aircannonsinc Chapter 295 The Nest is Clean
Chapter 295 The Nest is Clean
The second day of Christmas holiday when I returned to my hometown, The Burrow.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, but unfortunately my family just doesn’t have the energy, either financially or mentally, to celebrate Christmas.
However, Sirius invited us to a Christmas Eve party, and the invitation said "Must come".
It seems that Harry told Sirius that our family was very affected by Ginny's incident, so he sent a caring invitation. Father Arthur and mother Molly couldn't refuse this kindness.
Therefore, we will go to the old house of the Black family tomorrow and stay there overnight. So, I hid in the magic box since morning, using the excuse of "wanting to do homework in a quiet place".
In case Charlie might come to check on me, I packed my homework, warm clothes, and Ginny's diary and hid in the cave that Puff used as a lair.
Outside the cave, Dumbledore cast a spell to "maintain the same climate as the outside world", so it was a white silver world, but inside Puff's nest it was as warm as home.
Dragons belong to the category of reptiles and are cold-blooded animals, so they are less resistant to cold, but they do not hibernate like other reptiles.
While their activity does slow down, they usually hibernate in their dens before the cold weather arrives, storing food.
For Puff, I bring him three meals a day. Wild dragons use magic to preserve their prey, and only leave their nests every three days during the winter.
Furthermore, dragons often use their magic to keep their lairs at a comfortable temperature.
Since the snow started falling, Puff's daily walks have been reduced to once every three days, and he stays in his nest almost all day, only coming out when I call him.
Although it sounds bad, I can be more stealthy with Puff around and don't have to worry about Charlie finding me. Puff also seems to be happy around me because she thinks of me as her "mother" (in the wild, young dragons usually "hibernate" with their mothers).
The cave was filled with hay and was surprisingly cozy.
Dragons are very smart, they have the habit of keeping their nests clean, eating and defecating outside the nest. Therefore, Puff's nest is very clean and has no odor at all (but it has the scent of hay dried in the sun).
Since I hid here under the pretext of "doing homework", in order not to arouse my family's suspicion, I hurriedly finished half of the homework (the notes were lent to me by Harry, so it was not troublesome), and then picked up my real target - Ginny's diary.
I leaned on Pav's belly deep in the cave, sat on the mat I brought, covered myself with a blanket, and looked down at the journal in my hand.
This diary is not an ordinary notebook. It has "Diary" written on the cover and has a lock. It is very delicately made. It can be seen that it is brand new. I really want to know how Ginny got it.
Even without any magic, such an exquisite binding would have to be very expensive, and our family simply could not afford it (even if my parents secretly bought it for her, I think they should buy some decorations instead of a diary).
Before opening the cover, I checked it and found that there was no magic cast on it. It seemed to be an ordinary diary (although it is possible that the magic was not reproduced very faithfully, but if there was magic on it, it would be impossible to copy it).
"…I'm sorry, Ginny."
Feeling guilty, I apologized to my absent sister while unlocking the diary.
"Araho Cave is open."
With a gentle click, I confirmed that the lock was unlocked, took a deep breath, and opened the diary.
***
“Wednesday, August 8
Today was a terrible day. I worked so hard to get into Hogwarts, but all my stuff is second-hand! And Ronnie is wearing new clothes, but I'm wearing an ugly dress made by my mom. In Diagon Alley, many people are comparing me to Ronnie, it's terrible!
Charlie held Ronnie's hand, and Ronnie strutted like a queen! Everyone stared at Ronnie in her beautiful dress and ribbon, and when they saw me, they chuckled.
Also, Charlie is such a fool, he paid for Ronnie's admission, but he didn't buy anything for me!"
After reading this half-page full of complaints and dissatisfaction, I closed the diary temporarily.
Well, I can understand that starting at Hogwarts should have been a memorable moment, and she was upset that all her stuff was second-hand. But -
You should take care of your own clothes... Don't always rely on your mother...
As for the fact that Charlie didn't buy her anything, that was because there was no need. Charlie (and Bill) had only paid for the wand, and Ginny's wand had been a new one anyway.
Seeing her self-centered thoughts gives me a headache.
However, 99.99% of the reason why Ginny became so willful was due to the doting of her father Arthur and mother Molly, so we can't blame her alone.
I adjusted my mindset and continued reading my diary.
"My only good luck is getting this diary. Apparently the clerk made a mistake, but since it's their fault, it's okay for me to take it, right? I didn't steal it anyway."
Uh, no, that won’t work.
I couldn't help but complain when I read this.
Although I thought that I should have a good talk with Ginny about moral concepts after she recovered, I was secretly copying other people's diaries and had no right to say these things. It was really a headache.
If her egocentric way of thinking is not corrected, she will suffer sooner or later...
I continued reading and felt not only a headache but also some stomach discomfort.
———From the time she got the diary to the time she entered Hogwarts, the content of the diary was almost entirely about her jealousy and dissatisfaction towards me.
I was actually taken aback when I saw her mentioning having intimate conversations with Harry and Sirius and calling me like a whore.
Does she really know what "whore" means??? Where did she learn these words???
Did he learn it from the gossip magazines that his mother Molly collected?
Although I was a little shocked to learn how unpopular I was in my sister's heart, as I continued reading, I found that what she wrote the day before she entered Hogwarts was different from what she had written before.
Monday, September 8
"I have a secret friend. Her name is Mary. We hit it off. I think we're going to be best friends."
"Mary? Who is it?"
If she had written "Tom" or "Riddle", I wouldn't have been too surprised, but this name turned out to be a girl. Although I once thought it was "Tom Riddle" pretending to be a girl, there was no clue in the previous diary that there was another diary mixed in.
Moreover, on August 8, Ginny was busy at home all day preparing the luggage to take to Hogwarts. I remember it clearly because that day, my mother Molly asked us to help, but when I offered to help, Ginny refused me loudly: "Don't touch my things!"
She had clearly stayed at home that day, so how could she have made friends…?
We had Sirius over that night and had a party for Ginny to celebrate her matriculation, but other than that, there were no other guests.
At least, as far as I know, our parents didn't have a friend named "Mary".
I briefly wondered if, like Dobby, a house-elf had snuck into our home, but Ginny always had a contemptuous attitude toward non-human creatures.
She hated the leprechauns in the yard, and frowned in disgust when she saw goblins in Gringotts. She even said to Charlie and me in person: "I really don't understand why you like those ugly dragons!"
So, it is almost impossible that she could be so friendly to a non-human creature and call it her "best friend".
Even as my questions grew, references to “Mary” in my diary began to appear more and more frequently.
Wednesday, May 9
"Finally I got into Hogwarts. I thought everything would be different once I got into Hogwarts, but Ronnie still gets all the attention as before. How boring! He must have been in a daze when he missed the Hogwarts Express. I bet he just wanted to have Harry all to himself. Mary said the same thing.
It’s really weird that the Sorting Hat recommended me to Slytherin. I would never go to a hellhole like Slytherin.
I don't get along with the girls I live with. But it doesn't matter, I have Mary, and Mary says the same thing.
Monday, September 9
"Hogwarts is not as interesting as I thought. My only fun is to secretly chat with Mary after the girls in the same dormitory fall asleep. I will chat with Mary again tonight. I am really looking forward to what we will talk about!"
"Who the hell is Mary...?!"
As far as I know, there is no student named "Mary" in Gryffindor house.
Could it be that this “Mary” is the source of the “late-night talking noises” mentioned by her roommate Alyssa?
This would make sense if Ginny used some kind of magic item, like a two-way mirror, so that only her voice could be heard...
Other than those clues, the rest was all about how she and "Mary" talked bad about me or complained about too much homework.
I had this constant anxiety that I was missing something, and I spent the entire Christmas holiday in this state of uneasiness.