Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures - H.P.S.T Chapter 1402: Christmas Eve

Evan read very slowly, fearing that he might accidentally miss something.

Searching for information in such materials was truly a torment, especially since he couldn’t even be sure whether there was any record of a homeland of house-elves.

Beside him, Harry and Ron had once again started discussing the conversation they had overheard last night.

Harry was surprised and somewhat discouraged by Dumbledore’s attitude.

He didn’t understand why this wasn’t important, Malfoy and Snape were clearly plotting something…

Just then there was a noise, and Fred and George appeared in mid-air, landing heavily on Harry and Ron’s beds.

“Fred, George, can’t you two stop Apparating like that?” Ron shouted.

“Sorry, sorry, the room’s too small and we misjudged the landing,” said Fred with a smirk on his face. “Ron, we just came back and heard about your heroic act of cutting your finger with a knife.”

“I was peeling sprouts!” said Ron angrily.

“Yeah, bless you, I’m sure you’ll soon be showing us the proper way to use a knife,” said George, with the same smirk as Fred’s. “Using a knife to cut your finger. Ouch!”

Ron threw a pillow at him, hitting George squarely.

“Well, I’ll be seventeen in two and a bit months’ time, and then I’ll be able to use magic outside school!” said Ron grumpily, “Just you wait, then …”

“I’m sure you’ll dazzle us all with hitherto unsuspected magical skills,” yawned Fred.

According to the International Statute of Secrecy and the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry, young wizards were not allowed to use magic outside of school or the Ministry of Magic would track them down, so they could only use a knife to peel the sprouts just now. But in fact, Evan had already used magic outside school many times. There were plenty of ways to avoid being tracked by the Ministry, such as not using one’s own wand or casting spells in places where the Ministry’s tracking couldn’t reach.

“Hello, Evan, Harry, how’s the term been? Must be pretty dull at Hogwarts without us around, huh?” George ignored Ron and turned to greet Evan and Harry. Then, he noticed the pile of thick magic books in front of Evan. “Oh Goodness, Evan, it’s Christmas vacation, you don’t have to study this hard.”

“I’m looking for information about the homeland of house-elves,” said Evan, briefly recounting what happened in the morning.

“A homeland for house-elves?” said Fred with interest. “Never heard of such a place.”

“After all, that happened more than a thousand years ago. Nowadays, house-elves only live in wizards’ homes.”

As the name suggested, that was why they were called house-elves.

These elves were kept at home and usually lived in kitchen corners or cupboards.

“Did the house-elves ever really have their own homeland?”

“That’s what the demon said. I think there should be one. After all, a thousand years ago, wizards conquered the homeland of house-elves through war and took over their territory,” said Evan, pausing for a moment. “Well, this place might not be too far away. It’s somewhere in Britain.”

House-elves originated in Britain, a land occupied by wizards…

Suddenly, Evan had a thought. If that place was still a Wizarding settlement today, the search area could be significantly narrowed. With the expansion of Muggles, there were only a few purely Wizarding areas left in Britain — places like Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, and…

Since it was called the homeland of house-elves, even if it was only their former homeland, could there still be a large number of house-elves gathered there?!

Evan felt this was a lead; and he could follow this line of thought to search for more information.

Another possible lead was to investigate Helga Hufflepuff’s history. The house-elf Dodo, who brought the treasure key back to the homeland of house-elves, was Hufflepuff’s companion. There must have been a connection between them. As one of the Four Founders of Hogwarts and its first headmistress, Helga Hufflepuff had left behind far more recorded history than house-elves had. Perhaps something useful could be deduced from that.

“We can ask the house-elves working in the store. They might know something,” said George. “You know, those house-elves used to serve the now-extinct ancient pure-blood families. They know a lot of ancient secrets we don’t. These things are passed down from generation to generation among the house-elves.”

“Hmm, that’s worth a try,” Evan agreed. That was another approach; house-elves did know a great deal.

“By the way, how’s business in the store lately?”

“Booming! It’s been amazing!” Fred was excited when talking about business. “Our place is full when Hogwarts is on holidays, but Mum insisted that we come home for the holidays. She said everyone would be there.”

“There are a lot of people this year, but Charlie will definitely not come back. Those dragon babies can’t be left alone,” said George. “Percy, that big fool, is not here either. Thank God, we don’t have to live in the same room with him.”

They chatted for a while longer, with Fred and George discussing with Evan the details of transferring the production of basic products to Muggles. It wasn’t until Mrs. Weasley called them down for dinner that they stopped.

In the days that followed, everyone began to help Evan look up information to find the so-called “homeland of house elves.”

However, aside from Hermione, the others lost interest after a short burst of enthusiasm and didn’t keep up with it.

Soon, it was Christmas Eve night.

The Weasleys and their guests were sitting in the living room, which Hermione, Ginny and Elaine had decorated so lavishly that it was rather like sitting in a paper-chain explosion. They were very pleased, but the boys all knew that the little angel on top of the Christmas tree was actually a garden gnome that had bitten Fred on the ankle as he pulled up carrots for Christmas dinner.

Stupefied, painted gold, stuffed into a miniature tutu and with small wings glued to its back, it glowered down at them all, the ugliest angel ever, with a large bald head like a potato and rather hairy feet.

Fortunately, neither Hermione, Elaine nor Ginny noticed this disruption to their arrangements.

They were all supposed to be listening to a Christmas broadcast by Mrs. Weasley’s favorite singer, Celestina Warbeck, whose voice was warbling out of the large wooden wireless set.

Fleur, who seemed to find Celestina very dull, was talking loudly in the corner.

She was talking to Evan and Hermione about her wedding arrangements for next summer and about Gabrielle.

Fleur told them that Gabrielle had grown a lot taller in the past year and had become a mature young lady.

Translating_Wizard

Hey there! Translating_Wizard here! Chapter 1670 just dropped on Patreon! If you've enjoyed reading and want to read more, I'd greatly appreciate your support ♡

•