Chapter 1442: Wishful Thinking
Chapter 1442: Wishful Thinking
It was unclear what Yaxley had been thinking, but instead of covering up the incident afterwards, he chose to remove the bodies and disclose the exact location of the Defense Association headquarters to the Ministry of Magic. This led to the new Minister of Magic, Piers, sending ministry professionals to search the village and uncover its secrets.
With this information, it was impossible to keep the attack on the Defense Association headquarters a secret, as not everyone could be trusted to keep quiet. Gossip was, after all, a fundamental part of human nature.
The Order of the Phoenix, who had secretly planted their people within the Ministry, also learned of this news immediately.
Mrs. Weasley nearly fainted.
After a brief discussion, Moody made a series of emergency arrangements to try and gather more information and understand the whereabouts of the Defense Association members.
"Based on the battle traces and large amount of blood left on the scene, it's clear that a fierce battle took place in that village," Kingsley said as he quickly returned to the Order's headquarters to share the first-hand information he had just received.
"Have you been in touch with Fred and George?"
The meeting room fell into a dead silence, giving Kingsley a sense of foreboding.
"We've tried all means of communication, but we still can't reach Fred and George," Mrs. Weasley said, looking on the verge of collapse. She had already lost one son and couldn't bear the thought of losing two more.
"What about Albert?" Kingsley asked.
"We can't reach him either," Hermione shook her head.
"It's impossible for Albert to have no reaction to something this important. Unless..."
"No, with Albert's gift of prophecy, he might have been right there during the fierce battle that took place last night."
Percy looked at his worried family and tried to comfort them. "With Albert there, even if they did encounter an attack by Death Eaters, he would surely be able to lead the others to safety. Don't forget, that village was his base. There's no way they would have been caught off guard without any preparation."
"So, I think it's pointless for you to be discussing this here," Sirius interrupted rudely. "Given Albert's personality, it would be a miracle if he didn't go after the Death Eaters himself. How could you even think that Voldemort could ambush him?"
Everyone wondered if Sirius had some kind of misunderstanding about Albert. While Albert was indeed extraordinary, he was still human.
"I think Sirius is right," Harry said, noticing everyone's gaze on him. "They've probably just moved to a new base. With Albert's prophetic abilities, it's almost impossible for him to be ambushed, especially since he has never really been at a disadvantage in his confrontations with Voldemort."
"But why haven't they contacted us then?" Ron voiced the question on everyone's mind.
This was indeed the main reason for everyone's worry. If the Defense Association had evacuated safely, why hadn't they proactively reached out to the Order of the Phoenix?
"Maybe they're sleeping," Ginny said with a blink of her eyes, trying to lighten the mood. She wanted to believe in Harry's judgment.
"You probably forgot that it's only 8 a.m. now, and they might have been busy until late last night. It's not surprising if they didn't receive your messages," Ginny continued, followed by Hermione.
"With Albert's strength, along with the other Defense Association members, they might have been able to defeat Voldemort and his Death Eaters," Hermione paused, then added the most important point. "And today's Prophet didn't report their deaths either."
Hermione then turned to Kingsley and asked, "The Ministry didn't find the bodies of the Defense Association members, did they?"
"No," Kingsley nodded calmly. "You're right. Given Voldemort's style, if he had truly killed Albert, he would have made sure the entire British wizarding community knew about it through the newspaper. Announcing Albert's death would have dealt a significant blow to everyone's morale."
"Exactly, so there's no need to make a big fuss about it," Sirius agreed, full of confidence in Albert. He didn't believe Albert was in any danger.
"I'm more curious about how Voldemort found the Defense Association headquarters in the first place," Sirius added.
"He probably got the information from the captured member of the association," Moody, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up. "With Voldemort's abilities, it wouldn't have been difficult."
"No, I don't think that's very likely," Sirius shook his head.
"Why not?"
"Fred and George told me that even the internal members of the Defense Association might not know the exact location of the headquarters. Usually, when they go out, they are aided by Dobby, the house-elf, who uses House-elf Apparition to take them to a shelter where Apparition is forbidden. Then they depart from that shelter," Harry explained to the group. "House-elves are not restricted by anti-Apparition spells cast by wizards. It seems like their magic is from a different system, but I'm not exactly sure why."
With the shift in focus, the atmosphere in the meeting room lightened a little compared to before.
However, members of the Order of the Phoenix continued to come and go, bringing in various useful pieces of information.
But, as Hermione had said, the Ministry had indeed not found the bodies of the Defense Association members. Moreover, the Ministry officials believed that there were other secret bases within the village, and that the Death Eaters were trying to use the Ministry officials as bait.
However, the big fish they were trying to catch never took the bait.
The anxious atmosphere at the Order's headquarters finally came to an end at 2:30 in the afternoon when they finally made contact with Fred and George and learned that all members of the Defense Association had moved to a new headquarters.
"...and that's pretty much it," Fred and George concluded their story, yawning.
The previous night's battle had been too thrilling and exhausting.
"So, that pool of blood belonged to the dead Death Eaters?" Ron stuttered.
"The first batch were probably fakes. I never thought that Voldemort would stoop so low as to use such despicable means, using a bunch of fakes as bait to lure us in," Fred yawned again. "But after we knocked them out, the Death Eaters' ambush took them away, and they were killed pretty badly."
"To be honest, it was quite dangerous at the time," George recalled the previous night's battle and still felt a little scared. "Later, after Albert killed the fake Voldemort, he realized something was wrong and reacted immediately. Otherwise, that bombing ambush might have really hurt the whole association."
"So, what are you doing now?"
"Last night, after we were sure it was safe, we held a party to celebrate our victory over the Death Eaters' plot. We partied all night and didn't get any sleep," Fred said, covering another yawn. "Okay, I think I'm going to head back to bed now."
Everyone felt a mix of exasperation and amusement, and even considered giving them a good beating. They had been so worried about them, and yet...
"I never thought that Ginny would be right. They didn't reply to our messages because they were simply asleep," Ron felt that the whole situation was too surreal. He couldn't believe that it had all been just their wishful thinking from start to finish.
(End of Chapter)
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