FREEDOM.
This was the theme for the rest of the summer. Harry could sleep in every day and eat whatever he wanted, and he had nearly the entire Leaky Cauldron menu at his disposal! His movements were also almost unrestricted; as long as he didn't leave Diagon Alley, he could go wherever he pleased. He took the opportunity to explore all the shops in the area.
Of course, he still had his own summer assignment. But instead of hiding under the sheets with a flashlight, he could sit in front of Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor and finish his assignment with Tom and Hermione outdoors. The kind shopkeeper would give them three free ice creams every half hour.
Tom felt embarrassed, so after a fierce refusal, Tom paid three galleons upfront and they were given unlimited ice cream from Florean Fortescue's for the rest of the summer.
"I'm going to turn into a fat ball!" complained Hermione as she enjoyed her yogurt ice cream. Hermione was originally a fan of fruit flavors, but after being heavily encouraged by Tom, she switched to natural, vanilla, and yogurt flavors.
"So, did you really inflate your aunt, Harry?" asked Hermione, lazily leaning back in her seat and turning towards Harry. She had finished writing her History of Magic essay a minute ago. The progress had been slower than expected because she had added several things later, with the most crucial factor being that she never wore the Ravenclaw diadem in public. As a precaution, she only wore it in private, and no one except Tom knew about it.
Hermione, having completed her lengthy essay, had become a bit lazy, even as a good student, and wanted to take a break from her packed schedule.
"It wasn't really my intention." Harry raised his hands. "Honestly, I couldn't do it again. I didn't know what was going to happen at that moment... What the hell? Was your History of Magic essay that long?"
His eyes landed on Hermione's parchment.
At first, he thought the big Hermione was a draft that Hermione had bought, but upon closer examination, he realized it was so densely written that it was filled with Hermione's handwriting! Harry was stunned.
"No, I trimmed it down a lot," Hermione lifted her head proudly. "Mainly because there's so much to write about Ancient Egypt. I could have written more if I hadn't been afraid of exceeding the limit."
Harry couldn't understand the intolerance for writing essays up to the word limit; he usually wrote up to the limit. Tom, on the other hand, laughed but didn't say anything. The scraps of Hermione's essay, in the end, were for him, and since they were on similar topics, he could take them and use them with some changes.
"By the way, did you go to Egypt during the summer?" Harry noticed, looking at Hermione's paper, that it seemed Ron had chosen the same country for their vacation.
"Yes, and we met Ron's second brother, Bill, but unfortunately, we were busy traveling at that time, so we only saw him once."
"Well," Harry lamented, "If you had waited a few days, you could have traveled to Egypt with Ron. His second brother is a curse-breaker at Gringotts and could have taken you on incredible adventures."
"Our adventure was exciting enough," upon hearing this, Hermione couldn't help but sigh. "A lot of the inspiration for the essay came from that adventure."
Harry: ...
"Tell me, why do you think Fudge let me off the hook? I received a formal warning from the Ministry of Magic just last year because a house-elf levitated a cake at my aunt's place; they said if they detected anyone else using magic there, I would be expelled from Hogwarts. But this time I inflated my aunt without any punishment."
"Probably because of Black? I suppose," Hermione intuitively guessed. "Or maybe it was those Trackers we met on the bus."
Strangely enough, on that day the Trackers had been given to Fudge, and nothing else had been done about it. Fudge had only put a small notice in the newspaper to announce it, which hadn't caused much stir and hadn't revolutionized the tense atmosphere in the wizarding world.
In addition to studying together, Tom and Hermione took their time to buy all the school supplies, including textbooks.
As the days went by, Hogwarts students flocked to Diagon Alley as the start of the school year approached. There, the three of them encountered several familiar faces every day. Harry kept an eye out for Ron.
Finally, on the last day of summer vacation, Harry spotted Ron. Ron looked good, and the two of them ordered ice cream and sat at a table with Tom to chat.
"Hermione, if I remember correctly, your birthday is coming up," Tom, who was flipping through his calendar and looking at the school year schedule, crossed his fingers on a date and realized something.
"Do you want something?"
Hermione brought her hand to her cheek, thought for a moment, and said, without shame but with casualness, "I want an owl. After all, it's a bit inconvenient not to have an owl, and your pigeon only delivers letters. You see, Harry has Hedwig, Ron has Errol..."
"I don't have an owl," Ron said, sitting at the next table, "Errol is my family's owl. I only have Scabbers." And he took his rat out of his pocket. The rat was a bit thinner, not as round as before, and its whiskers drooped in a subdued manner.
Tom glanced at Scabbers indifferently and then looked away. He wasn't interested in Scabbers, or rather, he didn't care enough to interfere with what was going to happen to Harry this year. Tom knew exactly who Scabbers was, but it was better not to reveal it. This rat had a lot to offer.
It could achieve something very important.
"Why don't we have him checked? There's a magical creatures shop right there," Harry pointed to the corner. Harry, now more familiar with Diagon Alley than Ron, said, "Hermione, you can also get the owl you want there."
"Alright," the four of them got up and headed towards an animal shop called Magical Menagerie. Tom had been here before, he had bought a pigeon and won a draw for an Occamy egg.
Two years later, the shop hadn't changed much.
Ron approached the counter and asked the shopkeeper to examine Scabbers' body. Tom watched with interest and astonishment as the shopkeeper inspected every inch of Scabbers' body, even the tiny thing on Scabbers.
Suddenly, a huge ginger figure appeared and landed on the counter with a thud, hissing at Scabbers.
"Crookshanks, stop!" the cashier shouted in fear.
Hermione, who was choosing an owl, was drawn to the commotion.