days at Hogwarts

Chapter 528 Dinner Appetizer
"They are still tight-lipped and refuse to say anything. I still can't figure out whether they believe he is back. They probably don't want to support any side and don't want to get involved in this."

Bill, the eldest son of the Weasley family, still had his long ponytail tied in his hair. He unfolded a roll of parchment in his hand and tilted his head to whisper the situation to Arthur. Although he was dressed extravagantly, his temperament was more calm and reliable.

"Oh, that's a possibility," Arthur mused, pushing up his horn-rimmed glasses, the light reflecting off his head.

"I believe they will never side with the You-Know-Who. They have suffered heavy losses. Remember the goblin family he killed last time? They were near Nottingham?"

"That may not be the case, Bill. It depends on the price they are offered. I'm not talking about gold. If someone offers them the freedom we have refused to give them for centuries, they will not be able to resist the temptation... Anyway, is there still no hope for Gagno?"

"He's still emotionally repelled by wizards. He's still furious about Bagman and thinks the Ministry covered up the truth. You know, the goblins never got their gold from him."

"..."

Loren and his companions pricked up their ears and listened attentively, with thoughtful glances in their eyes.

It looks like Ludo Bagman hasn't paid off his gambling debts yet...

What Bill and Arthur discussed... seemed to be the progress of the Order of the Phoenix in winning over the goblins. It sounded like the goblins were still waiting and watching, perhaps waiting for a good price.

The goblins probably lived in peace for too long and forgot Voldemort and the Death Eaters' philosophy of pure-blood supremacy. In their eyes, goblins and non-human creatures are even lower than Muggles. If they really turn to Voldemort for short-term benefits...

"Cough cough..."

Molly saw the father and son chatting animatedly and cleared her throat vigorously, "Harry is here, along with Loren and Hermione!"

The Weasleys finally woke up from their dreams. Bill hurriedly put away the parchment on the table. Arthur turned around and smiled awkwardly, "Oh, long time no see, Harry. So, Mad-Eye didn't ask you to go to Greenland first and then come back?"

"Yes, that's what he wanted to do..."

"How was your meeting, what was Snape just talking about?"

"Oh, Dad, when is dinner? My tummy can't wait..."

A bunch of young wizards, who were feeling extremely depressed, opened their eyes wide, not willing to miss the opportunity to gather information. They all rushed to the front of the long table, saying warm words of greeting, but their eyes were fixed on the parchment. When they found that the parchment full of characters was too tiring for the eyes, they all turned to the parchment with the drawings on it.

Loren also looked at the parchment with great interest, hoping to see some useful information.

Most of the content was in the form of reports. I only had time to read a few scattered sentences at a quick glance:
"Walton McNeill has been lingering outside the Department of Mysteries for a long time, suspected of trying to find out..."

"Lucius Malfoy has close ties with several wizarding families..."

"There are unknown wizards wandering in the waters of Azkaban..."

Poor Bill only had two hands, but there were twelve rolls of parchment on the table. How could he cover them all? He only had time to put away a few papers in front of him that might be speeches or intelligence. The rest were some floor plans that looked like buildings that they saw.

Hermione saw a piece of intelligence about giants, and could not hide her excitement. She unconsciously clenched Loren's hand and muttered, "Hagrid and Madam Maxime have arrived, presented the gifts successfully, and are negotiating with the giant Gogo..."

When Bill heard her muttering, his face turned pale with fright. He hurriedly drew out his wand and said "Disappear" to all the parchments. Only then did the little wizards withdrew their eager gazes in disappointment and slowly sat down one by one.

"I heard someone say they were very hungry..." Molly clenched her fists, her motherly fist ready to move. She gritted her teeth and forced a smile, "Sit down for a while, kids. Dinner will be ready soon."

"Let me help you..." Arthur smiled cautiously and followed.

Soon, a set of heavy knives began to automatically cut meat and chop vegetables under Arthur's supervision. Plates, goblets and knives and forks floated out of the ancient cupboards automatically. Molly stirred a large pot floating on the fire, and the aroma of food began to spread.

The two twins who shouted the loudest kept silent in tacit agreement. They lowered their heads to tidy up the messy table. They heard and saw nothing, as if they were not the ones who had just shouted that they were hungry and held Arthur down.

George and Fred were very experienced and knew very well that they should not offend their mother at this time. After dinner, the matter was over.

Ron and Ginny followed suit, obediently taking plates, goblets, and food from the pantry.

Sitting at the end of the long table were other children, Loren and Hermione. Both of them pursed their lips, one with the corner of her mouth raised, and the other with curved eyebrows, both trying their best to restrain their smiles.

"My dear friends, welcome to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix..."

Bill shook his head. "I know it's hard for you to control your curiosity, because I've been through the same thing. During the First Wizarding War, I was even younger than you. My parents kept me at home all day looking after my brothers who were still wetting the bed..."

Fred retorted indignantly, "Hey, tell me which brother it is?"

"We were both able to take care of ourselves at that time!" George nodded heavily.

"I can't remember, maybe it was Percy." Bill curled his lips and casually put the blame on his brother who was not present. "It's not that we deliberately concealed the truth from you, but Dumbledore specifically instructed us to keep it secret from you, especially you, Harry..."

Harry's face turned pale.

"So, we were implicated by Harry?" Ron added stupidly.

Harry's face turned even paler.

Bill put his right fist to his mouth to hide his uncontrollable smile, and said softly: "By the way, you have met Mundungus, right?"

"Who's calling my name?"

Mundungus muttered in a daze, fiddled with the rags for a few times, and suddenly stretched out a dirty hand, as if to vote, his eyelids drooped weakly, and the eyes that were barely opened were full of red bloodshot, "I agree with Bill..."

"The meeting is over, Dunge, Harry is here."

"Hmm? Oh, yes, here comes Harry..."

Mundungus looked through the messy ginger hair and saw the people around him. Perhaps his mind was not fully awake yet, so he fumbled in his pockets with his hands a little uneasy, and took out a dirty black pipe. After lighting it with his magic wand, he held the mouthpiece and took a deep breath, slowly exhaling large streams of green smoke. It smelled stinky, as if someone's smelly socks were burnt.

"I'm reminding you one last time, Mundungus, can you please not smoke that thing in the kitchen, especially when we're about to have dinner!" Molly's roar came from the stove.

"Oh, ok, sorry Molly!"

Mundungus quickly put out his pipe, stuffed it into his pocket, and shrunk his head dejectedly. "Harry, are you okay?"

"pretty good."

Mundungus felt even more embarrassed. He took out his pipe again, but did not light it. Instead, he rubbed it gently with his fingers: "I have to apologize to you. I should have stayed there, but those crucibles will not sell for a high price if they are not sold now..."

The short and fat wizard with an unshaven beard was muttering some irrelevant business talk, and a strong stench of tobacco and alcohol wafted from his body.

It was not the first time that Loren met this veteran of the Order of the Phoenix. As early as in the inn next to the Albanian forest, he saw Dumbledore talking to him from afar.

A low-class second-hand dealer who worked part-time for some half-decent wizards to deal with some items of unknown origin. Or it would be more accurate to describe it as selling stolen goods. Most of the items he sold were not valuable, such as smuggled and confiscated flying carpets, rusty crucibles found in the warehouse of a pharmacy, and defective products made by alchemy apprentices...

Because he had been hanging around at the bottom of the wizarding world for many years, he had met many liars and thieves in the wizarding world, and could hear information that ordinary people could not hear. For this reason, Dumbledore accepted him into the Order of the Phoenix. His position was quite firm, but that was the only advantage. Other members looked down on this trafficker to some extent.

He is not a good person in the conventional sense, but he has the wisdom of a small person to protect himself. He has been in the chaotic Knockturn Alley for a long time, but he has not been involved in any cases. His own magic power is not strong, but he was able to survive the First Wizarding War intact.

By calculation, he has not yet resold Slytherin's locket...

"Children, this is not an unforgivable mistake, right? I am not the bad guy you think. I am just a small vendor, and those things are not stolen by me... By the way, if you have any gadgets you want to sell, I may be able to provide some insignificant help..."

George and Fred's eyes lit up.

As they were talking, the other dinner guests had calmed down the trouble upstairs and were coming down to attend the banquet. Sirius walked in front, followed by Lupin and Tonks.

The three of them had heavy expressions on their faces and said nothing, as if they were very unhappy with the portrait of the old witch just now.

"It's nice to meet you, Loren, Hermione, and...Harry."

Sirius came to the table and sat down. His face was haggard and his thin lips were bloodless, almost as pale as his cheeks. When he read the last name, there was finally a smile on his face and he seemed to come alive.

"I've heard about the Dementors and the Trace. Thanks to you, Loren, otherwise things would be very troublesome."

Loren nodded slightly, not wanting to speak.

Sirius didn't care about his indifference. He turned to look at his godson and smiled more gently: "You have grown taller, Harry, and look a lot like your father James when he was young..."

"Really?" Harry hesitated, as if he didn't know what to say. "How was your summer? Are you really planning to postpone the wedding?"

Sirius' eyes dimmed and he pursed his lips: "You know, I'm really surprised by you. I thought the first thing you did when you got here was to ask about Voldemort."

The atmosphere in the room suddenly changed, as if a Dementor had passed by, bringing a cold shudder.

Mundungus' boasting voice was stuck in his throat, and he kept glancing over here, without moving his neck. Tonks, who was teasing Ginny with Metamorphmagus, also stopped and looked over here cautiously. The flame on the stove went out, the gurgling sound of the stew stopped, and only the clinking sound of chopping meat remained on the chopping board.

Harry was silent for a moment: "I asked Ron and the others, but they said we were not approved to join the Order of the Phoenix, so..."

"They are right, you are too young." Molly ran out from the stove in an apron, her fists clenched tightly, staring at Sirius vigilantly.

Sirius raised his eyelids. "Since when do we have to join the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions? Harry has been trapped in that Muggle house for a whole month. He has the right to know what happened..."

Hearing what he meant, George's eyes widened and he immediately complained loudly: "Wait, why can Harry's question be answered?"

"We've been trying to get something out of you for a month, but you won't tell us anything!" Fred asked angrily.

Sirius replied calmly: "No one told you what the Order of the Phoenix was doing. It's not my fault. It was your parents' decision. But it's different for Harry..."

Molly snapped, "It's not up to you to decide what's good for Harry! I don't think you've forgotten what Dumbledore said, have you?"

"Which part?"

"That is not telling Harry what he doesn't need to know."

"I'm only going to tell Harry what he needs to know, Molly!"

"He's not even a member of the Order of the Phoenix yet! He's only fifteen!"

"..."

The Weasleys' heads flicked back and forth between Sirius and Molly, as if they were watching a tennis match. Ginny, clutching her Butterbeer cork, stared at the conversation with her mouth slightly open. Lupin stared at Sirius without blinking, and Tonks looked at Molly.

Hermione was stunned, watching the two people's lips constantly opening and closing, listening to the fierce quarrels one after another, and vaguely felt another kind of absurdity that was detached from reality. They flew from London for several hours to get here, and the appetizer for dinner was a hysterical quarrel.

"It looks like there's still some time before dinner starts..."

Loren's gentle and calm voice sounded, as if the howling wind was isolated outside the window, and Hermione suddenly woke up from her trance for some reason. "We can take care of other things first."

Hermione blinked, suddenly remembering the news she heard when she accepted Sirius' wedding invitation last semester. She glanced at the quarrel over there and nodded slightly.

While everyone's attention was on the two people arguing in front, Loren and Hermione quietly slipped away from the end of the long table, and under the cover of dim lights, walked towards the stairs leading to the entrance hall.

(End of this chapter)