After leaving the bookstore, everyone gathered at the Leaky Cauldron. Except for the Granger family—they had to return to the Muggle community.
Adrian went to the clothing store and was the last to arrive. When he got there, he saw Molly pulling the twins' ears to scold them for their troublemaking. As soon as Adrian sat down at the long table, Arthur winked at him slyly.
"Thanks to your help," He said quietly while rubbing his reddened knuckles, "Malfoy finally got his retribution."
Adrian smiled slightly, feeling somewhat surprised—he hadn't expected Arthur to notice that subtle spell in such a chaotic scene.
"What are you two whispering about?" Molly's voice came from across the table.
"Nothing," Arthur said guiltily.
Then Adrian turned his attention to Harry: "How was staying at the Burrow?"
Harry was casually flipping through the books Lockhart had given him—all with personal autographs.
Honestly, after seeing the real Lockhart, he suddenly lost his fondness for these books.
When Harry heard Adrian's words, he immediately looked up, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.
"Wonderful!" he said happily. "Ten thousand times better than staying with the Dursleys."
"Of course!" Ron said with his mouth full of candy, speaking unclearly: "At least our family won't lock you in a cupboard."
"And we don't have treacle tart either," Fred and George added.
All the Weasleys immediately burst into laughter—treacle tart was Harry's nickname for Dudley.
Though somewhat insulting, Adrian thought it was very fitting.
Just then, Molly suddenly slapped her forehead: "Merlin's beard!"
"What's wrong?" Hagrid looked at her.
"I forgot to buy Ginny this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts textbooks," Molly stood up anxiously. "So much happened just now, I absent-mindedly... Hey, dear, you didn't remind me either."
Arthur could only scratch his head awkwardly: "Well... this..."
After hearing this, Harry pushed all of Lockhart's books stacked on the table in front of him together and shoved them toward Ginny: "These are for you. I don't want his autograph."
"That won't do," Mrs. Weasley said immediately upon hearing this. "I'll buy you a new set—hopefully Lockhart's signing isn't over yet."
"That's not necessary," Adrian suddenly interjected. "Harry already has a complete set."
Harry nodded. "I've read almost all of them."
Seeing this, Mrs. Weasley let Ginny keep the textbooks.
Indeed, bearing the cost of textbooks for so many children was also a challenge for them.
"Oh, by the way," Adrian suddenly turned his attention to Harry: "About the rest of the holiday, do you still want to stay at the Burrow?"
In fact, there were only about ten days left until the end of summer vacation.
Harry shook his head, showing a guilty expression.
"Although I'd love to continue staying, but..." he hesitated, then continued: "My summer vacation plan... honestly, I've fallen too far behind."
Adrian nodded thoughtfully.
"Don't worry," Ron took a sip of his drink and patted Harry's shoulder: "You can come again next term."
"Always welcome," Arthur said happily as well.
After leaving Diagon Alley, Harry returned to his former life—receiving Adrian's special training during the day and going home to rest at night.
Although Harry had been missing for a long time, surprisingly, no one in the Dursley family mentioned this matter. Harry seemed to have become a "ghost person" in their household.
Of course, Harry was very happy about this development.
This allowed him to devote himself wholeheartedly to the magical world.
Harry could no longer imagine how unbearable life without magic would be.
Meanwhile, after obtaining Voldemort's diary, Adrian didn't act rashly.
The Tree of Wisdom's identification result was identical to Ravenclaw's diadem:
[Name: A Contaminated Magical Item]
[Status: Soul Contamination]
Tom Riddle's diary—this was a Horcrux that Voldemort had made during his student years, and also the first Horcrux he had created.
Among all his Horcruxes, only this one seemed to possess its own consciousness. When someone wrote on the diary's blank pages, they could communicate with the sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle's memories.
Moreover, the diary could absorb life force from its users—a very dangerous ability.
After obtaining this Horcrux, Adrian had been keeping it in his plantation.
Because he currently had no purification potion and couldn't force Voldemort's soul fragment out of the Horcrux.
As for the materials needed to make the purification potion, he didn't have them on hand either.
Those apples with "purification" properties needed to ripen in November.
As for new plants with "purification" properties, Adrian had never successfully cultivated any.
During the period without purification potion, for safety's sake, Adrian wouldn't take any action regarding this notebook.
Any of Voldemort's items required careful handling.
For students, summer vacation time flowed much faster than other days, as if under an acceleration spell.
Soon, the time came to the first day of school.
Because packing took some time, when Adrian brought Harry to the station, it was already almost ten-thirty.
Fortunately, they had arrived at the station directly through Apparition, so there was no need to worry about being late.
The Hogwarts Express departed at eleven o'clock.
Entering the station, Harry and Adrian quickly came to the pillar leading to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
"Looks like we should be the last to arrive."
Adrian glanced at his watch and said to Harry: "We need to hurry."
Harry nodded, and with his first experience, he immediately pushed his luggage cart at full speed toward that pillar.
Just as the wheels were about to touch the brick wall, Adrian suddenly realized something and quickly shouted: "Stop!"
However, it was too late.
"Bang!"
With a dull thud, Harry and his cart collided solidly with the hard brick wall.
Various items from the cart scattered around, Harry also fell to the ground, his glasses misaligned and his forehead burning with pain.
Hedwig's cage overturned and rolled several times, finally rolling to Adrian's feet.
Accompanied by Hedwig's angry hooting, Harry rubbed his forehead and stared at the pillar in disbelief. "What happened?"
Adrian immediately sighed—he had actually forgotten about the incident from the original story where the house-elf Dobby sealed the entrance to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters to prevent Harry from going to Hogwarts.
It seemed that this time, Dobby had done the same thing.
"Someone used magic to seal the entrance," Adrian explained while walking to the entrance and feeling around the blocked passage, then turned to Harry: "But don't worry, I can solve this."
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