July in Surrey was scorching hot. The lawns of Privet Drive were neatly trimmed, parched yellow and brown under the blazing sun.
At Number 4, Privet Drive, an ordinary house.
> [Current Area: Outpost of Isengard]
> [Threat Level: Orange]
> [Environmental Debuff: Due to a powerful ward (Lily's Blood Magic), this place repels dark creatures but also imprisons the Ring-bearer.]
Rove crouched in an oak tree across the street, the dense foliage perfectly concealing his figure. He wore a grey-green cloak and held a rock-hard compressed biscuit in his hand.
"Third day." Rove took a bite of the biscuit, his gaze fixed on the barred window on the second floor. "The Orcs guard it closely."
Ideally, he should have been at the London orphanage, enjoying a rare peaceful holiday. But the Ring-bearer had gone silent.
For a whole month, every letter Rove sent to Harry had vanished like a stone in the sea.
Three days ago, Ron Weasley's owl brought even worse news: Ron had sent Harry twelve letters and even tried to call him (only to be hung up on by Uncle Vernon), but there was still no reply.
This was highly abnormal.
More importantly, Rove hadn't forgotten what he saw at King's Cross Station.
That creature with eyes as big as tennis balls hiding behind the pillar.
> [System Mission: Track the Ring Thief]
> [Mission Description: Gollum is tailing the Ring-bearer. It attempts to reclaim its Precious. You must find it before it strikes.]
"It's nearby." Rove swallowed the last bit of biscuit. "I can smell it."
"Must stay vigilant." Rove wiped the crumbs from his mouth and tightened his grip on the frying pan at his waist (since he couldn't use a wand outside of school, this was his only defensive weapon). "That monster could appear at any moment."
Just then, a strange fluctuation caught his attention.
Second floor, Harry's room. A small, thin figure appeared out of thin air.
Rove's pupils constricted sharply.
> [Warning: Hostile Unit Detected!]
> [Race: Fallen Hobbit / Twisted Creature]
> [True Name: Sméagol / Gollum]
Through the gaps in the leaves, Rove saw Dobby wearing a filthy pillowcase, bowing humbly to Harry.
"Harry Potter!" Dobby squeaked.
But in Rove's ears, processed through the System's "Epic Filter," the voice became a raspy, sinister whisper:
"...Precious... my precious..."
Rove sucked in a cold breath. It was him!
Inside the room, Harry looked at the uninvited guest in terror: "Who are you?"
"Dobby, sir. Just a house-elf."
Dobby began to explain his purpose. He wanted to warn Harry not to return to Hogwarts because there was great danger there. To show his sincerity, he started frantically banging his head against the wardrobe.
"Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"
In Rove's eyes, this scene was terrifying to the extreme.
"Gollum" was on the verge of a schizophrenic break. While screeching in the Black Speech, he was frantically self-harming, as if two souls were tearing at each other inside his body.
> [System Alert: Target is in an extremely unstable state. The Dark Personality is gaining the upper hand.]
"It's trying to control the Ring-bearer's mind!" Rove gripped the tree branch tight. "Hold on, Harry!"
Downstairs, Uncle Vernon's roar drifted up: "Damn it! What the devil is going on up there?"
Harry clearly heard it too. He panicked, trying to quiet Dobby down. But instead of quieting, Dobby jumped onto the desk.
"Harry Potter must not go back to school! It is a trap!"
"I have to go back!" Harry whispered fiercely. "My friends are there!"
"Friends?" Dobby's expression suddenly turned sad. "Friends who don't even write to Harry Potter?"
Harry's face fell.
Dobby pulled a stack of letters from his ragged pillowcase.
Rove narrowed his eyes in the tree. Those were the letters he, Ron, and Hermione had sent to Harry.
"Damned thief!" Rove gritted his teeth. "He intercepted the Alliance's intelligence!"
Things happened fast. Harry tried to grab the letters back, but Dobby dodged agilely.
"Since Harry Potter won't listen..." A look of resolve flashed in Dobby's eyes. He rushed to the door and snapped his fingers.
The door opened. Dobby dashed out and headed straight downstairs.
"No!" Harry chased after him.
Rove didn't hesitate. Like an agile squirrel, he leaped from the oak tree onto the porch roof of Number 4, Privet Drive, then slid down the drainpipe to just outside the kitchen window.
Inside the kitchen, an awkward yet grand dinner party was in progress. Uncle Vernon was boasting about his drill order to Mr. and Mrs. Mason, while Aunt Petunia held a massive, exquisite sugared violet pudding.
Dobby crouched on top of a cabinet, pointing a finger at the giant pudding.
> [Warning: Magical Fluctuation Detected!]
> [Enemy Intent: Launching Catapult!]
The pudding slowly floated into the air.
"No! Dobby, don't!" Harry shouted desperately from the doorway.
But in Rove's vision, the pudding transformed into a massive, burning siege boulder, hovering right over Mrs. Mason's head.
"For Frodo!"
Rove roared, crashing through the kitchen window.
CRASH!
The sound of shattering glass shocked everyone. The Masons turned their heads in terror, and Uncle Vernon's jaw dropped.
They saw a boy wearing a strange grey-green cloak covered in leaves, wielding a blackened frying pan, fly through the window like a cannonball.
"Defensive Stance!"
Rove adjusted his posture in mid-air, his frying pan meeting the falling pudding with precision.
> [Skill Activated: Shield Block]
> [Judgment: Physical Defense vs. Magical Projectile]
BANG!
The frying pan indeed caught the pudding.
Although the pudding didn't land on Mrs. Mason's head, the impact with the pan caused it to explode, turning into countless purple creamy shrapnel that indiscriminately covered the entire dining table.
The largest glob of cream splattered right onto Uncle Vernon's purple face.
Terrified by this sudden intruder, Dobby snapped his fingers and vanished.
Rove landed on one knee on the dining table, maintaining his shield-block pose, his sharp gaze sweeping the surroundings.
"It's safe," he said gravely, wiping a smear of cream from his face. "I've blocked the catapult attack."
Uncle Vernon slowly wiped the cream from his face, revealing eyes that looked ready to eat someone alive. Mrs. Mason screamed and fainted.
Harry stood in the doorway, staring blankly at the scene, his mind completely blank.
"Ro... Rove?"
"Run, Ring-bearer!" Rove jumped off the table and grabbed Harry's wrist. "The Orc ambush has been exposed! We must retreat to Helm's Deep!"
"You... lunatic!" Uncle Vernon exploded, charging like an enraged rhinoceros. "You're from that freak school! You're from that freak school too!"
Rove raised his frying pan.
"Back off, Troll!"
This roar, fueled by his burning chuunibyou spirit and immense momentum, actually stunned Uncle Vernon for a second.
But only for a second.
The next moment, an owl flew in and dropped a warning letter from the Ministry of Magic.
The situation spiraled completely out of control.
---
Half an hour later.
Harry's room was fitted with more bars, three locks were added to the door, and a cat flap was installed at the bottom for passing food.
Rove wasn't caught. At the last moment, he used [Hobbit Stealth] (diving under the table + climbing out the window) to escape successfully.
Now, he was hiding in the shadows on the street corner, looking at the sealed window.
> [Mission Update: Rescue the Ring-bearer]
> [Current Progress: Failed (Target Imprisoned)]
> [New Objective: Await Reinforcements]
Rove pulled a marker from his pocket and drew a strange symbol on the lamppost outside Number 4, Privet Drive. It was the mark Gandalf had left on Bilbo's door, meaning "Burglar / Adventurer / Help Needed Here."
"Don't worry, Harry."
"A Ranger never abandons a companion."
He tightened his cloak around himself and vanished into the Surrey night.
In the second-floor room, Harry looked through the bars at the doodle on the lamppost. Although he didn't understand what it meant, he felt a strange warmth in his heart.
At least, someone knew he was there.
---
> [System Settlement]
> [Event: The Battle of Privet Drive]
> [Result: Tactical Retreat]
> [Achievement Unlocked: Stealth Lv2 (Lurked in Muggle community for three days undetected)]