said this, he realized that at some point he had begun crying.
If his parents were still alive, they would definitely treat him like this too, right?
Under Mrs. Holmes's comfort, Harry gradually calmed down.
"Good child, don't cry anymore. Go to bed early today and get more sleep. You and Sherlock can rest at home for a few days. If you want to go somewhere else in a couple of days, your father and I will take you there again.
Oh, and don't just focus on having fun and forget about your homework!"
Even the gentle Mrs. Holmes, like most mothers, wouldn't forget to remind children to do their homework during the holidays.
Harry thought Mrs. Holmes made perfect sense, so after saying goodnight to Sherlock, he prepared to return to his bedroom.
Just then, he was stopped by Sherlock. "You'd better wait a bit before leaving, my friend."
"What's wrong?" Harry stopped and asked in confusion.
"Look over there." Sherlock pointed toward the window.
Harry followed Sherlock's gaze toward the window and was stunned.
Under the golden moon's illumination, a strange, crooked black shadow was flying toward Harry, getting closer and larger in his field of vision.
Before Harry, with his poor eyesight, could make out what it was, Sherlock had already opened the window and pulled him aside.
The next moment, the black shadow came whooshing through the window.
Only then did Harry see clearly that the black shadow was actually three owls, with two of them protecting the third.
After entering through the window, they landed with a thump on Sherlock's bed, and the gray owl being protected in the middle even tumbled head-first and lay still.
Its leg was tied with a large package. Obviously, it was exhausted—without the help of the other two owls, it probably wouldn't have made it here.
"It's Errol!"
At such close distance, Harry exclaimed, finally recognizing that the unconscious owl was the Weasleys' Errol.
By this time, Sherlock had already untied the strap on Errol's leg, removed the package, and then lifted it into Watson's cage.
Relieved, Errol opened one bleary eye, made a grateful sound toward Sherlock, then began slowly drinking water.
Of the remaining two owls, the large white female owl was Harry's Hedwig.
She was also carrying a large package and looked very proud, as if showing off that she was much stronger than Errol.
Harry untied her package, and she gently nipped Harry with her beak to show affection for her master, then voluntarily went to stand with Errol and Watson.
Neither Sherlock nor Harry recognized the third owl, a beautiful tawny one.
But Sherlock could tell its origin with just one glance.
Because besides carrying a small package, it also carried two letters with Hogwarts school seals on the envelopes.
Sherlock smiled softly.
Harry had only come to his house yesterday, and today Hogwarts had already sent Harry's school letter along with everything else—quite efficient.
After Sherlock removed the mail carried by this owl, it solemnly ruffled its feathers, called once to Sherlock and Harry as a greeting, then spread its wings and flew off into the night sky through the window.
Except for the school owl's letter to Sherlock, all the other mail, including that small package, was addressed to Harry.
"Birthday presents," Sherlock glanced at his watch and smiled. "Not too late either."
Sherlock hadn't given Harry a birthday present today.
However, this wasn't a problem.
In Harry's view, Sherlock had already given him the best gift—companionship.
Harry simply didn't return to his bedroom either. He sat on Sherlock's bed and first grabbed the package Errol had brought, tearing off the brown paper wrapping.
Just as Sherlock had said, a gift wrapped in gold paper appeared before them.
It was a birthday card. Harry opened the envelope with trembling hands.
Two pieces of paper fell out—one was a letter, the other was a newspaper clipping.
Harry eagerly began reading the letter while Sherlock picked up the clipping.
He only glanced at it, then pulled out a newspaper from a pile nearby and placed the two together.
Obviously, the clipping Errol had brought was cut from a week-old copy of the Daily Prophet, with the black and white figures in the photo still moving.
The photo showed all nine members of the Weasley family standing in front of a pyramid, waving enthusiastically at him.
From the photo, after nearly three months, Ron had grown taller again.
He stood in the center of the nine family members, with his arm around his sister Ginny, and the little rat named Scabbers stood on his shoulder.
Obviously, this photo was taken on the spot when the Rons' family traveled to Egypt after winning the prize.
Above the photo, the headline read in large letters:
Ministry of Magic Employee Wins Grand Prize
The main text was official publicity about the Weasley family winning the grand prize.
By this time, Harry had finished reading Ron's letter. When he turned and saw the clipping and complete newspaper in Sherlock's hands, he didn't immediately understand.
"Sherlock, this is..."
"My dear Harry, your expression tells me that you didn't know I've been subscribing to the Daily Prophet."
Sherlock pointed to the stack of newspapers on his left: "Whether in the wizarding world or the Muggle world, reading more books and newspapers is a good habit."
"So, you saw this photo long ago?"
"Obviously."
"Okay..."
Harry shook his head somewhat helplessly and opened the package Ron had sent with his letter. A small spinning top appeared before them.
"A Pocket Sneakoscope."
"Sherlock, you haven't even read Ron's letter yet. How do you already know..." Harry asked in surprise once again.
"It seems you've forgotten that last year when we went to school, the professors used these to check our bodies."
"Uh..."
Harry had indeed forgotten.
Because of the house-elf Dobby's warning, before the start of last school year, Hogwarts professors had specifically checked all students at the station.
The tools they used included Sneakoscopes, though that Sneakoscope was much larger than this one—as Sherlock said, this looked more like a portable Pocket Sneakoscope.
Remembering this, Harry felt somewhat embarrassed. He played with the Sneakoscope for a while, then handed it and Ron's letter to Sherlock, and picked up the package Hedwig had brought.
This was Hermione's birthday present for him.
Sherlock read much faster than Harry.
Harry hadn't finished reading Hermione's letter when Sherlock had already finished Ron's letter to Harry.
To summarize briefly:
Ron's family had had a wonderful month in Egypt, and Bill Weasley had even taken the whole family on a tour of the pyramids.
They would return directly to London the week before school started to buy supplies for the new term, hoping to meet Harry there.
Additionally, Percy had become Head Boy, and obviously, learning this news had made him very happy and even more insufferable.
As for the Pocket Sneakoscope Ron had given Harry, its function was to light up and spin continuously when untrustworthy people were nearby.
Bill thought this was counterfeit goods sold to wizards, reasoning that it spun and glowed continuously during the Weasley family dinner.
Obviously, in this big brother's view, all the Weasleys were honest and reliable.
However, this was actually because the Weasley twins had already put dungbombs in the soup.
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