days at Hogwarts

Chapter 524 Why do I sound like a Death Eater?

"I don't think those two Dementors were sent by Voldemort. If he has found out my address, he would have broken into the Dursleys' home with a large group of Death Eaters... But who else would want to deal with me besides him? Who else?"

"I'm really upset, Loren. You know what I am? I'm like a slug struggling in a hot crucible. I'd rather be ground into minced meat by a pestle than hide here in a daze."

Harry groaned in pain, "Mr. Weasley wrote to me and told me not to leave the Dursleys, and Sirius also told me not to leave the house anyway, oh..."

"I think that's what Dumbledore meant," Hermione said softly.

"I know, I know..." Harry spoke faster, his anxiety seemed to be transmitted through the phone line, "But what's the point of hiding here? I really don't understand, do they think that if Voldemort finds this place, this house and the Dursleys can stop those Death Eaters? They don't even know magic."

"Don't say that name," Loren warned.

"what?"

"That person cast a spell on his name, and has some influence on those who recite this name."

"Is... is that so?" Harry's voice was choked, as if a piece of ice cube from the bottom of the refrigerator was stuck in his throat, freezing his heart.

Hermione was also surprised. She didn't expect there was such magic.

After a long silence, Harry gradually regained his senses, took a deep breath, calmed down his emotions, and said in a slightly hoarse voice from his dry throat: "I'm sorry, Loren, I'm out of control. This feeling is about to torture my brain to the point of losing consciousness. I'm clearly the person at the center of the storm, but I can't see the surrounding environment clearly at all..."

Hermione put her ear to the receiver, listening to the boy who was in voice change's bitter apology, pursing her lips and saying nothing.

"Dumbledore asked everyone to keep it a secret from you... It's also for your protection..." Loren said slowly, "After all, you could collude with the mysterious man at any time. I mean, there is a wonderful connection between you and the mysterious man. In the past, you always wanted to use this connection to spy on the other party's intelligence. We have discussed the disadvantages of this idea. Now that he has recovered his powerful magic, he may use this connection in turn at any time... You don't want to tell the mysterious man in person, right?"

"..."

Harry listened to the half-joking, half-comforting words on the other end of the receiver and felt a slight pain on the scar on his forehead. What did he mean by colluding with the mysterious man? What did he mean by personally informing the mysterious man? It sounded like he was some senior Death Eater.

"I will definitely master Occlumency as soon as possible!"

"Good luck to you."

Loren was not very optimistic about him. After all, he had started practicing two years in advance, but he had not achieved any results so far. From a certain perspective, brain occlusion was not suitable for emotionally charged wizards. This was a matter of compatibility, not a matter of talent and effort.

Is there any other way to cut off contact?

Loren looked at the chandelier on the ceiling and fell into thought.

Hermione picked up the phone and said, "Harry, what are you going to do next?"

"What else can I do? I'll stay at the Dursleys'." Harry said dejectedly.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Hermione decided to express her speculation: "I think... after your birthday is over, Harry, you should be able to leave the Dursleys."

"But didn't they say..."

"That is to use your bloodline to continue the protective magic left by your mother. You need to stay there for a month every year. After that, Dumbledore will definitely take you to a safer place for protection."

"Great!"

After listening to the cheers from the other end and then hanging up the phone, Hermione put down the phone and leaned into Lauren's arms with a tired look on her face. "Harry is right, the Dementors were not sent by Voldemort... the You-Know-Who, but by the Ministry of Magic. Now they are the only ones who can command the Dementors, and I am sure that this was done by Cornelius Fudge or Dolores Umbridge..."

At this point, Hermione pounded the sofa angrily: "Can't they see anything other than power? If they said they were under the Imperius Curse, I would believe it, but no!"

Loren read slowly: "Maybe they believed it, at least hesitated for a few seconds, but they didn't care."

"The Ministry of Magic should really remove them from their positions. The current system is so flawed!"

"Wait until you become Minister of Magic..."

"I'm not kidding you!"

"Neither do I……"

Despite the noise, the two were still calm. After all, Fudge and Umbridge didn't dare to murder Harry openly. In fact, if they were put on the duel stage with Harry, it was not certain who would come out on their feet... They didn't use the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic to arrest Harry, and could only secretly use the Dementors, a non-human creature that couldn't speak.

Loren and Hermione discussed it for a while, and finally decided to write a letter to Dumbledore.

……

The fourth Friday in July, the day before the regular Ministry of Magic staff go on holiday.

Before leaving get off work, three people from the minister's office got together to check documents.

Bertha Jorkins stood beside the desk, her eyes dull but her ears perked up, eavesdropping carefully on the conversation between Senior Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge and Minister Cornelius Fudge, because she had made a few jokes in the past few days and the two ministers completely thought she was a brainless fool and were planning to let her do chores in the office.

But she was the only one who knew that those things were not caused by her lack of memory. Instead, she recalled the unknown secrets of several employees and was distracted and lost her composure for a moment, which led to the funny things.

After signing the routine weekend documents, Fudge put down his quill and looked at the smiling senior deputy minister opposite him:

“Dolores.”

Umbridge stopped writing and looked up at him.

Fudge looked at her deeply, and after a moment of silence, he said, "Azkaban submitted a work document for July. They said that you had been to the prison in person and took away two Dementors. These two Dementors showed signs of fighting after returning to the island."

Umbridge's smile faded, and she glanced at Jorkins who was dazed beside her, and said in a pretentious and delicate voice, "Yes, after I left that day, I did go to Azkaban and give orders to those two dirty guys."

Fudge couldn't help but ask, "Didn't I reject that proposal? Why did you disobey my order? Aren't you afraid that it would ruin our reputation? Don't forget Crouch's lesson!"

"Dear Minister..." Umbridge replied flatteringly, "I just want to solve the problem for you once and for all. I admit that I made a mistake of being self-righteous, but this also happens to prove Dumbledore's sinister plan."

"What do you mean?"

"The two Dementors were injured and fled back to Azkaban, but the traces left in the Hogwarts archives were not touched, and we did not receive any lawsuit from Harry Potter for violating the "Reasonable Restraint of Underage Wizards Act", which means that other wizards saved him."

"Dumbledore?"

"It's not him." Umbridge shook her head. "Don't you understand? Dumbledore assigned wizards unknown to us to hide beside Potter. It belongs to his power, a power we don't know about."

Fudge looked furious.

"He has been using Hogwarts to build up his power. He wants to seize your power, and even...even overthrow the rule of the Ministry of Magic! Fortunately, I noticed this in time, and we can do this..." Jorkins glanced at the minister who was being fooled and fell into deep thought.

……

Hampstead Gardens.

The last day of July.

Dumbledore's reply finally arrived.

After not seeing him for a few days, the spectacled owl Hanhan had become visibly rounder, but he could still land lightly on the windowsill. His feathers were shiny and smooth, and in his beak was a thick letter with the familiar Hogwarts logo on the envelope.

Loren took the envelope and glanced at it. His heart moved, and he flipped open the envelope with his fingers, and found two pieces of parchment inside, one addressed to Hermione and the other to him.

He put away the letter to Hermione and opened his own letter:

Dear Loren,

I know you may be eagerly waiting for my reply, but I'm afraid I can't send the letter out immediately - the Ministry of Magic has taken some measures to monitor Hogwarts, and Fudge and Umbridge have persuaded the school board, or the Death Eaters on the school board to cooperate with them, and there are also Death Eaters among the monitoring staff of the Ministry of Magic.

Fortunately, we were prepared, and your kindness has given us another friend in the Ministry of Magic.

Minerva rejected many of the arguments, but in order to avoid wasting the strength of the same position before the real war began, I persuaded Minerva to make some concessions, and this letter was sent by mail with the admission notice for the new students.

I learned about Harry's encounter with the Dementors. Your foresight saved a lot of unnecessary trouble. You know what I mean. Trace avoided a troublesome trial...

Now, there is one more thing that needs your help. We will discuss the details when we meet.

Finally, I wish you a happy birthday in advance.

PS: Please go to the Dursleys' house next Thursday afternoon. Alastor will bring people to escort Harry to a safe place. You can come together. Your birthday present will be given later."

When Loren saw the last sentence, he remembered that today was Harry's birthday. He picked up the owl on the windowsill and walked into the house.

"Huh?" Hanhan tilted his head.

"Look at you. You've gained so much weight in the past few days. It's just right for me to bring a candy package to Privet Drive to send birthday wishes."

"Gu!" The little guy widened his eyes, as if blaming someone for abusing the owl and going out to work again just after coming back.

"Well, Little Whinging is very near. At your speed you can fly there in an hour."

"Cuckoo!"

"It's not far at all. It's always been this distance. Sometimes I have to look for the reasons in myself. Have I worked hard to exercise over the years? Have I controlled my diet?"

Loren sent Hanhan to take the candy gift package to wish Privet Drive a happy new life, while he himself delivered Hermione's letter to next door.

That night, several parents knew that they were about to leave, and they started nagging and worrying again, saying that they could continue to go to magic school in the future, and that if it was too dangerous, they should stay at home, go to a regular middle school and take the college entrance examination, and they could still return to the wizarding world in the future.

"At worst, I can just take a few years off from school..."

Mr. and Mrs. Granger kept nagging from the time dinner was served until they finished dessert, but they were still persuaded by Grandpa Bates to help the two pack their luggage, and then watched the two put a bunch of things into the pendant.

In the next two days, Monica kept dragging the two of them to buy clothes for the new year. Wendell and Grandpa Bates became drivers and free labor, following the three of them carrying large and small bags every day.

It wasn't until August 8th that the five of them had some free time and found a restaurant to celebrate Loren's birthday.

Victorian style restaurant, nice looking but not very tasty.

After dinner, Monica picked up the candles and placed them on the cake one by one, carefully avoiding the fruits and chocolates on top. She turned her head and asked, "Loren, Hermione, you are not going back to school on August 8th, but going to your principal's house first to help with some work, right?"

Hermione handed over a candle, "It's probably not the headmaster's house, and I'm not sure if it's the school. The letter just said a safe place."

"So are you guys going home before school starts?"

"Probably not. I might come back during the Christmas holiday."

"I said the same thing in the past two years, but in the end, I didn't really come back in any of those years."

"Isn't this an unexpected situation?" Loren took a spoon and quietly reached out to scrape the cream and honey on the side of the cake. He took it back and took a sip, squinting his eyes in satisfaction.

Just as he was about to take another spoonful, Bates glanced at him and slapped the back of his hand.

Loren immediately turned his head and argued unconvincedly: "Can't I eat my birthday cake?"

"Not now," Bates said flatly.

"..."

Loren didn't bother with him. He sat down next to Hermione and played with the restaurant's special low-temperature fruit-scented candles with her: "It smells sweet. Can I eat it?"

"No."

Hermione handed Monica a candle, glanced at his expression, and knew that today's food was not to his taste. She took out a piece of chocolate from her pocket and handed it to him. Seeing that he was playing with the candle with both hands, she was silent for a moment, then tore open the package and fed it into his mouth.

"Well……"

Handmade chocolate, a little light in sweetness, but rich in cocoa aroma.

Loren rubbed the girl's fingers for fun, then dodged and slapped her nimbly, with a set of movements smoother than chocolate.

Bates's eyes twitched as he watched.

Even though the boy was his own family, he still felt it was shameless to watch, especially since the girl's parents were arranging birthday candles for him. If he was caught and beaten up, he wouldn't have the face to stop it.

After reacting, she quickly pulled the brat to the corner and whispered to him in a distressed tone, "What did you do just now? I wanted to beat you up when I saw you. I've told you many times not to tease Hermione!"

Loren actually felt ashamed for a moment.

(End of this chapter)