Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures - H.P.S.T Chapter 1530: A New Chapter

As the flames vanished, a shower of arrows soared through the air, causing a few more cries of shock, but they fell far short of the crowd. It was, Evan knew, the centaurs’ tribute: He saw them turn tail and disappear back into the cool trees. Likewise, the Merpeople sank slowly back into the green water and were lost from view.

Dumbledore’s funeral was over, and a new chapter had begun!

“We’re going to start a war,” said Evan softly as he stood up.

At that time, loud wails sounded in the open space, and Hagrid finally couldn’t help crying, and his voice echoed on the lake.

Grawp hugged him tightly, burying his head in grief and sobbing.

People began walking back around the two of them. Evan’s gaze followed the crowd toward Hogwarts Castle, wanting to imprint it in his memory.

Then, he lowered his head and saw that Harry had hugged Ginny in his arms and was whispering to her.

He knew that Harry was saying goodbye to Ginny.

In the past few days, the two of them had spoken privately and made the decision to carry out the rest of the mission alone; to leave Hogwarts, fight Voldemort and the Death Eaters, destroy the remaining Horcruxes, and find the secret treasure keys of Slytherin and Hufflepuff. This was Harry’s destiny and Evan’s mission.

To put it bluntly: they were going to save the Wizarding world!

Evan didn’t think of himself as particularly noble, but this was undeniably what he was doing.

He and Harry had no choice but to take on this task, but the others didn’t need to take such risks, even if they were willing.

Evan had thought it over. With the evil gods and ancient wizards now involved, the situation had become extremely dangerous. He didn’t want Hermione, Elaine, and the others to follow them into that danger.

Hogwarts was about to be closed, or worse, taken over by Voldemort.

But they could stay at the Order of the Phoenix headquarters. Sirius, Lupin, and Caresius were still there. During Evan’s absence, they would protect the girls.

Alternatively, they could go back to Beauxbatons with Gabrielle. Voldemort’s power hadn’t yet reached a level that would seriously affect the French Wizarding world.

If nothing worked, Evan had even considered having Hermione leave Britain with her parents.

He planned to cast protective spells on his own parents once he returned for the summer holiday, and the people of the Order of the Phoenix would help them leave the country.

At that time, Hermione and her parents could go with them too.

In recent years, Evan’s father had expanded his real estate business in China. They could go there; a place untouched by Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

There were two mysterious schools of Wizardry in China, one of which was even older than Hogwarts. There were many magic books there that couldn’t be found in Britain. Hermione would definitely be interested.

Evan still remembered how, a few years ago, Dumbledore had promised to help him apply for a student exchange position. He wasn’t sure whether it had ever gone through.

Beside Harry, Ron still looked a little dazed and hadn’t stood up from his chair.

He was staring at the suddenly appeared white tomb, his face screwed up as though the sunlight were blinding him.

Gabrielle’s face was glazed with tears, but Hermione was no longer crying. She met Evan’s gaze with a resolute and warm expression.

“Hermione, I have something to tell you,” facing Hermione’s gaze, Evan said in a very soft voice. “Harry and I have talked it over; the next part of this journey has to be done by the two of us. You and Elaine —”

“Of course we’ll follow you, no matter what dangers there are,” Hermione paused and asked, “Evan, you’re not trying to leave me behind, are you? Do you really think that just by publicly distancing ourselves from you and Harry, Voldemort will let us go? Actually, while you two were having your conversation, the rest of us talked as well — me, Elaine, Ginny, Gabrielle, and Ron. We don’t care about the danger. This isn’t an adventure that belongs only to the two of you. We all have to fight.”

“But —”

“No matter what happens, I’ll be by your side,” said Hermione firmly, and suddenly hugged Evan tightly.

Evan’s body suddenly tensed up, and then relaxed. He sighed softly and hugged Hermione for a while.

After a long silence, Hermione leaned against Evan and whispered in his ear, “Don’t leave me behind, Evan. I’m going with you. I’ve already made up my mind!”

“Yeah,” Evan hummed, he knew now that leaving Hermione behind was never really an option.

He had only thought about the danger, wanting to keep Hermione and the others safe, but he hadn’t considered how they felt.

Hermione was not just a person who needed protection, she could provide great help.

“Evan, Harry!”

Evan let go of Hermione, turned around, and saw Rufus Scrimgeour limping rapidly toward them around the bank, leaning on his walking stick.

“Evan, Harry — there you are. I’ve been hoping to have a word. This whole thing was a dreadful tragedy. I cannot tell you how appalled I was to hear of it. Dumbledore was a very great wizard. We had our disagreements, as you know, but no one knows better than I —.”

“What do you want?” asked Harry flatly, interrupting Scrimgeour impatiently.

Scrimgeour looked annoyed, but as before, hastily modified his expression to one of sorrowful understanding.

“I understand, Harry. You are, of course, devastated,” he said. “I know that you were very close to Dumbledore. I think you may have been his favorite pupil ever. The bond between the two of you —”

“What do you want?” Harry asked impatiently again.

Scrimgeour stopped speaking, leaned on his stick, and stared at Harry, his expression shrewd now.

But soon, he returned to his previous sorrowful expression and turned his gaze to Evan.

“There are a few things I’d like to say to the two of you in private … do you mind if I walk a little way with you?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Minister. Everything we can tell the Ministry has been conveyed to you by Sirius,” said Evan. “If you want us to publicly express our support for the Ministry’s work, tell people that you are doing a good job and that the Wizarding world is safe, just like our conversation at Christmas, we can’t cooperate. In fact, the Wizarding world is not safe now. We can’t control the situation. The war has begun.”

“I don’t deny the war, but the situation is not as bad as you think. We will win, you…”

“We are Dumbledore’s people through and through, from beginning to end,” Harry interrupted, cutting him off again. “This is what we want to tell you.”

Scrimgeour glared at Evan and Harry for a long moment, with a stern expression on his face.

Then Sirius also walked over. Seeing him, Scrimgeour turned and limped away without another word.

Not far away, Percy and the rest of the Ministry delegation were waiting for him, casting nervous glances at the sobbing Hagrid and Grawp, who were still in their seats.

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