Chapter 5: The Weasley Family (Edited)

It had to be admitted that the Weasleys were a very nice family.

Mr. Weasley, who had extensive experience in dealing with Muggles and, having been introduced to Ivan and Hermione, eased both parents' anxiety and, aside from an occasional display of Muggle-obsession and a bit of surprise, was basically pleasant.

As for Mrs. Weasley, the first thing she did once she came out of the fireplace was hug some of the children, including Ivan, whose hug was even longer than Harry's, as she also thanked him repeatedly for helping Harry, to the point where Ivan was a bit embarrassed.

As for the few children of the Weasley family, Percy Weasley approached Ivan and Hermione with extremely formal politeness, his gestures reminding Ivan of some nobles.

Behind Percy were Fred and George, an interesting pair of twins who, apart from the odd joke they could think of, were very hard to hate.

As for Ron, who mingled with Harry as soon as he arrived, Harry's freckled and somewhat awkward looking best friend shouted that he had planned to rescue Harry in his flying car a week earlier, much to the chagrin of Hermione, who was on the sidelines.

Oh, yes, and Ginny, who was hiding behind Mrs. Weasley, was the same age as Ivan, a pretty, red-haired girl, but too shy to say a word and kept looking at Harry with a blush on her face.

After a brief introduction, the group prepared to go to Gringotts Bank to change their money.

This was the first time Ivan had seen goblins, and they weren't much cuter than house elves, but he realized they were very different from house elves when he saw their cunning glowing eyes.

They climbed some white stone steps and entered a tall marble hall.

About a dozen goblins were seated behind a long counter, some weighing coins with copper scales, others inspecting gems. There were countless doors leading to different places, and many goblins guided visitors in and out of them.

Harry and the Weasley family, led by a goblin named Griphook, were guided to their vaults to withdraw money, while Ivan and Hermione needed to exchange pounds for the money of the magical world in the hallway.

The Grangers exchanged ten pounds sterling and the Masons exchanged a large sack of galleons, well over the total value of the items on the school shopping list.

After about fifteen minutes, Harry and the Weasleys emerged from the subway vault.

The group split up on the marble steps outside Gringotts, Percy was muttering about buying a new quill, Fred and George spotted their friend Lee Jordan on the streets, and as for Mr. Weasley, he insisted on taking the Mason couple and the Granger couple out for a drink at the Leaky Cauldron.

Ivan looked at Harry, he seemed to have something to say to Ron and Hermione in private, and after thinking about it, Ivan decided to go with Mrs. Weasley and Ginny to buy their robes and wands for school.

Mrs. Weasley looked at them all and, as she left with Ivan and Ginny, said, "See you in an hour at Flourish & Blotts."

Then Mrs. Weasley shouted to the twins, "Also, no going to Knockturn Alley!"

Ivan was excited and said, "Mrs. Weasley, where should we buy wands? you know, it's my first time in Diagon Alley."

Mrs. Weasley looked at Ivan with a small smile and said, "Honey, let's go to Ollivanders, as you and Ginny need a wand."

Then Mrs. Weasley said excitedly, "But we have to seize the moment, there are so many things to buy, and today there is a signing of Gilderoy Lockhart's new book, and we can't be late."

Ivan frowned and said, "Gilderoy Lockhart?"

Ivan then thought about the list of books he had to buy and said, "I saw the books he needed on the school list, and I don't know what the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is thinking, the prices of those books aren't cheap."

Mrs. Weasley's first words were full of joy, but her last words carried a bit of sadness, "Yeah, maybe your new teacher is a Lockhart fan after all, they're great, but they're too expensive to buy five Lockhart books at once."

Mrs. Weasley looked at Ginny and said, "Sorry, Ginny, I think you're going to have to use a lot of second hand stuff this year."

Not noticing how depressed Mrs. Weasley was, Ginny quickly said, "Never mind, Mom!"

Immediately after, Ginny winked at Ivan and whispered, "My mom is obsessed with Lockhart, she adores him!"

Mrs. Weasley's face flushed and she said, "Don't talk nonsense, Ginny!"

Then Mrs. Weasley said excitedly, "You have to admit, for such an amazing wizard as he is, he is really attractive."

He was particularly attractive to middle-aged and elderly women, Ivan covered his forehead with his hand, towards Lockhart, he felt no good will towards this big liar, after all, sooner or later he will be found out, so I don't want to talk about this topic anymore.

In fact, what surprised him even more was Ginny.

The girl was not as shy as when he first saw her. As long as Harry wasn't around, she would immediately return to normal, becoming a very talkative and energetic girl.

On the way, she told Ivan many things about her family and home.

You could tell that, unlike Ron, Ginny really didn't mind wearing hand-me-downs that her brothers had worn. Except for one thing, which is wearing hand-me-down school uniforms, which really frustrated her.

The three of them arrived at a small antique store as they were chatting.

The sign on the door was peeling off and read, "Makers of fine wands since 382 BC."

In the dusty window, a wand lay alone on a faded purple cushion.

As they entered the store, a tinkling of bells could be heard coming from somewhere in the back of the store. Ivan looked around, the store was small, with nothing but a bench in front of the counter.

Not far away, there were thousands of cardboard boxes that reached almost to the ceiling.

There were all sorts of wands in them, and somehow Ivan felt that the dust and silence of the place seemed to make the place seem magical.

Mrs. Weasley led them to sit on the bench and soon after, a soft voice came from behind the counter.