Harry Potter and the Burnt Badger

Several black wizards from the Crow Party stood under the tree and stared at the small shop silently. The woman's face had complicated and difficult-to-understand emotions, and the expressions of the other people became increasingly ugly.

"How are we going to tell Rodriguez?" one person muttered. "Just tell him?"

"No need to explain, I have already seen it." The tall man holding a long pipe in his mouth, Rodriguez, was standing behind several dark wizards at some point, and he quietly walked out of the shadows of the dense forest. , his eyes were also staring at the completely charred hut, "There's no one there, right."

Rodriguez's eyes showed a bit of sarcasm, "Good luck will not always favor someone. It seems that this sentence is also valid for us."

He raised his hand to take off the pipe and tapped it twice on the tree nearby.

"Ta-ta--"

The ashes of the tobacco leaves fell and flew into the distance with the wind. No dark wizard dared to look back at him. Everyone looked ahead silently, waiting for Rodriguez to speak again - but he never spoke a word. None, not even a sound was made after the knocking of the pipe.

Ten seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds...

A minute later, the woman turned and looked back. Rodriguez had disappeared again, as if he had never been there.

Continuous disembodiment sonic booms sounded, and the dark wizards left one after another. The crows with bladed feet on the trees fluttered their wings. After spreading their wings, their bodies were made of carrion and broken feathers. The body was completely revealed, and there were even scattered fine feathers stained with dirty blood foam falling from the body.

Another gust of wind blew by, and the fine feathers were blown into the distance. The burned hut on the ground suddenly collapsed, completely turning into a pile of ruins that could no longer be saved.

…………

Feeling that the magic he had set earlier was gradually losing its effectiveness, Mr. Rishi sighed with emotion, and then said sincerely to Golov: "Sir, please help me thank Master Moon. If he hadn't reminded me, If you tell me, I am afraid that my family and I will die at the hands of the black wizards of the Crow Party tonight."

"You don't have to be so polite. You have worked for the Shafiq family for so many years. We have the obligation to protect you when something like this happens." Golov rubbed the pocket watch in his hand and said with a smile: "The situation is special recently. There is no way. We deserve this thank you for helping you keep your store. But don’t worry, we will fully support you if you encounter any difficulties in opening a new store in the future. We will also fully support the account attacked by these crow gang members. I will get them all back.”

Mr. Rishi didn't be polite or make any excuses. He just happily accepted Golov's help, and then bowed and said: "No matter what, Master Moon did save our family's life. This thank you is still necessary." Yes. Thank you for your help, sir. I will take my leave now."

Golov nodded gently, watched Mr. Rich leave, then gently put down his pocket watch and picked up the letter signed by Albus Percival Dumbledore in front of him.

At the same time, in the ward on the fifth floor of St. Mungo's, Nora pushed the door in and came to An's side. While looking at Munn in surprise and approval, she whispered softly: "The people from the Crow Party are indeed right. Mr. and Mrs. Xi's shop has taken action, and the magic Mr. Rishi has set in it has been completely destroyed. I'm afraid they burned the entire shop to ashes."

Moon was not surprised at all. He wrote the last word of the reply, put it in his pocket, and then began to pack up his quill and ink. "I had already felt an obvious mood swing by the river at that time. , someone is obviously spying there. The people who would be spying there are nothing more than Aurors from the Ministry of Magic or dark wizards from the Crow Party. The latter is obviously more likely. So I once doubted whether Mr. Rich had already They were bribed, but when only my mother and I were there, they could have taken action directly, and it was because of this that I put aside my suspicion of Mr. Rishi."

"Although I don't know how that person hid, and even my mother and Mr. Rishi didn't notice it, but..." Moon shrugged, "It's not important. Unfortunately, I was just worried that they would take action, but I didn't expect that they would really do it." It’s stupid to take action, but it’s not all good news for us.”

Nora nodded in agreement, "Indeed, they must have noticed that there was no one in the shop, so they must have judged that their spying had been discovered. What you delivered at that time was all false news."

As soon as she finished speaking, Nora suddenly walked up to Munn and rubbed Munn's head vigorously. "Not bad, Munn. He's getting better every year."

Moon helplessly took care of his messy hair, without any thought of protest. An stood aside and looked at the two of them with a smile, and then looked worriedly at Edgar on the hospital bed.

Nora soon noticed An's worried eyes. She slowly sat down next to An and gently patted An's back. "It's okay. Edgar will wake up. He won't." I’m willing to die like this.”

An was silent. After a moment, she raised her head and barely raised a smile.

In the face of disaster, comfort always seems very weak.Because no matter what kind of words, there is no way to save the already collapsed situation.Just like Edgar, who is weak and sleeping in the hospital bed at this moment. No matter how much everyone believes in him and those who try their best to save him, they can't really let Edgar stand up and make faces at everyone. He smiled and said that he was just lying to everyone. In fact, he had nothing wrong with him.

And An is the one who understands this point most clearly.

Her husband was lying in that cold cemetery for more than ten years. Some people comforted her before the funeral, and some people comforted her after the funeral. But the comfort was just comfort, and it was only comfort. It may be comfort, but it can never bring any substantial help. Both the person who comforts and the person being comforted know this very well.

Comfort cannot help those who are suffering get better, nor can it help those who are sinking out of trouble. Comfort is like the wind passing through the hall, or the thunder without rain. After you have said it and heard it, it will still be the same.

But sometimes people still need sincere comfort, not to relieve suffering, but to bring a little light to people's hearts, even just a little bit.

An stretched out his hand to smooth his long hair, took a deep breath, and tried to stay calm as much as possible. "So, after that, we can only wait, right."

Nora hesitated, but finally nodded.

Moon looked at her mother who was pretending to be strong with distress, and grabbed the pocket watch in her pocket with her right hand.

Crow Party...

…………

The moon sets and the sun rises, and then another moon sets and the sun rises.

Gorov and Nora took turns returning home during the past two days to deal with the things that had to be dealt with and take care of the several children at home.An and Moon stayed in the ward, and from time to time communicated with the therapist who came to check on Edgar's condition and changes in the past two days.Everyone remains calm in front of others, and only when they are only surrounded by their family can they reveal some of their inner depression.

For two consecutive days, St. Mungo's therapists had tried more than ten different healing spells and four different potions on Edgar.Unfortunately, all had little effect. Edgar's body was still wasting away, and the color on his face never recovered.One of the therapists explained Edgar's current situation to them the next evening. Like Snape, they also believed that Edgar's body was like a melting pot at this time. These vicious and weird curses all converged, constantly destroying Edgar's spirit and body.

The therapists had been planning for a long time and thought of various methods, but they could only suppress part of the curse every time.Once the curse is not completely removed at the same time, the effectiveness of the healing spells and potions they used will be quickly emptied, and the suppressed black magic will immediately reoccupy Edgar's body.

Although the therapists had spoken very implicitly, none of them were fools. Who could not understand that they meant that there was nothing they could do about Edgar?

Before leaving, the therapist hesitated and told them that Edgar had definitely endured many Cruciatus Curses. Under such circumstances, even if Edgar could wake up one day, he would probably be like the same person. Like the Longbottoms on the fifth floor, they can only live crazy forever.

In the past two days, Moon only left the ward once or twice, so he did not see the Longbottoms. However, twice, he heard the therapist calling Alice Long from the corridor through the door. The name Barton.

After the therapist left, Golov sat silently on the sofa for a long time. Ann couldn't help but go to the bathroom and sobbed softly. Moon looked at Uncle Edgar on the hospital bed for a long time, then suppressed his anger and continued to read. Looking at the grimoire, I hope that I can get the favor of any god and get a powerful spell to dispel curses, or any spell that can resurrect others.

In fact, they still have a life-saving straw, and that is Severus Snape - he hasn't come yet, maybe he will think of something, after all, his attainments in potions are indeed extraordinary.

But Moon still hopes to be the first to find some way, so that even if Professor Snape is unable to do anything about the curse on Edgar, Moon can still save his uncle.

Unfortunately, the latest page in the grimoire reveals a complex and difficult new spell called "Wrath of Ages", which cannot dispel the curse or resurrect others.

For a moment, he felt for the first time that he could not read the words in the book at all.

When the moonlight was shining, Snape finally came to the ward. He was carrying a small wooden box and had a little bit of imperceptible fatigue on his face.It wasn't until he smelled a faint smell of wolfsbane potion from his body that Moon finally realized that today was actually a full moon night.

As soon as he entered the room, Snape stuffed the wooden box in his hand into Moon's arms, and then said softly: "Unfortunately, I have to tell you a very terrible thing."

Ann turned away from Snape and covered her mouth with her hands, trying to suppress the feeling of sadness boiling in her heart.Golov's hand shook slightly. He looked at Moon, who was standing silently, and then at An. After taking a deep breath, he finally said: "You tell me, no matter what the result is, I will Think… I guess we all have to accept it, don’t we.”

Snape seemed to want to say a 'smart move' out of habit, but when he saw Munn clutching his wooden box tightly, with the veins on the back of his hands exposed, he still chose He stopped his mouth that was about to open and paused for two seconds before finally saying: "Edgar Shafiq's death has been...determined."

There was a brief sob, the lights in the room suddenly flickered, the window glass began to tremble, and even cracks began to appear.

Golov closed his eyes, calmed his breathing as much as possible, waved his wand to stabilize the flickering lights, and then said in a deep voice: "Is there no hope at all?"

"Three months." Snape looked at Munn, raised his hand and knocked on the wooden box in Munn's hand. Munn exhaled a breath, turned around knowingly, put the box on the cabinet, and gently opened the lid of the box. Open.

The glass no longer trembled, but it was already covered with cracks unknowingly.

Snape waved his wand, and a tube of alternating cyan and purple potions floated out of the box. "Let Edgar Shafik take this tube of potion, and he should wake up in a few days." . But... from the moment he took the potion, he only had three months to live. After three months, he would definitely die no matter what, and no one could save him. If his condition continues If it's better, this time can actually be extended a little longer, and I can also use some methods to contain the curse in part of his body, so that he can at least live as normal a person as possible, but his condition is really too bad. , I can’t do anything.”

"Or..." Snape waved his wand again, and the tube of potion returned to the box and lay down. "You can also choose not to let him drink the potion. In this way, his survival time cannot be estimated. Maybe He may die tomorrow, or he may die in a year, two years, or even ten years. But in that case, he will hardly be able to wake up and will have to fall asleep in the hospital bed forever."

There was silence in the ward.

There is great terror between life and death, not only your own life and death, but also the life and death of your family members.

Seeing that no one could make an immediate decision, Snape put away his wand and whispered: "I'll leave the potion here, and you can decide for yourself. If you don't plan to use the potion on Edgar Shafig , after the Christmas vacation, just ask Fox to bring the potion back to school."

Chapter 82 The End of St. Mungo's

The great Muggle playwright, William Shakespeare, once wrote a classic soliloquy in his classic play "Hamlet" that has been passed down to this day:

"Tobe,ornottobe,thatisthequestion."

Survival or destruction, this is a question, although for Golov, An and Moon, what they decide now is Edgar's life and death, and there is no nobler distinction between the two.But precisely because of this, the problem has become particularly difficult.

On one side is a life of three months, at least with a clear consciousness, and then you have to welcome the embrace of death; on the other side is an unpredictable length of life, but you can only lie in bed in confusion, waiting in the process of gradual decay. I don’t know if there is an unknown hope.

No one can make this decision happily, because this decision is related to Edgar's life. If possible, this responsibility should obviously be left to Edgar himself to make the decision, but the problem is, this is impossible.Therefore, the responsibility naturally fell into the hands of the three Golovs, and they could not shirk or escape.

Golov walked to the side of the small wooden box and gently rubbed the tube of magic potion placed on the soft cloth lining inside. There was no expression on his face and no sparkle in his eyes.

As the head of the family and Edgar's eldest brother, this decision should be made by him.

No matter which one he chose, he felt as if he was sending Edgar to the guillotine with his own hands.

Moon looked at Uncle Edgar silently, weighing the pros and cons in his mind.To be fair, he hoped to let Uncle Edgar drink the potion, because he felt that even Uncle Edgar himself would make this choice.What's more, a certain three months is better than being frightened every day and discovering that the person on the hospital bed has quietly passed away one day - even this time may be far less than three months.

But this requires that Moon must find a way to save Uncle Edgar or resurrect him within three months.

After thinking about it, it seems that this is also a gamble, because no one can guarantee what the next page of the grimoire will be, and what the next page will be.Between the two, it's hard to even say which one has a greater probability.

After a long time, Golov finally put down the potion, turned around silently, and looked at Edgar.

Then, he whispered: "Give him a drink. I think Edgar will make the same choice."

Two lines of tears fell silently on An's cheeks. She nodded, walked to the box, picked up the potion, and gently pulled out the stopper.An unpleasant, choking smell wafted out from inside, and there were even a few wisps of light purple smoke floating up and down around the medicine tube, vaguely pointing to Edgar's direction, as if he was in Edgar's direction. It was as if I felt some kind of temptation on my body.

Golov sat sideways next to the hospital bed, put his arms around Edgar's head, and lifted his upper body up a little. Then he reached out and took out his wand, and slowly passed it over the medicine tube that An handed over.

Following the guidance of the wand, the potion flowed out bit by bit from the transparent tube and headed towards Edgar's lips.

From the time the potion began to slowly sink into Edgar's mouth, until all the potion was completely drunk, Golov's hand holding the wand was always very steady. When he personally turned the countdown to his brother's life to three months After that, his hand finally shook almost imperceptibly.

An gently held Golov's palm with her free hand. Although she was still crying, the hand she held Golov looked very firm, as if she wanted to use this A way to tell Golov that his choice was not wrong.

Enduring the feeling of soreness in his nose, Moon turned and walked out of the ward, leaving the remaining time to the three siblings.In other words, he left himself some time alone - he really didn't want another person in the ward to cry.

The Auror at the door was still guarding the door dutifully. Moon walked along the corridor to the window at the end. He wanted to stand here quietly for a while to calm down, but suddenly the familiar voice of the therapist came from behind him. shouts.

"Alice! Alice, where are you? Come here and take medicine!"

Moon turned around, just in time to see a gray-haired woman being grabbed by the wrist by a therapist and being slowly led to the ward.

The ward was not far from where Moon was. Looking at the woman's back, he suddenly had an urge to follow her and have a look at her.However, before he could really take a step forward, two figures that annoyed him came out of the elevator.

Cornelius Fudge, and Dolores Umbridge.

Of course Moon knew that the two of them would come sooner or later, and the Aurors at the door were not just for free. Since Professor Snape was sent by Professor Dumbledore to check on Uncle Edgar's situation and got Fudge's permission, then Snape When Professor Pu came here for the second time, Fudge would definitely get the news from the Aurors and come over.

But what he didn't expect was that Fudge would be so eager - how long had Professor Snape been gone? 5 minutes? 10 minutes?

Things turned out exactly as I thought.

Moon looked at Fudge's figure hurriedly towards the ward coldly, and finally confirmed everything.What else could be that could make Fudge feel so concerned, so nervous and anxious?It was obviously not possible that he was so worried and concerned about Uncle Edgar's condition because Uncle Edgar was an excellent employee of the Auror Office.

When I turned back, Neville's mother had already walked into the ward with the therapist.Moon sighed. He didn't want to go back to the ward, and he didn't want to see the ugly faces of Fudge and Umbridge, but he had to do it, not to mention that he was also a member of the family, just because Fudge might inadvertently According to the information revealed, he also needs to return to the ward to see what kind of magic these two people can do.

The door to the ward had been opened. Fudge, who was wearing a purple robe, and Umbridge, who was wearing a pink robe. One had his hands behind his back, and the other was carrying a small bag. They walked in quickly, with almost the same short and fat figure. They looked like two stone pillars.

Moon followed closely behind, quickening his pace, and entered the ward before the door closed.As soon as he entered, he heard Uncle Golov's voice, which was obviously about to lose its control: he said:

"Cornelly Fudge, if you spend so much time staring at St. Mungo's and my brother, you might as well put your energy into catching those dark wizards of the Crow Party, so that others can stop pointing out at you behind your back. Point out and say some nasty things.”

Before he could speak, Fudge suppressed all the drafts he had already made in his heart by these words, and his round face turned red.Umbridge, who was following him, widened her eyes, astonished as if she heard the most incredible words in the world - of course, in addition to being surprised, she also started to become angry.

"I remind you! Golov Shafik! The man standing before you is Cornelius Oswald Fudge! The current Minister of Magic! If you say anything like this again that is disrespectful and uneducated - "

"If I were you, I wouldn't say that word." An, standing next to the hospital bed, looked at Umbridge expressionlessly. Although her eyes were still a bit red and swollen, her pretty face looked frosty. But it still made her look powerful in a rare way.

"What do you mean!" Umbridge was furious and put her hand into her pocket, as if she couldn't wait to pull out her wand. "How dare you! How dare you! The entire Shafiq family! Not one of them People have respect for the Ministry of Magic and the Minister! I tell you! Your Shafiq family has-"

"Dolores!" Fudge shouted, raising his voice and reaching out to stop Umbridge's movements. At the same time, he glanced at Golov and Ann with deep meaning.Finally, this time he was satisfied and saw some surprise in their eyes.

"What did she mean by what she just said?" Golov looked at Fudge quietly and asked in a deep voice: "Fudge, you can let her finish what she said."

"Ha!" Fudge laughed briefly, as if with a hint of ridicule, but also as if he was simply trying to ease the increasingly tense atmosphere. "I don't think this is a good idea. You have to know, Golov, the Ministry We are still discussing, yes, we are still discussing, and I don’t completely agree with this decision - but you can’t always obstruct our work like this, otherwise, even if you have a position at MACUSA, I don’t think you can You should understand that you can do too much, right, Golov."

"I do not--"

Before Golov finished speaking, the door to the ward was opened again, and the figure that appeared at the door was completely beyond everyone's expectations.

"Ah, did I come at the wrong time?" The silver-haired old man wearing a plain white robe had a bit of doubt on his face, and his words were also full of confusion, but he just stood there, a little bit. I have no intention of turning around and leaving.

The moment he met Professor Dumbledore, Moon noticed that Fudge's face was stiff for a moment, but he quickly adjusted it and said with a slightly embarrassed smile: "Of course not, Dumbledore, you I came at the right time. I was discussing with Shafiq how to deal with his brother. If the news I got is correct, the Potions Professor, Severus Snape, has sent a weapon that can rescue Ed. Added potion."

"Process?" Professor Dumbledore smiled and nodded at the Aurors on both sides of the door, then walked into the ward and closed the door. "Rescue? Hmm... Mr. Minister, I think your information may not be that accurate. "

Fudge's face completely froze at this time.

"What do you mean?" he said.

Professor Dumbledore walked slowly to the bedside, not forgetting to give Moon a "reassuring" look, then looked at Edgar on the bed, sighed and said: "I'm sorry, Severus' I’m afraid the potion won’t have the effect he expected—”

The old man took out the wand from his sleeve and tapped Edgar's chest gently through the quilt. Suddenly, a loud and harsh crow sounded, which made everyone in the ward except the old man himself and Golov couldn't help it. He reached out and covered his ears.

The next moment, a strange black feather pattern began to appear on Edgar's forehead, but it quickly disappeared again.

"Look, I knew it, the people of the Crow Party..." The old man sighed, "Severus overlooked a small thing before. To be precise, he made a mistake, which caused poor Edgar's current situation. It was completely thought that it was caused by a mixture of multiple powerful curses. But he forgot that the dark wizards of the Crow Party like to carry out some dirty, taboo, and sensational transformations."

"The reason why Edgar has always left everyone helpless is because the dark wizards of the Crow Party carried out an incomplete transformation on him. They drove the magic, but did not attack Edgar's body. This incomplete transformation Transformation is the fundamental reason why he has been sleeping."

Fudge barely maintained his expression, "So, what you are saying, Dumbledore, are you trying to tell me that Edgar Shafik will not be able to wake up even if he drinks Snape's potion?"

"I'm afraid so, Minister." Dumbledore bowed slightly.

The corners of Golov's eyes were twitching. He supported An beside him and patted An's back gently.

Fudge's chest rose and fell rapidly twice, and his left hand in his pocket was clenched tightly. The minister glanced at everyone in the ward except Umbridge with a look of confusion. "This is really regrettable news. I I think I have to announce with regret that Edgar Shafiq is related to a vital secret of the Ministry of Magic. Since he cannot wake up, I have to take this step."

"Starting from tomorrow, Edgar Shafik will be under intensive protection, and other members of the Shafik family must also stay in the Shafik Manor and receive the same protection until Edgar Shafik wakes up or Death. From now on, until sunrise tomorrow, anyone who attempts to leave the protection of Aurors will be regarded as a traitor who has surrendered to the dark wizard and will be sent to Azkaban."

"As for the MACUSA, I will negotiate with you."

After saying that, Fudge waved his sleeves heavily, like a victorious rooster, and led Umbridge out of the ward with his head held high. Before leaving, he also left a message: "Enjoy your last reunion time." Well, after sunrise tomorrow, you don’t want to see Edgar Shafiq again.”

"At least Edgar... was rescued, right." An forced a smile. "Being monitored by Aurors in St. Mungo's is better than being in the hands of a dark wizard."