17

Petunia could hardly believe her eyes.

She stood still for a moment, then took two steps forward, then faster and faster, until she was running.

There was no time to think more, no time to double check -- Penny trotted forward, sprinting like a bird, straight toward Eli, unable to hold back and running headlong into his arms.

The book bag she was carrying was caught in her hand as she ran, and with the force of her lunging forward, it hit Eli hard. She heard him gasp in pain, but steadily caught her.

It was as if the silence button had been pressed on the rambling chatter and chatter of the campus after the test, and Penny grabbed Eli's clothes, and for a moment she thought, oh, good, he's real.

Then it occurred to her that the Elantu Girls' School allowed outsiders only a few times a year, and that Eli had arrived just in time for the end-of-term packing trip. It is very likely that one of her classmates will pass by every now and then. Maybe everyone will cast curious gossiping eyes at her as they pass by. She has not decided how to respond...

But who cares? None of that matters. All that matters is that he's here.

Penny held Eli tight for a moment, then her senses came back to her as her thoughts began to gather. Embarrassed and ashamed of her initiative, she was at last conscious of it. A blush crept over her pale face. She silently let him go and stood back, her eyes flashing unnaturally, but at last they landed on his face.

She cocked her head suspiciously and began to look at him again with bewilderment, as if to make sure this was some new kind of magical illusion, still with a palpable sense of disbelief and uncertainty.

"Eli? "She said tentatively." It's you, isn't it?"

Eli, slightly amused by her reaction, smiled and shrugged. "Me, if you don't know the second Eli."

"Actually I do." "I had a classmate in elementary school named Eli, Eli. Taylor. But he's him and you're you, and you're so different from each other, how can he be used against you..."

She paused in hindsight, suddenly feeling that her topic was so unintelligible and boring that she wanted to swallow it all back. Unfortunately, she had no such opportunity, so she quickly changed the subject.

"Why are you here?" "She asked in surprise." Lily said the Hogwarts Express was going back to London tomorrow!"

"Today, actually. I asked Lily to change the date slightly in her letter." Eli coughed a little as she asked him about it, and his eyes drifted steadily away. "I'm afraid the others have been right all along. I only let Lily delay writing to you a little. You can only use it once, so I thought it would be nice to use it."

He had Petunia's bag in his hand -- Petunia had let it go in her excitement and he had caught it properly. The two of them stood close enough that Petunia could see a faint smile in his dark eyes.

This guy... You say you're sorry, but you're actually proud of what you did.

It was a clear, unguarded expression of emotion that put Penny at ease. She slapped Eli angrily as punishment. "And lied to me! What makes you so sure I'm so gullible? ... How did you get here? Isn't the Hogwarts Express only going to London?"

"On the Knight bus." "A magical bus that stops at the wave of a wizard's wand and takes you anywhere you want to go in England for a reasonable fee -- not much of a drawback except that it's a very slippery ride. The point is that it's pretty quick. I think Lily and your parents are both still driving back."

That's exactly what it should be. Petunia timed it and decided it was. The last time they drove Lily back from Hogwarts, it took them nearly four hours to get home in the evening.

Come to think of it, Eli's Knight bus was very fast indeed, and Lily and her friends would be only a quarter of the way there by now... It's amazing. It's called a bus, but it's so much faster than a car. Amazing magic. Penny sighed heartily, then asked curiously, "What about your parents? Did you come with you?"

Eli shook his head.

"They went home." He explained the situation briefly. "My mother thought it would be easier to disapparate. It's teleportation. It's not a particularly pleasant disapparation, but it's really quick. You can be anywhere you've been before in a second."

It was amazing. Petunia listened spellbound as he explained the details of magic in a way that was more intuitive and desirable than it had ever been in a letter. She listened for a few moments, and then suddenly realized, puzzled, "You're not with Lily, and you're not with your parents -- so you came especially to see me, Eli?"

Eli took a moment.

Petunia felt at once that she had asked such a humiliating question. How could she ask it so plainly? What if he just had to go somewhere, and as he passed Cokeworth on the bus he happened to remember that there was a Muggle friend there, and got off to have a look! After all, they're so easy to get a cab! What makes her worth a trip to see her?

She added quickly, "No, I mean... You don't need to answer, anyway. I just..."

"Of course I've come to see you." Eli interrupted, and Petunia looked up at him -- aware that she had been waiting to be interrupted, as it were, ever since.

"It's summer vacation, and I'm here to take you home. If Lily is being picked up, you should be too, shouldn't you? As long as you're not averse to having an extra sidekick carry your luggage... Happy holidays, Penny."

Eli looked around at the structure of the school. "This is my first all-girls school. It's not that different from a comprehensive school... If I'm right, is that the dormitory? Have you packed your bags yet? I don't think it's convenient for me."

Petunia, recovering from her silence, looked in his finger's direction and, in reply, both of them started towards the dormitory building. As they walked, Petunia, half a step behind, turned to look at his side.

"Eli." 'she said quietly.' Did you come because you found out my parents had gone to pick Lily up? It doesn't matter. My home is in the town not far away. It's only ten minutes' drive from school. Lily is far away and she has more luggage than I do, so Mom and Dad are driving to pick her up, and I was going to go with her tomorrow -- I'm my sister."

"Yes, I know." Eli answered, turning to her, his eyes clear, and he said naturally, "Parents must have their own reasons. It's understandable to put it that way. When you have more than one child in a family, there's always a place where you can't take care of both. But..."

But what? Petunia looked at him, saw his lips curl and smiled.

"But as far as I know, the eldest Evans has a temper, and is easily offended -- easy as it seems to be to coax, but it would be better to be more considerate, wouldn't it? That's the way it is with the big lady. Always pay more attention to yourself."

Who gets angry easily? Petunia slapped him on the arm again in protest. "Don't start a rumor, I'm not angry!"

All right, all right. Eli dodged with a firm blow and said with a smile, "Just kidding -- although coming to your school was a last-minute idea when I got off the bus today, not the fact that I wanted to see you -- I've been dying to see you for months, Petunia."

Who isn't. Petunia became quiet, looked into his side of the face, pressed her lips, and asked, a little nervously, "What for?"

"I didn't know at first. I didn't really think about it." Eli said honestly, thinking carefully and slowly, "Then I realized I probably just wanted someone to sigh with. When you are doing something that has no precedent to refer to and the future is not clear, in fact, your mind will be uncontrolled confusion and confusion. This emotion can't be seen by anyone, because they all see you as the most determined person, you can't be half wavering."

Petunia dropped her eyes and said in a low, frustrated voice, "I'm sorry, I can't help you. I'm a... A Muggle..."

"Yeah, you're a Muggle." "So every time I was the last one to leave the Gryffindor common room these days, I couldn't help but wonder, as I looked around the empty common room at the silent throw pillows and fireplaces and armchairs, if only you could be here."

Petunia stopped short, staring at the ground, unable to look up, afraid that Eli might see the emotion in her eyes, perhaps the saddest moment she had felt since Dumbledore's rejection letter that she had not been magically chosen.

'Petunia? She heard Eli calling her, which made her snap out of it, hide her feelings, and look up at him.

Eli stared at her for a few seconds, scratching the tip of his nose a little awkwardly.

"Did I say something wrong? I'm sorry, sometimes I don't know what I'm saying right away. I didn't realize before that I was a little low on emotional intelligence... Are you upset? I'm sorry."

It's not because you said the wrong thing. Petunia shook her head at once, not quite sure how to explain it to him. I was in a hurry when I heard him say, "I don't know if I can make amends with this. I thought I could, but I didn't think I would make you angry again..."

What? Petunia watched in astonishment as he opened his coat and pulled out a long feather from his inside pocket.

It was a very beautiful feather, intermingled with red and gold, and it seemed to be flowing with red light. It was long and graceful, light and warm, and no matter how poor the eyesight of the people, they could see at a glance that this feather was extraordinary.

"What is this? "Asked Petunia, unable to take her eyes off this extraordinarily beautiful feather.

"Phoenix tail feathers." "Fawkes the Phoenix from our headmaster -- he's so beautiful, I'd like you to meet him. He's got such brilliant feathers all over him. It's the tail feather, and I think it's the biggest and most beautiful one."

Petunia stared for a moment, her mouth wide open in the corner of pure appreciation, and then suddenly realized.

"Give it to me? 'she asked in astonishment, and her face and eyes grew pale.

"I don't think I'm fit to have such an expensive gift." "She whispered, shaking her head to herself as if trying to convince herself.

Eli looked at her drooping head for a few seconds and, without further persuasion, bent down slightly with the feather, touched the ponytail behind her head, felt for position, and pinned the phoenix feather in.

Petunia didn't realize what he was doing until after he had done it, and was shocked and eager to remove the feather from her head. "What a gift! How can you --"

"It's beautiful." Eli said, raising his hand to touch the phoenix feather on her ponytail. "It suits you."

Petunia became quiet for a moment, touched the ornament on her ponytail and smiled slowly at last.

She found that the tail feathers of the phoenix were unexpectedly warm, and that the slightest touch of them warmed them from the heart to the tips of their fingers -- amazing magic.