Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

“Bad luck alone won’ poison yeh, Evan. In my opinion, someone could have a grudge against the Gryffindor Quidditch team, couldn’ they?” said Hagrid anxiously. “Firs’ Katie, now Ron …”

Evan glared at Hagrid. This guess was even more ridiculous. There were really all kinds of possibilities for how it could unfold.

According to this logic, the next person to be attacked might be Elaine. Since winning the last game, she was now Gryffindor’s most popular Beater. However, unless it was a head-on attack, Evan really couldn’t think of how to hurt that girl.

First of all, when it came to food, Elaine only drank dragon blood and Evan’s blood. Oh, and those weird-tasting bloody lollipops, all of which were under Evan’s control. So poisoning her food was basically impossible. Secondly, as for Dark magic items, Elaine was highly vigilant and wouldn’t easily touch anything suspicious.

As for directly attacking Elaine, Evan doubted that any student could take her down so easily.

She might look thin and frail, but she was, after all, a true vampire — with powerful magical abilities and a violent streak.

It was already good enough that she didn’t go around attacking others. Evan himself was frequently ambushed by her at night…

With that in mind, he said, “Hagrid, I can’t see anyone trying to bump off a Quidditch team. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Not necessarily. There will still be people who might do it,” said George.

“Yeah, Wood might’ve done the Slytherins if he could’ve got away with it,” said Fred fairly.

“But he wouldn’t have poisoned them. He’d have charged in and taken them down…”

“All right, you lot, this has nothing to do with Quidditch. Let’s get back to my analysis,” said Hermione quietly. “I said that, just like the last incident with Katie, this is a botched murder. I think there is a connection between the two attacks.”

“How d’you work that out?” Everyone looked at Hermione, waiting for her analysis.

“Well, for one thing, they both ought to have been fatal and weren’t, although that was pure luck. And for another, neither the poison nor the necklace seems to have reached the person who was supposed to be killed. Of course,” she added broodingly, “that makes the person behind this even more dangerous in a way, because they don’t seem to care how many people they finish off before they actually reach their victim. And again, regarding Katie’s case, Evan and I actually already —”

Her analysis was interrupted again, just as it had been when Hagrid came in.

The dormitory doors opened again and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley hurried up the ward. They had done no more than satisfy themselves that Ron would make a full recovery on their last visit to the ward, and they had been invited to Dumbledore’s office, and now Mrs. Weasley seized hold of Harry and hugged him very tightly.

“Dumbledore’s told us how you saved him with the bezoar,” she sobbed. “Oh, Harry, what can we say? You’ve saved Ron so many times already, I just —”

Mrs. Weasley was too emotional to continue, recounting all the times Harry had saved Ron before.

“Thank you for Ron, Harry,” said Mr. Weasley, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. “All I can say is that it was a lucky day for the Weasleys when Ron decided to sit in your compartment on the Hogwarts Express.”

Harry could not think of any reply to this and was almost glad when Madam Pomfrey reminded them that there were too many visitors, saving him from the awkwardness. ᚱäℕ𝔬𝔟Е𝐬

Evan, Harry, and Hermione rose at once to leave and Hagrid decided to go with them, leaving Ron with his family.

“It’s terrible,” growled Hagrid into his beard, as the four of them walked back along the corridor to the marble staircase. “All this new security, an’ kids are still gettin’ hurt. … Dumbledore’s worried sick. … He don’ say much, but I can tell. …”

“Hasn’t he got any ideas?”

“I ’spect he’s got hundreds of ideas, brain like his,” said Hagrid faithfully. “But he doesn’t know who sent that necklace, nor put poison in that wine, or they’d’ve bin caught, wouldn’ they?”

Of course, Dumbledore knew. But he couldn’t just expose Malfoy outright.

It would be easy to do so, but for Draco Malfoy, that would mean mission failure. And if that happened, his fate would be grim. The best outcome would be a lifetime in Azkaban, but if he returned to Voldemort…

Voldemort would kill him mercilessly, using it as a perfect excuse to punish the Malfoy family.

If Voldemort had known his diary had already been destroyed, he would have done the same.

Of course, Malfoy couldn’t be allowed to succeed either. Dumbledore probably wasn’t ready to die yet, nor did he want Malfoy to fall completely into darkness.

Following this line of thought, Evan felt that Voldemort had asked Draco Malfoy to carry out this impossible task, not only to punish Lucius Malfoy for his successive failures, but also because he had figured out Dumbledore’s character. It was really despicable.

It seemed to be a test for Malfoy, but it was also the same for Dumbledore.

No matter how he chose, it would be difficult. Whether he simply stopped Malfoy or let him be, neither outcome was ideal…

Hagrid sighed for a moment, then glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation, and lowered his voice to say, “Well, wha’ worries me now is how long Hogwarts can stay open if kids are bein’ attacked. Chamber o’ Secrets all over again, isn’ it? There’ll be panic, more parents takin’ their kids outta school, an’ nex’ thing yeh know the board o’ governors …”

Hagrid stopped talking as the ghost of a long-haired woman drifted serenely past, then resumed in a hoarse whisper, “… the board o’ governors’ll be talkin’ about shuttin’ us up fer good.”

“Surely not?” said Hermione, looking worried.

“Believe me, they’d love ter do that. Gotta see it from their point o’ view,” said Hagrid heavily. “I mean, it’s always bin a bit of a risk sendin’ a kid ter Hogwarts, hasn’ it? Yer expect accidents, don’ yeh, with hundreds of underage wizards all locked up tergether, but attempted murder, tha’s diff’rent. ’S’no wonder Dumbledore’s angry with Sn —”

Hagrid stopped in his tracks, a familiar, guilty expression on what was visible of his face above his tangled black beard.

“What?” said Harry quickly. “Dumbledore’s angry with Snape?”

“I never said tha’,” said Hagrid, though his look of panic could not have been a bigger giveaway. “Look at the time, it’s gettin’ on fer midnight, already this late, yeh three should go back ter bed, I need ter —”

“Hagrid, why is Dumbledore angry with Snape?” Harry asked loudly, his voice echoing down the corridor.

“Keep your voice down, Harry!” Evan pulled Harry. He and Hagrid were really the same — always finding a way to stir things up.

“I don’t care. Tell me, Hagrid, why is Dumbledore angry with Snape?” Harry asked loudly again.

“There, there!” said Hagrid, looking both nervous and angry. “Don’ shout stuff like that, Harry, d’yeh wan’ me ter lose me job? Mind, I don’ suppose yeh’d care, would yeh, not now yeh’ve given up Care of Mag —”

“Don’t try and make me feel guilty, it won’t work!” said Harry forcefully. “What’s Snape done?”

“I dunno, Harry, I shouldn’ta heard it at all! I — well, I was comin’ outta the forest the other evenin’ an’ I overheard ’em talking — well, arguin’. Didn’t like ter draw attention to meself, so I sorta skulked an’ tried not ter listen, but it was a — well, a heated discussion an’ it wasn’ easy ter block it out…”

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