Chapter 675
Family
Chapter 675 Family
Wade pushed open the door to the small conference room and his gaze immediately locked onto the two familiar figures standing by the window.
Ferdinand was chatting with Sirius and Lupin, his demeanor so relaxed as if he were always meant to be there.
Hearing the door open, he immediately turned around, looking at Wade with gentle eyes, a smile playing on his lips; while Fiona eagerly ran over, her newly permed curls bouncing over her shoulders.
"Wade~ my baby!"
Fiona hugged Wade tightly and said enthusiastically, "Surprised? We came to watch your match!"
She kissed Wade's cheek.
Wade immediately felt his face burning up. He didn't dare look at the expressions of others, struggled to get out of Fiona's arms, frantically ran his hands through his hair, took a deep breath and said, "It's really a surprise, Mom."
"Haha!" Fiona pointed at him, then turned to her husband and burst into laughter: "Our warrior is shy!"
Ferdinand walked over with a smile, placed his hand on Wade's shoulder, and said, "Don't make fun of him, Fiona... take us to see your school, Wade."
“Okay…come with me.” Wade said quickly, waving to Sirius and Lupin, and leading his parents toward the door.
Natalia was talking to her parents when she saw Wade pass by. She glanced at him sideways, deliberately making a mocking face, and mouthed silently, "Wade~ baby~"
Wade: "..." He secretly rolled his eyes and silently turned his gaze away.
As he was leaving, Wade saw Harry holding a croissant and rushed into the meeting room.
……
That morning, Wade took his parents to visit the castle, stroll along the lake, and even tour the greenhouse.
Fiona seemed like a newborn receiving a wand for the first time, excitedly tiptoeing to touch the portrait on the wall.
"Oh, Merlin, don't touch me!" A wizard wearing a grey pointed hat cried out in horror, covering his reddened face. "They scrubbed it three times last night! Three times! It was horrible! My face is almost scraped raw!"
Fiona giggled.
“Look at Ferdi!” she exclaimed excitedly, tugging at her husband’s sleeve. “It’s exactly how my mother described it!”
“Yes…” Ferdinand’s broad hand stroked the rough stone wall, slightly lost in thought: “This is Hogwarts.”
Fiona held her husband's arm, rested her head on his shoulder, and whispered, "Our son goes to school here and will represent Hogwarts in tournaments... Good heavens, I still feel like I'm dreaming!"
Wade followed beside him, not acting like a host and introducing Hogwarts, but simply listening quietly.
In fact, the Grays didn't need his introduction. They simply compared everything they saw with the scene they had imagined. The photos Wade sent back also made them feel familiar with the school.
The two went to see the freely moving staircase, the door that required scratching the right spot or saying a password to open, and even had a surprising encounter with the ghost in the castle.
The library's seemingly endless bookshelves would amaze anyone who saw them for the first time; several portraits, having drunk too much mead, leaned against the rocks and burped; Griffiths [a portrait Widt knew] even made a special trip across two floors to chat with the Greys about their parents.
Wade felt a little disappointed because he couldn't bring his parents to the Ravenclaw common room, but he showed them the Room of Requirement—the most magical place in all of Hogwarts.
As we passed Black Lake, the giant squid surfaced, lying on the shore, its calm eyes watching us as if silently greeting us. Its tentacles floated lazily on the water, glistening with moisture in the sunlight.
"How amazing!" Fiona asked curiously, "Can I shake hands with it?"
Wade shook his head and said, "We don't usually get that close..."
“Oh…” Fiona was a little disappointed, but not surprised.
As everyone knows, giant squid are friendly, but there are many other dangerous creatures in the Black Lake, and the students are not so carefree as to go into the water casually.
However, after Durmstrang's ship docked there, more than one person saw Viktor Krum jump into the lake for a swim. Some students even waited by the lakeside specifically to see him dive in. Just as the three were about to leave, a tentacle suddenly emerged from the water, slowly rising, carrying a string of glistening water droplets.
Wade immediately stepped in front of his parents. To their astonishment, the squid's tentacles rose to about half a person's height, bent slightly, and then waited.
"Oh!"
Fiona gasped in surprise, a childlike smile spreading across her face, and carefully reached out to touch it.
"You're such a gentle big guy, aren't you?"
She spoke with exceptional gentleness.
After completing the "handshake," the giant squid gazed at them, then slowly sank into the water, leaving only ripples in its wake.
Wade exchanged an incredulous look with his father, then looked at his mother and asked, "Tell me honestly, Mom... is there any bloodline of the four founders in our family, or perhaps we are descendants of the first headmaster of Hogwarts?"
Fiona was taken aback for a moment, then burst into a burst of clear laughter, almost bending over with laughter.
"Hahaha... Honey, you're so funny!"
She wiped away the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes and said, "Silly child... In my opinion, that big guy actually likes you, so he only shows his affection for us because of you, right?"
"……I?"
“Yeah!” Fiona blinked. “Anyway, I think it’s been watching you, Wade.”
Wade silently watched the shadows in the water.
When he participated in the competition at Black Lake last time, he didn't feel that the giant squid had any special attitude towards him... Ah, of course... when he arrived, the big guy was asleep.
The Grays had no other thoughts about it.
The pet owl is very intelligent and human-like. Apart from its appearance, Dobby is just like a human. The book also says that most centaurs are more intelligent than ordinary humans.
This gave the Greys a high estimate of the intelligence level of creatures in the magical world, let alone an ancient creature like the giant squid that had lived for thousands of years. They wouldn't be too surprised if it suddenly started talking.
On the contrary, the teachers and students of Hogwarts would probably be more surprised if they saw this scene.
But as he gazed at the Forbidden Forest in the distance, Ferdinand's smile gradually froze, and Fiona unconsciously gripped her son's sleeve tightly.
"Is today's match... going to take place there?" Fiona asked. "I heard there are werewolves in the Forbidden Forest."
“Hmm.” Wade smiled. “Although there is one… but that werewolf is also my friend. Because there’s a competition going on in the Forbidden Forest, his family recently moved to another place, and they said goodbye to me before they left.”
Fiona was stunned upon hearing this: "Werewolf...friend?"
Ferdinand couldn't help but reveal a smile that was a mixture of worry and pride.
"It seems your life at school is even more colorful than we expected."
Looking into his son's eyes, filled with determination and confidence, he suppressed a sigh and gave him these words of advice:
"Child, don't let things like honor or pride hold you back. If... if the danger of the competition exceeds expectations, admitting defeat is not shameful. Just be sure to act within your capabilities!"
“I will,” Wade said with a smile. “If winning a trophy means you have to suffer the pain of losing it, then I would rather give up the competition.”
“That’s the right way to think!” Fiona cupped her son’s face and said softly, “Win or lose, you are the pride of your father and me. We are waiting for you to come back safely!”
(End of this chapter)