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Chapter 871: Unemployed Rita Skeeter
🕑 Added 2023-09-30 11:00:29 +0000 UTCLupin didn’t come until lunch time. He’d been busy at the newspaper office all morning.
Because he had to go to the underground world to communicate with the werewolves, he naturally did not have much energy to deal with the affairs of the newspaper. He recommended several excellent editors and managers to Evan, many of whom were recruited from the Daily Prophet.
They had considerable experience and could keep the newspaper running even if Lupin was not there. But many important things still had to be decided by him, or sent to Evan by mail for decision.
At Hogwarts, Evan received such letters for a few minutes a week. After referring to the opinions of Lupin and newspaper managers, he and Hermione discussed decision-making and then fed back.
When he’d gone out to contact the giants some time ago, all these matters were left to Hermione and Lupin.
In the month Evan and Hermione went to Egypt, everything was even more on Lupin alone.
He had to leave the underworld every once in a while to deal with these things, which made him look even more haggard.
Simply, he had not really integrated into the werewolf community, if he did, he would disappear for a long time.
Evan and the others had been de-doxying the curtains. This work was more troublesome than expected.
Kreacher also came to help halfway, but they still spent the whole morning.
Finally, the curtains were no longer buzzing, they hung limp and damp from the intensive spraying; unconscious doxies lay crammed in the bucket at the foot of them beside a bowl of their black eggs, at which Crookshanks was now sniffing and Fred and George were shooting covetous looks.
These things could be used to configure a powerful Love potion, but they were slightly toxic.
Taken in a certain amount, it could be poisonous. Fred and George thought they could deal with this toxicity.
"Well, I think we’ll tackle those after lunch."
Mrs. Weasley pointed at the dusty glass-fronted cabinets standing on either side of the mantelpiece. They were crammed with an odd assortment of objects: a selection of rusty daggers, claws, a coiled snakeskin, a number of tarnished silver boxes inscribed with incomprehensible languages and, least pleasant of all, an ornate crystal bottle with a large opal set into the stopper, full of what must be blood.
It was conceivable that these were all black magic items or evil Dark magic had been cast on them.
They were not beautiful and it was also dangerous to leave these things in this way. Naturally, Mrs. Weasley couldn’t let them be here. She was going to pack them all up and wait until Sirius came back to deal with them.
Based on Evan’s knowledge of Sirius, he would probably pack all these things and throw them away. He was terribly disgusted with everything in this house, even the surname ‘Black’.
If so, it would be a pity!
Evan beckoned to Kreacher and told the elf to pick out a few of them individually and bring them to him.
He was very interested in the Dark magic above, especially the silver boxes inscribed with ancient characters.
When they just walked to the kitchen, there was a clanging doorbell.
Immediately afterwards, Mrs. Black's screeches echoed through the house again.
Mrs. Weasley hurriedly walked over to open the door and followed the narrow and dim corridor. Everyone saw Mundungus coming in with a stack of precariously balanced cauldrons.
"Mundungus!" said Evan as he took out a long parchment list from his pocket. "He’s probably here to get the broom material purchase list. We'd better check to see if there’s anything missing."
“What’s he brought all those cauldrons for?" Hermione asked.
“Probably looking for a safe place to keep them," said Evan, and Hermione did not respond, which made him feel very uncomfortable. It was not Hermione's style.
If she was normal, she would have definitely started analyzing this matter directly.
"It must be so," said Harry. "Isn't that what he was doing the night he was supposed to be tailing me? Picking up dodgy cauldrons?"
"Yeah, you’re right!"
They saw Mundungus heaving his cauldrons through the door, but Mrs. Weasley stopped him.
The next second, even if they were far away, they could still hear an explosion of sound, even louder than Mrs. Black's voice, and all of them could hear exactly what Mrs. Weasley was shouting.
“WE ARE NOT RUNNING A HIDEOUT FOR STOLEN GOODS!" Mrs. Weasley said loudly, looking at Mundungus angrily. "COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE, AS IF WE HAVEN’T GOT ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT WITHOUT YOU DRAGGING STOLEN CAULDRONS INTO THE HOUSE!"
"I love hearing Mum shouting at someone else," said Fred.
“The idiots are letting her get into her stride,” said George, shaking his head. “You’ve got to head her off early; otherwise she builds up a head of steam and goes on for hours. And she’s been dying to have a go at Mundungus ever since he sneaked off when he was supposed to be following you, Harry."
Sure enough, Mrs. Weasley's rebuke continued for a long time.
In the end, Mundungus had to take away those cauldrons, as well as Evan’s purchase list and Gold Galleons before leaving.
He obviously did not intend to buy these things in Diagon Alley; he had his own purchasing channels.
Evan estimated that it must be in Knockturn Alley or the Underground World. If it weren't for the conditions, he really wanted to go with Mundungus.
After lunch, Evan, Hermione, and Lupin went out to Diagon Alley.
Harry wanted to go too, but he was now an important protected target, so he could only stay in the house and couldn’t go anywhere.
As for Ron, Ginny, Fred and George, Mrs. Weasley would not let them out.
After a while, Evan, Hermione and Lupin appeared at the Leaky Cauldron.
It was as peaceful as it had been a few months ago, and there was no tension about Voldemort's return.
Because the school's new term list had not been released, naturally there were not many students who came to Diagon Alley to purchase.
The Leaky Cauldron was full of cute young wizards from the countryside to buy things in Diagon Alley, idle witches, and a few old wizards who were leisurely drinking and playing cards. The bar owner Tom was carefully wiping the glasses behind the bar.
After Lupin left, Evan and Hermione found a corner table and ordered two glasses of juice.
Hermione had been looking at the material about Harry being attacked by the Dementors and ignored Evan.
Evan knew what he had to say and broke the silence. But when he talked about a few topics, Hermione didn't speak up.
"Woman!" Evan bit his straw, keeping his eyes level with Hermione’s, and pathetically touched her with his toes.
Hermione's feet retreated, and Evan moved forward a bit.
After a few seconds of this, Hermione couldn't go back.
She took a deep breath, clenched her fists, and prepared to talk to Evan about last night.
She just raised her head when she saw a familiar woman walk in from outside, it was Rita Skeeter.
She looked around, and when she saw Evan and Hermione, she looked as though she had been forced to swallow Stinksap.
