Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Neville dumped the toad into Harry’s lap and took a quill from his schoolbag.

Harry, Luna, and Ginny all watched Neville’s actions. He held the Mimbulus mimbletonia up to his eyes, his tongue between his teeth, chose his spot, and gave the plant a sharp prod with the tip of his quill.

The next second, liquid squirted from every boil on the Mimbulus mimbletonia, thick, stinking, dark-green jets of it; they hit the ceiling, the windows of the compartment, and spattered Luna Lovegood’s magazine.

Ginny, who had fortunately flung her arms up in front of her face just in time, merely looked as though she was wearing a slimy green hat. The liquid ran down her beautiful hair, her eyes were closed tightly, and she looked confused.

But Harry was miserable. His hands had been busy preventing the escape of Trevor, and he received a face full. It smelled like rancid manure.

In front of him, Neville, whose face and torso were also drenched, shook his head to get the worst out of his eyes.

That was the defense mechanism of the Mimbulus mimbletonia. When prodded, a substance called Stinksap was squirted out from the boils on the surface of the plant. The effect was amazing.

“S-sorry,” Neville gasped. “I haven’t tried that before… Didn’t realize it would be quite so … Don’t worry, though, Stinksap’s not poisonous,” he added nervously, as Harry spat a mouthful onto the floor.

At that precise moment, the door of their compartment slid open.

“Oh … hello, Harry,” said a nervous voice. “Um … bad time?”

Harry wiped the lenses of his glasses with his Trevor-free hand. A very pretty girl with long, shiny black hair was standing in the doorway smiling at him: Cho Chang, the Seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

“Oh … hi,” said Harry blankly.

“Um …” said Cho. “Well … just thought I’d say hello. Where are Evan and the others?”

“They’re in the prefects’ carriage. Evan is the new Head Boy,” said Ginny, wiping her hair with a tissue.

“Oh, the Head Boy!” Cho was quite surprised, and then reacted, “Well, goodbye then!”

She waved her hand, closed the door again, rather pink in the face, and departed.

Harry slumped back in his seat and groaned. He would have liked Cho to discover him sitting with a group of very cool people laughing their heads off at a joke he had just told; he would not have chosen to be sitting with Neville and Loony Lovegood, clutching a toad and dripping in Stinksap.

“Sorry,” said Neville again, in a small voice.

“Never mind,” said Ginny bracingly. “Look, we can get rid of all this easily.” She pulled out her wand. “Scourgify!”

The Stinksap vanished.

Facing one another in the compartment, they looked at the Mimbulus mimbletonia in the middle. This plant was really amazing!

It took another half an hour before Evan, Hermione, and Ron walked out of the prefects’ carriage.

The prefects had all accepted Evan becoming the Head Boy, at least in appearance. No one opposed him, and no one dared to disobey his orders, even the Slytherins.

But Malfoy’s attitude was indeed a bit strange. He’d even ignored Ron’s provocation, which was not in line with his style.

Evan soon discovered that during their meeting, the news that he’d become the Head Boy had rapidly spread among all the students.

When they saw him passing, everyone walked out of the compartments and looked at him, whispering.

What happened in the prefects’ carriage had spread throughout the train.

Obviously, he was famous again, and every student was talking about it.

“We should go around and take a look at the first-years,” said Hermione.

“Let me put my things first, Hermione. Besides, I’m starving. We can patrol after lunch.” Ron was dragging his heavy trunk while carrying a shrilly hooting Pigwidgeon in his cage.

“Well, let’s go and find Harry and Ginny first,” said Evan, not wanting to be watched by so many people.

When they walked into the compartment, Harry, Ginny, and Neville had finished their Pumpkin Pasties and were busy swapping Chocolate Frog cards.

Luna suddenly looked up with her protuberant eyes over her upside-down magazine again, watching Evan who walked in.

“Hello, Luna!” said Evan cheerfully, sitting beside her, “How was your summer vacation?”

“Very good,” said Luna dreamily, “I’ve heard you’re the Head Boy!”

“Yeah,” Evan waved his hand, as though it were just a trivial matter.

Looking at Luna’s expression, she seemed to think that this was a small matter and she didn’t care much.

“I read the report in the Quibbler, and my dad said they were lying.” Luna continued, “I didn’t have time to tell you last term. I support your statement. I believe what you and Harry said. I believe You-Know-Who is back.”

“Oh, thank you!” said Evan. Luna had always been keen on this kind of things, much keener than the others.

“By the way, you want to see it?” Luna handed the magazine to Evan. “This is my dad’s latest article, if you’re interested, you can put it in the newspaper, Dad said that’s OK.”

Evan took the magazine, the report read:

Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, denied that he had any plans to take over the running of the Wizarding Bank, Gringotts, when he was elected Minister for Magic five years ago. Fudge has always insisted that he wants nothing more than to “cooperate peacefully” with the guardians of our gold.

BUT DOES HE?

Sources close to the Minister have recently disclosed that Fudge’s dearest ambition is to seize control of the goblin gold supplies and that he will not hesitate to use force if need be.

“It wouldn’t be the first time, either,” said a Ministry insider. “Cornelius ‘Goblin-Crusher’ Fudge, that’s what his friends call him, if you could hear him when he thinks no one’s listening, oh, he’s always talking about the goblins and he’s had done in; he’s had them drowned, he’s had them dropped off buildings, he’s had them poisoned, he’s had them cooked in pies…”

“That’s really interesting, Cornelius ‘Goblin-Crusher’ Fudge,” said Evan with a smile, thinking this report was very interesting.

This kind of thing was really weird, in the same tone as usual. It couldn’t be true at all.

Fudge might have many faults, but not yet enough to have goblins cooked in pies.

“My dad recently sorted out the list of the goblins who died since Fudge was elected Minister,” said Luna. “Many goblins have died, and many are missing. He thinks these things are related to Fudge. …”

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