Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures - H.P.S.T Chapter 1068: Important Memory
“He must be crazy. Who in his right mind would believe that Dumbledore saved the Death Eaters? It’s utterly absurd,” said Hermione, spreading out the Daily Prophet on the dining table in front of her. “Look at this article. It’s full of nonsense.”
On the front page of the Daily Prophet, Evan saw his own photo, and below was a brief introduction.
As usual, they portrayed Evan as a crazed lunatic, a supporter of Dumbledore, and extremely dangerous.
“Well, at least the Ministry hasn’t issued a warrant for you,” said Evan to Hermione, continuing to read the article. “Oh, here, look at this, ‘The deranged Evan Mason fled after kidnapping a girl named Hermione Granger…”
“They’re ignoring me, thinking I’m not important,” said Hermione, annoyed. “That’s why they haven’t issued a warrant for me!”
“Don’t be mad, let’s do something big together and make the Ministry raise your bounty,” Evan joked.
“Don’t talk nonsense!” Hermione glared at him and looked down at the report on the second page. “Hmm, besides the warrant, Fudge also announced the removal of Dumbledore from his position as headmaster. They probably haven’t found Umbridge yet. The new Educational Decree mentions the Ministry establishing a special reform group to be stationed at Hogwarts. What’s this about? Hmm, it says here that the special reform group members include Ministry officials, Hogwarts Board of Governors members, and representatives of student parents, primarily to exercise the powers of the Hogwarts headmaster and High Inquisitor until a new headmaster is appointed, to manage the school.”
“I bet Lucius Malfoy’s involved; this bogus group is probably in his pocket,” Sirius scoffed. “He’s feeling smug this time, being able to carry out so-called reforms at Hogwarts, promoting those worthless pure-blood ideals.”
“He won’t succeed; he doesn’t have enough time, and besides, no professor would cooperate with him,” said Evan.
“That Snivellus git isn’t easy to deal with; he’s just a lapdog raised by Lucius Malfoy,” said Sirius bitterly. “How’s he doing teaching Harry Occlumency? Is he taking advantage of him?”
“As far as I know, Snape should have told him everything; there were many tricks I didn’t know about before, which he had researched himself,” said Evan fairly. “He’s sincere in teaching Harry this time, but the results aren’t very good.”
After each tutoring session, Harry recounted everything Snape taught him to Evan; and he knew all the circumstances.
Although Harry always complained that Snape’s intrusion into his mind over and over again left him exhausted and physically drained, weakening his resistance to Voldemort, in reality, Snape’s methods were indeed the best.
Unfortunately, Harry’s problem could not be solved by Occlumency at all.
“There’s no need to read further, there’s no valuable information!” Hermione tossed the Daily Prophet aside and looked at Evan and Sirius. “So, what’s our plan now?”
“We wait!” said Sirius. “Dumbledore still has some matters to deal with. Once Caresius returns, we’ll set off to Norway to solve the trouble with the vampires. By the way, Evan, Dumbledore agrees with your plan!”
“He told me last night!”
“So I called Kreacher back!” Sirius glanced at the elf in the distance and lowered his voice and said, “I want to give him some orders, such as leaving here, leave this house so he’ll have a chance to pass on the news we need them to know.”
“Is it safe to do that?” Hermione asked cautiously.
“No problem, you know, Kreacher is a bit confused,” said Sirius, noticing Hermione’s expression. “Come on, Hermione, he won’t be in danger.”
“Kreacher is just one thing. Voldemort should have vampire supporters,” said Evan. “It would be better if we can confuse them and make him think that we are really all in Norway and are in big trouble and can’t get out of it!”
“Don’t worry, Dumbledore will get all things arranged,” said Sirius. “I can’t wait to get into action!”
That day, they stayed at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, and members of the Order of the Phoenix arrived one after another.
They brought the latest information, some stayed, others left in a hurry, and everyone seemed busy.
Tonks, for instance, came and went in a hurry. She complained that Fudge had sent everyone into the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts to prepare for a meaningless and unwinnable jungle war with the Centaurs, instead of chasing down escaped Death Eaters and vampires.
This was the height of stupidity, but Fudge needed Umbridge, and he thought she was in the hands of the Centaurs.
They hadn’t discovered that Umbridge was actually in Grawp’s cave, and they didn’t know what happened to her?!
And then there was Mad-Eye Moody, he had already begun contacting people to prepare for a big battle at the Ministry of Magic with the Death Eaters.
Evan didn’t see Lupin, who seemed to have finally made a breakthrough with the werewolves just last night.
After learning that Dumbledore had left Hogwarts, those werewolves and other dark creatures began to stir.
Now Hogwarts Magic was mainly run by the personnel recruited some time ago, and Fudge hadn’t done anything to them.
Freedom of speech was the most basic guarantee. The last time he closed down a newspaper, he suffered a huge loss.
He wouldn’t do that now without being completely sure, and that wasn’t his focus anyway.
Dumbledore came back at about four o’clock in the afternoon, which was unusual. He wanted Evan to accompany him for something.
Evan didn’t know what was going on, but Dumbledore was actually willing to take him with him.
“Professor, where are we going?” Evan asked. He and Dumbledore were alone in the living room on the third floor.
“We are going to find something,” said Dumbledore. “I need you to come with me to a place, Evan, where there is something we need. From the information I currently have, it will be helpful in resolving the trouble in Norway.”
Evan was puzzled. What kind of magic could solve the problem with the vampires?!
“It will be easier for us to move after dark. Before that, you need to see something,” said Dumbledore, sensing Evan’s confusion. “After you’ve seen it, you will know what we are going to look for and what we might encounter!”
He waved his wand, and the Pensieve, which had been placed in his office cabinet, appeared out of thin air.
Dumbledore must have gone back to get it; otherwise, he wouldn’t have brought the Pensieve here.
Poor Fudge … looking for Dumbledore everywhere.
He probably didn’t expect Dumbledore to be in his office. This was really a complete irony.
“Professor, what do you want me to see?” Evan asked.
“A few very important memories will help us find that thing. First, we need to go for a trip down Bob Ogden’s memory lane,” said Dumbledore, pulling from his pocket a crystal bottle containing a swirling silvery-white substance.