He grabbed Fred, who still wanted to resist, pulled him up from the ground and said, "Alright then, early to bed, early to rise, we can go broom riding early tomorrow."
Ron was already heading upstairs at Harry's hint, deliberately maintaining a resentful expression.
Ginny, having lost her teammate, angrily looked at her brothers, who showed no fighting spirit, and noticing the silent exchange between them, her eyes lit up with an idea.
"I got it, Mom." Ginny hugged her mother sweetly and adorably said, "You should rest early too."
"Oh, Ginny, dear." Mrs. Weasley touched her little daughter's cheek with a cold palm, saying softly, "I'm so glad you're so sensible."
"We're going upstairs, too!" Fred, standing on the stairs, turned to his twin brother and said, "Can't anyone see this point?"
George replied, "You could do it all over again."
"Good idea."
Fred actually squeezed past and came to the first floor, deliberately circling around in front of Mrs. Weasley. Just as she couldn't help but raise her eyebrows, he darted upstairs and made a face at her.
"Fred, dear, you're so sensible!" George mimicked in a falsetto voice, earning a glare from their sister.
Percy, waiting for his younger siblings to resist, was stunned. When he noticed his mother's sharp gaze turning to him, he struggled internally for a moment but ultimately couldn't break free from being "the most sensible child at home."
Percy sighed, also said goodbye to his mother, reluctantly glanced at the Flow Mirror, and dawdled upstairs.
After ensuring this group of troublesome kids all returned to their rooms and making sure no one secretly sneaked down, Mrs. Weasley reopened the Flow Mirror, muted it, and watched quietly in the living room.
The pale blue light of the Flow Mirror reflected on Mrs. Weasley's face, making it look bloodless. Her fingers tightly gripped her apron, trembling constantly.
Is it... that person? Grindelwald...
After this terrifying Dark Lord escaped prison, his photo had appeared on the front page of the Prophet Daily. The reporters used extremely objective, slightly sycophantic words to inform the readers about that person's "great deeds."
When Peter Pettigrew and others broke out of prison, it caused a heated discussion in the entire British Magic World. The Ministry of Magic quickly initiated a manhunt, and reporters occasionally questioned in the newspapers, implying that the Ministry hadn't yet captured them due to incompetence or underhanded dealings.
But after Grindelwald's escape, the Prophet Daily mentioned it only once, then it was as if it never happened. No one suggested a manhunt or criticized it publicly.
— Of course... Grindelwald isn't a British Wizard; he never really acted in the UK before...
Even if he does something now... it has nothing to do with these British Wizards... and besides, the other side of the fight is the Muggle forces...
Mrs. Weasley comforted herself, but couldn't truly put her mind at ease.
As she watched, she suddenly jumped up, checked the doors and windows, and reinforced the Protective Magic and Hidden Magic around the Burrow before sitting down uneasily.
At this point, the program broadcast in the Flow Mirror returned to normal, but those comedic or tense plots could no longer stir Mrs. Weasley's emotions as before.
She sat on the couch, twisting her fingers, eagerly hoping for her husband to come back soon.
...
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
The Weasley siblings wished each other goodnight, exchanging glances only they could understand.
"Ahem." Ron pretended to cough twice and said to Percy, "I'll squeeze in with Harry and Michael tonight, so I won't disturb your sleep."
Percy couldn't be happier, he said goodnight and didn't think of anything else, his mind full of the unfinished plot as he returned to his bedroom.
"Bang!"
As the room door closed, Fred and George immediately poked their heads out, looked up and down, then quickly slipped into Harry's room.
Harry quickly stashed randomly thrown socks under the mattress and then opened his suitcase to rummage.
"Actually, I also have a Flow Mirror; it's just a bit small. Sirius gave it to me before… Ah, found it!"
Harry pulled out the Flow Mirror, not yet opened, when they heard the door creak open.
They fearfully turned to look, not seeing Mrs. Weasley's angry face, only seeing the door opening a crack before their little sister squeezed in sideways.
"Go back to your room, Ginny!" Fred, unceremoniously chasing her away, said, "You promised mom you'd go to bed early."
"Hmph! No way!" Ginny crossed her arms defiantly, "If I'm not included, I'll shout for mom!"
"What?! How could you..."
"Keep it down, or mom might really come running!" urged George, "Hurry up, Harry. I don't want to miss any more of the plot!"
"Okay." Harry opened the Flow Mirror, and the Weasley brothers quickly drew the curtains and turned off the room lights, pretending they had all gone to sleep.
At the sound of Harry's voice, Ginny blushed and squeezed beside Ron. Fred leaned on her other side, and they all pulled the blanket over them just barely covering everyone.
Grindelwald's speech was nearing the end; he hadn't said much, and the screen showed tragic experiments from different angles, a natural pit filled with numerous bodies, and a Muggle leader's tearful confrontation.
Ginny squeezed tightly next to Fred, hearing Ron voice his own doubts:
"Why do I feel... this doesn't seem like a TV plot?" Ron said uncertainly, "The protagonist... and those other characters haven't appeared."
"Actually... Michael mentioned earlier... that this might have happened for real..."
Harry said, feeling cold under the blanket.
Ginny shivered.
"Don't joke, guys." Ron said with a tense voice, "If this were true, it would've been discovered long ago! The Ministry's Aurors aren't pushovers!"
"The Aurors can't know everything either," Fred replied with a serious face, "How many Muggles are there versus Aurors? They can't keep an eye on the whole world."
George added, "And the place on the screen doesn't look like the UK… that Muggle's accent sounds American."
While they spoke, the screen flickered sharply, returning to a plot where the protagonist was chasing aliens. Moments later, it changed again, showing a sweaty wizard in the center saying to someone beside him, "Is it ready... What, it's started!"
He quickly turned to the camera, wiping sweat and saying, "On behalf of FMC, I formally declare that the footage broadcast earlier has nothing to do with us! It was... it was some..."
He glanced nervously at someone off-screen and stammered, "some... some people illegally hijacked our signal, which is why the earlier footage appeared... this is the first signal hijacking incident in the Magic World... uh... we will strengthen our defenses soon to prevent similar incidents again..."
While speaking, he glanced sideways, unsure if being threatened or prompted by his superiors on what to say.
"Um... our company isn't responsible for any statements or images in the video, these have nothing to do with us... the missed plot will be replayed, please continue watching..."
A long time later, Fred exclaimed in astonishment, "Merlin... it's all real!"
"That's terrifying..." Ron said softly, "Those Muggles... and Grindelwald... I finally understand why people fear him so much now..."
Beside them, Michael's face was unusually pale, but in the darkness, no one noticed.