Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Having said that, Harry immediately felt a heart-wrenching fear when he thought of Ginny.

“The Ministry—”

“The Ministry is over, come on, I think we ought to keep moving,” said Hermione urgently.

“But Voldemort—”

“Don’t say that name, Harry!” Evan cut in quickly, stopping Harry from speaking Voldemort’s name. “Remember what I told you over the holidays? He’s put a spell on his name — if anyone says it, he can sense it. He did the same thing during the last war. That’s one of the main reasons people called him ‘You-Know-Who.’ Back at the Burrow it didn’t matter because the Ministry’s protections were still in place, but from now on, we need to be careful.”

“What?”

“So the Dark Lord already knows we’re here?” Elaine asked warily, eyeing a group of men singing as they walked by. “Is he coming?”

“He should have noticed by now, but he hasn’t come,” said Evan. “The battle at the Burrow may still be going on, and he can’t be sure it was us who spoke his name. But he’ll definitely send Death Eaters to check — after all, not many dare to do it, and those who do are almost certainly his enemies. Come on, we’d better get out of here. Stick to the plan — we’ll go to Grimmauld Place, meet up with Sirius and the Order there. If he gets Ron out, he’ll head there too.”

Some in the Order worried that Snape might also go there, or reveal the place to Voldemort, but Evan knew he wouldn’t.

For the moment, Grimmauld Place was still perfectly safe.

Generations of the Black family had laid countless enchantments upon that house, most beyond the Ministry’s control. After Sirius and Moody had added several charms specifically against Snape and replaced the Secret-Keeper, Evan had designated it as their rallying point after the move.

Other locations besides Grimmauld Place might be more dangerous, and Evan didn’t intend to stay there for long.

At that moment, three men across the street spotted Hermione and Elaine in the alley and started wolf-whistling at them, ignoring Evan and Harry. Perhaps in their eyes, the barely adult Harry and Evan were just two boys, posing little threat.

“All right, darlings? Fancy a drink?”

“Have a bit of fun with us, we’ll show you what a real man is!”

“Want me to hex them? Let them see what a real vampire is!” Elaine suggested, clearly fed up with their taunts.

“We can’t let Muggles see us using magic,” Hermione warned. “Though maybe an Obliviate —”

“Forget it, not worth the time. The Ministry’s laws don’t matter anymore — let’s go before the Death Eaters get here,” said Evan, gripping Hermione’s hand.

The men jeered again when they saw Evan holding Hermione’s hand. But their laughter froze when, in the blink of an eye, the boy and the two pretty girls vanished, disappearing into thin air.

“God, he, they… Did I just see a ghost? Or have I had too much to drink?” a man muttered.

His question went unanswered, for when he turned, he saw two figures cloaked and hooded in black standing right behind him.

Seconds later, four people were standing in the middle of a familiar small and shabby square.

Tall, dilapidated houses looked down on them from every side, and the four of them rushed toward Number Twelve.

As they ran, Evan glanced carefully around, making sure they were not being followed or observed.

Everything in the neighborhood was as calm as ever; the turmoil sweeping through the Wizarding world hadn’t reached this place.

Harry was the first to race up the stone steps. He tapped the front door once with his wand. They heard a series of metallic clicks and the clatter of a chain, then the door swung open with a creak and they hurried over the threshold.

Evan was the last to enter and shut the door behind him. The old-fashioned gas lamps sprang into life, casting flickering light along the length of the hallway.

Kreacher, the house-elf, seemed absent. The house was unusually quiet, a bit like the time Evan had first arrived.

An eerie feeling enveloped the house, its fleeting joy and brightness seeming to fade away.

The outlines of the house-elf heads on the wall threw odd shadows up the staircase. Long dark curtains concealed the portrait of Sirius’s mother. The troll’s leg umbrella stand was lying on its side as if someone had just knocked it over. Evan was sure it hadn’t been toppled when he had come here only a few days earlier.

Someone had been here again, perhaps Sirius, or the reckless Tonks.

Of course, if it had been Snape, now that would be interesting!

“Where’s that house-elf?”

“Probably at Hogwarts with Dobby,” said Evan. “Keep your voice down; don’t wake Mrs. Black. Let’s go upstairs and wait for Sirius.”

They carefully crossed the hallway and ascended the creaking stairs to the drawing room on the first floor.

Hermione waved her wand to ignite the old gas lamps, then, shivering slightly in the drafty room, she perched on the sofa, her arms wrapped tightly around her.

“All right, let’s sort out where we stand,” she said. “The Ministry’s fallen. We expected it, but still — it’s awful. I thought Scrimgeour had gathered all the Aurors. I didn’t think the Death Eaters would dare attack the Ministry, or at least I thought they’d be held off longer.”

The speed with which the Ministry had collapsed, the brevity of the battle, had taken many by surprise.

“Held off? That assumes those Aurors were actually willing to fight for the Ministry,” said Evan. “How many of them were still loyal is the real question. Scrimgeour misread the situation completely. If you ask me, plenty of people he trusted had already been compromised or had defected, and that’s why the fighting ended so quickly.”

“Well, I hope Sirius and Lupin are okay. We should… What’s up, Harry?” Hermione asked worriedly.

Harry had given a cry of pain: His scar had burned again as something flashed across his mind like a bright light on water. He saw a large shadow and felt a fury that was not his own pound through his body, violent and brief as an electric shock.

“What did you see? the battle at the Burrow?”

“I didn’t see the Burrow, I didn’t see anything, I just felt anger — he’s really angry —” Harry felt a little confused and at a loss.

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