Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures-Chapter 967: The First Gathering

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Indeed, Fudge was not the type to keep his composure.

If the Ministry of Magic really had such a powerful weapon, he would have used it against Dumbledore by now.

But if it was not a weapon, what were members of the Order of the Phoenix guarding at the Ministry of Magic?

Or rather, what did Voldemort truly seek?

Ever since his return, he had remained elusive, hidden in the shadows, but he was plotting something in Norway and at the Ministry of Magic.

Evan didn’t know what was going on in Norway, but he knew that at the Ministry of Magic, there was the Prophecy Record, containing ‘The Prophecy’ Voldemort wanted to use to figure out why he had failed in the past. From this perspective, because he placed such significance on death, he seemed to be someone who particularly believed in “fate”.

As soon as they reached the bar, the barman sidled toward them out of a back room.

Aberforth was a grumpy-looking old man with a great deal of long gray hair and beard, vaguely resembling Dumbledore, tall and thin, with almost identical eyes, but a shorter beard, the lines on his face were also much sterner.

It must be said, he was another oddity from an ancient pure-blood family, bearing the title of an eccentric.

“What do you want?” He mumbled and asked, as if he was not surprised that Evan and the others appeared here, but his eyes quickly scanned over.

His eyes rested for a fraction of a second on Harry’s scar, and then he looked at Evan again.

“Five butterbeers, please,” said Hermione hastily.

He reached beneath the counter and pulled up five very dusty, very dirty bottles, which he slammed on the bar. (T.N. The author mentioned ‘three bottles’, probably a mistake just copying from the original.)

“Ten Sickles,” he said.

“I’ll get them, do you have a larger private room upstairs?” said Evan, passing over the silver coins. “We’ll be having a private gathering later, and there will be a lot of people coming. It may not be convenient to sit downstairs.”

“No, this place is the largest one around here, upstairs are all guest rooms!” Aberforth replied rudely, depositing Evan’s money in an ancient wooden till whose drawer slid open automatically to receive it.

“This guy has such a bad attitude, as if people would actually come here to stay.”

They each took their butterbeers, and quickly retreated to the farthest table from the bar and sat down, looking around.

Meanwhile, the man in the dirty gray bandages rapped the counter with his knuckles and received another smoking drink from the barman.

“It’s not a bad thing, is it? You know what?” Ron murmured, suddenly looking over at the bar with great enthusiasm, “We could order anything we liked in here, I bet that bloke would sell us anything, he wouldn’t care. Honestly, I’ve always wanted to try the firewhisky…”

“Don’t forget, you’re a prefect, Ron!” snarled Hermione.

“Oh!” said Ron, the smile fading from his face. “Yeah… I should set an example, right.”

“So who did you say is supposed to be meeting us?” Harry asked, wrenching open the rusty top of his butterbeer and taking a swig, “I informed Neville, Dean, Ernie from Hufflepuff, and the rest of the team, and besides that, Cho, whom I met alone on the pitch the other day…”

“Speaking of which, we all seem to know the same people,” said Hermione, checking her watch and then looking anxiously toward the door. “I talked to Lavender and Parvati. Of course, Lavender already knew about it from Ron. I guess there might be a dozen people coming; most of them are from Gryffindor.”

“I told the Frobishers, I think they’re more reliable!” said Colin, “and my brother.”

“I have here mainly a few first-year students who I think are trustworthy. After all, I’ve been in contact with them more recently,” said Evan, opening his bottle of butterbeer, “Oh, besides, there’s Luna.”

Many people in the school knew Evan, but Evan did not know many people.

He usually didn’t have much time for social activities. He couldn’t even remember all the students in his own year, let alone those from other years!

“Oh, by the way, I told Astoria Greengrass about it after Charms class a few days ago, and she seemed very interested.”

“Astoria Greengrass?!” Hermione froze for a moment, “You mean the pure-blood Greengrass family?”

“Evan, you actually informed a Slytherin!” They all looked at him in surprise.

“Well, not all Slytherins are bad, are they?” said Evan dismissively, understanding why they were so astonished. “I’ve had contact with Astoria a few times, and she seemed nice.”

“But…” Ron hesitated for a moment before continuing, “But she’s a Slytherin!”

“As long as she’s willing to stand up against Voldemort, I consider her on our side,” said Evan. “Slytherin is also part of Hogwarts. Not all Slytherins support Voldemort.”

From Harry and Ron’s expressions, they didn’t seem entirely convinced by Evan’s explanation.

Just then, the door of the pub had opened. A thick band of dusty sunlight split the room in two for a moment and then vanished, blocked by the incoming rush of a crowd of people.

First came Neville with Dean and Lavender, who were closely followed by Parvati and Padma Patil with Cho and one of her usually giggling girlfriends then, on her own and looking so dreamy that she might have walked in by accident, Luna Lovegood. She stood at the doorway, taking a moment to adjust, as if just realizing what was going on.

Behind her were Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, and Angelina Johnson from the Gryffindor team, with this year’s new substitutes, Ritchie Coote and Demelza Robins.

Because of the training during this period, they were now quite familiar with Harry and Ron.

And then there was Kate Olney and three first-year students who walked in hesitantly, seemingly intimidated by the Hog’s Head Inn’s air.

Colin ‘s younger brother Dennis Creevey also entered, almost as small as a first-year student.

He was accompanied by the Frobishers, apparently meticulously dressed.

A few seconds later, Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley from Hufflepuff also came, followed by Hannah Abbott, and a Hufflepuff girl with a long plait down her back whose name Evan did not know.

Then there were three Ravenclaw boys named Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot, who probably had been informed by Ginny who followed them.

Unlike some of the others, Ginny was quite popular in school and knew many people.

She was followed by a tall skinny blond boy with an upturned nose whom Evan recognized vaguely as being a member of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. He was holding hands with Ginny.

Judging from the simple act of them holding hands, it seemed that Ginny’s relationship with him was not that simple…

And then, bringing up the rear, there were Fred and George Weasley with their friend Lee Jordan, all three of whom were carrying large paper bags crammed with Zonko’s merchandise.

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