Shock!
Surprisingly, the poor unlucky ones still had a day to turn their luck around!
On the third day of his holiday, Andy was dragged out to play Quidditch by Ron and the Weasley twins and then was told by them that Mr Weasley had won the Daily Prophet's Gold Galleon Draw.
The prize was a full seven hundred gold Galleons.
Andy: "..."
Andy had also participated in that lottery, but had never won the prize - Andy even thought for a while that event was just a gimmick that the Daily Prophet had come up with to attract attention.
But he didn't expect that someone had actually won the grand prize!
And this jackpot winner was also Andy's neighbour ...
Inexplicably, he was somewhat unhappy.
Although Andy is now no longer short of money, in the contest of proving the luck of character, Andy still does not want to lose.
Ron told Andy that their family had decided to travel to Egypt together.
Andy could only wish them a good journey.
Back home, Andy flipped through today's Daily Prophet and prepared to see what lottery was suitable for his participation.
As the most authoritative newspaper in the British magic world, the Daily Prophet had set up a lot of prize-drawing activities and lotteries that all people could participate in.
For example, the Gold Galleon Draw, the Card Collector Competition Prize, the Ugliest Dress of the Year Contest, the Bestseller List, the Annual Owl Mailer Award, and so on, there were about a dozen prizes in all.
"Well ..."
Andy suddenly gritted his teeth, "When I fill up my divination points, I'm going to use divination to speculate on the prizes every day, and hit the jackpot every day!"
"Next year's Gold Galleon Draw will definitely be mine!"
The days of the holiday were leisurely.
After resting for three days, Andy gradually resumed his usual routine - taking out a lot of time every day to read books and practice magic.
The family adapted well to this as well.
When he didn't have a wand, Andy would prefer to spend his days locked up in the study reading. Now that he had his wand, Andy would only work harder at learning magic than he had before.
Then there was the fat cat Patronus.
It was now a member of the family and was let out by Andy to play with Isabel all day.
The little girl also seemed to enjoy having a cat and spent the whole day wandering around with the Fat Cat Patronus. With the protection of the fat cat Patronus, Andy did not have to worry about Isabel's safety either.
Of course, after the holiday, Andy also wrote to Hermione through letters and once again determined the time of action.
To facilitate the action, Andy had also travelled outside the Gaunt family's old house in advance and went to the door - after having been there once, Andy was able to use Apparition to teleport there.
Next, all Andy could do was wait.
On the fifth day of the holiday, the Daily Prophet reported the Weasley family's prize-receiving event, and the photo of it was on the bottom left position of the front page.
A whole seven hundred gold galleons!
The family was smiling happily.
Andy looked at the newspaper with a hint of envy for their luck in his eyes.
I will also win the lottery next year!
Andy swore in his heart.
***
Azkaban.
It was a black castle built on an isolated island.
Surrounded by surging waves and howling winds, dozens of dementors roamed around the castle. Even though it was summer, the air still carried an eerie chill that went straight to the soul.
Azkaban is rarely visited.
But today was an exception.
"Long time no see, Fudge." Being the only one who hadn't lost his mind so far under the Dementor's care, Sirius Black didn't want to give up any chance to say a few words to a living being.
If he didn't talk more, Sirius felt like he might go mad.
Of course, the living person was less inclined to talk to him.
Fudge stopped in his tracks, feeling quite shocked, as well as deeply disturbed - how could this Voldemort supporter, who had betrayed and killed his friends, remain sane in a place like Azkaban?
Fudge glanced at Sirius, he wanted to hear what Sirius would say ... sophistry? Provocation? He was ready for both.
Sirius sized him up for a moment and pointed to the newspaper in his hand, "The Daily Prophet? Have you finished reading it yet?"
Fudge froze, twisting the Daily Prophet in his hand.
"If you've finished reading it, please."
Sirius held out his hand, "I'd love to do the crossword on it. You know, it's just so boring in here."
Fudge wrinkled his nose and handed the paper over, "You earned it."
Sirius in the darkness seemed to pause, but then he nodded matter-of-factly and took the paper.
"Yeah, you're right!"
Sirius echoed, then looked down at the newspaper and paid no more attention to Fudge.
Fudge had no intention of staying much longer either, and quickly turned to leave.
Sirius flipped through the newspaper, he was very excited, and his hands gripped the newspaper hard - he had been isolated from the world for too long, and knew very little about the outside world, every time he flipped it, it felt as if a thirsty person in the desert had come across a source of water.
Sirius slowly and methodically turned the paper to the front page, reading it word by word, punctuation by punctuation.
--Ministry of Magic employee wins huge prize!
"Arthur Weasley, Head of the Ministry of Magic's Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, wins the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize ..." Sirius read to himself.
He read very slowly, and when he was done, he looked back to the picture of the event next to it.
His gaze was glued to it.
Sirius looked at the rat on Ron's shoulder for a long time, a very familiar rat with a toe missing from its front paw.
He pressed his face against the paper, double-checking the rat's appearance.
After a long time, Sirius came back to his senses.
He tore the newspaper off and stuffed it into his robe.
A fire lit up in his deep eyes, and he suddenly realised that he couldn't just stay in Azkaban. The thought rushed across his mind and wouldn't go away.
***
The seventh day of the summer holiday.
Early in the morning, Andy had organised the necessary equipment for the adventure - a couple of cute little white mice.
They were meant to be used to test some magic traps.
Casting an Undetectable Extension Charm in the pocket of his clothes, Andy put the mice inside.
After breakfast, Andy made an excuse to go out and then Apparated at Hermione's house.
"Hi! Hermione."
Andy greeted, then looked at Hermione a little strangely, "What are you ... er, don't you feel hot?"
Hermione was dressed in a hiking outfit with a brown shoulder bag on her back, a couple of unknown tools on her belt and a dagger strapped to her calf.
"Andy, we're overlooking something."
Hermione said somewhat dejectedly, "I can't use magic while on holiday."
Andy smiled in amusement, "Who said that?"
"Hmm?" Hermione froze.
Andy smiled and explained, "Remember the Christmas holiday? I had my dad drop by the Ministry of Magic to say hello for you."
"It's not really a big deal for a young wizard to use magic outside of school. What the Ministry of Magic is worried about is that young wizards are immature enough to cast magic in front of muggles and end up exposing the magic community."
----
#Robert E Hood, Thanks for all your love and support.
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