บท 134: Chapter 131
"Haven't the others arrived?"
"Hermione and Dean will meet us in the Leaky Cauldron after a couple of hours," Terry said before turning around to the two redheads that Harry deduced to be Charlie and Bill, "I'm telling you. He can beat Ron at chess. He's done so a number of times before."
Bill looked at him doubtfully, which Harry took as a personal insult. So after shaking hands with the eldest Weasley kids, he pushed Terry out of the seat opposite to Ron and took it. With a predatory grin at Ron, Harry moved his first pawn.
A few moves in, he heard a loud squeak behind him. He looked around, and barely only saw a blur of red hair running up the stairs. Turning back around, he looked at Ron questioningly.
"Ginny," said Ron in an undertone, moving his pawn. "You've met her before haven't you? She's been going on about meeting you all summer."
Harry, not knowing how to respond to that, stored it away in his mind and focused on the game.
"Bloody hell! He's actually doing it, Charlie!" Bill muttered after the next few moves passed, "He's beating Ron!"
"Finally someone to avenge all our shattered chess pieces," Charlie said.
"Hey! Aren't you two supposed to support me? I'm your brother!" Ron exclaimed indignantly.
"You murdered our chessmen. You're a chessman killer! And Harry Potter is going to wreck vigilant justice on you. Die!" Charlie yelled at Ron dramatically.
"No talk of anyone murdering anyone Charlie" came the voice of Mrs. Weasley from behind them "Hello Harry."
"Hello Mrs. Weasley, thanks for inviting me over."
"Oh, it's nothing dear, I just got your letter saying how much you liked the fudge I sent for Christmas, so I made some for you today," she said, putting down a platter of the heavenly chocolate fudge next to the chessboard and ruffling Harry's hair. Harry promptly thanked her and stuffed a few into his mouth.
And he froze.
Chocolate fudge!
Oh lord! Chocolate fudge!
The 100 HP restoring Chocolate fudge!
Harry developed a sudden urge to hit himself as he realized that had he saved some of that fudge for later and not gobbled them up in the days after Christmas, he wouldn't have had to risk his life in the mirror chamber trying to break the wards. All he would have had to do was gobble up chocolate fudges to keep his HP up and he would have been perfectly fine.
Harry's left eye suddenly developed a rather severe twitch.
Shoving that line of thought out of his mind, deciding that what was gone was gone, he angrily went back to one by one murdering Ron's chessmen. A small crowd of redheads was forming around them as Mr. Weasley and the twins joined in to watch the chess battle as well.
It was around the third match that he suddenly noticed Ron's wand lying on the chess table.
It was a really battered-looking one. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end, that Harry recognized as the Unicorn hair. Suddenly he realized why Ron's marks were always so dreadful.
Well. He was a friend, Harry thought, and they were headed to Diagon Alley. He could always just buy him a new one there. Ron had given him quite a rare book about runes that Bill had read when he was preparing for applying as Curse breaker with the goblins. Helping him buy a wand was the least he could do.
Harry hesitated on that train of thought, as he remembered Ron's obstinate dislike for people buying him stuff. 'There is no way he'd accept it' he thought.
Harry's divided focus meant that Ron had snuck up a pawn on him without him noticing.
"YES!" Ron said, and took down Harry's king, before he stood up and started doing a little jig of victory. Gracefully conceding, Harry let Charlie take his place. He stood there, pretending to watch Ron decimate Charlie, but his mind was elsewhere, thinking about what to do. He needed to get a ginormous amount of this magical HP boosting food into his inventory for future emergencies, and he had just taken up the mission of forcing Ron to buy a new wand. How could he strike two birds with one stone…well…spell.
A sound of a familiar voice humming reached his ears from the kitchen, and Harry had an idea. There was one person that Harry knew Ron would obey if she asked him to let Harry buy him a wand. He headed towards the kitchen.
"Mrs. Weasley?" Harry asked, walking into the kitchen.
"Yes Harry?" she replied, putting down the ladle she was using to stir the pot she was working on.
"Its just that…Mrs. Weasley…I was wondering if you'd let me gift Ron a new wand."
Mrs. Weasley looked taken aback for a second before her eyes softened and she said, "I'm afraid not Harry. I appreciate the sentiment, but wands are ridiculously expensive, and I cannot possibly allow you to spend that much on him just for a gift."
"A gift?" Harry backpedaled, changing his strategy, "Oh no no. It's not a gift. I need something in return."
Mrs. Weasley grew a bit wary. "And what is that Harry?"
"The recipe to your chocolate fudge," said Harry flatly.
"The what?" she said, looking completely thrown off.
"The recipe. To the chocolate fudge. I have honestly never eaten anything that good before. I really want to know how you do it."
"Oh Harry," Mrs. Weasley said, "you do know you can Floo over whenever you want and I'd happily bake some for you."
"I'm afraid not Mrs. Weasley. I appreciate the sentiment, but chocolate is ridiculously expensive and I can't possibly allow you to spend that much on me just because I start craving chocolate fudge." Harry said with a tiny smirk
Mrs. Weasley chuckled, wiping off her hands on her apron, "Not the same thing Harry."
"It really is. And think of Ron." he said, appealing to her maternal side, "Ollivander says no wand will work as well as a wand that chooses the user. It'd be so much easier for him to do well in class with a wand that's helping him."
He could see her hesitating. He was almost through.
"Oh go on Mrs. Weasley. You can even send me a jumper. That's more than worth a wand!" Harry nailed the final nail into the coffin with that.
"Alright fine you cheeky little boy!" she said with a final humph and pulled out her wand to give it a little wave. A piece of paper came flying and fell into Harry's hand. He unfolded it to see that it was the recipe. Harry gave her a grin and headed back to the sitting room.
After a few more minutes, Mrs. Weasley's loud call came, and the entire Weasley family along with all his friends sat down at the expanded table for some food before leaving for the Alley.
Harry picked up the newspaper and curiously read the headline for the day.
GILDEROY LOCKHART will be signing copies of his autobiography MAGICAL ME today 12:30 P.m. to 4:30 P.m.
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