Chapter 1,250

"Harry? Hey, Harry, are you there?"

"I'm here!" Harry responded quickly, "What's wrong?"

There was a sound of footsteps outside the door, and then the door was opened, and Fan Lin's somewhat pale face came into view.

"Hey, he's here." Fan Lin shouted behind him, and then there was a thump of footsteps outside the door, and Hermione rushed in anxiously.

"We couldn't find you when we woke up!" Hermione said breathlessly, turned around and shouted: "Ron! I found him!"

Ron's annoyed voice echoed up from several floors down.

"That's great! Tell him for me that he's an asshole!"

"Harry, please don't play missing. We're worried to death! Why did you come upstairs?" She looked around the room. "What are you doing here?"

"It was an accident." Harry touched his nose, which made him a little embarrassed, "Look what I found!" He raised his mother's letter, and Hermione took it, and after reading it She raised her head and looked at him: "Oh, Harry..."

"And this." He showed her the somewhat tattered photo, and Hermione laughed as she looked at the little boy riding a toy broomstick in the photo.

"I'm looking for the rest of the letter," Harry said, "but they're not here."

Hermione looked around.

"Did you make this happen? Or has it always been like this since you came here?"

"Someone has searched this place before me," Harry said.

"I think so. I saw every room being searched along the way. What do you think they're looking for?"

"Information about the Order, if this was Snape's doing."

"But if you think about it, he should have already got what he wants. I mean, he was once a member of the Order of the Phoenix, wasn't he?" Fan Lin said, "If someone has been here, Then Snape is the most unlikely. Unless he violates the confidentiality regulations and leads the Death Eaters to find this place, he can only come by himself, otherwise the Death Eaters will not be able to find this place at all."

"So," Harry said enthusiastically, trying to sell his theory, "what about Dumbledore? That should be the second page of the letter. Look at this Bathilda my mother mentioned. Do you know who she is?"

"who?"

"Bathilda Bagshot, no matter what she did, you can be sure that it will not help us find the Horcrux at all, right?"

Harry didn't answer.

Hermione continued: "Harry, I know you really want to go to Godric's Hollow, but I'm very scared. The Death Eaters were able to find us so easily yesterday. It really scared me. And it made me feel even more We shouldn't go to where your parents are buried, I'm sure they're waiting for you to go there!"

"It's not just that," Harry said, still refusing to look at her, "Muriel said something about Dumbledore at the wedding, and I want to know what the truth is."

"About Ariana?"

"It's not just that," Harry responded. Until now, Curry Stick had time to share everything with his friends.

After listening, Hermione said, "Of course, I understand what makes you so upset, Harry..."

"I'm not upset," he lied, "I just wanted to know if it was true or..."

"Or Harry, do you really think you can get the truth from a vicious old woman like Muriel or Rita Skeeter? How can you trust them? You know Dumbledore!" Hermione Said somewhat angrily.

"I did think I understood before," he muttered. "But you know some of the reports Rita wrote about you are true! Dogo is right, how could you let that kind of person tarnish the Dumbledore in your memory!"

He looked away, trying not to let his resentment show. Now he was faced with another choice: what to believe. He wants to know the truth, but why does everyone think he shouldn't know this?

"How about we go to the kitchen?" Hermione suggested after a brief silence. "Would you like something to eat?"

"Nice suggestion, and I think I may have found a way around it."

"What?" Harry looked at Fan Lin in confusion.

"Oh, before that, let's go to the dining table." Fan Lin shook his head, and the four of them walked to the kitchen together.

…

"What's the main dish today?"

"spaghetti!"

"You said this was spaghetti?" Ron looked at the dark mess on the plate in disbelief.

"Oh, I think Hermione did a good job!" Fan Lin said vaguely, with a hint of sadness hanging on the corner of his mouth.

"Stop talking so much, I don't care if this is..."

"If you don't want to eat it, you can throw it away!" Hermione interrupted rudely.

"Uh...so, I didn't..." Harry felt misfiring for a moment, and Hermione was still very scary when she was angry.

"Calm down, Harry, I will tell you," Fan Lin laughed twice. "I think I know someone who must know who has been to this house."

"If you are referring to Sirius, I swear, I have never seen someone as careless as him. Since the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix moved away, I guarantee that he has never returned to this house at all." He Min said unceremoniously.

"Although I am also sad, I must admit..." Before Harry finished speaking, Vanlin interrupted.

"Did you forget who? There is not only Sirius in this house, but also ghosts and..."

"Kreacher!"

"That's right." Vanlin snapped his fingers, "The wizard's restriction magic does not have so many restrictions on house-elves, so, Dobby!"

In less than half a minute, accompanied by the sound of air bursting, a slightly funny elf appeared in front of everyone.

"My respected master! And, Harry Potter!" Dobby screamed, "I thought you forgot me."

"Oh, Dobby, how could we forget you."

"We just..." Harry couldn't make it up anymore. He looked at Hermione for help, but Dobby's speech was obviously more direct, and tears of emotion flowed from Dobby's eyes in an instant.

"Oh, please, Dobby, don't show up every time..."

"Go and bring Kreacher back, Dobby, this is an order. I know he must have sneaked back to this room!" Vanlin said helplessly, and in return, Dobby's sobbing voice was heard.

"So, Kreacher is here?"

"There is always a way to make him appear," Vanlin said with a smile, "and Dobby also gave the answer, didn't he!"

The ceiling was hit violently, and it felt like... a boulder?

Maybe the two elves knocked down some statues?

In short, when Dobby appeared in front of several people, he was already covered in dust.

"Kreacher did nothing wrong, this is Kreacher's mission, old Kreacher can't abandon the old master's house..."

"No one asked you to abandon this place, Kreacher!" Vanlin said with a headache, these two house elves were really too noisy.

"Yes, Master Al, Kreacher did nothing wrong, Kreacher was just for the old master..."

"We don't care what you do for that ghost who only knows how to scream!" Ron said impatiently.

"Dirty Weasley, blood betrayer..."

"Put away your tricks, Kreacher!" Harry said loudly, "I just want to know, who else has been here besides you."

"Master Sirius's dirty friend, a lunatic, and a thief..."

"Let me think... Lupin, Moody and the others should be here to set up magic, and that thief..."

"Mundungus!" Ron gritted his teeth and said.

Farlin looked at Ron in surprise. This was the first time that Ron reacted so strongly.

"So the last person to come was Mundungus?"

"Yes, my master!" Kreacher answered respectfully.

"I want you to bring him here, including the things he took away from here."

"Dobby... Dobby wants to go too! Dobby can also..."

"Oh, okay," Farlin waved his hand, "You go too, Dobby. If Mundungus resists, I hope you can teach him a lesson. He is in a very bad state now."

"As you command!"

He had walked about the house all morning with great expectations. //However, Kreacher did not return in the morning, or even in the afternoon, and by dusk Harry was discouraged and worried. In front of him was a large piece of stale bread that Hermione had tried many ways to make it deform, which of course did not help. The next day, Kreacher did not return, nor did he return the day after. However, two cloaked figures appeared outside the door of Grimmauld Place, and stayed there until the evening, staring at the house that they could not see at all. "Must be Death Eaters," said Ron as Harry and Hermione looked out of the lounge window. "Do they know we're here?" "I don't think so," said Hermione, although she looked a little frightened, "or they would have gone to tell Snape a long time ago, wouldn't they?" "Didn't it occur to you that Moody had put a tongue-locking curse on them while they were standing there?" Ron asked. "Yes," said Hermione, "and besides, they must have known many ways to get in, didn't they? But they wanted to see if we would show up, after all, they knew that the house belonged to Harry." "How did they know-?" Harry began. "Wizards' wills will be inspected by the government, remember? They will definitely know that Sirius left this house to you." The arrival of the Death Eaters triggered an ominous feeling in Grimmauld Place. After Mr. Weasley's Patronus, they did not get any news from anyone outside Grimmauld Place, and the tension began to show. Lack of rest, irritable, Ron developed an annoying habit - playing with the light-off device in his pocket. This obviously annoyed Hermione, who was reading the story of the bard Bibb, and she didn't like the flickering of the lights. "Can't you just stop?" She finally exploded on the third night of Kreacher's absence, and all the lights in the living room were turned on and off again and again. "Sorry, sorry." Ron said, he pressed the switch controller and restored all the lights. "I don't know what I'm doing." "Well, can't you find yourself something meaningful to do?" "What? Like reading joke stories?" "Dumbledore left me this book, Ron -" " - and he left me this Deluminator, probably to tell me that I should use it!" Before they could start arguing, Harry was out, without either of them noticing. He walked towards the kitchen, where he had been so many times, because he was sure that was where Kreacher was most likely to appear again. As he walked down the stairs to the hallway, he heard a slight knock on the front door, followed by a clang of metal and the rustling of a chain. Every nerve in his body was tense: he drew his wand, moved slowly into the shadow beside the row of severed house-elf heads, and waited. The door opened: he caught a glimpse of the brightly lit square outside, and a cloaked figure moved in and closed the door behind him. The intruder took a step forward, and Moody's voice rang out, "Severus & # 8; Snape?" The soot figure moved toward him from the end of the hall, eagerly raising its lifeless hands. "It was not I who killed you, Albus," said a quiet voice. As bad luck would have it, the soot figure exploded again, and the newcomer could not get through the thick white smoke left by its explosion. Harry pointed his wand into the center of the smoke. "Freeze!" But he had forgotten about the portrait of Mrs. Black. At his shout, the drapery covering the portrait was pulled back, and she began to scream: "Mudbloods and bitches have defiled my ancestral house -" Ron and Hermione ran downstairs and stood behind Harry, with their wands raised like him. The unknown person stood in the hall, hands raised. "Calm down, it's me, Remus!" "Oh, thank goodness," Hermione said weakly, turning and pointing her wand at Mrs. Black. With a bang, the curtains swished shut and the house fell silent again. Ron lowered his wand, but Harry did not. "Prove yourself!" he replied. Lupin stepped into the light, his hands still in the gesture of surrender. "I am Remus & John & Lupin, werewolf, sometimes called Moony, one of the four creators of the Marauder's Map, married to Nymphadora, more commonly known as Tonks. I taught you how to cast a Patronus, Harry, in the shape of an elk." "Oh, indeed," said Harry, lowering his wand. "But I had to check, didn't I?" "You can't let your guard down against your former Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher either, and I very much agree that you should check. Ron, Hermione, you shouldn't let your guard down so quickly." They walked over to him. He was wearing a heavy black cloak and looked tired, but he was happy to see them. "No news from Severus yet?" he asked. "No," Harry replied. "Is everything going well? Is everyone okay?" "Yes," said Lupin. "But we're all being watched, and there are several Death Eaters outside in the square -" "We know -" "I had to Apparate very accurately to the top step outside the front door to make sure they didn't see me. They must not know you're here, or I'm sure they would have sent more people outside. They're watching everything to do with you, Harry. Let's go downstairs, I have a lot to tell you, and I also want to know what has happened to you since you left the Burrow.

"They entered the kitchen and Hermione pointed her wand at the fireplace. The flames immediately burst into life, making the hard stone walls feel cozy and the long wooden table glow. Lupin pulled bottles of Butterbeer from under his traveling cloak and they sat down. "I got here three days ago, but I had to find a way to get rid of the Death Eaters who followed me," said Lupin. "So you came here after the wedding?" "No, it was after we ran into some Death Eaters in a café in Tottenham Court Road." Lupin had nearly sprayed all his Butterbeer on the front of his coat. "What?" So they began to tell what had happened, and when they had finished Lupin looked as if he were petrified. "But how did they find you so quickly? It's impossible to follow people who Apparate unless you catch them the moment they disappear." "And it's not like they happened to be cruising Tottenham Court Road, is it?" said Harry. "We wonder," Hermione asked tentatively, "if Harry still has that kind of connection with him?" "That's impossible. "Lupin said, Ron looked very pleased with himself, and Harry finally felt relieved.

on the front of his coat. "What?" So they began to tell what had happened, and when they had finished Lupin looked as if he were petrified. "But how could they have found you so quickly? It's impossible to follow someone who Apparates, unless you catch them the moment they disappear." "And it's not as if they happened to be cruising Tottenham Court Road, is it?" said Harry. "We want to know," Hermione asked tentatively, "if Harry still has that connection with him?" "Impossible," said Lupin, and Ron looked pleased, and Harry was relieved. "If anything else, if Harry and he really did have that connection, they would have known Harry was here. But I don't know how they tracked you to Tottenham Court Road, and that's worrying, very worrying." He looked confused, but that question could be put aside for the moment compared to Harry's concerns. "Tell us what happened after we left. We haven't heard anything since Ron's dad told us that the family was safe." "Oh, Kingsley saved us," said Lupin. "Luckily he warned most of the wedding guests, most of them Disapparated before they arrived." "Was it the Death Eaters or the Ministry?" Hermione interrupted suddenly. "Both, but really, they're the same thing now," said Lupin. "There was probably one of them, but they didn't know you were here, Harry. Arthur said he heard that they tortured Scrimgeour about your whereabouts before they killed him. If that's true, then it seems he didn't betray you." Harry looked at Ron and Hermione. He could tell from the expressions on their faces that they were feeling a mixture of shock and gratitude. He had never liked Scrimgeour more than he did now, but if what Lupin said was true, then the man's last act was to desperately protect Harry. "The Death Eaters ransacked the Burrow," Lupin continued. "They found the ghouls, but wouldn't go near them - and then they questioned those of us who hadn't managed to get away for hours. They wanted to try to get information about you, Harry, but of course no one except the Order knew you were here." "And they completely ruined the reception, with more Death Eaters trying to force their way into every house in the suburbs that had any connection to the Order. No one died," he added hastily, cutting off their questions. "But they were violent, and they burned DedalusDigg's house to the ground, when you know he wasn't home. They put the Cruciatus Curse on the Tonks family, too, to see where you'd been since you'd been there. They're fine - terrified, obviously, but otherwise fine." "Did the Death Eaters make it through all the protective spells?" Harry asked, remembering how powerful they had been the night he'd fallen into Tonks's parents' garden. "You must realise, Harry, that the Death Eaters now have the full power of the Ministry at their disposal," said Lupin. "They can do this without fear of identification or arrest, and they've been given the power to work these cruel spells. They're trying to break every defensive spell we've put on them, and they've been completely transparent about why they're here." "And haven't they given an explanation for torturing people about Harry's whereabouts?" Hermione asked, her voice rather sharply. "Oh," said Lupin, hesitating, then pulling out a folded copy of the Daily Prophet. "Here," he said, pushing it across the table towards Harry, "you'll find out sooner or later - that's their excuse for coming after you, anyway." Harry flattened the paper, a huge picture of himself dominating the front page, and read the headline: Concerning the Death of Albus Dumbledore - Questions We Need to Ask Ron and Hermione shouted angrily, but Harry said nothing. He pushed the newspaper aside. He did not want to read it: he knew what they would say. No one except those who had witnessed Dumbledore's death in the tower knew who had killed him, and yet Rita Skeeter had told the wizarding world that Harry had been seen fleeing from the scene of Dumbledore's fall minutes after he fell. "I'm sorry, Harry," said Lupin. "So the Death Eaters have taken control of the Daily Prophet, too?" Hermione said angrily. Lupin nodded. "But did people really know what was going to happen?" "They've actually taken power quietly," said Lupin. The official explanation for Scrimgeour's death was that he had died of natural causes and that he had been replaced by Bius Dickness, who had been under the Imperius Curse. "Why didn't Voldemort declare himself Minister of Magic?" asked Ron. Lupin smiled. "He doesn't need to, Ron. He is, by all rights, a Minister, so why should he be sitting behind a desk in the Ministry? His puppet, Dickness, is handling the day-to-day affairs for him, leaving him free to expand his influence away from the Ministry." "Of course many people have speculated what has happened. There have been such dramatic changes in Ministry policy in recent times that many people are whispering that Voldemort must be behind this, and that's the point, they are whispering, they don't trust each other, they don't know who they can trust, and they are too scared to speak out loud for fear that their suspicions may be true and their families may become targets.

Yes, Voldemort is playing a very clever trick, claiming that he himself may have inspired the rebellion, and keeping up the pretense has created confusion, distrust and fear. " "Does this dramatic change in Ministry policy," Harry asked, "include warning the entire wizarding world to turn against me rather than Voldemort?" "Of course it is part of it," said Lupin, "and it is a brilliant move, now that Dumbledore is dead, and you - the Boy-Who-Lived - are of course the symbol of the long war against Voldemort, but by suggesting that you had a hand in your old leader's death, Voldemort has not only put a label on you, but has also spread fear and suspicion among those who used to defend you." "In the meantime, the Minister has taken action against Muggle-borns." Lupin pointed to the Daily Prophet. "Look at page two." Hermione flipped to the second page with the same disgust she had when she held the secrets of the Dark Arts. "The Muggle-Born Register," she read aloud, "the Ministry is promising to take action to investigate the so-called Muggle-born population and better understand the magical secrets they hold. "Recently, an investigation by the Department of Mysteries has shown that magic can only be passed down through the reproduction of wizards. People who have not been proven to have wizard family blood, the so-called Muggle-borns, may have obtained magic through theft or force. "The Ministry of Magic is determined to find out who usurped magic power. After the end, it will send invitations to every Muggle-born person, inviting them to attend a meeting organized by the newly established Muggle-Born Registration Committee." "Everyone will not let this happen." Ron said. "But it happened, Ron," Lupin said, "At this moment when we speak, Muggle-borns are being rounded up." "But how can they say it is "stolen" magic power?" Ron said, "That is a manifestation of spirit and intelligence. If you can steal magic, there won't be so many Squibs, right?" "I know," Lupin said, "but unless you can prove that you have at least one close wizard relative, your magic power will be regarded as illegally obtained and you will be subject to legal sanctions. "Ron glanced at Hermione, then said, "What if a pureblood and a half-blood swore that a Muggle-born was part of their family? I would tell everyone that Hermione is my cousin -" Hermione squeezed Ron's hand tightly. "Thank you, Ron, but I can't let you do that -" "You don't have a choice," Ron said fiercely, putting her hand back. "I will familiarize you with my family tree so that you can face any questioning." Hermione gave him a weak smile. "Ron, I don't think this is anything compared to the fact that we are now on the run with Harry Potter, the most wanted criminal in the country. If I went back to school, it would be a different feeling. What is Voldemort going to do to Hogwarts?" she asked Lupin. "Every young witch and wizard is forced to attend." He answered. "It was announced yesterday, and it is a change. It has never been compulsory before. Of course, almost all witches and wizards in the UK are graduates of Hogwarts, but parents have the right to choose to teach their children at home or send them abroad if they think it will be better. And like now, the entire wizarding population will grow up under Voldemort's nose, from childhood to adulthood. This is also another way to eliminate Muggle-borns, because they must show their blood identity before they can enter school, which means they have to go to the Ministry of Magic to prove their wizarding blood. "Harry thought with disgust and anger: at this moment, the new students may be looking at a pile of new spell books to buy, not knowing that they may never see Hogwarts, or their families again. "This is simply... simply..." He muttered, trying to find a word to express his horrible imagination just now, but Lupin said quietly, "I understand." Lupin hesitated. "I know you won't agree with this, Harry, but the people in the Order of the Phoenix feel that Dumbledore seems to have left you a task." "Yes," Harry replied, "and Ron and Hermione are also involved, and they will join me." "Do you trust me enough to tell me what the task is? "Harry looked at the prematurely aged, wrinkled face, the thick gray hair, and he really wished he could answer differently. "I can't, Remus, I'm sorry, if Dumbledore didn't tell you, then I don't think I can either." (To be continued)