Chapter 104: Chain Reaction

The Cravens, a family of three, hugged each other tightly; their neat and decent clothes were covered in dust on the ground, but they paid no attention to it at all as they frantically searched for the medicine in their bags.

Finally, Lady Craven found the medicine; she trembled as she opened the bottle, poured out two pills, and stuffed them into Mr. Craven's mouth, but Mr. Craven made no swallowing motion at all, so Lady Craven anxiously looked around...

"Are you looking for water?" It was still the boy's voice, and then a cup of water floated before her...

Lady Craven quickly glanced at Allen, snatched the cup, and forced it down Mr. Craven's throat.

After Mr. Craven took the medicine, his breathing immediately became steady, and within a short while, he slowly woke up.

He looked at Allen and was about to scream, but Allen spoke first.

"Mr., I mean no harm and will not hurt you! I just look a bit strange..." Allen said earnestly.

Mr. Craven shielded Lady Craven and Colin behind him, watching Allen guardedly and saying, "Then why won't you let us out!"

"Perhaps the lock broke on its own; if I meant you harm, could you still be intact like this?" Allen replied helplessly.

Colin peeked out from behind Mr. Craven, secretly observing Allen.

"Dad, look at that person's chest; it's the Hogwarts crest!" Colin suddenly pointed at Allen's chest and said.

Allen then remembered he was still wearing the Hogwarts school badge on his chest, which also reminded him.

"You must be a first-year student at Hogwarts, right?" Allen wanted to use this topic to ease the tension. "I am your senior; I will be in my second year at Hogwarts this year."

This topic made the Craven couple even more terrified; they exchanged a glance and asked cautiously, "Are all Hogwarts students like you?"

Allen thought for a moment and said, "Not all of them!"

The Craven couple both gasped in horror, while Colin's expression instead became excited...

Allen also realized he had misspoken and quickly made amends: "The other students at Hogwarts are relatively normal!"

But the Craven couple could no longer believe Allen's standard of "normal."

To such a strange monster, "normal" must be just like him! The Craven couple thought quickly in their hearts.

They had already imagined Hogwarts as a school filled with all kinds of misshapen monsters.

However, this monster before them didn't seem particularly dangerous; he just looked a bit strange, and upon closer inspection, his face still looked like a boy's. Mr. Craven thought silently in his heart, and these discoveries calmed him down.

"If there is nothing else, may we leave now?" Mr. Craven straightened his back, trying to appear more imposing.

"Didn't you want to buy a wand?" Allen asked, somewhat puzzled.

This monster even wanted to force a sale! This was actually a black market shop! Mr. Craven thought resentfully in his heart, glancing fearfully at the wand in Allen's hand.

But the situation was stronger than the person; he decided to hold his nose and accept it! Mr. Craven made the decision in his heart.

"The one just now was quite good; how much is it? Let's just buy it directly!" Mr. Craven pointed at the wand in Colin's hand and said.

"The one just now wasn't suitable; we must continue trying. A suitable wand is especially important for a wizard!" Allen patiently explained to the customer.

Mr. Craven had to tacitly agree.

Then, in this gloomy atmosphere, Colin tried wand after wand, and finally selected a suitable one.

"The total is 7 Jin Jin Jialong..." Allen said politely at last.

This price surprised Mr. Craven a bit; he had thought he would be ruthlessly ripped off.

So he paid the money cheerfully.

Allen also used the Unlocking Charm to open the locked shop door.

The Craven couple, trembling with fear, led Colin out, but were stopped by Allen.

The Craven couple turned back in terror, thinking this monster had changed his mind.

But they saw Allen gently bow deeply to the three of them at a 90-degree angle. "Sorry for frightening you!" Allen said earnestly.

He had no idea what kind of visual impact bowing with such a long neck would have.

The Craven couple were so scared they stepped back two paces, then, without looking back, led Colin out of the shop door and fled in a panic-stricken state.

Allen originally wanted to get up to see them off, but as soon as he stuck his head out of the shop, passersby on the street saw him, resulting in another chaos...

He quickly pulled his head back, and after thinking it over three times, he decided to close the shop early today to avoid frightening more people.

Actually, randomly getting a giraffe's neck was a very special experience; supposedly, because giraffes have long necks, to supply blood to the brain, a giraffe's blood pressure is 2.5 times that of a human, yet Allen felt neither brain hypoxia nor high body blood pressure, so he could only attribute it to the wonder of magic.

The greatest benefit of having a giraffe's neck was being able to stretch the head higher and see further.

But a long neck also meant being able to stretch lower; just as humans can bury their heads between their legs, with a longer neck, Allen found he could easily stretch his head behind his buttocks.

Besides these fun aspects, the long neck also brought him many troubles.

For instance, the most obvious was the increased chance of bumping into things, and then it was harder to maintain balance while walking because the center of gravity had risen.

Eating and drinking also became laborious because the hands were much shorter than the neck, so to get food and water to the mouth, he had to lower his head very low; after one bite, he had to immediately raise his head, otherwise it was hard to swallow, so eating required constantly lowering and raising the head, and since his neck was so long, the range of lowering and raising was also very large.

Later, Allen discovered a good way to eat: use the Levitation Charm to send the plate to the top of the cabinet, then stretch his head out to gnaw and lick wildly; this was the most efficient method, but wasn't this exactly how giraffes eat?

Finally, there was sleeping; with a 1.5-meter-long neck, Allen's height reached over 3 meters, making sleeping a problem because the bed wasn't long enough, and sleeping with a bent neck was very uncomfortable, so Allen didn't even take a nap.

Additionally, Allen decided not to perform wand talent transformation tonight because he had already delayed many things today.

Just as Allen was troubled by this, the Craven family ran out of Diagon Alley in a panic-stricken state, returning to their familiar world; they found their car and sped away from this neighborhood; while driving, Mr. Craven remained highly alert, frequently checking the rearview mirror, fearing the monster would chase them again.

Only after arriving home did Mr. Craven relax a bit; he poured himself a glass of brandy, drank it in one gulp, and only then felt better.

"Colin absolutely cannot go to Hogwarts to learn magic! It is full of monsters! If Colin goes there, he is done for!" Mr. Craven's face turned red due to the effect of alcohol.

"Yes! It was too terrible! Colin absolutely cannot go!" Lady Craven also expressed agreement.

Colin felt that everything he experienced today seemed to have opened a door to a new world, and he opposed the Craven couple's decision.

But the Craven couple directly ignored Colin's opinion, locked all the strange things bought today in the basement, and then used the newly bought owl to send a letter to Professor McGonagall, the signatory of the admission notice, clearly stating they would not send Colin to study at Hogwarts...

Mr. Ollivander returned to the shop the next morning; Allen had randomly gotten an owl's eye today, which couldn't turn, so he could only adjust his view by turning his head...

Ollivander felt a bit surprised that only three wands were sold yesterday, but didn't investigate deeply; Allen, naturally feeling guilty, wouldn't say much either.

In the following days, Allen helped Ollivander sell many wands, and this sales peak passed just like that.

Allen also began to consider visiting Ron's house; he sat at the desk in his room, preparing to write a letter to Ron.

So he casually pulled one out from the pile of old notebooks he had bought a few days ago, and started writing on a page; the content of the letter expressed his intention to visit.

But when he finished writing the letter and tried to tear that page off, he found he couldn't tear it no matter how hard he tried...

Just as he was about to try again, Ollivander began calling for his help to move in some newly arrived materials.

By the time he returned after finishing the task, Allen had already forgotten all about the notebook; moreover, he had just rewritten the letter on parchment from the counter and sent it off using Ollivander's owl.

Then, the next day, Allen received Ron's reply, in which Ron expressed a warm welcome for Allen to visit his home and instructed him on how to use Floo Powder to travel through the fireplace to his house.

Fortunately, Ollivander's shop had everything; under Mr. Ollivander's patient guidance, Allen successfully used Floo Powder to arrive at Ron's home.

Allen's arrival was welcomed by every member of the Burrow.

At noon, Mrs. Weasley even prepared a large table full of delicious food, filling Allen's plate to the brim...

Just as the group was heartily enjoying their lunch, an unfamiliar owl flew in, dropped a red envelope in front of Allen, and flew away.

The entire dining table instantly fell silent; everyone stared at that red envelope...

Puzzled, Allen picked up the red envelope and muttered, "Who would still write to me? A red envelope looks quite festive! Could it be a wedding invitation?"

"That's a Howler!" Ron leaned in and whispered.

"What's a Howler?" Allen asked in confusion; seeing the terrified expressions on everyone's faces at the table and looking again at the envelope, he felt something was wrong.

"Did you offend someone recently?" George said with a mischievous grin.

"No!" Allen thought carefully for a moment before saying, "Could it be Malfoy? But how would he know I'm at the Burrow?"

"I suggest you open it directly!" Fred also leaned in, "Otherwise the consequences will be severe!"

"You still haven't told me what a Howler is?" Allen looked at the envelope somewhat hesitantly; the red envelope now gave him an ominous feeling.

"Open it quickly! You'll know once you open it! It only lasts a few minutes!" Ron urged Allen; by now, smoke began rising from all four corners of the envelope...

Allen carefully picked up the letter; the people at the table had already started covering their ears...

The letter was opened, and a huge voice filled the entire room; Allen immediately recognized it as Professor McGonagall's voice...

"Allen—Finis—look at the mess you've made—why did you go and scare the first-year students and their parents? Now six Muggle-born families have rejected their Hogwarts admission offers—this is a massive enrollment accident! This is the first time in Hogwarts' thousand-year history—because of this, I had to visit each of these six families personally—my plan to vacation in Africa has been canceled because of your actions—you probably never considered—what kind of mood I am in right now—"

Everyone at the table listened to Professor McGonagall's Howler in stunned silence; Professor McGonagall's voice was a hundred times louder than usual; it was everyone's first time seeing Professor McGonagall so out of character; everyone could feel Professor McGonagall's fury...

"After school starts—you—immediately—right now—come to my office—"

The shouting stopped, but Allen's head was still buzzing; the red envelope had fallen to the floor, ignited automatically, curled up, and turned to ash...

Allen sat there dazed and silent; he had never expected that his unintentional mistake would cause such serious consequences...

Everyone at the dining table understood the content of the Howler and remained speechless for a long while...

"Was that Professor McGonagall just now?" Mrs. Weasley was the first to speak, "I have never seen her lose her temper so fiercely; you must know she is usually very elegant..."

Everyone at the dining table nodded in unison; they all agreed with Mrs. Weasley's words, and the way they looked at Allen had changed...

Fred and George pushed Ron aside, sandwiched Allen between them, and asked excitedly, "How did you scare the first-year students? Tell us quickly..."

Allen felt as if something was stuck in his throat; he instantly lost all appetite.

He pushed his plate forward and said politely, "I'm full; I want to be alone for a while to calm down..."

Having said this, he ran upstairs to Ron's room...

Leaving everyone else exchanging bewildered glances...

Not long after, Harry and Ron followed him up; under their earnest efforts to comfort him, Allen's mood improved slightly, so he prepared to write a letter to Hermione to explain the situation and ask her to help analyze how to handle it.

He spread a clean sheet of parchment on Ron's desk and began writing the letter, but during the process, he constantly felt that Ron's desk was shaking uncontrollably...

"Why is your desk always shaking?" Allen asked Ron.

Ron seemed quite familiar with this matter; "Check whether the book propping up the table leg has been kicked aside by you; if it was kicked away, put it back."

Allen looked down and indeed saw a book with a black cover under the table; just as he was about to continue using this book to prop up the table leg, his gaze froze...

Because what was written on the cover was Ancient Runes...