Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

“Seriously, what’s going on with him?” said Evan in surprise, sitting next to Hermione.

“Haven’t you heard about what happened in our Defense Against the Dark Arts class this afternoon? I thought the whole school knew by now.”

Thanks to Peeves, the news about Harry’s shouting match with Umbridge seemed to have traveled exceptionally fast even by Hogwarts standards.

Now, everyone in the Great Hall was whispering and discussing the matter. None of them seemed to mind Harry overhearing what they were saying. On the contrary, it was as though they were hoping he would get angry and start shouting again, so that they could hear his story firsthand.

But after Harry left and Evan arrived, these voices quickly turned into hushed whispers.

“Well, I heard that Harry was given detention by Umbridge this evening,” said Evan.

“More precisely, he’ll go to that woman’s room every evening of this week. It’s written in the note Harry was sent with to Professor McGonagall. Professor McGonagall also agreed. As his teacher, she has every right to give Harry detention.”

“I remember warning you at lunch, not to get excited, not to confront her face-to-face,” said Evan with a frown.

“You did say that, but who could hold back in that situation?” said Ron in frustration. “You have no idea. She belittled Professor Lupin, Sirius, and Mad-Eye right in front of us, calling Lupin a dangerous half-breed. Oh, I just don’t understand; how can Dumbledore have let this happen? How can the school employ someone who’s actually refusing to let us do magic as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? What’s Dumbledore playing at?”

“Just as a side note, otherwise that woman would come anyway,” said Evan. “Fudge would definitely interfere with Hogwarts, and this position allows her more convenience. No one wants the job of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor since it’s jinxed. But what she said about Lupin and the others was really going too far!”

“And that’s not the end of it; she’s trying to get people to spy for her. She said she wanted us to come and tell her if we hear anyone saying You-Know-Who’s back,” said Ron darkly.

“Of course she’s here to spy on us all, that’s obvious, why else would Fudge have wanted her to come?”

“Forget about that for now!” Evan quickly interjected. “What I don’t get is why Harry looked at me strangely just now.”

Hermione and Ron exchanged a nervous and uneasy glance.

“Well, how should I put it…? Harry thinks you’ve been too weak in this matter,” said Hermione cautiously, weighing her words. “He believes that we should speak the truth and reveal everything, instead of compromising with Umbridge and those who oppose us.”

“What does he want to do? Tell the truth, directly confront Umbridge and the students who oppose us, and drive out half the school from Hogwarts?” said Evan in astonishment. “I’m afraid even Dumbledore doesn’t have that ability.”

“But at the very least, we shouldn’t compromise. That’s probably what he’s thinking,” Hermione added. “Don’t blame him; Harry is just blinded by anger. It’s not just directed at you, Evan. I think he seems upset with Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall too.”

If that was the case, it was even worse. He couldn’t get angry with whoever didn’t support him or do things his way.

Harry already had this problem, and it seemed to be getting more serious now. Was it Voldemort’s influence?

Of course, Harry was not bad-natured. As long as he was given enough time to calm down or explain things to him calmly, he could understand what was going on. Unlike some people who couldn’t be reasoned with at all…

“Going on like this is not an option. We should really do something to that woman,” Ron looked around cautiously. “I think we should take some extraordinary measures. How about having her under the Imperius Curse?”

After being controlled by the Imperius Curse for several years, he was particularly sensitive to that spell.

In Ron’s opinion, that was probably the best way to solve the current predicament, even though it was not so honorable…

“You’re crazy, Ron!” Hermione exclaimed, “How could you even think that?!”

“I just feel that this curse would be more effective, that’s all” Ron muttered softly, seeming to be frightened by his own thoughts.

For some reason he didn’t know, he felt that ever since Voldemort’s return, his mind had been filled with various dreadful ideas.

Sometimes, when he watched the Order of the Phoenix and their unresolved problems, he couldn’t help but feel annoyed. If he used the Imperius Curse, Veritaserum, or other Dark magic, these problems could be easily resolved.

“The Imperius Curse is not all-powerful. In order to prevent resistance and escape, we would have to cast the curse every day. But doing so would cause significant damage to a person’s soul, and we would also have to limit her contact with others,” said Evan, carefully considering Ron’s suggestion and dismissing it. “It’s hard to say about others, but Dumbledore would definitely notice if we did something like that. He wouldn’t let us go down that path.”

“What should we do then?” said Ron discontentedly. “Just continue like this? Do nothing?”

“We can simply refrain from opposing her in class and privately do things she wouldn’t want us to do,” said Evan. “As long as we don’t get caught, believe me, these days won’t last too long.”

Evan finished eating quickly and prepared to join Hermione and Ron to find Harry and explain the situation to him.

However, even when they returned to the common room, they didn’t see Harry.

Rain pounded on the windowpanes. The common room wasn’t crowded, with only Fred, George, Lee Jordan, and a knot of innocent-looking first years sitting in a corner, behaving furtively.

They seemed to be purposely hiding here while everyone was downstairs having dinner, conducting illegal secret experiments on human subjects.

Each of the first years was chewing something that seemed to have come out of a large paper bag that Fred was holding.

The next second, one by one, as though hit over the heads with invisible mallets, the first years were slumping unconscious in their seats; some slid right onto the floor, others merely hung over the arms of their chairs, their tongues lolling out.

“My God, what are they doing?” said Hermione in disbelief, looking furious. “They’ve gone too far!”

Eyes wide, squaring her shoulders, she marched directly over to where Fred and George now stood with clipboards, closely observing the unconscious first years.

Evan hurriedly followed; Ron hesitated, and decided to go back to the dormitory to see if Harry was there.

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