Harry Potter was fourteen years old, at that age where you can work tirelessly and eat endlessly without getting full.
Naturally full of vigor, he successfully blew out all fourteen candles in one breath, earning applause from everyone.
"Well done!"
"Brilliant, Harry!"
"You didn't let us down!"
"Happy birthday, Harry!"
After receiving congratulations and well-wishes from friends and family, Harry began cutting the cake.
Since there were many people, Kreacher had made a very large cake, ensuring everyone got a piece.
After that came the feast.
Kreacher appeared again, bringing out dish after dish.
When they had tasted the cake earlier, everyone thought it was quite good, but now tasting the main courses, everyone was astonished by Kreacher's cooking skills.
Especially the three mothers. Mrs. Holmes, Mrs. Weasley, and Chang Dali.
At the same time, Harry had prepared himself mentally this time and given Kreacher advance warning to keep quiet throughout the entire operation.
This way, things were indeed much more comfortable.
But Hermione frowned, feeling that Harry had a tendency to abuse house-elves.
"This goes against freedom of speech, Harry. You shouldn't do this."
"Dear Hermione, freedom is relative; lack of freedom is absolute."
When Hermione expressed her views to Sherlock, he replied directly.
"When dealing with a species completely different from humans, imposing your way of thinking onto their behavioral habits is inappropriate to begin with."
"But it's so pitiful, don't you think?"
"They don't think they're pitiful," Ron interjected while enthusiastically eating. "They consider serving their masters an honor."
"This is slave labor," Hermione said, raising her eyebrows.
Luna also chimed in at this moment. "Dad says our family had a house-elf a long time ago. Its owner thought the same way you do, so she decided to give the elf its freedom."
"And then?" Hermione's interest was immediately piqued.
"When its owner told it that it would be freed, it was terrified. Later, it kept banging its head against the wall, desperately begging its owner not to do it."
Luna paused. "They like it this way themselves. They enjoy being slaves to others."
"But that's wrong."
"But they're happy!" Luna tilted her head, saying puzzledly, "They believe they have the best job in the world."
"That's because they haven't been educated and have been indoctrinated with wrong ideas!"
Neville said cautiously, "It's always been this way. My grandmother says house-elves have been slaves for a very, very long time..."
"Just because something has always been that way, does that make it right?"
"..."
Even after the meal ended, Hermione was still troubled by this matter.
In the time that followed, the adults separated from the children, each group doing their own thing.
The four ladies were excitedly discussing the birthday party.
"British food is truly terrible. Regrettably, Violet, the best food in Britain is actually French cuisine."
"I think it might soon be Japanese food."
"Mrs. Holmes is right—Mrs. Chang, in your country, is cooking considered an art?"
"The finest ingredients often require only the simplest cooking methods."
Chang Dali's words received agreement from Mrs. Holmes, Mrs. Granger, and Mrs. Weasley.
The men split into two groups.
Chang Wei was telling Mr. Weasley about his work, and Mr. Weasley listened very attentively.
He had always been interested in the Muggle world, and what's more, Chang Wei was talking about Muggle stories from a foreign land, which made him even more interested.
Sirius, meanwhile, was earnestly seeking advice from Mr. Holmes and Mr. Granger about how to properly educate teenage children.
After all, he had never married and lacked experience in this area.
In his view, the Holmes and Granger families' education of Sherlock and Hermione was undoubtedly successful.
As for Mr. Weasley...
Sirius looked at him laughing heartily and gesturing excitedly at Lawyer Chang Wei's words, thought for a moment, and gave up.
Never mind, I'll ask Molly later—she seems more reliable in this regard.
Harry led a group of friends on a tour of the old mansion.
Cho Chang, Luna, Neville, and Dean were visiting 12 Grimmauld Place for the first time and were full of curiosity about it.
The Weasley twins had lived here for a while and were very familiar with the place, so after telling Harry, they went off on their own.
Harry naturally knew they were going to work on those magical trick items again.
The skirmish between Gryffindor and Slytherin before last year's Quidditch finals had provided them with excellent experimental material.
They had been continuously improving these magical items throughout the summer.
Unfortunately, the rooms at the Burrow were quite small, and with Mrs. Weasley watching them, they didn't dare go too far.
But now that they were at 12 Grimmauld Place, it was different.
The adults couldn't pay attention today, and Sirius had said early on that as long as they didn't blow off the ceiling, they could do whatever they wanted.
As for Ron's third brother Percy, he didn't come to Harry's birthday party.
This summer, he had finally gotten his wish and entered the Ministry of Magic.
According to Ron, he was practically a workaholic.
If Mr. Weasley didn't insist on dragging him home every day, he would simply live at the office.
Hermione also temporarily forgot about the house-elf matter and began discussing Harry's strange dream with Sherlock.
"Sherlock, you really have no way to deduce who Voldemort's ally is?"
"Dear Hermione, making deductions without evidence is a dangerous thing."
"Can't you guess?"
"I never guess."
"Fine. If Harry's dream is real, does that mean Professor Trelawney's prophecy is also real? Because there really is an ally who found Voldemort to help him make a comeback."
"My view has remained consistent from the beginning, dear Hermione."
Sherlock smiled and said, "Don't believe prophecies too much, but don't reject them either. Just treat them as tools for providing inspiration."
"So... is there really nothing we can do now?"
"You're being a bit impatient."
Sherlock's gray eyes looked at Hermione, and he said seriously.
"You, I, and Harry are all just fourteen-year-old children—uh, actually, you're different from us."
"How am I different?" Hermione hadn't reacted yet.
"In another month, you'll be fifteen."
(ー`ー)
"Sherlock!"
"Your age is indeed the greatest among us."
Facing Hermione's dissatisfied gaze, Sherlock smiled and said, "You have to face reality, dear Hermione."
(///￣皿￣)○～
"Fine... I'm so sorry for being a year older than you all!"
Hermione knew there was no point arguing with Sherlock about this, so she took a deep breath and said through gritted teeth.
"I understand. Please continue."
"I think you should understand what I'm about to say—our Headmaster Dumbledore always thinks he can control everything. So many times before, he didn't tell us enough information, which made me very passive when handling things."
Hermione nodded. She understood what Sherlock meant.
Whether it was the Philosopher's Stone in first year, the Chamber of Secrets in second year, or the Prisoner of Azkaban in third year.
With Sherlock's extraordinary abilities, if he had known all the information from the start, he wouldn't have needed to wait so long to solve the problems.
"Fortunately, after the Chamber incident, our old headmaster finally understood this principle. When I need information, he no longer conceals things like before and can lay everything out. The results are obvious—I caught Peter in the first term of third year. By the end of the school year, I even knew about the Horcruxes, so..."
Sherlock smiled slightly. "We've done enough brain work. We can't expect a group of underage young wizards to directly confront a Dark Lord who ruled the wizarding world for over a decade, can we? Even if the Ministry of Magic is useless, there's still Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix, isn't there? Let the old headmaster and other adults handle the action!"
Having said this much, Hermione understood.
Clearly, Sherlock, Harry, and Dumbledore had already reached an agreement.
Thinking of this, Hermione looked at Harry, who was excitedly introducing Black mansion to his friends, then turned her gaze back to Sherlock and asked uncertainly.
"Sherlock, you didn't go off with Dumbledore to do something during the summer, did you?"
"Yes."
"..."
So straightforward!
"And you can't tell us the details, right?"
"Actually, I personally don't mind, but Dumbledore won't let us talk about it."
Hermione understood again when she heard this.
She knew it!
It's all Ron's fault!
If he hadn't been so loose-lipped last time, Sherlock definitely wouldn't be keeping things from her!
"So, does Harry's dream need to be told to Dumbledore?"
"Obviously, Hermione. I just said that it's precisely because Dumbledore was always unwilling to share information with me that our actions were seriously delayed. Conversely, it's the same—when we have new information on our end, we must communicate with Dumbledore in a timely manner."
Sherlock shrugged. "In fact, I've already written to tell him about this, um, and Professor Snape too."
"Professor Snape?"
Hermione's eyes widened in surprise. "Why tell him too?"
"I personally believe it's very necessary to tell him. As for the reason, I can only apologize."
"Dumbledore won't let you say again?"
"Obviously, my friend."
"..."
Hermione was angry, but the consequences weren't serious.
Overall, everyone was very happy on Harry's birthday.
Especially Harry, as the host.
For him, this was the happiest birthday since the last time he stayed at Sherlock's house and went out with Mr. and Mrs. Holmes.
When everything ended, Mrs. Weasley, under Ginny's expectant gaze, once again invited Harry, Hermione, and Sherlock to stay at the Burrow for a while.
That way, when the Quidditch World Cup started, they could go together with Ron's father.
Mr. Weasley had obtained several of the best tickets through his connections at the Ministry of Magic.
Hearing this, Cho Chang looked nervously at Harry.
Sirius caught this scene and smiled slightly, declining for Harry.
"Molly, thank you very much for the invitation. But Harry and I haven't seen each other for so many years, and he spends most of the year at Hogwarts now. Please don't deprive us of the precious little time we have together as father and son!"
Hearing Sirius say this, Mrs. Weasley could only let it go.
Noticing Ginny's eyes dimming, Sirius had a sudden inspiration and said.
"But you could let the children stay here! Ron, Fred, George, Ginny... That way, Molly, you can relax for a while, and Harry and I will have more company."
"Oh, wonderful!" said Fred.
"Sirius, I absolutely love you!" said George.
"Say yes, Mum, there are so many rooms here, and the beds are big and spacious..."
"Shut up, Ron!"
Ginny said irritably. This troublesome brother always liked to make things worse.
By saying the beds here were big and spacious, wasn't he implying the beds at the Burrow were small and cramped?
Ron realized this too and immediately shut his mouth.
Even so, Molly understood what he meant and couldn't help pondering.
Having the Weasley twins stay here would indeed save her a lot of worry.
But was it right to dump the trouble on someone else?
"Molly, agree to it!"
Just then, Mr. Weasley, the head of the family, spoke.
"Bill and Charlie are coming back in a couple of days too. Our place is indeed a bit crowded, and besides, Sirius isn't an outsider."
Molly sighed. Sirius truly wasn't an outsider.
Both she and her husband had family connections to the Black family.
"Alright, if you agree..."
"Excellent!"
The Weasley twins immediately hugged each other excitedly, then without another word rushed upstairs to work on their inventions.
Ron also hugged Harry, grinning as he said, "Thanks, Mum and Dad."
Ginny felt a bit embarrassed. She hugged her parents, "Don't worry, I'll be good."
And so, Ron, Ginny, and the Weasley twins stayed at 12 Grimmauld Place, while everyone else went back to their own homes.
Cho Chang also made plans with Harry to meet again at the Quidditch World Cup in a week.
"When you get there, just come straight to our box."
Sirius said with a smile, "There aren't many of us, it's too quiet."
Hearing this, Cho Chang blushed.
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