Hogwarts: My Yorozuya has no taboos!

Chapter 7 The Moon Over London

"My brother... Ares, your father, he's a good man!"

Aunt Lovetz sighed as she stared at the photograph in front of her and vigorously wiped her reddened eyes.

Ares is also in the photo, but he's just a baby being held in swaddling clothes. And holding him is a man with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a friendly smile.

There should have been another person in the photo, but her part was torn out, leaving only a slender, snow-white hand resting on Ares' father's shoulder.

"Well... that's precisely where the problem lies."

Aunt Lovetz let out another heavy sigh. She, Ares, and even Chris, who sat up straight, all knew who the missing person in the photograph was, but none of the three people at the table mentioned her.

The atmosphere became tense for a moment.

Ares was the first to recover from the somber mood. Although he didn't care much about birthdays, he didn't want his birthday party to feel like a funeral.

"May I touch the fork now, Aunt Lovetz, or must I wait until these delicacies are as hard as rocks?"

Ares deliberately flashed a frivolous smile to lighten the mood.

"Let's eat—oh, but we should have a drink together before that, that would be proper."

Aunt Lovetz took a deep breath, blew her nose, and looked at Ares with loving eyes.

"Come, may you live a long and healthy life, Ares—and Chris, you should offer your congratulations too!"

"May you become a millionaire, Ares!"

Chris also raised her butterbeer, ignoring her mother's disapproving glare, and said in a joking tone.

"Hehe, I still prefer your congratulations, Chris. I also wish you a pleasant college life."

Ares smiled, revealing a gentle and honest expression that he rarely showed when he was in the magical world.

So, as long as you ignore Aunt Lovetz's stern tone, which always sounds like she's lecturing people, the overall atmosphere of the banquet is very pleasant.

The family gathered around the table, clinking glasses and chatting about the past and the future.

Of course, a small mishap occurred at the end.

Aunt Lovitz had clearly mistaken the rare whisky Ares had brought out to entertain guests for the cheap, five-pound-a-liter whisky she usually drank at home. This directly resulted in her collapsing onto the table before dessert was even served, her feet surrounded by vomit.

"You can rest on the sofa, Chris, let me clean—oh, don't touch that broom, it's for flying, not for sweeping up trash—"

Butterbeer has less alcohol than chocolate liqueurs, but unfortunately, the underage Chris's "fighting power" is probably only comparable to that of a house-elves or fairies. She tossed Ares' Nimbus 2000 aside, grumbled, and collapsed onto the sofa, her face flushed.

When Ares finished cleaning the restaurant, carried the unconscious Aunt Lovetz up to the guest room on the second floor, and brought two cups of hot drinks to the living room, the ending theme of the recently popular TV series "The Great Humberto" was already playing on the television.

"Oh, Ares...was I just seeing things—did my mom—did she just fly upstairs by herself?"

Ares's cousin was leaning on the armrest of the cushioned sofa, one shoe on the coffee table, the other hanging from a chandelier. She blinked, looking at Ares with half-asleep eyes.

"Then you must be seeing things, Chris."

Ares smiled and handed a cup of hangover tea to Chris, then propped himself up on the coffee table and sipped his own "hot drink."

"Wow—you're really amazing, Ares... I mean, my mom weighs at least 200 pounds..."

Chris muttered as she took two sips of her scalding hot green tea.

The explosive bitterness in her mouth made Chris frown, but it also invigorated her spirits considerably.

Teenage girls are at the age when their curiosity is at its peak. Chris straightened up with difficulty, her interest turning again to the bright red drink in Ares's glass.

"What's that in your cup, Ares?"

"mine?"

Ares moved the glass away from his lips, glanced at the bubbling red liquid in the glass under the bright light, and smiled nonchalantly.

"It's the Chinese medicine I brewed myself—the pot in the kitchen when you came in."

"But isn't it black?"

"Oh, that's because I added some 'ketchup',"

Ares smiled.

"While neutralizing its overly bitter taste, it also helps me shake off fatigue and feel refreshed."

"It seems that this...traditional Chinese medicine isn't as useless as Mom said—"

Chris strained her eyes and scrutinized Ares for a moment.

"At least, it did make your dark circles disappear."

Chris said, and then let out a strange, melancholy sigh.

"I've been getting by on it all these years... but I think it won't be long before I can completely quit it."

Ares said. He calmly emptied the potion from his cup, and as the process continued, the subtle fluctuations in his aura, imperceptible to anyone except those extremely sensitive to magic, gradually stabilized.

"Tell me about yourself, Chris—"

Setting the cup aside, Ares stood up, lightly leaped down, pulled the slipper hanging from the chandelier, and then picked up the other slipper from the coffee table.

"You're not happy—oh, don't try to hide it, Chris. Except for a very few old fogies, it's not easy for most people to hide their feelings from me."

"You're bragging, Ares."

The little girl was already quite drunk, but she still chuckled twice.

Ares sat down next to his cousin and helped her put her shoes back on.

"You can deny it, Chris, and I can ask Aunt Lovetz—and while I'm at it, tell her about that blond boy in the next town..."

What was his name again, Bob?

I remember running into his family around Christmas two years ago. His mother was bragging to me that her son had found a good job in London... Seriously, he got into university in London because he was inspired by me, huh?

"You will be punished, Ares."

Chris glared angrily at Ares's smiling face.

The two women 'competed' with their eyes for a while, and in the end, Chris was defeated.

"Okay, it's because of Dad—"

After a while, Chris picked up a cushion next to her and hugged it to her chest. She lowered her head to avoid Ares's gaze and muttered something.

"Yes, I'm listening."

"He didn't really want to go to Greece...it's abroad, and it would mean being away from his mother for so long...but he had to go."

Chris bit her lip, her ear tips turning red.

"Because...going to university costs a lot of money...I was originally planning to give up—but my parents said I don't need to worry, because I can take out a loan...but that would be a heavy burden for us—"

"ah-"

Ares gently patted Chris's head and smiled warmly.

"Understood."