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Chapter 1266: Leaving
🕑 Added 2024-10-20 09:53:57 +0000 UTCWizards’ attitude and common practices towards werewolves were discrimination, hatred and oppression.
In front of wizards, werewolves were a relatively weaker group, often bullied and oppressed. Wizards treated werewolves in the same way as they treated house-elves, calling them dirty, corrupt animals and hairy monsters with low IQ.
Wizards probably never considered that werewolves were once one of them.
But Greyback was the exception. His savagery was infamous throughout the Wizarding world, and many wizards feared him.
"Blood is what werewolves rightfully deserve, and werewolves should take revenge on normal people." This was the belief he firmly upheld.
The fear of werewolves even exceeded that of death itself. Being infected and becoming a werewolf was a punishment more terrible than death, not to mention that Greyback specifically targeted the children of those who offended him, increasing and prolonging their suffering, which was even more emotionally unbearable.
Originally in the Underground World, Greyback and his werewolf army were a presence that could not be ignored.
They occupied several caves and used them as bases to escape the pursuit of Aurors.
Greyback specialized in serving powerful wizards such as the Malfoys, doing tasks they couldn’t publicly handle, such as the attack on Hogsmeade a few years back or biting wizards they needed revenge on.
This terrifying threat worked well in most cases.
Gold, combined with enough threats, was how Lucius Malfoy was able to control many officials in the Ministry of Magic.
Although Greyback was scary back then, he wasn't to the point where people would turn and run away the moment they saw him like they did now.
At most, he was just a thug for the pure-blood Wizarding families, only remembered when needed.
But this quickly changed. After Voldemort's resurrection, Greyback was among the first to pledge allegiance.
Although Voldemort also discriminated against werewolves, he needed their power.
As a reward for his loyalty, Voldemort gave Greyback control of the Underworld.
From then on, Greyback became the true overlord here.
The wizards fled in all directions, and Evan, Harry, Hermione and Ron followed them into a passage.
They had no idea where it led. They could see many narrower passageways ahead, and wizards hurriedly entered them in a panic. Before Evan and the others could decide whether to follow them in, Greyback's terrible roar sounded behind them.
"You bunch of trash, hurry up and catch those four. I saw them running that way."
His voice sounded scary and creepy, like the roar of a real wild beast.
If Greyback knew Evan and Hermione were also here, he would definitely become more furious. But even as it was, it was bad enough. Hearing his shouts and knowing that Evan and the others were Greyback's targets, the wizards in the passage fled faster and away from the four of them.
In the blink of an eye, only Evan, Harry, Hermione and Ron were left here.
"The pleasant sightseeing time’s over," said Evan, raising his wand, "Are you ready to fight them, or should we head back? Or find a cave to hide, but those werewolves will definitely find us, so it's best to make a decision now."
"Heading back, of course!" Hermione quickly replied, grabbing Evan's left hand.
"But Malfoy —"
"Forget about Malfoy, Harry. Even if you find him, you won’t know what he’s planning with the werewolves," said Hermione. "We’ve spent too much time here already. Don’t forget, Mrs. Weasley is still waiting for us."
"Well, you're right," Harry and Ron looked at each other and stepped forward to grab Evan's arm.
It was unwise to confront the werewolves head-on here. They were only here to gather information, not to fight.
If they could just leave without a confrontation, that would be ideal, at least they wouldn’t have to reveal their identities.
In a flash, Evan Disapparated and the four of them vanished from the spot, reappearing inside Fred and George’s shop.
The store was still very lively, forming a sharp contrast with the gloomy Underground World.
Mrs. Weasley had noticed that they were missing, and when she asked them, they insisted that the four of them had been in the back room all along, and that she could not have looked properly. Fred and George also covered for them.
But Mrs. Weasley remained flustered, so they quickly left Diagon Alley and returned to the Burrow.
During the last days of the holidays, the four of them frequently discussed what had happened, wondering what Malfoy had been up to in Knockturn Alley.
Harry was the most concerned about this matter. What disturbed him most was the satisfied look on Malfoy’s face as he had left the shop and the werewolves led by Greyback. He knew Malfoy too well. Nothing that made Malfoy look that happy could be good news.
What conspiracy were Malfoy and the werewolves planning? Was it related to Hogwarts?
Harry talked about it whenever he got the chance, and speculated that Malfoy had replaced his father and joined the Death Eaters...
But neither Evan nor Hermione nor Ron seemed quite as curious as Harry was. Evan had a pretty good idea of what was going on.
He didn’t plan to interfere. He was willing to let Malfoy proceed with his plan, knowing he wouldn’t succeed — he didn’t stand a chance.
Dumbledore hadn’t been harmed, and Evan couldn’t see any reason why he would sacrifice himself for Malfoy.
If things continued this way, Malfoy would only become more desperate as he failed to complete his mission. Under Voldemort’s pressure, Lucius would also begin to feel suspicion and despair. This could very well be the opportunity for the Malfoy family to break away from Voldemort.
Or perhaps, they could help Malfoy carry out his plan, designing a strategy around it.
Just like what happened in the Ministry of Magic last year, they would lure Voldemort and the Death Eaters to Hogwarts and into the encirclement of the Order of the Phoenix, but this time, they would be fully prepared and Voldemort would have no chance to escape in Hogwarts.
Although Hermione and Ron didn't know the specific reason, they were not as curious about Malfoy's activities as Harry was, and they didn't believe that Malfoy had become a Death Eater. They both seemed to get bored of discussing it after a few days.
As Ron said, Malfoy could have been buying just about anything from Borgin’s Dark magic shop.
He then went to the Underground World to find Greyback, perhaps intending to commission him to find some Dark magic items.
"Think about those cockroaches — down in the Underworld, you can really buy anything. Now that Greyback is the boss there, if Malfoy is looking for something, he'd definitely need his help," said Ron. "Whatever Dark magic item he’s trying to buy, I wouldn’t be surprised. People like him have a habit of collecting that kind of stuff. Last time my dad searched his house, he found quite a few banned items."
Hermione seemed to share this opinion. She didn’t want Harry to keep obsessing over Malfoy anymore.
