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Chapter 909: The Disguise and the Hogwarts Express
🕑 Added 2023-11-01 09:16:50 +0000 UTCEveryone left their luggage to Moody, who helped to take them to the station. When the door slammed behind them, and Mrs. Black’s screeches were cut off instantly, everyone felt that their ears were immediately cleaned and relaxed a lot, and they were glad to finally leave the place.
In the weak September sunlight, they went down the stone steps of number twelve, which vanished the moment they reached the pavement!
"Where’s Tonks?" Harry asked. "Why don't I see her?"
In fact, they saw no other guards this morning except Moody and Lupin, who hadn't left last night.
“She’s waiting for us just up here,” said Mrs. Weasley stiffly. "We have to hurry up."
"Apart from her, no one else will show up. They’ll be following us in the dark in disguise," said Lupin gently, he was also wearing a Muggle suit. "This is Mad-eye’s idea. Too many people are easy to attract attention. We originally planned to set out in three teams, but there were not enough guards."
"Disguise?" Harry thought instantly of the Polyjuice Potion.
Not long ago, Evan had surprised him after he used the Polyjuice Potion to turn into Gabrielle.
"Yeah, this is a skill that the Auror must master," said Lupin simply. "It’s important not to show your true colors when fighting Dark Wizards."
The group took a few steps forward and at the corner, an old woman greeted them. She had tightly curled gray hair and wore a purple hat shaped like a porkpie.
If she hadn't taken the initiative to greet them, it would have been almost impossible to recognize her as Tonks.
“Wotcher,” she said, winking. “Better hurry up, hadn’t we, Molly?"
“I know, I know,” moaned Mrs. Weasley, lengthening her stride, “but Mad-Eye wanted to wait for Sturgis... If only Arthur could have got us cars from the Ministry again … but Fudge wouldn’t let him borrow so much as an empty ink bottle these days... How Muggles can stand traveling without magic?"
Evan didn’t know what happened to the Portable Swamp Fred and George had left under Percy’s seat, but since the trial ended, Mr. Weasley’s situation had obviously gotten worse and Fudge was forcing him to resign voluntarily.
It took them twenty minutes to reach King's Cross by foot, and nothing more eventful happened on the way.
Once inside the station they lingered casually beside the barrier between platforms nine and ten until the coast was clear, then each of them leaned against it in turn and fell easily through onto platform nine and three quarters unnoticed.
The Hogwarts Express stood there, belching sooty steam over a platform packed with departing students and their families.
Evan, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George all became excited; inhaling the familiar smell and felt their spirits soar... They were really going back to Hogwarts!
The summer vacation seemed to have been extremely long this year, especially for Evan, who had not been in school for more than half a year.
When they appeared, the atmosphere on the lively platform changed drastically, and many people noticed them at once.
Evan saw many Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students secretly pointing at him and talking to their parents.
Most of the Slytherins directly looked at them with hostile eyes, avoiding them from a distance.
Even the Gryffindors were full of disagreements. Some avoided them in fear, while others greeted them directly.
There were only a few wizards who came by. They supported Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix, such as Neville and his grandmother.
She was very old, wearing a long green dress, a moth-eaten fox fur, and a pointed hat decorated with a stuffed vulture that looked terrible. She was one of the few people Evan had seen who could directly say Voldemort's name.
She made it clear that she supported Evan and the others, and she already knew that the Order of the Phoenix was back in action!
This old lady’s regret was that no one from the Longbottoms had joined the Order of the Phoenix to fight Voldemort this time. She kept saying that Neville was so much worse than Evan, Harry, and his father. She hoped her grandson could become brave.
Neville, as before, dared not refute a word of what his grandmother said.
They all stood and talked for a while, until the train made a long warning whistle and began to emit white steam.
"I really hope Arthur and Alastor make it in time," said Mrs. Weasley anxiously. "Ah, here they are!"
Mr. Weasley and Moody came through the archway pushing a cart full of their trunks. Moody was limping, a porter’s cap pulled low over his mismatched eyes.
"No trouble?"
"Nothing," said Mr. Weasley.
“All okay,” Moody muttered to Lupin, Mrs. Weasley, and Tonks. “I don’t think we were followed..."
"That's good!" They hurriedly unloaded Moody’s luggage cart and put them on the train.
"That's too much. I’ll still be reporting Sturgis to Dumbledore,” said Moody, seemingly very dissatisfied. “That’s the second time he’s not turned up in a week. He’s getting as unreliable as Mundungus."
“Well, look after yourselves,” said Lupin, shaking hands all round.
"This year Hogwarts is a bit different. Be careful and remember to watch Harry." He walked up to Evan and whispered.
"I will!" Evan raised his eyebrows, hoping it wouldn't be too boring to confront Umbridge.
Lupin reached Harry last and gave him a clap on the shoulder. “You too, Harry. Be careful."
“Yeah, keep your head down and your eyes peeled,” said Moody. "Don't forget what I taught you last term, and don't forget, all of you, be careful what you put in writing. If in doubt, don’t put it in a letter at all. In fact, I think you’d better not write to the outside world, especially Sirius..."
“It’s been great meeting all of you,” said Tonks, hugging Hermione and Ginny. “We’ll see you soon, I expect."
The warning whistle sounded; and the students still on the platform started hurrying onto the train.
“Quick, quick,” said Mrs. Weasley distractedly, hugging them at random. "Be good. If you’ve forgotten anything we’ll send it on... Onto the train, now, hurry... "
They hurriedly got on the train, and waved their hands out of the open window.
The figures of Tonks, Lupin, Moody, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley shrank rapidly.
"School finally starts. What should we do now?"
"We’ve got business to discuss with Lee!" Fred said, "Coming with us, Evan?"
"No, don't forget Evan’s the Head Boy ..." said Hermione directly.
"Yeah, yeah, see you later, Head Boy!" Fred waved, and he and George disappeared down the corridor to the right.
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