Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Evan could more or less guess what Elaine wanted to talk to him about — it had to be the matter of her insisting on joining them.

But what he hadn’t expected was that Hermione and Gabrielle were also in the room.

Hermione was sitting in the corner, sorting the books in front of her into two enormous piles.

Gabrielle was lying on her bed, teasing the fluffy ginger cat, Crookshanks, with her fingers.

“How did you manage to get away?” Evan asked, sitting next to Hermione.

“Oh, Mrs. Weasley forgot that she had asked Ginny and me to change the sheets yesterday,” said Hermione. She threw Numerology and Grammatica onto one pile and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts onto the other. “So Gabrielle and I didn’t really have anything else to do.”

“Don’t worry, the decor is perfect now. There’s no need to clean up. My parents will love the Burrow just the way it is,” Gabrielle scooped Crookshanks up and held him tightly. Then, as if puzzled, she muttered, “Strange, why does it feel different from when I held him the other night?”

Crookshanks purred in dissatisfaction and struggled to escape, but he couldn’t break free from Gabrielle’s enthusiastic embrace.

Watching the poor cat’s plight, Evan instinctively shrank back a little.

If Gabrielle ever found out that the one she hugged the other night wasn’t Crookshanks, but him, that would be disastrous!

Of course, the other two in the room already knew, and the most troublesome one was Elaine.

Sure enough, when Evan turned his head, he met Elaine’s “malicious” gaze.

“If it feels different, maybe the cat you hugged to sleep that night wasn’t Crookshanks, but a stray cat that broke in from outside! Humph, a cat that sneaks into the girls’ bedroom late at night must not be a good cat,” she said slowly, revealing two fangs, staring at Evan threateningly. “Don’t let me meet that cat, or I’ll…”

“Stop, Elaine, you can’t bite cats. That’s unsanitary and cruel. Stray or not, we should still treat it kindly — hurting cats is just wrong,” Evan realized how absurd his own words sounded, and quickly tried to change the subject. “Where’s Mrs. Weasley? Didn’t she ask you and Ginny to help in the kitchen?”

“She forgot to buy potatoes, so she went out with Fleur to get them, as if everyone likes to eat that stuff,” said Elaine, staring at Evan closely. “Ginny went to find Harry. I was going to head over to the shed to find you, but Hermione told me you’d be up here soon. So I waited. Because I have something to say to you.”

“If it’s about going with us, the answer is no. Your uncle doesn’t agree. I can’t —”

“I’m an adult now. I don’t need his approval for everything. If he doesn’t agree, I’ll run away,”

As she spoke, Elaine leaned closer to Evan, her wine-red eyes gleaming even deeper.

She opened her mouth wide, making it clear that if Evan dared say “no,” she would bite him on the spot.

Evan leaned back, secretly nudging Hermione to signal her to help persuade Elaine. But he quickly pulled his hand away: Hermione had dropped The Monster Book of Monsters. The book had broken free from its restraining belt and lunged forward ferociously. Elaine screamed and dodged to the side.

But she was still a step too slow. The Monster Book of Monsters was biting fiercely at the hem of Elaine’s robes, burrowing inside.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Hermione cried, rushing over to help, trying to pull the book down.

Gabrielle joined in, and Crookshanks took the opportunity to escape from her. He leaped onto the balcony, turned his head and cast a condescending glance down at the chaotic group, gave a single meow, as if to say “foolish humans,” and then quietly scurried out.

By the time Evan had retied The Monster Book of Monsters shut, the room was already in chaos.

“I’m sorry, I’m just trying to decide which books to take with us,” said Hermione, carefully placing The Monster Book of Monsters on the table. “This one we won’t need. But I wonder … will we need to translate runes? It’s possible. … Evan’s quite good with them, but I think we’d better take this one, to be safe.”

She dropped Spellman’s Syllabary onto the larger of the two piles and picked up Hogwarts, A History.

“Well, this book is also very practical. It contains a lot of details about Hogwarts. Well, I think I will take Hogwarts, A History. Even if we’re not going back there, I don’t think I’d feel right if I didn’t have it with me. So … what were you talking about just now?”

“I want to go with you,” said Elaine immediately. “I won’t go back to my uncle alone.”

“All right!” Evan sighed, “Caresius doesn’t want you setting out with us, but — listen to me, Elaine — his orders don’t actually matter all that much. I haven’t exactly got my parents’ full permission either. The real question is you — do you truly understand what joining us will mean?”

“Perfectly. I’m not afraid of death, and I’m prepared for failure,” said Elaine. “Don’t forget my family’s duty. If Voldemort intends to use the magic stolen from our family, I have the right to stop him. And … and, you and I are friends. You’ve helped me, Evan, and I want to help too”

“Then count you in.”

“I want to go as well. I want to fight Voldemort too,” Gabrielle suddenly spoke up. “After my sister’s wedding, I won’t be going back!”

“No, you have to go back to France,” said Evan wearily. “I’ll say it again. We’re not going on an outing. We’re fighting Voldemort. This is no joke. I know you all have courage and determination, but you can’t just die in vain. You’re too inexperienced, Gabrielle. The most important thing for you right now is to get back to school and finish your studies. In fact, I think the fewer people we have on our hunt for the Horcruxes and keys, the better. That way, we can hide better and avoid being found by Voldemort and the Death Eaters. We can’t confront them head-on. That’s why I didn’t agree to Sirius, Lupin, and the others joining us. I hope you understand.”

Gabrielle pouted unhappily, but then brightened up because Evan had at least agreed to let her take part in their strategy discussions.

The group went upstairs to look for Ron. Just as they pushed the door open, they heard him shouting.

“I’m doing it, I’m doing — ! Oh, it’s you,” said Ron in relief, as they entered the room.

Ron lay back down on the bed, which he had evidently just vacated. The room was just as messy as it had been all week.

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