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Chapter 908: Departure to School
🕑 Added 2023-11-01 09:16:10 +0000 UTCEven after Ginny came back, Evan didn't leave.
He had turned into a kitten lying in Hermione's arms, quietly accompanying her, just like what had happened on the first night here.
Every last night before the start of the new term seemed to be a sleepless night, and so was this evening.
Harry returned to the dark room alone, and when he closed his bedroom door behind him, he had to admit that he couldn't think Mrs. Weasley silly, because he’d almost thought the same.
He fell heavily on his bed. Even in the thick darkness, he could still see his parents beaming at him from the tattered old photograph, unaware that their lives, like so many of those around them, were drawing to a close.
Hermione had told him about the Boggart, and the image of the creature posing as the corpse of each member of Mrs. Weasley’s family in turn kept flashing before his eyes.
Without warning, the scar on his forehead seared with pain again and his stomach churned horribly.
“Cut it out,” he said firmly, rubbing the scar as the pain receded again.
“First sign of madness, talking to your own head,” said a sly voice from the empty picture on the wall.
Harry didn't know where the person of the portrait had gone. He hadn't seen him show up for the entire holidays.
He didn't have the mind to see who the owner of this portrait was now. He felt older than he had ever felt in his life.
He had never felt this way before, and it seemed extraordinary to him that barely an hour ago he had been worried about who had gotten a prefect’s badge, and what Evan should do after he became the Head Boy.
Harry had a troubled night’s sleep, he forced himself to sleep, but it was difficult.
About half an hour later, Ron came back and gently called him a few times, but Harry pretended to be asleep. He didn't want to discuss with Ron about Voldemort, the prefect or the Head Boy...
He didn't know how long it took, but Harry didn’t hear the sound of Evan coming back, and his consciousness gradually blurred.
His parents wove in and out of his dreams, never speaking.
The scene changed, and Mrs. Weasley sobbed over Kreacher’s dead body, watched by Evan, Ron, and Hermione, who were wearing crowns.
And yet again Harry found himself walking down a dark and deep corridor ending in a locked door...
"No!" He woke up abruptly, with his scar prickling.
He was panting hard, and looked up to find Ron already dressed and talking to him.
"Evan didn't seem to have come back last night!" he muttered, looking at Evan’s bed, there was no trace that anyone had slept on it, "Or he came back, but got up early again. Okay, better hurry up, Mum just came up and told us to be quick. She’s going ballistic; she says we’re going to miss the train."
When Harry put on his clothes and walked downstairs at top speed, Evan and Hermione had already finished breakfast!
Evan hadn’t been back last night. He’d turned into a kitten lying in Hermione's arms all night.
After the two tossed about, Hermione finally fell asleep in the second half of the night, but he didn't sleep well.
He wasn't used to sleeping on other people's bodies, and the smell of Hermione's body always made him crazy and he couldn’t sleep.
Whoever would have kept that kind of posture and lay in that kind of place would have probably been the same.
For those who do not believe it, just become a cat and feel it yourselves, then you’ll know what it was all about.
For the next half hour, there was a lot of commotion in the house.
Evan and Hermione's things were all in the bag he carried with him, but the others couldn't do it, and there was no bag to hold their entire luggage, so they had to drag their trunks strenuously.
Fred and George had bewitched their trunks to fly downstairs to save the bother of carrying them, with the result that they had hurtled straight into Ginny and knocked her down two flights of stairs into the hall.
Suddenly, Mrs. Black and Mrs. Weasley were both screaming at the top of their voices.
"COULD HAVE DONE HER A SERIOUS INJURY, YOU IDIOTS!"
"FILTHY HALF-BREEDS, BESMIRCHING THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS!"
Fred and George hurried over to apologize to Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley patched her up.
The others looked nervous, and Harry and Ron took a few bites and went upstairs to get their trunks.
Hermione realized that she didn't know where Crookshanks had gone, and followed upstairs to find him.
After a while, Hedwig flew in staggeringly, bringing back a letter from Hermione's parents.
At Hermione’s insistence, Evan had also written a letter to his parents last night, telling them that he’d become the Head Boy. He tied his letter to Hedwig’s leg. He and Harry had already talked about it.
Hedwig seemed to be very dissatisfied with being sent out as soon as she came back.
Although Evan said a lot of good things, she gave him a good peck on the finger before flapping her wings and flying out.
Finally, everyone was ready and there was not much time left, but Mad-Eye Moody blocked the door and insisted not to set off. He was complaining that they couldn’t leave unless Sturgis Podmore was here, otherwise the guard would be one short.
Moody seemed to be very dissatisfied with Sturgis Podmore. When he escorted Harry before, he’d borrowed Moody's invisibility cloak and hadn't returned yet.
“Guard?” said Harry thoughtlessly, dragging his heavy trunk. “We have to go to King’s Cross with a guard?"
“You have to go to King’s Cross with a guard," Hermione corrected him, carrying a squirming Crookshanks in her arms.
"Why?" Harry said impatiently, suddenly becoming inexplicably irritated. “I thought Voldemort was supposed to be lying low, or are you telling me he’s going to jump out from behind a dustbin to try and do me in? Or, are the Dementors being mixed in the crowd?"
"Mad-eye obviously thinks so," said Evan, telling him about Hedwig's return.
"Seriously!" said Hermione distractedly, looking at her watch. "If we don't leave soon we’re definitely going to miss the train!"
"Please, Alastor, we have to go!" Mrs. Weasley Obviously thought the same.
She pulled the simply bandaged Ginny out of the kitchen. Fred and George kept following Ginny, making her laugh.
Everyone was crowded in the narrow hall. Mrs. Black’s portrait was howling with rage but nobody was bothering to close the curtains over her; all the noise in the hall was bound to rouse her again anyway.
"Well, let's go, remember our plan last night?" groaned Moody.
"The plan is simple, Evan, Harry, Hermione, and the others, you’re to come with me, Remus and Tonks," shouted Mrs. Weasley over the repeated screeches of “MUDBLOODS! SCUM! CREATURES OF DIRT!" "Especially you, Harry, you’ll be in the middle. Leave your trunk and your owl’s cage. Alastor’s going to deal with the luggage."
