Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures - H.P.S.T Chapter 1566: Dangerous Room

The wand chooses the wizard. Only when the wizard uses his own wand can he cast the spell smoothly and achieve the best effect.

However, for Evan, as long as the magic wasn’t particularly complex or difficult, using someone else’s wand didn’t affect him much.

“My wand’s fine, Mrs. Weasley. It’s never been a problem in all our past adventures, and I don’t think it will be this time either,” said Evan. “Besides, we’re not planning to do anything dangerous. We’ll avoid fighting Voldemort and the Death Eaters as much as possible. As for the matters Dumbledore left behind — sorry, we can’t tell you — but they’re truly important, and it’s got to be us to take care of them. Harry and I have already spoken with Sirius and Lupin, and they’ve agreed to let us do it.”

“That’s right!” said Harry dryly, looking at Mrs. Weasley. “We know what we’re doing.”

As he spoke, he handed her back the single sock he was supposed to be identifying, which was patterned with golden bulrushes.

“That’s not mine or Evan’s. Evan doesn’t support Quidditch teams, and I’m not a Puddlemere United fan.”

“Oh, of course not, I should have realized,” said Mrs. Weasley with a sudden and rather unnerving return to her casual tone. She stared at the two of them for a long moment. “Since you two have your own ideas, then go ahead, but while we’ve still got you here, you won’t mind helping with the preparations for Bill and Fleur’s wedding, will you? There’s still so much to do.”

“No problem!”

“Nor for me,” said Harry, glancing at Evan again, somewhat disconcerted by Mrs. Weasley’s sudden change of subject.

“Sweet of you. Now, you two can go back to lunch,” she replied, and she smiled as she left the scullery.

From that moment on, Mrs. Weasley kept them all so busy with preparations for the wedding that they hardly had any time to think.

The kindest explanation of this behavior would have been that Mrs. Weasley wanted to distract them all from the terrors of their recent journey.

After two days of nonstop cutlery cleaning, of color-matching favors, ribbons, and flowers, of de-gnoming the garden and helping Mrs. Weasley cook vast batches of canapés, however, everyone started to suspect her of a different motive. All the jobs she handed out seemed to keep Evan, Harry, Ron, and Hermione away from one another.

But she didn’t know that Evan could transform as an Animagus, and could sneak out at night to meet Hermione in secret.

“She thinks that if she can stop us getting together and planning, she’ll be able to delay us leaving,” said Hermione, sitting with Evan on the garden fence on one of their nighttime meetings. The boundless moonlight poured down, making the night view of the garden look like a painted scroll. “Ginny whispered to me last night that Mrs. Weasley hasn’t given up.”

“She’s just too worried!” said Evan, gently wrapping his arm around Hermione. “But we have to leave. We can’t stay here forever.”

“You should pay attention to Elaine. She’s very unhappy with your decision not to take her along,” said Hermione, looking up.

“I can feel it. But you know I can’t agree to her request. Caresius forbade me from taking her on adventures, and I gave him my word.”

In the original plan, Evan had intended to bring Elaine along for what lay ahead. There was no way he could let her return to Hogwarts once term began. Elaine was not like Ginny — her background and her temperament made it impossible for her to quietly stay in a Hogwarts ruled by Voldemort. Nor would Voldemort spare her.   

But not long after the summer began, Caresius had pulled Evan aside for a private talk. He refused to allow Elaine to join Evan on his dangerous journey.

Dumbledore’s departure seemed to have shaken him deeply. On top of that, Voldemort’s side had apparently begun contacting them again. He could offer the vampires far more than the Order of the Phoenix or the Ministry ever could. Many vampires were wavering in their loyalties, untrustworthy — that was also the main reason they hadn’t been included in Harry’s transfer.

Since Caresius disapproved, Evan couldn’t simply take Elaine against his wishes.

However, Elaine didn’t seem to be willing to obey her uncle’s decision. She wanted to follow Evan and the other three.

So for now, things were at a standstill. Elaine was displeased with Evan’s decision to abandon her. As a result, Evan had recently stopped going to the girls’ room at night as a black cat, forcing Hermione to leave. Elaine knew his Animagus form was a black cat. On the second night at the Burrow, Evan sneaked in, and just before he could get into Hermione’s bed, Elaine, who had been waiting nearby, caught him. She tormented the poor kitten all night long.

That night, the little black cat in Elaine’s arms truly embodied the meaning of being weak, pitiful, and helpless.

And, of course, that wasn’t even the worst of it.

Aside from Elaine, another reason Evan stopped sneaking into the girls’ room was Gabrielle.

That child was terrifying in her own way. She had no intention of following Evan on his adventure, but she seemed strangely attuned to his black cat form.

Of course, she didn’t know it was Evan, but she always managed to spot him.

It happened on another unlucky night, just before dawn. Evan had finally managed to escape Elaine’s torment, his body weak as he staggered back to his room. But just as he reached the corridor, Gabrielle, up in the night, caught him. Imagine how that felt. She scooped him up and carried him back to her bed. He could only flail his little paws helplessly until she drifted off to sleep again, and only then did he slip away. This time it wasn’t torment, but it was still utterly exhausting. Her style was completely different from Elaine’s, but the effect was much the same.

If he ever got the chance, Evan thought, he really ought to tell the full story.

With Elaine and Gabrielle both around, the girls’ bedroom that summer was a truly terrifying place.

Evan didn’t dare go in there anymore. He now tried to stay away from them, and at night, he would ask Hermione to sneak out to the garden for dates and discussions.

Amidst all the hectic activity, Bill and Fleur’s wedding drew near, and the number of people in and out of the Burrow increased.

Now, other members of the Order of the Phoenix frequently came for dinner, and the Burrow had replaced number twelve, Grimmauld Place as the headquarters.

No one was confident in the safety of number twelve, Grimmauld Place. Since Dumbledore’s departure, the power of the Fidelius Charm had been greatly diluted. Everyone was worried that Voldemort might know about the location, so other than Sirius Black’s occasional return, the other members of the Order of the Phoenix no longer went near the house.

However, until now, no Death Eater had gone there, and the entire Wizarding world was strangely quiet.

The Ministry of Magic was suppressing all news. After Evan arranged for Hogwarts Magic to go underground and continue in limited circulation, most other publications — led by The Daily Prophet — fell into a deliberate silence. They said nothing about the battle on the night of Harry’s transfer, nor about Azkaban’s fall.

Translating_Wizard

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