Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures - H.P.S.T Chapter 1542: Argument

There was silence. Harry thought he had rather impressed his uncle with this argument.

He didn’t seem to quite believe that Sirius could be that rich, but he also didn’t quite believe they would go to such lengths to seize this house. He was caught in a mental contradiction.

“Well, well, that boy of Mr. Mason’s…”

“You mean Evan?” Harry prompted.

He knew that in Uncle Vernon’s eyes, the Evans were the ones who were truly rich and powerful, and they had always been the role models they envied and tried to learn from.

Of course, that admiration only applied to Mr. and Mrs. Mason.

In the past few years, Uncle Vernon had lamented more than once that the biggest mistake of the Masons was to give birth to a wizard son. In comparison, having a wizard nephew in their family did not seem to be something unbearable.

Out of their yearning for the upper class, or perhaps to maintain the lucrative long-term orders, the Dursleys’ tolerance for Evan was simply unimaginable. On several occasions, they even took the initiative to ask Harry to invite Evan to their home as a guest, which was contrary to their philosophy of staying away from wizards as much as possible.

But this kind of thing happened, even Harry found it incredible.

“Yes, Evan Mason, of course I remember the child’s name,” said Uncle Vernon, starting to pace yet again. “Is his family leaving too? Like us?”

“Yes,” said Harry. “Evan said the Masons are going to China.”

“China?! And all because of that so-called Lord Thing you claim —”

“— Voldemort,” said Harry impatiently, “and we’ve been through this about a hundred times already. This isn’t a claim, it’s fact, Dumbledore told you last year, and Sirius, and Kingsley and Mr. Weasley —”

Vernon Dursley hunched his shoulders angrily, and Harry guessed that his uncle was attempting to ward off recollections of the unannounced visit, a few days into Harry’s summer holidays, of two fully grown wizards. The arrival on the doorstep of Kingsley Shacklebolt and Arthur Weasley had come as a most unpleasant shock to the Dursleys, who had only just recovered from the scare Sirius had given them at the train station.

Harry had to admit, however, that as Mr. Weasley had once demolished half of the living room, his reappearance could not have been expected to delight Uncle Vernon.

“They explained it all as well,” Harry pressed on remorselessly. “Once I’m seventeen, the protective charm that keeps me safe will break, and that exposes you as well as me. The Order is sure Voldemort will target you, whether to torture you to try and find out where I am, or because he thinks by holding you hostage I’d come and try to rescue you.”

Uncle Vernon’s and Harry’s eyes met. Harry was sure that in that instant they were both wondering the same thing.

Then Uncle Vernon walked on and Harry resumed, “You’ve got to go into hiding and the Order wants to help. You’re being offered serious protection, the best there is.”

Uncle Vernon said nothing, but continued to pace up and down.

“We’ll be going with the Masons…” he said, as if he had finally found a solution to the problem.

“I don’t think that’s possible. The Order of the Phoenix has different arrangements. If you get together, you’ll be too conspicuous and easily tracked down by Voldemort. The Masons left a long time ago. Evan made arrangements at the very beginning of the summer. Their family may not be in the UK now. Besides, what would you do in China?”

“Anything!” Uncle Vernon muttered. He paced a few more steps and knew that Harry was telling the truth because he had visited the Masons’ home not long ago and found that the place was deserted. A few days ago, he inquired through the company and learned that the Masons did suddenly decide to invest in China and might not come back for a long time.

It was very unusual to leave in such a hurry. Even the people in Mr. Mason’s company were surprised.

The only explanation was what Harry said. They went to China not for any business, but to avoid the pursuit of the Dark Lord.   

If only he had made the decision earlier… Vernon Dursley had honestly intended to leave with the Masons.

“I thought there was a Ministry of Magic?” asked Vernon Dursley abruptly.

“There is,” said Harry, surprised.

“Well, then, why can’t they protect us? It seems to me that, as innocent victims, guilty of nothing more than harboring a marked man, we ought to qualify for government protection!”

Harry laughed; he could not help himself. It was so very typical of his uncle to put his hopes in someone more powerful or in the establishment, even within this world that he despised and mistrusted.

First, he’d tried to rely on the Masons. Now, he was talking about the Ministry of Magic.

As if doing so would somehow make him feel safer.

“You heard what Mr. Weasley and Kingsley said, they said it in more detail than Sirius,” Harry replied. “We can’t contact the Ministry of Magic because the Order of the Phoenix believes that bad people —Voldemort’s people — have infiltrated the Ministry.”

Uncle Vernon strode to the fireplace and back, breathing so heavily that his great black mustache rippled, his face still purple with concentration.

“All right,” he said, stopping in front of Harry yet again. “All right, let’s say, for the sake of argument, we accept this protection. I still don’t see why we can’t have that Kingsley bloke.”

Harry managed not to roll his eyes, but with difficulty. This question had also been addressed half a dozen times over the summer.

“As I’ve told you,” he said through gritted teeth, “Kingsley is protecting the Mug — I mean, your Prime Minister.”

“Exactly — he’s the best!” said Uncle Vernon, pointing at the blank television screen.

The Dursleys had spotted Kingsley on the news, walking along discreetly behind the Muggle Prime Minister as he visited a hospital.

This, and the fact that Kingsley had mastered the knack of dressing like a Muggle, not to mention a certain reassuring something in his slow, deep voice, had caused the Dursleys to take to Kingsley in a way that they had certainly not done with any other wizard, although it was true that they had never seen him with his earring in.

“Well, he’s taken,” said Harry. “Mr. and Mrs. Mason did not ask him to protect them, but accepted the Order of the Phoenix’s assigned members. The wizards of the Order of the Phoenix are all trustworthy. As for your protection, as we said last time, Hestia Jones and Dedalus Diggle are more than up to the job —”

“I don’t believe it. If we’d even seen CVs …” began Uncle Vernon, but Harry lost patience. Getting to his feet, he advanced on his uncle, now pointing at the TV set himself.

“These accidents aren’t accidents — the earthquakes, tsunamis, explosions, crashes, derailments, and whatever else has happened since we last watched the news. People are disappearing and dying and he’s behind it — Voldemort. I’ve told you this over and over again, he kills Muggles for fun. Even the fogs — they’re caused by Dementors, and if you can’t remember what they are, ask your son!”

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