Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

“Ron?!” Elaine asked, chewing on her lollipop.

“Yeah, Harry’s reaction was so strange. Knowing him as I do, he definitely recognized the person imprisoned in Malfoy Manor by the Dark Lord. Although he told us it was dark and he couldn’t see anything, he must have made a guess,” said Hermione. “Judging from his reaction, that person is very likely Ron.”

When it came to things like this, Hermione had always been terrifyingly perceptive — her guesses were almost always right.

Although her Divination skills were terrible, her reasoning was definitely clearer than anyone else’s.

“I also suspect it’s Ron, but it’s only a possibility, it’s still just a guess,” said Evan.

“Just a guess?” Hermione stared at Evan, seemingly sensing something, and pressed, “You’ve found out something too, haven’t you?”

“Yeah.” Evan proceeded to tell them his theory about the Horcrux and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Hermione’s expression gradually turned to astonishment, then she asked in a panic, “Oh my god, if that person really is Ron, what should we do?”

“If it really is Ron, then there’s no need to worry about his life. The Horcrux is on him, killing Ron would be the same as destroying the Horcrux. The Dark Lord wouldn’t do something so stupid. If I were him, I would not only not kill Ron, but I would also protect him,” Evan pondered; he’d been thinking about this since earlier.

If it really was Ron, then putting aside his personal safety and feelings, what impact would that have on their future plans?

The biggest impact would probably be a leak!

Although Evan had deliberately avoided telling Ron too much, they’d spent a lot of time together, and Ron still knew quite a few things. To be honest, it wasn’t that Evan thought Ron was unreliable, but the chances of Ron getting into trouble before were far too high. Being controlled by the Imperius Curse once a year was extremely rare, even in that dark and chaotic era of the past. He was very prone to bad luck, so Evan had been extra careful with Ron. Now, if Ron possessed Voldemort’s Horcrux, then these things would have a reasonable explanation. But at the same time, it also proved that Evan’s previous precautions had not been just insufficient, but far too inadequate.

Ron didn’t know the full plan Evan and Hermione had devised. He didn’t know about the Founders’ hidden treasure, or about the evil god, or even where Evan and the others had gone after leaving the Burrow.

But Ron did know about Gryffindor’s Philosopher’s Stone, Ravenclaw’s Diadem, and Slytherin’s Twin Serpent Staff — all things that were supposed to be kept secret, yet impossible to keep completely from him.

If Ron leaked this information to Voldemort, would there still be time to rescue him at Malfoy Manor?

No, it was already too late!

Evan shook his head. From what Harry had seen, Voldemort had already interrogated Ron.

Having been interrogated by Voldemort, Evan didn’t believe Ron would keep these secrets. Rescuing him now was pointless in preventing leaks.

Of all the secrets and information Ron knew, the Twin Serpent Staff was the most important.

It was highly likely that Voldemort was already on his way to Hogwarts to retrieve it!

“The situation is really bad right now. If the person being held captive truly is Ron, we have to prepare for the worst,” said Evan. “No, Hermione, it’s not about Ron’s safety. Like I said earlier—if that person is Ron, then his safety actually isn’t something we need to worry about. There’s no rush to go to Malfoy Manor to rescue him or to destroy the Horcrux. What is urgent is that the Dark Lord has probably already learned a lot of our secrets from Ron. And we have no power at all to stop him now. Whether it’s getting the Twin Serpent Staff or transforming himself into an evil god, the only thing we can do is focus on completing our own plan as quickly as possible.”

Between Voldemort’s attempt to turn himself into a god and Evan’s group’s quest to gather all the treasure keys, it had always been a race against time.

It had been that way from the start — but now, Ron’s leak had made their situation even worse.

Of course, knowing beforehand that Ron was under Voldemort’s control wasn’t entirely useless.

At least, Voldemort wouldn’t succeed in using Ron to extract information, so there was no need to worry about being deceived.

Evan discussed with Hermione and Elaine for a while longer, wondering what they should do now.

This topic continued for about an hour until Elaine finally couldn’t stay awake any longer and went to bed. Evan and Hermione stopped discussing it, and Kreacher brought them some refreshing drinks, and the two of them pored over magical materials, trying to decipher the information on the golden cup and the land deed.

It wasn’t until late at night that Sirius Black arrived at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

He brought bad news, almost confirming that Ron had been captured by Voldemort.

“Good evening, Evan! Good evening, Hermione! How was your day?”

“Not bad!”

“We got a lot done.”

“That’s good. It’s been a bloody awful day,” said Sirius wearily, seemingly assuming Evan and the others had stayed at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place all day, as he had instructed them not to wander off before he left. He didn’t think much of it and sat down at the round table, telling Kreacher to get him something to eat. “We’ve been swamped. There are Death Eaters, refugees, and rumors everywhere, and a lot of terrible things.”

“What happened?”

“A lot, a lot more than you can imagine. I’d better tell you bit by bit,” said Sirius, looking around. “Where are Harry and Elaine? Oh, this late already — they must’ve gone to bed. You two shouldn’t stay up too late either. I’ll spend the night here, and we can talk more in the morning.”

Though she was curious about everything Sirius was saying, Hermione couldn’t hold back and asked impatiently, “Sirius, any news about Ron?”

“Yes,” said Sirius with a quick nod, his expression dark and heavy. “But it’s not good news. Never mind — I’d better tell you two first, so you can be prepared. You know how it’s been since the fall of the Ministry — a lot of wizards have started fleeing. The Death Eaters, along with the new Ministry wizards, have formed hunting squads to track down those who try to escape. According to reliable sources, they caught a boy in a forest earlier today. It’s very likely that boy was Ron.”

“So, Ron really got caught?”

“Yes, he might have been taken to Malfoy Manor, which is now the Death Eaters’ headquarters,” said Sirius. “Evan, Hermione, I know this is hard to accept, but this news is very reliable. You’d better not tell Harry just yet; I’m afraid he might do something rash if he hears it.”