Chapter 503: Ron's Robes

"Since Gryffindor left the Philosopher's Stone in the Centaur colony." When he heard the subject, Harry raised his opinion and said with interest, "Maybe the other three Founders also left them near Hogwarts.... I know there are Merpeople at the lake. Ivan, you said before... "

"It's really worth investigating!" Ivan nodded his head.

It wouldn't be surprising if the Ravenclaw Key was in the hands of Merpeople at the lake.

Come to think of it, the clue she left was: beautiful Ravenclaw, from the quiet riverbank! She believes that the cleverest minds deserve a reward! The key to the treasure is brilliance, to be passed on forever by her equally intelligent allies!

Besides the centaurs of the Forbidden Forest, the only intelligent population near Hogwarts was the Merpeople clan living on the lake.

The Merpeople are a highly intelligent non-human magical race with a long history that even surpasses the centaurs.

All over the world there are legends about them, and they often appear in fairy tales.

Unlike the proud centaurs, Merpeople and wizards have had frequent contact.

Although their specific origins are not known, they have long been indispensable allies of Hogwarts Castle.

In any case, they satisfy the hint left by Ravenclaw.

Ivan had always thought to investigate at the lake and tried to contact the Merpeople, but he did not speak their language and could not communicate with them.

It seemed that during this school term, he had to include that in his study plan.

"This thing is really good!" said Harry, handing the cloth bag back to Ivan. "I want one too, but I don't think I'll need it much. I don't always carry a lot of books and materials like you do. But I bet it would be good for brooms, candy, and clothes. "

Those bags are good for hiding other things; Ivan thought....

Elaine's underwear was at Ivan's house. He had planned to burn it directly, but it didn't seem to be a good idea. Ivan could only keep this "burden" on him and wait for the opportunity to return it to Elaine later.

He had no trouble giving Harry the cloth bag to inspect. He couldn't see anything.

He wouldn't take the clothes out anyway and probably didn't recognize the girl's underwear by touch alone.

Harry lacked experience, but if he were Hermione, he wouldn't have given her the cloth bag again, even if she killed him.

Ivan kept looking down to sort through the books, and Harry began packing his own things, laboriously stacking his clothes in his bag.

Just then, they heard Ron making a loud disgusted noise behind them. "What's this supposed to be?" he shouted.

Ivan and Harry looked back and saw something in his hand. It looked like a long maroon velvet dress. It had a musty lace trim at the neck and matching lace cuffs.

Everyone looked at this ugly velvet dress and wondered what it was for...

Mrs. Weasley came in with a pile of freshly laundered Hogwarts robes.

"Here you are," she said, sorting the robes into three piles. "Now, be careful to pack them up neatly so they don't get wrinkled..... "

"Mum, you've given me Ginny's new dress. " Ron said, handing it to her.

"Of course not," said Mrs. Weasley. "It's for you. Robes."

"What?" said Ron, looking horrified.

"Robes!" repeated Mrs. Weasley. "It says on the school list that you're supposed to have robes this year... Dress robes for formal occasions."

"You've got to be kidding," said Ron incredulously. "I'm not wearing those, no way!"

"Everyone wears them, Ron!" said Mrs. Weasley angrily. "They're all like that! Your father has some for fancy parties!"

"I'm going to run out of clothes before I put them on," said Ron stubbornly.

"Don't be so silly," said Mrs. Weasley. "You have to have robes; they're on your list! I've got some for Harry and Ivan as well.... show him, Harry, Ivan..."

Ivan glanced at his clothes and there were dress robes too. But there was no lace on them. They were more or less the same as the school ones, except they were light blue instead of black.

Next to him, Harry was also holding bottle green robes of the same style in his hand.

"These two clothes suit you very well, dear." Mrs. Weasley said, "Ivan's color matches your looks perfectly and will attract a lot of girls' attention. Harry, I thought this would bring out the color of your eyes. "

Ron looked at Ivan and Harry's robes and said angrily, "Why couldn't I have something like that?"

"Because... well, Ron, I had to get yours secondhand, and there wasn't much choice!" said Mrs. Weasley, flushing.

There was an awkward silence in the air and no one spoke.

With so many children, the Weasleys had been struggling to keep up with their expenses.

Ginny's school robes were purchased by Ivan at the time.

He did not offer to pay for Ron's robes, knowing that Mrs. Weasley would never accept it.

Fred and George had made money recently, but would not give it to Ron.

They needed to buy raw materials for new products, expand production, and even rent a store. This way, there wasn't much money.

Besides, they couldn't take it out and get caught by Mrs. Weasley. They couldn't let her know they were still working on joke products.

The last time they were discovered, Mrs. Weasley confiscated all their money and gave it back to Ivan.

Also, the twins were in a lot of trouble recently.

They had been writing to Ludo Bagman, urging him to pay them the winnings of their bet, to no avail.

Bagman had no intention of paying them, and Fred and George couldn't go to the Ministry of Magic to ask for their money.

"I don't care. I'll never use them," Ron was saying stubbornly. "Never!"

"Good!" said Mrs. Weasley, "Get undressed. Ivan, Harry, be sure to take a picture of him. God knows I could use a good laugh."

She left the room, slamming the door behind her.

Ka ... ka ... ka, there was a funny sizzling noise behind them. Pigwidgeon was choking on a large owl candy.

"No fair, why is everything I have junk?" said Ron angrily, walking across the room to peel off Pigwidgeon's beak.

Ivan and Harry looked on intently, and didn't know how to comfort Ron.