Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Harry’s silence had clearly piqued Scrimgeour’s interest. “You don’t say anything. Perhaps you already know what the Snitch contains?”

“No,” said Harry, still wondering how he could appear to touch the Snitch without really doing so.

He turned his head uneasily toward Evan and Hermione, hoping to see what they were thinking, whether they had some way of preventing this. If only he knew Legilimency, really knew it, and could read Evan’s and Hermione’s minds; he could practically hear their brains whirring beside him.

This gesture of Harry’s clearly intrigued Scrimgeour, who seemed convinced that his guess was correct.

“Take it,” said Scrimgeour quietly.

Harry met the Minister’s yellow eyes and knew he had no option but to obey.

He held out his hand, and Scrimgeour leaned forward again and placed the Snitch, slowly and deliberately, into Harry’s palm.

Nothing happened. As Harry’s fingers closed around the Snitch, its tired wings fluttered a few times before going still.

For a moment, Scrimgeour continued to gaze avidly at the now partially concealed ball, as if still hoping it might transform in some way.

“That was dramatic,” said Harry coolly.

“Not quite what I expected,” Scrimgeour admitted. He sounded irritated now, and he straightened up, tugging sharply at Dumbledore’s will.

” ‘To Evan Mason, I leave a decorative statue I purchased during my travels. It has a Greek classical and abstract style. I hope he will find artistic inspiration from it.’ “

What? A sculpture with Greek classical and abstract style?! And he hoped Evan would find artistic inspiration from it?!

Evan was puzzled as he watched Scrimgeour pull out a strangely shaped statue, its twisted form making it impossible to tell what it was supposed to be.

This was probably what was meant by “abstract style;” but Evan felt the design looked oddly familiar; he had seen it many times before somewhere.

It was the style of an evil god!

And then, at the upper part of the small statue, he spotted the eye; that eyeball monster he had first encountered.

It was a statue of an evil god! The evil god transformed by Herpo the Foul!

It was a beacon, like the statue of the evil god in Voldemort’s hand.

Almost instantly, Evan made his judgment, though his expression remained completely unchanged as Scrimgeour watched him closely.

“What is this?” he asked. “Why did Dumbledore give you such a strange statue?”

“I’m not sure. Perhaps, as he said in his will, he hoped I’d find artistic inspiration from it,” said Evan seriously. “Professor Dumbledore had very wide-ranging interests, not limited to magic alone. He had a deep understanding of art, and I happen to be very fond of art, so we’ve had many discussions in this area. What’s the matter? You don’t suppose this statue has flesh memory too, and that if I held it something magical would happen, do you?”

“Of course not, but this statue clearly hides some information I don’t know,” said Scrimgeour, looking into Evan’s eyes. “But you do.”

He spoke very slowly, as though each word took all the strength he had.

Scrimgeour must have seen this as his only lifeline, hoping to uncover hidden information that might help him resist Voldemort and win the war. Although their goal was the same, Evan couldn’t help him. He could not reveal anything about the evil gods or the Horcruxes, and he was certain that even if Scrimgeour knew, he wouldn’t act in the way Evan hoped. It would only make matters worse.

‘So, my apologies.’

From beginning to end, Evan had never treated Scrimgeour with the same hostility Harry and Ron did.

He truly wished he could help, but there was nothing he could do.

Even among those fighting on the same side, stances and ways of thinking could differ greatly.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know anything. I think it’s just a strange-looking statue that Dumbledore saw on his travels, thought was interesting, and bought — and then left to me,” said Evan, deliberately avoiding Scrimgeour’s gaze. “If that’s what Professor Dumbledore left for me, Mr. Minister, could you give it to me now?”

“Take it!” said Scrimgeour in disappointment, sounding dejected as he shoved the statue into Evan’s hands.

Almost the instant he touched the evil god’s statue, Evan felt the difference. His own magic gave a visible tremor. Though the magical aura from the statue was faint, almost insignificant, Evan’s familiarity with the taint of the evil gods made him sense it at once.

Whereas he had only suspected it before, he was now certain it was a beacon left by Herpo the Foul.

Dumbledore had found it somewhere and passed it on to Evan.

It was a significant magic item, connected to the evil god that existed in another dimension.

Though Herpo the Foul’s evil god form was now greatly weakened, with no real strength left and only his soul clinging on, this statue was still linked to him.

An evil god could only have one beacon, and he needed this beacon to descend from the void into the real world.

This was the basic purpose of the evil god’s beacon; as for its other uses, Evan still needed to study it further.

He thought that perhaps through this, he might find a way to destroy the evil god’s statue in Voldemort’s hands.

“That’s all, then, is it?” asked Hermione, making to prise herself off the sofa.

“Not quite,” said Scrimgeour. “I have something else to discuss with you. First, besides all this, Dumbledore left you a second bequest, Potter.”

“What is it?”

Scrimgeour did not bother to read from the will this time.

“The sword of Godric Gryffindor,” he said.

“So where is it?” Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked around for a sign of the ruby-encrusted hilt, but Scrimgeour did not pull the sword from the leather pouch, which in any case looked much too small to contain it.

Evan knew that Scrimgeour would never give the sword to Harry, but they didn’t need it to destroy the other Horcruxes. However, that did not mean they could not use Gryffindor’s sword. This sword was different from the past. Ever since Evan had recovered the scabbard, the sword had acquired very powerful offensive magic.

The magic from the Cyclops gave it new power. The enchantments on the sword were stronger than most magic, and it was very good for self-defense.

“Where have you put the sword?” Harry asked.

“Unfortunately,” said Scrimgeour, “that sword was not Dumbledore’s to give away. The sword of Godric Gryffindor is an important historical artifact, and as such, belongs —”

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